craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

25 years old, 1.80m tall, 90kg, male
i kept on reaching the no craving on the increases but then shortly after tolerance set in. so i had to keep on increasing it. i think i have hit the 'permanent' switch around 250mg.

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

I can finally go to the toilet on my own again!! :wave:

This was the last time I was taking any Antibiotics without a real reason behind it!!

I am very happy that Baclofen did not cause this!!

[eight days a week]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

I was really feeling your pain there, so wonderful news craving!

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

thanks 8daysaweek

really happy that this is finally solved!!

Today is my 25th AF day in a row. No Craving - no urge to drink. In the Emergency Room because of a serious medical intervention NOT caused by alcohol! :what?:

Yesterday forgot to bid on a very nice Mouton case of 1982 bordeaux wine - price was really sweet. But the way it looks right now, I am not going to touch it anyways - so best to free myself of the burden!

Started to reduce Baclofen, trying to reduce it by 1/4 tablett (1/4 of 25mg = 6.25mg) per dose - 5 doses a day.
Right now at 219mg instead of 250mg - looking forward to be at 188mg maybe by end of the week.

I am quite sensitive to the neck pain that withdrawal of Bac is causing me. Will maybe compensate it with Ibuprofen to fight the immediate pain action.

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

Those days make me realize how near I was to completely destroying myself.

I was locked into a doom loop of drinking and drinking more. I was given a second chance and surely I want to use it. My drinking history is quite short with just 3 years - but has been surely intensive!

I simply do not want to screw up with Baclofen. I heard from other people that they can manage to drink with limits. I am afraid of the possibility that the craving can increase again and that my life will totally screw up again.
That is why my goal now is absolute abstinence. 27 AF days in a row so far!

Surrendering is not an option! If cravings come back I need to use the advantage the AF days have brought me into my fight, that surely will never be over.

For now I have reduced my Baclofen to 5x37.5 (11pm-3am-8am-12am-6pm)= 187.5 mg a day. (from previously 250mg)

I want to reduce Baclofen to the min. effective dose possible as that will give me more margin should any tolerance build up. I am looking forward to move to 5x25 = 125mg a day by end of next week - slowly step by step.
Ameisen refers to 120mg a day as his daily "keeping-it-up" dose. I hope 125mg works for me!

Does anyone have facts on long term usage of Baclofen? Very hard to figure out the long term effect of Baclofen on alcoholism! I am simply scared that this could be a temporary reaction only!

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

Yesterday night I had another panic attack. It is quite unusual for me to have that.

I do not think that it is related to Baclofen - I am trying to withdraw from Bupropion, by reducing the dose to 150mg (from 300/450mg) - and again that has hit me like a sledgehammer.
Even suicide appeared such a viable route. It is really scary, never had that before!

The feeling was pretty much the same as in my post regarding my girlfriend. I was feeling paniked that I am getting on track with my alcohol problems and screw up on something else. I guess there is no guarantee that one succeeds in life - it is a game of so many variables!

Taking Bupropion and look at that ... 30 minutes later it is gone!

Will consult with doctor and see if I can get 75mg pills - maybe reducing to 225mg first for a long period (instead of 300mg) and then reduce further. Will be fun to explain him that I am on Bupropion for 3 years now on self medication. I had a very hard time and I think I would not have managed my life at all during that period. Took Bupropion mainly for quitting smoking and then found it effective for my depressions and my ADHD. Now I feel capable of quitting.

starting my 28th wonderfullest AF day. Baclofen DOES work. mg

Totally off Omeprazol now - my reflux problems with constant heartburn are over now. Thank you Baclofen - one thing off the list.

Considering about creating my own family now :l

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

What a horrible day!

In the morning insane suicide ideas came up my head. Everything I saw I was considering how I can kill myself with it.
It is a such intensive feeling - I do not know how to explain it. It was my own internal voice that started to command me ... go in the kitchen get a knive and cut your venes (and cut it along and not accross!)

I tried to relax and think of blue skies - meadows, cows - it took my brain roughly 3 seconds to make a flicker and to change that picture into a picture of war, seeing bombs falling down, people die'ing.

Everytime I saw a person I received a picture in my brain seeing them dead. I saw my cat laying on a plate without skin.

When I saw a platform I was thinking to run and to jump down. I was considering taking all medicine in my house to kill me.
It fell so real - I saw me doing it into my eyes!

I figured out what was the problem - luckily early enough. I changed the brand for Pseudoephedrine which I use for as decongestant, I did not figure that it has a special prolonged setting - as usually Pseudoephedrin was only working the moment I took it - and was fast worrying out.

Figure that : I took 3-4 times the normal daily dose of Pseudoephedrine

So my panic attacks are not related to Bupropion but to a dangerous overdose of Pseudoephedrine!

