Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

[billyb]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Julie, I'd recommend that you just take an extra dose of the baclofen.

The extra baclofen is the way to deal with extra cravings according to Dr. A's method, and I have used it very successfully.

If you are at 50mg daily, I'd say 10-15mg extra for cravings would be a good dose.

As you increase your daily dose, you can increase you as-needed dose along with it. I'd top out with 40mg prn, though, which you could take once you get to 120mg or so daily.

Personally, I'd advise a bit of caution with benzos like Klonopin or Xanax, since they tickle those same troublesome GABAa receptors that are the root of the whole problem. The baclofen's GABAb action satisfies the craving without inducing additional cravings.

However, both Cindi and Clancy Martin (who wrote an article for the London Review of Books on baclofen) have used benzos successfully with baclofen, so it might indeed work well for you. I would just recommend trying out the extra baclofen dose first, before reaching for benzos.

[prancy]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Cinders and beatle, thanks for comments on craving and moderating. I am not sure i have a craving for AL until after I have the first drink but I feel miserable when I am out with others who are drinking and I am having water. I think it is psychological as much as physical though. I think I have a thing with feeling "left out" or awkward with others than AL does wonders for!

I am waiting for a prescription for the bac. If it completely took away the desire to drink then I guess it would help with feeling awkward and I would decide not to drink at all. We have so many social engagements and they ALL involve alcohol. So being odd man (woman) out is sort of difficult for me. I have never been successful with moderating before but am willing to give it a try on bac. I will definitely post my progress and the minute it doesn't work, I am going AF.

Good luck to everyone on their doses. It is fascinating to see what works for different people.

[shelbysmiles]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Update on me. I haven't posted in a while because I'm not really making much progress here and I do not want to be a downer. I've been on Baclofen for a month. I'm still titrating and I'm currently at 100mg/day. At times I feel like I am reaching my switch - then I go and drink a bottle and a half of wine like I did last night. Since hitting 100mgs I do feel that my attitude toward alcohol is changing, but I guess I still need to go a little higher. Funny since I'm not a big girl. I'll titrate up to 110 tomorrow.

[billyb]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Don't lose motivation shelby - you'll get there eventually! It took me a lot longer than you to reach my magic dose (150mg), and it took Ameisen a whole 270mg. Ameisen's not a very big guy, either.

[Larisa]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

I just went up to 60 mg yesterday. So far, I've been drinking with no side effects, but whoa! Last night I had my usual 3/4 magnum of wine (took the last two bac pills with it) - only to wake up on my couch at 5:00 a.m., my uneaten dinner still on the table, and the dogs had peed everywhere, since I didn't let them out!

I figure it's time to cut the AL...now that my body is noticing something is up!

[gratitude]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

sober 2 years

hi all,
just to introduce myself and ask a few questions. i have been sober a little over 2 years now. wow! i used to come on the mwo website and lurk and try to figure out how to get out of the living hell i was going through. it seemed so hopeless back then. i tried the supps,etc but it didn't work for me. so... i went to rehab. hated it at first. then relaxed into it. was introduced to 12 step work. so far so good. but.. being the good alcoholic i always was waiting for the day i could "drink like a normal man". still am really. my life has changed dramatically for the better and i wake up ever day terribly hapy i am sober. the insanity of having it be so good yet occasionally still thinking i can drink is still with me. in fact, last night i dreampt that i was drinking a glass of jack d. and it felt so good to have that warmth wash over me but at the same time i felt so guilty. anyway, i am so happy that baclofen is working for most of you. i know the hell you are living through.
my questions:
does the bac help with the underlying anxiety that i always felt being around groups of people? i know when i drank the anxiety just vanished, but in the end i had no off switch.
i know some of you still go to aa like i do- have you let anyone else in the group know what you are doing. my group would freak out but to be honest i believe in science more than anything. in fact, the big book says: "one day science may accomplish this but it hasn't done so yet". maybe this is it?
does the bac get rid of the obsession completely? indifference is what i'm after.do you still dream of drinking?
would in "my heart of hearts" love to be able to have one glass of wine on a date. has anyone achieved this. would never risk my sobriety unless it was absolutely proven again and again that people had achieved this.
lastly, i wish you all the best and good luck being the bac guinee pigs. we live in a miraculous time.
i may join you in this fight just to see if i can be really "cured". i already have sobriety for today. peace, grateful.

