I almost died from reaction to new drug, hows everyone else?

Ok, I’m slowly writing this from the (regular) hospital bed I just got to yesterday.

I had been in the ICU since LAST Monday. If God forbid I go to hell, I’ve been given a glimpse.

That very same last Monday I had gone to see my Physician because I needed a new muscle relaxer. I need to take one during the day but everyone I try knocks me out. That’s fine at home but not tooling around Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Well, New Orleans is probably a better town to drive impaired because the natives a kinda subconsciously driving like everyone else is loaded anyway.

She puts me on Baclofen. No sleepy time on this one she says. Great! Says me. Crap I will repeate over and over when I am able.

Two hours after my second dose, I remember NOTHING for the next 4 days. What I think I remember is suspect.

The main thing it did to me was screw with my central nervous system. It made my hypersensitive to pain. I apparently screamed a lot. Enough and blood curdling enough that my wife and mother had to leave the damn hospital until they sedated me heavily.

For three more days I was like that, with a 103.3 degree fever as a companion, which really made me feel if I had really and truly gone to Hell and wonder what I had done to deserve it.

I remember the doctor asking me what my name was. I didn’t know. It wasn’t like it was on the tip of my tongue, I did not know who I was let alone anyone else.

Then I started coming around mentally much to the relief of my family and doctors. The pain went down considerably.

Until Thursday afternoon and I developed the Gran Daddy of all gout attacks.

I used to be a professional gout experiencer. This one was unlike any of them. It was in my hand, forearm, bicep, shoulder. Up alon my colorbone to the other shoulder and down to the hand again.

It tore a hole in my left rotator cuff. Yes. The gout did. The doctor can’t even find any thing in the literature regarding a gout attack that large.

Some of you might remember my thread a couple of weeks before this biz. I had shingles.

Who knows if anything is connected. Occams razor I suppose.

I beg all of you to be extremely diligent when trying new medicines.

Even if they have a good track record, you might be the blip on a chart like me.

I’ll be leaving for a physical rehab hospital in the next few days to learn to walk again and get some strength.

I’ll keep y’all entertained, because I must.

a reply to: Spader

Sorry to read of your experience Spader , hope you get well soon.

I guess in a way we're all guinea pigs when taking medication , one size rarely fits all.

a reply to: Spader

I hear you. I received a different diabetic pill from my doc recently. In two days all of my vision was blurry, I felt exhausted at all times and I also could not become "excited in bed" for about a week afterward.

Not as bad as your deal obviously, but your story is just adding into my belief that many times doctors don't really look further into issues than what their pre-approved cook book says.

Sounds like it may have reacted with what muscle relaxers were already in your system. Are you on any other meds it could have done this with also?


www.rxlist.com...

Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking other products that cause drowsiness including alcohol, antihistamines (such as cetirizine, diphenhydramine), drugs for sleep or anxiety (such as alprazolam, diazepam, zolpidem), other muscle relaxants, and narcotic pain relievers (such as codeine).

Baclofen is hardly a new drug.

I'm currently on 150mg a day, in 3 separate doses of 50mg. No screaming in agony for me, or any hospitalisation. It's a GABAb agonist. I don't think it does anything for pain, it's a muscle relaxant used initially for multiple sclerosis, but has use as an alcohol dependence treatment (and other addictions), to which I can attest.

If you were on any other GABAergics they would have potentiated it. Meaning any benzodiazepines, barbiturates, or even alcohol. Bare in mind that GABA is one of the most important neurotransmitters in the body, and affects many parts of the brain, regulating other neurotransmitters. GABA is not something to take with a grain of salt. Supplements are not able to cross the blood brain barrier, but drugs such as phenibut, which is the same as GABA but has a phenyl ring which allows it to cross the blood brain barrier, but is metabolised by the liver more efficiently, so the doses are typically higher. In the grams. But it is not prescribed for anything except for in Russia (afaik). Baclofen, is also the same as GABA, except that it has both a phenyl ring and a chloride atom allowing more of it to enter the system on a first pass, meaning you need less of it to get a similar effect. 10mg as opposed to 1gm of phenibut.

