Barbara McLean has been in critical care practice for 40 years. Currently, Barbara is the advancing evidence based practice clinical specialist for the division of critical care at the Grady Health System; Atlanta GA. Ms. McLean is a member of many professional organizations including the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) and the American Association of Surgery and Trauma.
She has been awarded the excellence in education award by the AACN as well as the circle of excellence for clinical practice in 2014 and the SCCM has presented her with the prestigious Norma J. Shoemaker Award for critical care nursing excellence in 2013
It's a muscle relaxer and they don't have enough info on it to know that if you only take it a few times--not taking it can cause withdrawal symptoms that can cause you an AGONIZING and hellish 8 hours or so or kill you or anything in between. It took 3 of these episodes over many months and many hours of researching to learn this. Hopefully, more has been added to the info on it since my experiences but I have to warn folks when I can. My PCP didn't have a clue.
Thank you so much for uploading these amazing presentations. I’ve learned so much from you on my journey to becoming critical care certified in my field of expertise, and I pass on what I’ve learned from your knowledge and experience to others. You are truly dedicated to lifelong education.
I almost died because baclofen withdrawal. I'm C5 tetraplegic and i was given Baclofen 3 times a day 25mg for ten years. I had a kidney stone that need to be operated, so i waited one day without using baclofen. Second day they operate me and after operation i get light fever, then nurse come to measure my blood pressure, it was very low. Then doctor decided to give me salty water to drink. Blood pressure was dropping. Then doctor decided to give me more nacl, but this time intravenously, no reaction. Then they send me to ICU because this was a symptom of sepsis. I had multiple organ failure, high fever and hallucination. They draw my blood to see if bacteria and which causing the problem. They didn't find any bacteria and they give me wide spectrum antibiotic because ofc they didn't know that all problem was causing baclofen withdrawal. Neither do i! Fifth day in ICU i was getting better, WITHOUT BACLOFEN! At the end, doctors didn't know what happens so they give me release papper, diagnosis: "Severe Sepsis" After few months getting out of hospital i started digging on the internet what may happens because i wasn't convinced to my doctor diagnosis. Lesson was to always read what you taking and take it seriously! And the doctors needs to asking more questions. Sorry for my bad English.
I take a hand ful a day and i beat stage 4 lung cancer only useing that drug and only eatting pineapples i think i was lied to about having cancer i cant believe how stupid I was
In my experience of taking 60 mg per day for almost a decade, when I’ve gone cold turkey (only once and for 72 hours) I had insomnia with pain flares begin in 24 hours and last for days. Terrible headaches ,kidney pain, brain inflammation, hot and cold flashes, and pouring sweat occur after 36 hours. After 50 hours the flulike symptoms seemed to lessen.
Yes it is acute but short lived unlike benzodiazepines and gabapentin and pregablin . I had PAWS from Klonopin for over a year and from gabapentin for about six months the baclofen only about a month.
Hi. Hope all is well. I had a bad experience with this poison Baclofen myself for over 15 years. Long story. And maybe i can share to with you some day. But i had the pump removed a few years ago. But I really feel like it did me some damage. I am trying to see if ibcan do anything about it
I was taking baclofen for 5 months it was making me tired low dose 10 mg I was only taking it a few times a week I stopped at the end of January I became anxious and I still am I wonder how long this will last so anxious it’s hard to sleep I have arithris I was prescribed medication for that because of flare up..
I've taken baclofen since I was a child for CP. At the peak amount I ever took was 40 mg 4x a day with 6 mg tizanidine. I can definitely tell when I'm wean down to a lower dose or been without as I tend to have auditory, visual, and tactical hallucinations. When I have been without it for a while, I can't eat or sleep, and I get very jumpy. I tried sharing this with my doctors in jr high but was told that wasn't a side effect of baclofen. I'm 37 now, and we know a lot of the body's dependence on baclofen when taken long-term is a problem. I am currently on a much lower dose, 20 mg 4 x a day, and botox for spasticity. Hope the baclofen pump trial can help.
I get prescribed baclofen (20mg x 4 (so 80mg a day)) for extreme twitching at night after going to bed. I also get prescribed diazepam for this during the day. So, I take 10mg diazepam and 20mg baclofen 3 times a day. Then at night before bed i take 20mg baclofen and 20mg temazepam (for sleep). It does help for my twitching. However, I tend to feel very sluggish and very swimy during the day. Is there anything you would recommend I ask my doctor change? I looked into asking my dr to switch out my temazepam for zoplicone. Would you agree this would reduce my drowsiness during the day?
Thank you for this brilliant and succinct explanation. One of the best videos I've seen going around. Wish i had access to this when i was doing my crit care post grad