[bernard]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

shelbysmiles;678720 wrote: Update on me. I've been on Baclofen for a month. I'm still titrating and I'm currently at 100mg/day. At times I feel like I am reaching my switch - then I go and drink a bottle and a half of wine like I did last night. Since hitting 100mgs I do feel that my attitude toward alcohol is changing, but I guess I still need to go a little higher. Funny since I'm not a big girl. I'll titrate up to 110 tomorrow.

Remember that Ameisen was at 180 mg/day for 20 months with not the slightest reduction in his binging. After going up to 270, and ready to head even higher, it clicked and he became totally indifferent to booze. The only problem at 270 was that it made him too sleepy. After stabilizing at 270, he was able to slowly descend to 120 where he still had no craving and the sleepiness was gone. After an intentional alcohol challenge (i.e. he drank on purpose even though he had no desire to drink), he stanched the craving by temporarily climbing to 180 before returning to 120.

It seems that for some people it takes a big dose to break the craving, but after that it takes much less to keep it at bay.

Not med. advice (I'll start calling this disclaimer NMA), but in view of your tolerance of the bacalk cocktail, I wonder if you can boost your rate of increase, say to 10 mg/day/day, with all due caution, of course.

[prancy]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Does anyone know if bac shows up in blood tests?

[Cinders]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Gratitude,

Hi and :welcome:!!

2 years sober is wonderful.

Probably none of us can answer your questions. You are way ahead of most of us here.

However, one person posted here that after a relapse, she started on the Baclofen and felt immediate relief of her desire to drink. Dolly Sunshine, was it?

I suggest you go to your doctor (if you can) and discuss it with him/her. Others are doing this by ordering online but if you can get a doctor to prescribe it for you, I think that is best.

Yes, becoming indifferent to alcohol is my goal, too.

Let's hope we both achieve it.

Again, welcome and I hope you let us know if you decide to try Baclofen and how it works for you.

Cindi

[Bill.P.]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

gratitude;678745 wrote: hi all,
just to introduce myself and ask a few questions. i have been sober a little over 2 years now. wow! i used to come on the mwo website and lurk and try to figure out how to get out of the living hell i was going through. it seemed so hopeless back then. i tried the supps,etc but it didn't work for me. so... i went to rehab. hated it at first. then relaxed into it. was introduced to 12 step work. so far so good. but.. being the good alcoholic i always was waiting for the day i could "drink like a normal man". still am really. my life has changed dramatically for the better and i wake up ever day terribly hapy i am sober. the insanity of having it be so good yet occasionally still thinking i can drink is still with me. in fact, last night i dreampt that i was drinking a glass of jack d. and it felt so good to have that warmth wash over me but at the same time i felt so guilty. anyway, i am so happy that baclofen is working for most of you. i know the hell you are living through.
my questions:
does the bac help with the underlying anxiety that i always felt being around groups of people? i know when i drank the anxiety just vanished, but in the end i had no off switch.
i know some of you still go to aa like i do- have you let anyone else in the group know what you are doing. my group would freak out but to be honest i believe in science more than anything. in fact, the big book says: "one day science may accomplish this but it hasn't done so yet". maybe this is it?
does the bac get rid of the obsession completely? indifference is what i'm after.do you still dream of drinking?
would in "my heart of hearts" love to be able to have one glass of wine on a date. has anyone achieved this. would never risk my sobriety unless it was absolutely proven again and again that people had achieved this.
lastly, i wish you all the best and good luck being the bac guinee pigs. we live in a miraculous time.
i may join you in this fight just to see if i can be really "cured". i already have sobriety for today. peace, grateful.

Hi Gratitude. This is Bill.P. here.
Well just wanted to first off say congratulations on your 2 years of sobriety. And if you look at the brain scans thread of what brains with addicted rewards centers look like versus the same brain after 7 days when presented with cues. You will see what is going on in the brain that doesnt occur in a "civilian's brain" a person that is not addicted to alcohol.
You see a glass or have a dream of jack daniels and it reminds the reward center of the brain, which by evolution is wired into all of the brain for survival purposes. Its a drive system and a potent one. It change the way you think ona subconscious and even conscious level.

My view on baclofen as it is a very safe drug. Doesnt mess up your liver or kidneys like tylenol or ibuprofen. And scientifically speaking, it DRAMATICALLY reduces anxiety. It is a very very potent antianxiety medication.

I have self experimented with a number of antianxiety medications such as buspirone, SSRIs, SNRIs, lamictal as a mood stabilizer, geodon, zyprexa for other reasons. Too numerous to list the psychoactive drugs I have tested out on myself.
Hands down, baclofen has reduced my anxiety like no other.

