Siwan's baclofen log

[Siwan]

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[Cinders]

Siwan's baclofen log

Siwan,

I am glad you decided to log your progress.

I agree, the more who do, and discourse honestly about their progress, the better for so many to come.

I hope the Baclofen works for you like it has for me.

I do know that I could drink past it. Did that on Monday. So it is not a "magic bullet" but in my case it is a Godsend. I have been AF now, except my Monday blip, for quite a while and trust me, that is not easy for me. I am a heavy vodka drinker. 24/7 was my modus operandi. I have gone to work drunk, I have had to drink in the a.m. just to make it to work, and of course, I have had few nights in the last while that I remember.

Today, I know I can beat this addiction. I am confident, happy and relaxed. I do not think about drinking all day long and I do not feel compelled to go and sneak a drink when hubby is gone. This is miraculous.

Thank you for posting and sharing.

Cindi

[Siwan]

Siwan's baclofen log

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[Cinders]

Siwan's baclofen log

Siwan,

I am still titrating up, myself.

I am at 100 mg today (previouly 90 mg)

I am waiting for the magic BUT did notice cravings diminish to a dull roar around 80 mg/day.

I am going to keep going up until I get that complete indifference Amiesen and some members here have talked about. I may be close because today has been a piece of cake. Very few "thoughts."

I have to start traveling again, soon, and omg that is such a trigger!! Airport bars, hotel rooms by myself. Yikes. I want to be "safe" next time I venture out.

I am posting on a thread, too, and will post what my number is when I hit it.

Zenstyle and Shas have threads, too, and I am sure they will be sharing as they get there. However, both of them have also already seen a huge reduction in cravings.

I am trying to abstain, though, no matter what. So, I really do want to hit that place where I am comfortable knowing I can go anywhere or do anything without caving to the drinking.

Cindi

[Going Strong]

Siwan's baclofen log

Siwan

Siwan so glad you are here!

Just keep posting and one day you will be able to look back and read all these posts and realise how far you have come!

I don't think it is how much you drink but how it is affecting your life.

I was a serious hard case and thought I would never be where I am today.

We re all here for you!

[christyacc]

Siwan's baclofen log

Good for you for expressing yourself and 'putting it out there'.

I will be reading your progress, and I wish you the very best.

[Siwan]

Siwan's baclofen log

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[Bill.P.]

Siwan's baclofen log

YAY! Another progress thread, I do so much like these threads and read everyone of them. I love it watching the rough starts people have exactly like how mine was. Then as they progress and up the dose, they just are so much more positive.
Thank you very much for sharing and hang in there and dont get down in the beginning. Stay positive and good things will come to you. I have not heard one bad outcome from baclofen yet. Just those who quit at low dose

[Siwan]

Siwan's baclofen log

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[Bill.P.]

Siwan's baclofen log

Dont worry, Ill keep my eyes on you


And thank you for the nice comment. Helping people with the baclofen is a 2 way street. I get to watch some miracles unfold and I really enjoy it. Its wonderful actually to watch these progress threads help so many other people. And no doubt I will be reading your progress and how you progress. This baclofen treatment is in its very infancy and I believe this forum with what has been posted so far will be read by many in the years to come. no pressure lol.
But seriously, we've generated alot of useful baclofen content in one place for future readers.

You know I did send him a couple of messages but not surprisingly I have not heard back from him. Doing his book tour and also he was doing work with some researchers in Pennsylvania and other places as well as his book was very large in France before releasing it this year in the States. I can only imagine he gets contacted by the hundreds each day, if not thousands.
It would be interesting to someday meet him, although as baclofen treatment becomes the standard as I expect it will be with more research being done. I think his life will only become more hectic

At any rate, I dont tend to post much on these threads but I do read them every day so if you have any questions feel free to ask it to me. You can PM me as well if its something you dont want to share publicly.

[Bill.P.]

Siwan's baclofen log

Zenstyle;645934 wrote: Hey Siwan!

I'm glad you decided to start a thread. I've found it to be a good motivator. I'll be watching your progress with interest!

One of the other members here who is titrating up with baclofen also has an autistic son.

Did you read the posts at the end of my thread (from earlier today)? Apparently, it's better to titrate slower than I thought... make sure you read the new posts!

