Side effects
Baclofen side effects (more detail) If you experience any of the following: For medical advice about side effects, contact your doctor. Typical adverse reactions to baclofen include: If you experience any of the following symptoms of an allergic reaction to baclofen: hives; difficulty breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat, seek emergency medical attention. There may be additional side effects; this is not a comprehensive list. Call 1-800-FDA-1088 to contact FDA and report side effects. fatigue, weakness, drowsiness, dizziness, headache, insomnia, nausea, constipation, or the need to urinate more frequently than usual. Itching, tingling, or twitching in your hands, arms, feet, or legs; severe drowsiness; weak or shallow breathing; confusion; hallucinations; fever; or a seizure.
Interactions
Baclofen is prescribed for the following conditions: multiple sclerosis-related spasticity, flexor spasms with accompanying pain, clonus, and muscular rigidity, rheumatic disorders-related skeletal muscle spasms, spinal cord injuries, and other spinal cord diseases, cerebrovascular accidents, or neoplastic or degenerative brain diseases.
Contraindications
Appropriate laboratory tests should be performed periodically in patients with hepatic diseases or diabetes mellitus to ensure that no medicine induced changes in these underlying diseases have occurred. Baclofen has not significantly benefited patients with stroke. Patients with peptic ulcers, cerebral vascular diseases, or hepatic, renal, or respiratory failure should use baclofen with caution, whether they currently have them or have a history of them. Baclofen should be used with caution in these circumstances. Particularly in patients with cardiopulmonary disease and weak respiratory muscles, careful monitoring of cardiovascular and respiratory function is imperative. Neurogenic issues affecting bladder emptying may get better while taking Baclofen. Acute urine retention, however, is possible in patients with preexisting sphincter hypertonia. Baclofen may be used in patients with epilepsy and muscle spasticity if the proper precautions are taken and adequate anticonvulsive therapy is continued. For patients with impaired renal function or those undergoing chronic haemodialysis, lower doses (roughly 5 mg per day) ought to be used. After stopping Baclofen therapy or with an overdose, there may be a lowering of the convulsion threshold, and seizures have been documented. Spasticity patients should also be treated carefully and under close observation if they also have psychotic disorders, schizophrenia, depressive or manic disorders, or confusional states because these conditions may exacerbate each other. Additionally, these patients' tolerance for the medication has been poor.
On average, the adolescent patients in the current analysis were exposed to a higher dose of baclofen and continued their other narcolepsy treatments as well. Traditional stimulants, including methylphenidate and amphetamines, are second- and third-line therapies. Thus, the beneficial responses reported may be related to the higher baclofen dose or to possible synergy with other therapies. The investigators studied the cases of 5 patients with narcolepsy associated with severe daytime sleepiness who had failed, had an inadequate response to, or had intolerable adverse effects associated with their first-line therapies. Evidence suggests that baclofen may offer sleep benefits by reducing sleep latency and increasing slow-wave sleep.The use of baclofen has also been shown to increase total sleep time — both rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep duration — and has been associated with a significant reduction in the time spent awake after sleep onset.
In addition to the risk of depressing brain function, the use of baclofen and tricyclic antidepressants (for example, amitriptyline [Elavil, Endep], doxepin [Sinequan, Adapin]) together may cause muscle weakness. Metaxalone may increase the sedative effects of alcohol and drugs that cause sedation, for example, benzodiazepines (Valium), antidepressants, opioids (morphine). Because baclofen can increase blood sugar, doses of antidiabetic drugs may need to be adjusted when baclofen is begun.
During the pregnancy, this treatment should be used only when strongly necessary. The symptoms of overdose usually include chest pain, nausea, irregular heartbeat, and feeling light-headed or fainting. In case you notice the effects not listed here, contact your doctor or pharmacist. Store your medicines at room temperature between 68-77 degrees F (20-25 degrees C) away from light and moisture.
Baclofen Oral Solution is also indicated in adults and children for the relief of spasticity of voluntary muscle arising from e.g. Baclofen Oral Solution is indicated in patients 0 to <18 years for the symptomatic treatment of spasticity of cerebral origin, especially where due to infantile cerebral palsy, as well as following cerebrovascular accidents or in the presence of neoplastic or degenerative brain disease. tumours of the spinal cord, syringomyelia, motor neurone disease, transverse myelitis, traumatic partial section of the cord.