It doesnt cloud my thinking like benzos do. Its like I am just released to say whats on my mind to people. Sometimes I have difficulty in talking or I talk to fast. That's gone with baclofen. I have even taken betablockers for anxiety which block adrenaline.

You know since its non controlled, non euphoric and non addictive with a very safe profile for quality of life improvement. Why not try a two month trial. If it doesnt work, just discontinue it.
Its a very cheap medication. I have no problem getting a prescription for it, well I am also well versed at discussing it in medical terms as well and I know my primary doctor professionally before I had chosen him to handle my care objectively (meaning, I didnt direct my own care).
So he said, sure, wrote it out.

But then I went to a neurologist b/c I had a seizure in january I didnt follow up on. My wife is coming on Saturday and I quit baclofen and it was, well I scared the hell out of myself doing that. So that is the only thing is that you have to stop it by lowering your dose. So I went to the neurologist and I denied my baclofen withdrawal hospital visit, but he was at the computer and had access to it. Dammit!
Embarassed I told what happened, how I was testing what stopping baclofenn at high dose felt like and if I would get a craving for alcohol. Only to end up in a total panic from anxiety rebound.
A neurologist SHOULD know all there is about gaba b system. He was like "WHO is prescribing you baclofen at that dose?"
I know he was shocked.

At the end of the exam he asked if I had any questions. I am set up with an EEG and MRI to make sure I dont have a brain tumor (just would make me feel better ruling that out). And I asked if he ever heard of people using baclofen for alcohol addiction?
He said with a smile "youre the first!"

So I whipped out my brain scans on patients before and after baclofen being exposed to cues haha! And then I gave him a copy of Dr Ameisen's book. He was a bit giddy and I also included ***
So I told him, read it, its the wave of the future! He laughed! I think I shocked him a bit with that. He opened the door for me to do that though when he asked in that tone "WHO is prescribing that to you at that dose?"
So I slamdunked it on him! :evil: lol

but yeah, just do a trial, wont hurt you for 2 months. Maybe you find it miraculous like so many have since it blew up here in the last couple of months.

[louise]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Welcome Gratitude. Thanks for sharing your success story. I can't answer your questions but agree with Bill that it would definitely be worth a try to get rid of the anxiety and lingering thoughts of alcohol. Dr. A reports he does occasionally have a drink.

[gratitude]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

thank you for the welcome

hey guys, thanks for making me feel welcome on this site. i am following all of you taking baclofen,watching your progress and really pulling for you.
cinders-thanks for the reply. i think you said you still went to aa. i do too and wondering what i would do if this works. probably still go for the spiritual aspect.
bill p- i probably will do a 2 month trial. for the anxiety as well as to see if my dreams of alcohol and persistent obsession go away completly. i am in control now but still have the occasional WOW A BEER SOUNDS GOOD. the anxiety i get when i try to accomplish goals is prevalent. maybe this will help?
louise and zenstyle- thanks for the welcome.
in regards to sleep. when i first was sober i had insomnia and it was recommended that i take melatonin. it worked for me. i break a 3 mg tab in two and take that before bed and i'm out. good sleep too. not the wierd in and out and leg twitching i got from benadryl.
i also started triathlons and i'm usually so tired from training that i sleep well. it also reduces anxiety and i'm convinced it has helped me stay sober. thanks,gratitude:thanks:

[Zman]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Bender- bad one

Afer going AF for 5 days I lost my shit. Drank 7 bottles of wine (give or take a bottle) this weekend (which is fri-sat over here). Feel like shit. Have gone up to 90mg yesterday, and not feeling major side-effects other than the somnolence, but defintely not feeling a reduction in cravings. I guess my off switch is a ways off, but starting to feel a little despondent.

[me1455]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

I feel for ya z man. I went and hung out w my ex boyfriend who's a drinker and I drank a lot too. I still havent gotten a job and am bored to death during the day.I forgot to bring my bac to my bfs who lives in anither state, so I was only taking 20mg for those two days I was there.I was and am up to 70.let's hope as we get up higher it will work.I'm terribly down today as I always am after a bender.

[Zman]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

ME,

I really enjoy your posts. Oftentimes, I feel like youre taking the words (or questions) out of my mouth. Like when you started a thread about whether you get f'ed up if you miss a dose, i was wondering the same thing.

And like you, i would love to be able to mod and become a "normal" drinker like all of my friends. They drink a lot, but never get crazy drunk like I do. I envy them. I also think youre around the same age as me. Anyway, i think the first step is to reach the off switch and then lets see.

Seeing ex's is always tough...the toughness is always made easier after a couple of drinks.