Welcome on board!

Hi Zen, what convinced you that slower is better out of curiousity? I read Harry said slow and steady wins the race french quote but the titration dosages with the 3 day increases were taken from the Food and Drug Administration dosing guidelines and another one from Epocrates online.

I am not saying either is a better way but I may have missed something. I dont see much point in slowing the titration unless dealing with side effects and I dont see any evidence either way of slowing the titration having an effect. Getting to an effective dose quicker seems to make more sense to me. For me, I am glad I titrated up to 80mg in about a week. 3 days of bad drowsiness and that was it. Then fixed since. Maybe its just my personality that I like fast results, but I still dont see the point of slow titration in particularly in the absence of side effects.

Let's say 8 weeks pass. one person took 6 weeks to get to an effective dose while drinking on and off. And another got up to effective dose in 2 weeks and then quit drinking. I think the latter would be better off at the end of the 8 weeks.

And as we always say to each other on PMs, not trying to butt heads but if you bust out a study and prove my rationale incorrect. I will track you down and surrepticiously replace your baclofen with placebonol

[christyacc]

Siwan's baclofen log

Hi Bill.

With your titration, have you realized a lower 'plateau'? I think what they were saying is if they titrate slower, then they 'plateau' at a lower dosage. Have you found this?

This interests me!!!!!!!

[Bill.P.]

Siwan's baclofen log

christyacc;645956 wrote: Hi Bill.

With your titration, have you realized a lower 'plateau'? I think what they were saying is if they titrate slower, then they 'plateau' at a lower dosage. Have you found this?

This interests me!!!!!!!

I wasnt much concerned about my dosage, actually not at all. I knew it was a very safe drug, I was much more concerned about getting out of the hell in my mind as quick as possible. Plus, even though I know better, if I dont see results quickly I tend to stop taking medication. I wanted to avoid that with baclofen. Either it worked or it didnt.
As Ive said before, titration dosing will be guided alot by one's personality and comfort level with medications. If I had thoughts invading my mind that I might be harming myself or something could go terribly wrong with taking this medication. Then i would be cautious. I wasnt worried about safety as I researched it and was satisfied. So for me, it was go get the effect fast.

The last day I drank was the end of a bender of morning, noon and night and I had taken 10mg to 20mg sporadically for a few days before I went back to work. Then, I was drying out and took 20mg in the am, I was exhausted, 20mg afternoon, was very tired. And I never drank since. That was a Tuesday, Wednesday was the same, Thursday not quite so bad. Btw, tuesday was 40mg total which was to be 60mg but I just fell asleep before that last dose. Wednesday 60mg, thursday 60mg. Friday 80mg and that was my magic night. But really I hadnt drank since that Monday. I was too exhausted to know if I had any cravings. But by friday they were definitely gone. I didnt stop there and by the middle of the next week. I was at 120mg just for added measure.
So really, I stopped drinking at a dose of 40mg/day but days later, I was craving free at a low dose of 80mg for my height and weight. it shouldve been much higher.
So my fast titration would show that titrating quickly also shows anectdotally that a lower plateau can also result from that titration.

I really dont think there is a right way or a wrong way to dose it as long as you keep marching towards the higher dose. I just have not been convinced of a reason to slow the titration down unless they were having side effects. It does not make medical logical sense that a true dosage needed would be different over time based on titration speed. If it takes 80mg at 6 months to continue, it will not matter if you got there on a 8 week titration or a 3 week titration after that amount of time.

I would tend to believe that alcoholics getting very rapid results from baclofen would aid them rather drawing it out for a reason I have yet to understand. And zen and I pm many times over this very sort of stuff so we arent arguing Just sharing insight and research and opinion. Perhaps I shouldve left this to our Pms lol

[christyacc]

Siwan's baclofen log

I appreciate you honesty, thank you!!!!! All this information I will most certainly take into consideration,

Thank you SO much Bill!!!

[billyb]

Siwan's baclofen log

--EDITED--

Sorry, I feel like my lengthy post here hijacked Siwan's thread.

If you want to read my comments on fast vs slow titration, I'm posting them over in the baclofen thread instead.