If you mix a drug that has an affinity for the GABAa receptor (valium, xanax, etc) and also a drug that has an affinity for GABAb receptors, you can get wildly adverse results.

I'd look into what other things you're taking, supplements, prescription drugs, foods.. Turmeric has an affect on the liver that is similar to grapefruit juice, in that it potentiates certain drugs by inhibiting the cyp450 enzyme.

Usually people will need to titrate up from a very low dose of Baclofen, to gauge any adverse effects. Taking a large dose initially never works out well. And stopping it, has to be tapered slowly, due to downregulating of the GABA receptors. Same as any benzodiazapine. Or else you get rebound everything and a world of suffering. There have been cases of elderly people who were on a regular dose of baclofen, being treated in hospital that did not continue the daily dosages, who ended up paranoid, hallucinating, violent, until the dose was readministered, when they returned to normal.

Baclofen, for me, has given me back some semblance of a life outside of a bottle... there is no magic pill, but it is the closest thing to it, in my opinion.

Wow, that was a bad reaction. If I get muscle spasms I just take a half a teaspoon of mustard.

Potatoes contain chemistry that is an analog to GABA too. Farmers who abuse their bodies used to eat potatoes a lot. Benzo chemistry at it's finest, although a baked potato is an awful big pill.

Any isothiocyanate chemistry helps to control spasms, cabbage works fine in soup. Watch the broccoli though, that has some chemistry that can be troublesome for some people. Asparagus does work too, but that can make you a little dopie if you overconsume it on a regular basis.

Remember, if you take too much muscle spasm chemistry, your body makes more enzymes to break them down and you can become dependent.

I don't think I would take that med again if I were you. I am working on gout yet, I am analyzing some research on chemistry that increases the uric acid. Not just proteins cause it, methyl like caffeine and nitrogen from plants combine to form ammonia, that is broken down by benzoates or benzoic acid in the blood by foods high in those two. So tomatoes and oranges and cinnamon actually stimulate the conversion of blood Ammonia to uric acid which needs to be peed out. Coffee actually is a diuretic, but other methyl or ethyl products may not be. Alcohol is a diuretic after you drink maybe four, then you start to pee....and pee....and pee.

Potatoes contain Benzo chemistry, I do not know if they have the same effect on gout as orange juice or tomatoes would have. I would think that anything that induced gaba might have that effect. Spinach induces GABA, just look at Popeye fight, he never seems to have muscle spasms. I don't care for raw spinach much, it increases my kidney stones incidents, I do like it cooked well though. High in oxylates unless you boil it tell it gets tender.

originally posted by: Fools
a reply to: Spader

I hear you. I received a different diabetic pill from my doc recently. In two days all of my vision was blurry, I felt exhausted at all times and I also could not become "excited in bed" for about a week afterward.

Not as bad as your deal obviously, but your story is just adding into my belief that many times doctors don't really look further into issues than what their pre-approved cook book says.

I've heard of doctors prescribe it in insanely large initial doses, which would cause terrible side effects. Many people prescribed Baclofen on such doses, discontinue it's use due to it.

I too suffered gout for many years. Beginning at age 25 when I was still young and fit as a fiddle. The first time I had it I was very confused because I had no idea why I was in so much pain.

Anyway, fast forward to say age 40 - I was just so sick and tired of the ailment as well as the medicine I was prescribed to deal with gout. I mean you will always prefer any kind of relief from gout more than gout itself, but I was thinking that the medicine had to be having some internal side effects as well since I was almost constantly having the liquid back end horrors and so on - plus alot of fatigue - which is really not cool to suffer from through your entire 30's when all your pals are still playing sports and so on. So, I started doing some research in natural remedies and tumeric kept being mentioned over and over again as an actual cure.

