Prescribing Guide for Baclofen in the Treatment of Alcoholism – for Use by Physicians

Pascal Gache

20 rue des Deux-Ponts, 1205 Genève, Switzerland.

Renaud de Beaurepaire *

Groupe Hospitalier Paul-Guiraud, 54 avenue de La République, 94806 Villejuif, France.

Philippe Jaury

Département de Médecine Générale, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Faculté de médecine, Paris, France.

Bernard Joussaume

3 place Estienne d'Orves,"¨83150 Bandol, France.

Annie Rapp

243 boulevard Raspail, 75014 Paris, France.

Patrick de La Selle

6 rue Paul Brousse,34000 Montpellier, France.

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.


Abstract

The purpose of this guide is to help doctors prescribe baclofen in the treatment of alcohol problems as there is, to date, no standardized way to prescribe this molecule in the treatment of alcohol dependence. The Recommended Medical Practices in respect of baclofen prescription generally proposes, for neurological treatment, increasing dosage by 15mg every 3 days, while suggesting flexibility, that is to say, adapting dosages individually. The proposals below reflect the experience of the authors to this paper, experience which itself has been based on the original method described by Olivier Ameisen [1,2]. The authors have, between them, treated more than 1500 patients with this medication, and they have learned gradually and empirically how to use baclofen to help patients in the best possible way with alcohol problems. The experience of the authors is that there is no absolute consensus and that prescribers may have different approaches and practices in the conduct of treatment. At the present time, it is impossible to give a definitive answer to the question.
Thebibliography (see References) includes four papers describing clinical experiences in which the authors have compiled their results [3,4,5,6].Other reports from the literature have also been taken in to account [7,8,9]. These recommendations are intended to help the prescription ofbaclofen.

Keywords: Off-label, high dose, side-effects, prescription schedule.


How to Cite

Gache, Pascal, Renaud de Beaurepaire, Philippe Jaury, Bernard Joussaume, Annie Rapp, and Patrick de La Selle. 2013. “Prescribing Guide for Baclofen in the Treatment of Alcoholism – for Use by Physicians”. Journal of Advances in Medicine and Medical Research 4 (5):1164-74. https://doi.org/10.9734/BJMMR/2014/7069.

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