Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

[Kayla]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

Will be following your progress Marbella x

[Beaches]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

Hi Marbella, just read through the thread and wanted to thank you for taking the time to share your story and experiences here. It really does help to see how everyone reacts to different approaches to stop drinking. I look forward to hearing about how the baclofen works out for you today.

[Theme2be]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

Dear Marbella~

I wanted to thank you for taking the time for this very helpfull post.
I am listening and learning because I want to know as much as possible.

Take good care and again, thanks for the inspiration~

[Cinders]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

Marbella,

So you are at 25 mg / day and will stay there three days?

Then up again?

I cannot wait to find out what dose makes the "click" happen.

This is very exciting.

Love,
Cindi

[cacky]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

I just ordered Balcofen. I wont get it until 6/19th. I currently, irratically take Topa and supplements. Im curious, it sounds like some of you still find your selves drinking on the Balc. Since it is a muscle relaxer does it cause you to have bad reactions if you do drink.

[Evie.Lou]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

I am loving every word that I am reading here Marby about Bac !!!!
Thanks for posting. I remember how great it was when I forgot to take my dose of Bac because I had no need for it cause the cravings were completely GONE !!! It was like a MIRACLE !!! such a relief not to be fighting those constant thoughts of wanting to drink, drink, drink !!!

[Popeye]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

Hi Marbella,
A really good read and some very frighteneing statistics too; all those young lives ruined...even ended. I too know many people, young and old who are no longer around because of their drinking habit. There was a stage I was quite desensitised to hearing that someone or other had died either directly or indirectly as a result of this terrible affliction.
I haven't used Baclofen before. I've only ever tried Antabuse, which I'm taking now and it's working a treat. I always thought it a sign of weakness to have to rely on meds to succeed, but it came to the stage when there was no other option open to me. I feel strong enough to get off it now, but I've been advised to keep taking them for at least a year, so I will.
Thanks again for writing such a good post.

[bloggy]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

Cinders;625531 wrote: Marbella,

So you are at 25 mg / day and will stay there three days?

Then up again?

I cannot wait to find out what dose makes the "click" happen.

This is very exciting.

Love,
Cindi

Cindi, since getting the baclofen about 10 days ago, I have taken the following:

First week- I took a 10mg dose on 4 occasions along with the Nal. I did notice a reduction in cravings and a mellow feeling.

Friday 29th- 25mg of Naltrexone then decided I would start the Baclofen by itself the following day. before bed I took 10mg of baclofen and had a really good sleep that night.

Saturday- 30th
10am- 5mg Baclofen
3pm - 5mg Baclofen
6pm- 10mg Baclofen

Sunday- 31sth
12am- 6mg Baclofen
5pm - 6mg Baclofen
9pm- 10mg Baclofen

Monday-1st
10am- 5mg Baclofen
2pm - 5mg Baclofen
6pm- 10mg Baclofen
10pm- 5mg Baclofen................so today I am going from 20-ish mg to 25mg- After reading a post of Bill.P where he said he took it before bed, I want to do this, as on Friday when I did I had such a good sleep, and I woke up feeling good.

I guess I will stick to the 25mg for 3 days, then depending on how it is going I will add another 5mg onto one of those dosis- probably the 2pm one.

I am going to take my 10mg dose now- today has been good- no irritableness, just a nice even mood all day.

[bloggy]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

cacky;625538 wrote: I just ordered Balcofen. I wont get it until 6/19th. I currently, irratically take Topa and supplements. Im curious, it sounds like some of you still find your selves drinking on the Balc. Since it is a muscle relaxer does it cause you to have bad reactions if you do drink.

Cacky- so far I have only had a couple of beers each day, and did not notice anything other than if I had had more beer to hand I would have drank it...basically it was the same as drinking without having taken anything.

In the thread https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...fen-32504.html Bill.P describes his experiences when he started taking it and was still drinking very heavily.

[bloggy]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

Popeye;625553 wrote: Hi Marbella,
A really good read and some very frighteneing statistics too; all those young lives ruined...even ended. I too know many people, young and old who are no longer around because of their drinking habit. There was a stage I was quite desensitised to hearing that someone or other had died either directly or indirectly as a result of this terrible affliction.
I haven't used Baclofen before. I've only ever tried Antabuse, which I'm taking now and it's working a treat. I always thought it a sign of weakness to have to rely on meds to succeed, but it came to the stage when there was no other option open to me. I feel strong enough to get off it now, but I've been advised to keep taking them for at least a year, so I will.
Thanks again for writing such a good post.

Thank you Popeye for reading it

I too used to think I could find a way without meds- I have bought LOTS of books on how to beat addiction- tapes, CDs, MP3s, you name it I have it!