I decided to try it out, and in the first 3 months I did have 2 episodes as well as lingering joint pain/arthritis. Then slowly and surely my joints ceased their constant aching. And then I went a record 6 months without a gout attack. And I still haven't had one in about 8 years. Also, other than in areas where I damaged myself severely (crushed L2, dislocated elbow, etc.) I have absolutely no pain. I consider a daily dose of turmeric probably the best thing I have ever done for myself.

a reply to: Spader
GOD bless ya, Bro. This won't keep you down, you're tougher than coffin nails. We all are. Peace.

Damn, man.
Must have sucked.
I've had a bad reaction to thorazine.
Left me curled in a fetal position in total darkness and what felt like a hot coal in my belly for about 12 hours.
Never again.
It was a little taste of what I would imagine Hell to be.

originally posted by: badw0lf

originally posted by: Fools
a reply to: Spader

I hear you. I received a different diabetic pill from my doc recently. In two days all of my vision was blurry, I felt exhausted at all times and I also could not become "excited in bed" for about a week afterward.

Not as bad as your deal obviously, but your story is just adding into my belief that many times doctors don't really look further into issues than what their pre-approved cook book says.

I've heard of doctors prescribe it in insanely large initial doses, which would cause terrible side effects. Many people prescribed Baclofen on such doses, discontinue it's use due to it.

Well I have put Baclofen on my "make sure you can actually take it" list as I am soon to go back to a back surgeon due to my crushed L2 - starting to get a bit of sciatica and he warned me to come back in if that ever started happening. So I thank the OP because I know for a fact I will get muscle relaxers on my pharmacy tab after I see him again.

Get well...

Get an Attorney.

originally posted by: DAVID64

Sounds like it may have reacted with what muscle relaxers were already in your system. Are you on any other meds it could have done this with also?


www.rxlist.com...

Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking other products that cause drowsiness including alcohol, antihistamines (such as cetirizine, diphenhydramine), drugs for sleep or anxiety (such as alprazolam, diazepam, zolpidem), other muscle relaxants, and narcotic pain relievers (such as codeine).

What I had used was out. The poison control said this is a rare reaction for Baclofen. But always good rules to live by. Thanks!

Hope you get well soon bud. I had a pretty severe reaction to Pregabalin I was prescribed for my fibromyalgia.

Although not a severe as yours sounds, I was in the hospial for 4 days as it messed up my kidney function something rotten.

a reply to: Spader

I've been there too..

It sure can be frightening, honestly.

At least in your case, they seemed to have taken it seriously?

One of my severe reactions inspired the nurses to state it was "all in my head," and that it could never be that bad. Even though I was constantly losing consciousness for days, having seizures, throwing up, etc. I ended up in a wheelchair for a bit, then a walker for a couple months.

I really haven't had the best experiences with medical "professionals," personally. A select few are amazing, but it seems all too many are completely devoid of any empathy, ability to admit error, or even humanity.

a reply to: Spader

I am so sorry to hear about your troubles. I am glad you made it though.

This right here is why no drug, no matter how well tested, will ever be 100% safe.

We are all our own personal little chemistry labs, and there is no telling how we'll interact with any medication that gets put into our systems ... until it happens. It's all an educated guess at best.

I always say that pretty much all medicines are essentially poisons. They interrupt natural processes in the body. Yes, even pain is a natural process, indicating that something is wrong. As a friend of mine likes to say, "Pain is the idiot light on the dashboard of life."

Every time we take medicine, we're playing with our bodies.

a reply to: Spader


I’m sorry to hear that, and I hope you have a quick recovery.


My almost killer: CLINDAMYCIN (stay away from it). It almost killed me.

Thanks everyone for their concern and replies. Scary as hell.

That is twice in the last two years I have presented to ER with life threatening conditions that made no sense. I forgot to

to tell y’all my kidneys had completely shut down. All of this in 7 hours!

I live in Gonzales Louisiana. About halfway from Baton Rouge and New Orleans. And the doctors at St. Elizabeth’s have

figured it out quickly enough to save my life twice.

I have gotten a LOT of great homeopathic advice here over the years, advice I’m going to start taking!

Y’all are Aces.