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

My first mensiversary! 30 days AF! :happy:

I have titerated down the dose of Baclofen to 175mg (from 250mg) - doing well so far. Will look into further reduce the Baclofen intake slowly.

if you are bordered by stiffed noes you have to try this! Instead of taking a decongestant this works incredible well. My nose is still clear from doing it yesterday 2 times in a row (6 times in total)
Get rid of stuffed or running nose without drugs - Parapsychology articles and blog

I have recommenced to frequently take Bupropion. I want to be sure I get in absolute balance again before starting any new withdrawal tries!

What causes me now some unbalance is that I used Alcohol to escape reality. Now I have no options as to stay always in reality. I will have to discuss this most likely in a therapy. So it was not only the craving, but the "relax" / "escape" effect.

:happy:

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

Since I am now off antibiotics the typical doom loop starts. Every time after taking antibiotics I get a cold.

So yesterday with my first initial symptoms (feeling cold although clothed well) I took Echinacea - which is homeopathic. Only problem was the liquid I had contains 22% alcohol. Still I decided to take it.

Shortly after I noticed the wish to drink more - which is most likely caused by having a small alcohol intake. Did not increase Baclofen - was going to bed and for now all fine.

Just reminds me how fragile my AF is and that I need to keep up with it. Got myself now capsules with Echinacea.

I count yesterday as an AF day - a spoon of medicine I do not consider drinking!

Funny thing is that when I eat Tiramisu I have no additional triggers!

32 wonderfullest AF days :happy:

[eight days a week]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

Congratulations my friend, yours is the most amazing story

Now, time to reduce the other medications, as you say, if you can. A wonderful new life lies ahead :goodjob:

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

eight days a week;807041 wrote: Congratulations my friend, yours is the most amazing story

Now, time to reduce the other medications, as you say, if you can. A wonderful new life lies ahead :goodjob:

Thank you Eight! Although things are a lot easier now, it is a constant fight and I will need a lot of time to figure out all the problems that alcohol caused to my life!!

Yes, best to reduce as much medications as possible. Totally off Pseudoephedrine now - and I feel a little more tired now. But I was working anyways too much!!

I think I would have been dead now, if I would have had that Pseudoephedrine overdose together with a lot of alcohol intake!

Omeprazol gone since 8 days! Hopefully stays off my body.

Paracetamol / Ibuprofen - taking it hardly ever now. I used to take Ibuprofen (because Paracetamol is very liver toxic) usually before going to bed to avoid a hang over the next days. I was used to take 2400mg in one dose - one time a day - pretty much all days.
Really happy that I do not need to take that anymore! Also 2400mg is going signficantly over the maximum suggested dose ....

Bupropion ... once I am more stable I will start another withdrawal - maybe in a month. I want to be sure that my panic attacks are under full control before.

That would leave me to only 2 medicaments - one for my allergy and one for my thyroid, that I both have to take for the rest of my life - and there are no problems with that.
And of course Baclofen ... Baclofen is a REAL LIFE SAVER

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

I am down with Baclofen to 156.25mg per day now (5x31.25 (1+1/4 pill of 25mg) )

My panic attacks have not improved. I have upped my Bupropion to take 3 times a day 150mg. I hope that within a week Bupropion kicks in again and help on the panic.

For now I want to stay at the current dose of Baclofen.

Lately I am feeling like someone else was driving my life. I think this is also what causes parts of my panic attacks. I see what I have done before in my life and I am not anymore okay with it. A lot of things won't be possible to change anymore though!

So I am here picking up the pieces of my life...

33 AF days and counting.

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

Still down to 156.25mg a day.

I added yesterday another 25mg pill at night - about 1.5 hours before going for dinner with some friends. I knew that everyone would drink in front of me, and considered it a trigger event.

Went through the night okay. I was not free of craving, but the craving was manageable. I could notice the typical Baclofen increase effects. Could not follow fully the discussions all the time - seemed to have a short memory - short concentration period. Dark room appeared bright to me.

I could take the next time an extra dose of 50mg, to fight the craving totally, but I am not sure if I would be able to be an interesting discussion partner at all!!

Its a bit like being drunken. I doubt I can be a good discussion partner with having drunk 5 whiskey!

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

Panic attacks are now better under control. Was swimming for 30 minutes and banned caffeine. Seems that did the trick for now!

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

Today is my 37th consecutive AF day. :happy:

I have continued to reduce the Baclofen dose - an interesting thing happened. I wanted to reduce to 25mg on each of the 5 intakes. But I would not wake up at 2-4am anymore to do another 25mg intake. so I reduced unwillingly more or less from 150mg to 100mg in a crash.

Result : I have been feeling without any power. Was sleeping many many hours and was not doing anything yesterday.

For now I have upped the dose again, It might sounds strange, but I really like to sleep less, and I do not mind at all waking up at 2-4 am ... i do not mind about it anymore, by now I love it

So most likely to keep this up I would need to stay around 156-187mg a day.

Interesting fact aside : Also with 100mg/day I had no craving!