I've been coming here for a few months. It was recommended that I introduce myself somewhere, but I never did that. I started to several times, but it was just too overwhelming. I didn't know where to start because I wanted to say everything. I didn't know where to post because I didn't want to do the whole daily check in thing. I just wanted to do my thing and come here with questions. Eventually I felt like that was kind of selfish. Also, as I learned more about how to search the forums I've found a wealth of information that's already out there. All the stuff that is new to me has been discussed for years by the older members. Anyway, so this is my experience.
I started taking baclofen last year for it's intended purpose, but quickly found this site when I googled information on the drug. Ironically I was also drinking about 375ml vodka a night. I was depressed and in a lot of pain. The vodka didn't really help but it's all I had. So I started at 20mg of baclofen a day, found this site, but didn't read much and tried to bump up my dosage here and there. Probably would have been a good time to introduce myself then and to actually ask questions and to read the information available, but I didn't. So I just took baclofen occasionally in 40-50mg doses. It made my stomach hurt. I stopped but I was drinking more and more. I went back on my Prozac and as I started to feel less depressed and miserable I wanted to quit drinking. I tried, but everyday I would come home from work and my husband would irritate me so much I would end up in my bathroom drinking out of the bottle. No matter how much I wanted to quit I couldn't take more than a night or two off and that was hard. So I came back here and actually read some things. I got my dosage increased at the doctor to 60mg/day and I placed an order through River pharmacy. I went up really quickly and I had side effects but I instantly felt better than I had in a long time. I've read other posts recently about baclofen being great for anxiety. Just like everyone in those threads I had no idea I was anxious. What people called anxiety is what I called strength. The constant stress and misery of life I'd just shove it down and move on. Keep waking up, going to work, cleaning the house, pretending to be a productive caring human being, rinse and repeat. No matter how miserable I was (and I was really fucking miserable. I would have killed myself but I couldn't scar my son for life and my family. So I just kept trudging through everyday because I had no other choice but I secretly wanted to die) I didn't know that I was stressed about being the bread winner in my family when I hated my job and it took everything I had to get out of bed every morning. I thought I was being strong because I didn't want to do it but I was sucking it up and going because that's what adults do. And there was a lot of other anxiety. It came out in other ways like hypochondria, bulimia, just other weird quirks that I didn't realize were my screwed up heads attempt at controlling things. The baclofen made me feel balanced for the first time ever. So yeah I titrated up way too fast and I ha headaches and weird brain zaps and twitches but I was an engaged human being again. I was actually excited about life for the first time in a long time. This allowed me to make some other changes as well. I had been supplementing vitamins and amino acids for about 6 months. I was convinced I could figure out what was wrong with my health and fix it myself. Well I decided to focus more on my brain and my emotions. So I started taking Rhodiola, ashwagandha, NAC, Inositol, mucuna pruriens, 5htp, DMAE, and some various other vitamins and minerals, including magnesium. I got back into running which has always been something that makes me feel good. About a year and a half earlier I had been training for my first half marathon. At the time life was going well and I decided to stop taking Prozac because I thought I should be able to handle my depression with exercise and proper nutrition. Haha a couple of months later I became convinced that I had arthritis or MS or a dozen other illnesses. I stopped running because my joints were constantly Inflamed. So I'm back to running, I've added a yoga class twice a week, found a new psychiatrist, and I'm trying to practice some balance in my life. I feel like baclofen has been more than just a way to stop drinking for me, but it's been helpful with my anxiety and depression as well. So right now I'm just trying to remember to keep up the things that got me to this place of feeling good. I'm taking 175-200mg of baclofen a day. It depends on the brand. As I've posted in a couple of other threads I've had some issues with different brands. I think there's a lot of resources here that can help me. I just have to commit to becoming part of the community.
I started taking baclofen last year for it's intended purpose, but quickly found this site when I googled information on the drug. Ironically I was also drinking about 375ml vodka a night. I was depressed and in a lot of pain. The vodka didn't really help but it's all I had. So I started at 20mg of baclofen a day, found this site, but didn't read much and tried to bump up my dosage here and there. Probably would have been a good time to introduce myself then and to actually ask questions and to read the information available, but I didn't. So I just took baclofen occasionally in 40-50mg doses. It made my stomach hurt. I stopped but I was drinking more and more. I went back on my Prozac and as I started to feel less depressed and miserable I wanted to quit drinking. I tried, but everyday I would come home from work and my husband would irritate me so much I would end up in my bathroom drinking out of the bottle. No matter how much I wanted to quit I couldn't take more than a night or two off and that was hard. So I came back here and actually read some things. I got my dosage increased at the doctor to 60mg/day and I placed an order through River pharmacy. I went up really quickly and I had side effects but I instantly felt better than I had in a long time. I've read other posts recently about baclofen being great for anxiety. Just like everyone in those threads I had no idea I was anxious. What people called anxiety is what I called strength. The constant stress and misery of life I'd just shove it down and move on. Keep waking up, going to work, cleaning the house, pretending to be a productive caring human being, rinse and repeat. No matter how miserable I was (and I was really fucking miserable. I would have killed myself but I couldn't scar my son for life and my family. So I just kept trudging through everyday because I had no other choice but I secretly wanted to die) I didn't know that I was stressed about being the bread winner in my family when I hated my job and it took everything I had to get out of bed every morning. I thought I was being strong because I didn't want to do it but I was sucking it up and going because that's what adults do. And there was a lot of other anxiety. It came out in other ways like hypochondria, bulimia, just other weird quirks that I didn't realize were my screwed up heads attempt at controlling things. The baclofen made me feel balanced for the first time ever. So yeah I titrated up way too fast and I ha headaches and weird brain zaps and twitches but I was an engaged human being again. I was actually excited about life for the first time in a long time. This allowed me to make some other changes as well. I had been supplementing vitamins and amino acids for about 6 months. I was convinced I could figure out what was wrong with my health and fix it myself. Well I decided to focus more on my brain and my emotions. So I started taking Rhodiola, ashwagandha, NAC, Inositol, mucuna pruriens, 5htp, DMAE, and some various other vitamins and minerals, including magnesium. I got back into running which has always been something that makes me feel good. About a year and a half earlier I had been training for my first half marathon. At the time life was going well and I decided to stop taking Prozac because I thought I should be able to handle my depression with exercise and proper nutrition. Haha a couple of months later I became convinced that I had arthritis or MS or a dozen other illnesses. I stopped running because my joints were constantly Inflamed. So I'm back to running, I've added a yoga class twice a week, found a new psychiatrist, and I'm trying to practice some balance in my life. I feel like baclofen has been more than just a way to stop drinking for me, but it's been helpful with my anxiety and depression as well. So right now I'm just trying to remember to keep up the things that got me to this place of feeling good. I'm taking 175-200mg of baclofen a day. It depends on the brand. As I've posted in a couple of other threads I've had some issues with different brands. I think there's a lot of resources here that can help me. I just have to commit to becoming part of the community.
Comment