Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

[louise]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

I hope your interview went well Veritas - I'm sure it was better than one with a hangover!

[veritas]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

I am going to start this with a baclofen warning

Firstly, before I say a word, I am still on my baclofen and extremely grateful to have it at hand. I can never drink on baclofen, I might die

I finished work rather late on Tuesday night. I was rather tired and keen to go to bed. Much to my surprise, a couple of my collegues were still at work having their after work wine. I did not plan it, it was just mindless, but I decided to join them. I had taken my last dose of 10mg 4 hours previously.

I am not sure how much I had to drink, maybe about 3 glasses of wine, but suddenly I started vomiting uncontrolably. I had to be taken home. I felt as though I had been drinking a whole bottle of whiskey. I could not walk straight and really wanted to die... it seemed the better option.

My daughter was very worried and brought a bucket to my bedroom in case I could not make it to the loo. She also opened my bedroom windows to take away the smell of vomit. I was retching for ages, long after my stomach contents were clear.

I then found that I could not move. It was freezing, its midwinter here, but I was absolutely paralysed. It took about 2 hours before I could stand and get back into bed. I could not work on wednesday and felt drunk and nauseaus for the whole day.

I have no doubt that had I not vomited, I could have died. It was as if I had no capacity to metabolise the alcohol. I have never, even in my most drunken moments, felt so afraid and so sick.

I have looked at the warnings on the package and it does not seem that this is usual, but I do want to warn people, please, please be careful.

[shelbysmiles]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

Veritas, I'm so sorry you went through that. Thanks for letting us know what happened.

[bernard]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

Thank you, Veritas. You have provided a valuable piece of information that is otherwise unknown to anyone. Are you taking any other meds?

[Siwan]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

withdrawn

[louise]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

Veritas, this is very scary. I'm glad you are ok. I hope you don't mind if I copy your whole report and past it on the baclofen warning thread. I really think that needs to be there, as the other warning was about campral.

[veritas]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

Bernard asked if I was taking any other meds. It would explain the extreme response.

No, I am not. I am very sensitive to certain medications though and am unable to take anything containing asprin. If I do, I develop nausea and loss of balance. Maybe there is something in my constitution that makes me more sensitive. However, I do think that there are a few others out there similar to myself who might have a similar reaction.

My feeling was that there was something blocking the metabolism of the alcohol, almost like ante booze, but different. Despite the fact that I started vomiting within an hour of starting drinking, I felt absolutely "legless/motherless/pickeled/smashed/....", as though I had been on a binge of note.

[veritas]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

Zen, I did read your experience, but I think I thought that "I would test" the medication. I often have to take anti histamines and have just become so blase about the warnings on packets.

I am still feeling rather put off alcohol after my horrible experience, so I think the thought of drinking is still very scary.

I had to work today and I had a client cancel at the last minute. There is a 5 litre box of wine in full view whenever I go to make a cup of coffee. I know that in my pre bac days I would have slipped a quick sip or six to pass time while I waited for my next client. Now I just felt shudders every time I looked at the box.

I have taken 40mgs today. It will soon be my bedtime. Feeling a bit nauseaus again despite having eaten.

[Evie.Lou]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

everyone is going to know soon

[veritas]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

I hope that my bad experience can help people. I am concerned that a bad experience could end up in Bac getting a bad rap.

Evie, I think that I am like you, in that my response to bac is very sensitive. I think that you would have a similar response to me, were you to drink. As I write, my morning bac is kicking in and I am "feeling it".

[Evie.Lou]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

I know that you telling others what is YOUR experience will a great help and inspiration to many.........many millions as a rip affect.

Bless you in your work.

[bernard]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

This "viral" flow of medical information will, I think, someday be reliable enough that physicians will use it openly rather than just lurk, as I suspect many psychiatrists are doing now to try and avoid becoming irrelevant due to knowing soooo much less than someone following this group. One step in that direction is to get at least some basic information from each person reporting so that an observer can start to see patterns and quote some numbers, such as numbers reporting any given symptom. It would be nice if one of the lurkers were a medical epidemiologist who might offer some rudimentary suggestions. As an amateur first draft, the list might include:

Gender, age, height and weight, detailed drinking history, other meds currently taking, other meds tried for alcohol dependence, response to alcohol, known bad reactions to drugs or foods, and so on.

I thought of this when I read more of veritas' story in which he explains that his standard response to excessive alcohol is nausea and vomiting. And his response to aspirin is nausea and vertigo. In this context, his response to a combination of baclofen and alcohol--really bad nausea and vomiting, temporary paralysis, and overall horror--is not quite as big a red flag to other balofenists as it would have been without knowing this. (Of course I am not in the slightest belittling the pain veritas went through.)

One other thought: Can any of you computer gurus figure out how to do a machine translation and consolidation into a single pdf of that 546-page thread in French on baclofen? It's at
Alcool : forum E-sant?

[Evie.Lou]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

Thanks for the great site bernard ...that will be so very useful to many people.

Keep up the good work. I believe in ya. Always have always will !!!

[veritas]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

I did not take bac yesterday after my second horrible experience. I do want to continue, so I am starting again today, but titrating very slowly. I have decided to take only 2 doses of 5mg and go from there. I do feel very anxious that I might be one of those unable to tolerate the medication.

[veritas]

Veritas takes the Baclofen plunge

Managed the lower dose well. Even though I was off bac for almost 48hrs, the thought of alcohol is leaving my stomach turning. This never happened with a hangover. I would often drink a beer to settle the stomach.