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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Can baclofen often ease gabapentin withdrawal

The thing with baclofen is that I don't need large amounts to give me a uppity feeling like I would with gabapentin. It just does it on its own and If I take more baclofen then normal I get sick. Which is why I think baclofen could be so useful in the treatment of mood disorder and a add on to a AD like Prozac which I'm on.


It's just funny how I can take it and in thirty minutes I feel my brain like getting happier.
 
Not sure if it's been mentioned in this thread, but baclofen's pharmacological profile is significantly different from other GABA analogues. Its GABA-B affinity is a lot higher compared to its calcium channel affinity, the latter being insignificant at therapeutic doses. Phenibut at normal doses has both appreciable GABA-B and VDCC* activity, whereas gabapentin and pregabalin both lack significant GABA receptor activity despite being GABA analogues, mainly acting on VDCC.

*voltage-dependent calcium channel
 
There's conflicting evidence as to whether gabapentin activates GABA B receptors in higher dosages, with some studies claiming it does, and others that it doesn't. All the books dealing with GABA pharmacology and whatnot I have/read that mention gabapentin neither deny or accept its GABA B activity stating it as disputed or uncertain. I suspect the same case could be made for pregabalin. The similarities in effect between gabapentin/pregabalin and phenibut and baclofen aren't explained by their actions on the alpha2delta subunit of the calcium channels, pointing to GABAergic mechanisms. The studies that showed it did bind, however, used very large amounts of the substance, so this could account for the discrepancy.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12923812

sonicwhite said:
The thing with baclofen is that I don't need large amounts to give me a uppity feeling like I would with gabapentin. It just does it on its own and If I take more baclofen then normal I get sick. Which is why I think baclofen could be so useful in the treatment of mood disorder and a add on to a AD like Prozac which I'm on.


It's just funny how I can take it and in thirty minutes I feel my brain like getting happier.
Click to expand...

That's why the gabapentinoids are used as mood stabilizers. And baclofen's lack of calcium channel affinity at therapeutic dosages only makes it more evident, in my opinion, that the other ones used in psychiatry have to be eliciting their effects, at least partly, through GABA B receptors too.
 
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What's the difference between voltage calcium channels? Because I thought with gabapentin it increases it and with baclofen it stops it or something? So wouldn't baclofen like be part problem. When I get high off gabapentin I thought it was because of the voltage calcium channels and if I take a lot of baclofen I get sick or it doesn't feel anything like a gabapentin high.
 
The voltage gated calcium channels are types of calcium channel that open depending on the membrane voltage. They are either high voltage gated or low voltage gated. Gababapentin lowers activity by binding to a subunit of certain types of high voltage gated calcium channels, reducing the currents. Baclofen only does this at high doses. However, presynaptically, baclofen activates GABA B receptors which directly inhibit certain high voltage gated calcium channels - the L, N and P/Q type, I believe - but both drugs enhance inward rectifying potassium currents which lower the voltage enough to activate the low voltage gated t type channel. It seems contradictory but it's sort of a feedback mechanism. Both drugs lower calcium channel activity at high voltage gated channels and can precipitate the opening of t type currents.

A lot of people get headaches, nausea, from high doses of strong GABA B agonists. Baclofen also doesn't have the other GABAergic mechanisms that gabapentin has, such as increasing synthesis and synaptic availability.
 
So you're saying its a synaptic thing and not a voltage calcium thing right?
 
What do you mean? Are you talking about the highs from the drugs? If so, then the calcium channels don't contribute to that. It's the GABAergic mechanisms. But they both work on calcium channels as part of their therapeutic effects, albet the baclofen is indirect at the dosages used medically.
 
Girlwithbluehair yes you answered the question correctly. Man, I'm leaning a lot of stuff lol.
 
You're welcome. I'm glad I could add some valuable information. If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask anytime.
 
I'm worried about his dosing, though. It seems like he might have been developing a liking for it which could lead to a habit and then withdrawals, which he seemed unaware of. Those are incredibly high dosages to be continuously taking - and even taking a single dose that high can produce mild withdrawal effects once the effects wear off.
 
Like I haven't had baclofen for about a week. I was feeling crappy but I thought it was because I had to take small doses of gabapentin in order to get by. Wulp, my friend gave me some and I took twenty. It doesn't feel like a benzo or gabapentin. I think the reason I came to liking gabapentin so much is when my stash of Xanax would run out it gave me this euphoric high.


So my mind got attached to it. And ever since it has to have a dopamine release because I get all chatty and self confident. Not like a boastful ego but just myself.
 
That's part of the way gabapentinoids work: they precipitate a sort of pseudo-"hypo-manic" state. That's how I would describe gabapentin and baclofen myself, as I currently take both. You took 20? Of the 10mg I'm hoping. I bet you were sweating like a bitch when the effects started wearing off, am I right?
 
Yeah, I mean I was like what the what the heck is happening. Never occurred to me it was baclofen. I just took twenty mg and feel a uplift in my mood greatly.
 
No when I was withdraw align I knew something was up and it was like wth I didn't ever think it would be baclofen because I wasn't on it that long. No if I did twenty I would prolly be in shock.
 
You would be manic as hell and nodding off unexpectedly every now and then and suddenly waking up manic as hell again. You'd also be sweating like a motherfucker.
 
The most baclofen I've taken is 100mg.

Better than benadryl, shittier than oxy.
 
Saying it's better than benadryl...it's liking you're ranking it close to benadryl or something...? Baclofen is a gabapentinoid, and this class of drugs has been described as being like an MDMA/benzo combination. It works like GHB, which has the nickname "liquid ecstacy"
 
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