Cindi's Baclofen Progress

[chrysa]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

Hi Cindi,

Ditto on the wonderful success. A couple of questions:

1) I know the type of work that you do & I need to know if the baclofen made your mind fuzzy or not. Was it just feeling physically tired "at times" or did it affect your thinking abilities & quickness? I could not tolerate topa very well regarding my work and all in all the tiredness led to serious depression.

2) I am thinking the safest thing of course is to go to a psychiatrist. My family doctor friend, whom I trusted & would help me, can no longer see women. I may have to wait to see a doc until I get a job & my benefits change around.

Do you think it is critical to work with a doctor or do you feel a lot of it is personal experimentation with the dosage?.

What do you think?

Thank you very much, if you have time to answer.

Jeanne

[Cinders]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

Aarrgghh.

I drank yesterday. Got home from a really stressful doctor's appointment and on the way I stopped and got a bottle.

Talk about stupid. The choices I make.

Quite honestly, I didn't really even need to. I didn't have any physical desire to drink.

I did have a desire to "check out," though and did.

Not going to look back, though. I had days under my belt and not going to give up.

Shows me that the Baclofen is just part of the solution for me. I must work on my habits.

It is a habit to use alcohol when I am scared. I need to learn to buck up and take it on.

Cindi

[Cinders]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

Chrysa,

To answer your question about fuzzy-headed. No. I don't feel drugged other than sleepy at times. I have done some heavy duty work while on this drug.

Not as sleepy as taking a Benadryl for me, though.

The reason to titrate up is to avoid that side effect as best as possible.

HTH,
Cindi

[Going Strong]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

I know!

Cindi,
I know exactly what you mean. My cravings are in control but my habits of how I handle stress need to be addressed.
Don't be too hard on yourself as at least this drug allows us to work on this now that we are aware. And with less stress than we have had before.
Bac does make me mellower to handle life easier and I like you are doing so much better than ever before.
Cindi We CAN do this!!
hugs & :h

[chrysa]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

Thanks Cindi. So you have a scare on the medical front? I so hope it is not too bad. You are doing great all around, esp statying positive. I admire that.

[billyb]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

I agree about the habits being the last little piece of the puzzle.

Even after I hit the magic point, I still needed my habitual bit of alcohol every day.

It got to the point where I would split a single beer every night with my wife just for the habit of it. I didn't mind this, since I had no desire to drink more than that, but I also wanted to just cut it out altogether as a point of pride.

I did successfully cut it out for about a month of sobriety (something I hadn't accomplished in about 15 years), and that felt great. Now, however, I will have an occasional drink at a social event. The difference is that I don't ever feel like having a second drink.

One piece of advice for those moments when you need alcohol: consider permitting yourself an extra dose of baclofen instead. Ameisen describes this in his book. I think he permitted himself up to 40mg extra in case of strong cravings. While you might not be willing to go that high, perhaps you could permit yourself an extra 20mg if needed?

I have done this (I let myself have up to 30mg extra), and although I rarely ever use that extra dose, I find it very psychologically reassuring. If you feel the need to "check out," why not just get very sleepy with baclofen instead? At least you won't wake up with a splitting headache.

Just make sure you set an appropriate level for that permitted extra dose, and don't ever exceed that level. The good thing with baclofen, though, is that there's no real desire to exceed that level, since unlike with drink, taking some baclofen doesn't cause a desire to take more baclofen.

Your success so far is really terrific - now it's just a matter of fine-tuning the details.

[billyb]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

If you're taking 30mg three times a day, I might suggest trying 20mg as the extra dose. Then, depending on how that works for you, adjust it from there.

[Cinders]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

Well, other than the Monday blip, I am doing great!!

90 mg/day in 3 doses : 7am, Noon, 5pm

Not even tired.

Have had some thoughts (easily swatted away) and am thinking I will titrate up to 100 mg /day, 40 mg at 5 pm to see if I can get even those to disappear.

Doctor doesn't want me over 90 mgs but I do so want to get to that switch where I am completely indifferent. I will be traveling again soon and that is a huge trigger for me. I would love to go to the airport and not look longingly at the bar while I am waiting....

Once I hit that switch, I will stay there for a while before titrating back down. That seems to be how Amiesen and Bill have done it. I will follow that protocol.

HTH,
Cindi

[Going Strong]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

Happy for you Cindi,

It is Great to hear!

Dosage is different for everybody listen to your body it will tell you how you are going.

[christyacc]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

Cinders;644861 wrote:

Once I hit that switch, I will stay there for a while before titrating back down. That seems to be how Amiesen and Bill have done it. I will follow that protocol.

HTH,
Cindi

So, you take it up to a certain amount and once you get to a certain point, you tirate down again? Won't the cravings come back?

[lucky 2.0]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

What does HTH mean?

[Cinders]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

Christy,

Amiesen and Bill both titrated up until they became indifferent to alcohol. For each that was a different dosage.

After some time, they both titrated down. I don't recall Bill's maintenance dosage but it isn't very high.

Apparently, once you have managed to extinguish the cravings and stay there a while, you can reduce your dosage and still have no cravings.

Cindi

[Cinders]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

Hope this helps.

[Accountable for Me]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

Is this something that you would have to be on for life?

[Cinders]

Cindi's Baclofen Progress

I think so, AFM.

Amiesen still takes it after 4 or 5 years sober, but at a much smaller dosage than the one that got him sober.

I don't know how long I would go before I was willing to "test" the waters.

On the AA thread and in my AA meetings, I have met many who have relapsed after years of sobriety.

But, this drug has been used on patients for years and years and does not lose its effectiveness (for spasms) and is fairly safe.

btw, I do want to say if there is anyway you can get a doctor to prescribe it, go that route.

No drug is completely safe. It is so much better to have a doctor available in case you have some strange reaction to a med, etc.

I was allergic to Topamax and was grateful I had gotten it from my doctor, so I could discuss my reaction with her and determine it was the Topamax.

Cindi