I just hope other people don't wait as long a I did to try meds- if you are struggling give them a go- i have 2 friends who have been dry for years after using Antabuse. one of them for about 4 years and after a year her doctor told her she would be OK without it, but she refuses to stop taking it- she is so scared of going back. My other friend who I mentioned in the first post who went to Rehab took it as part of her post-rehab treatment- she was on it for about 6 months I think. I KNOW she will never ever consider having a drink again- she has done marvellously and has not drunk for 12 years, and said she never even thinks about booze inspite of running her own bar!

Sadly- other than the friends I mentioned in the post there have been plenty more...2 that spring to mind are 2 more women- 1 aged 43 and the another aged 47. we all think it won't happen to us, but it does.

The worse bit I guess is people like myself- I knew there was a very good chance I would be next, but I still couldn't stop.

[billyb]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

Marbella - thanks so much for sharing your story! I am very excited to hear that this is working well for you, and that you are beginning to see results. Please keep us posted - it is incredibly inspiring!!

To Cacky - that is an excellent point. I would drink, often heavily, when I started taking Baclofen. This continued right up until I hit my "magic" dose. The desire to drink did get less as I increased doses, but I would still have occasional heavy-drinking nights, even if the total quantity of alcohol I drank would be less than previously. You are right that this is not very different from taking muscle-relaxing benzos or something similar. I felt nice and relaxed, and as a result my craving for alcohol would be somewhat decreased. It is also true, though, that if I would have several drinks, the intoxication would be amplified.

But there are also some very important differences between Baclofen and muscle relaxing benzos like valium, xanax etc. These key differences are what makes it so important:

1. It doesn't induce craving for itself. When on Baclofen, you don't have a desire for more Baclofen - you must consciously remind yourself to take it. You will be dependent on Baclofen to mitigate your alcohol craving, but you won't be addicted to Baclofen itself - you won't crave it in order to satisfy that mental itch. At some point the itch will simply disappear, and you will keep taking the minimal maintenance dose of Baclofen in order to keep it gone.

2. It doesn't produce euphoria. It relaxes you, but, unlike benzos, you don't get "high." At most you get sleepy, and then maybe a little dizzy or spacey on days when you increase your dosage. It sometimes feels a bit like cold medicine or anti-allergy pills.

3. THE BIG DIFFERENCE: when you eventually reach the right dose, Baclofen will completely suppress your craving for alcohol. This is something benzos could never do, since benzos tend to feed your craving for intoxication (at least from my personal experience with pill addiction in conjunction with alcoholism). Baclofen, in the right dose, will simply put the breaks on all craving, for alcohol as well as for pills (and Dr. Ameisen has said that it looks promising for cocaine and gambling addictions too, although I have no personal experience with either of those).

[bloggy]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

Thanks Billyb- it is SOOO helpful to get input from you and the other Bill- do you think I am doing the dosing correctly?

[cacky]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

Thats great to know. I ordered some and i am trying to do a 30 day AF. Who knows only on day 2 right now.

[billyb]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

marbella;625702 wrote: Thanks Billyb- it is SOOO helpful to get input from you and the other Bill- do you think I am doing the dosing correctly?

It seems to me like you have things well under control. I agree that it is best to wait three days, and then decide whether it is the right time to add on another 5mg. You are the best judge about how you are handling the side effects, and you seem to have a good, objective perspective - you have an excellent grasp of what is best suited for your own needs.

[Bill.P.]

Baclofen- My Progress- Marbella

I agree with billyb
As I mentioned in the post with my general guide of dosing. If when you dose you find that you have too much drowsiness or any other of the much rare side effects. Then you just stick to the dose and dont up until you adjust.

I think I am going to add a slower dosing titration to that post when I have a chance today. With starting at 5mg 3x daily and add 5mg to the total daily dose every 3 days for those weary of side effects and in particular smaller women. The dosing titration should be slower for a 110 lb woman compared to a 220lb man.
I will make some adjustments to add flexibility.

Really this is what I was trying to state when I made that post is that adjust your meds as it suits you. There is no harm in taking it slower if you had side effects. That is a prudent decision.

I am very happy for you though and Cinders and thank you of course for sharing. This is such a neat experience to watch you all start this up

EDIT: Ok I updated my post about titration and dosing with a more conservative titration for people who want a slower titration. The truth is that it is hard to write a titration that is perfect for everyone as it will vary, some will want faster titrations and dont have side effects. Others may get drowsy and want to slow it down a bit like they should. So just keep in my mind the basics. Titrate to the effect of no cravings. Start low and increase til you get that effect, slow the titration down if you need to adjust to the current dose before upping it. Only you can make that determination
Here's a link to the updated post https://www.mywayout.org/community/623978-post48.html