baclofen "wooziness" and bloating

Everyday living
1

Hello to all you lovely people. I hope you are all well.
Started baclofen 3x daily and really am struggling a bit.
It has taken the leg pain I was experiencing at night away which is great but I feel very woozy with it and my stomach is extremely bloated. Anyone else experience this?

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2

sorry you feel bad.

Baclofen may cause side effects . Tell your doctor if any of these symptoms are severe or do not go away:

  • dizziness.
  • weakness.
  • confusion.
  • headache.
  • nausea.
  • constipation.
  • difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.
  • tiredness.

Its Monday so i would ring your doctor who prescribed them and get some advise ok. this is why i rarely take any drugs for MS, as they all made me feel a bit like that. xx

3

Hello Mary

The usual way to start taking a drug like Baclofen is to start on a very low dose (10mg) and only gradually increase. So to start off with 3 doses a day seems a bit too much too soon.

Baclofen is a muscle relaxant, so can make your legs weaker. It’s a great drug for relieving spasms and spasticity, but the problem is that our legs need a bit of ‘tone’ to hold us up. Removing stiffness in your legs too quickly can make your legs very weak.

I’d be tempted to just cut the dosage (possibly speak to your GP first if that’s possible). If you started by taking 1 X 10mg in a day (maybe figure out when you’ve experienced the worst tightness and/or spasms and take it a short while before). Take just that for a few weeks, then increase to 2 X 10mg (etc).

That’s also the way people are generally advised to take Amitriptyline.

I have never had a bloating problem with Baclofen, that might also be improved by cutting back the dosage. If it doesn’t, then go back to your GP and see if there’s a different drug that might help.

Sue

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4

Hi May

I agree with Sue that is exactly how I started on baclofen, by taking one tablet daily to start with and increasing very slowly.

Take care

Pam x

5

I get horrible bloating & nausea, never actually linked it to Baclofen though, but now looking back, it does seem to have started around the same time as starting on and increasing the dose of my Baclofen.
You can actually see my stomach extending, its a terrible sensation, looks awful, but I could never pin point why this was happening.

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6

Thank you so very much for your very useful advice. I have my next Tysabra infusion tomorrow and will mention possibly reducing the dosage. I will let you all know what they say. Thanks again folk and I hope you are all well.xx

7

Hello to everyone, just home from tysabra infusion and while I was there I spoke with ms nurse about the baclofen.
Kerry, the nurse said I should try taking half tablet in the morning and afternoon with the full one at night and see how that goes.
I was able to say my lovely felow ms friends advised this but I should ask to make sure its ok, which it is.
Thanks to you all,once again for helping me.
Mary xx

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8

Hello Mary

I’m so glad you’ve got the ok from the nurse. Obviously, we can only make suggestions based on our own experience. So it’s great that she basically agreed that a slow start would suit you best.

Let us know how you get on. If you find that you’re still not getting on with Baclofen, let us know. Some people just don’t get on with it. So there will be other forum members who take different drugs for similar symptoms.

Sue

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