Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

[Zman]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Anna,

I have noticed that as well. Like i bought two bottles of wine the other day, and no doubt, those two bottles would be gone before i go to sleep usually (my wife may have a glass or two...the rest down my gullet). But the other day, i left half a bottle undrunk. Not sure whether that is bc of the Bac or not, but it was definitely a new thing for me.

That being said, i went out last night with friends, drank alot more than everyone else, then came home, and the first thing i reached for was the undrunk half bottle of wine hehe. So i dont know. But I dont feel that AL has any greater or lesser effect on me on Bac.

[louise]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Zman, Dr. Amieson went up to 270, so yes, you may go higher than 150, but I wouldn't worry about that now, just take it one step at a time. Many of us are finding we need less that we anticipated, so you may too!
It does seem that you and ME have an extra challenge with friends that are heavy drinkers and lots of social activities that involve drinking. I'm assuming you have both read the info about the sinclair method with naltrexone since your goal is to be social drinkers? If not, you may want to investigate.

[me1455]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

hey all, sorry ive been posting from my blackberry so when i read my posts later on i notice they came out weird. well, im now up to 40mg. i went to the doctor today, really thought if i said i needed it and ive been on it working he would give in. didnt.. i go to a clinic since i dont have insurnace and its filled with young doctors that are newer than usual. he looked at me like i am crazy asking for baclofen, said he never gave that out for drinking. i brought along with me printed out articles on the studies. he had that look of wow, interesting , and odd. he said let me go talk to the other doctor and see what he says. he came back, said" im sorry we cannot give this to you because its not even fda approved. have you tried aa? what im gonna do is give you a prescription to come off it in two weeks. " haha i gave him a little smile and said uh huh. he really believed i would do it after i told him all the info. so that was that.

so ive been titrating up by 5mg. i have had the nausea for sure. im attempting what siwan and someone else i read on here plan on doing. still drinking and hoping i will reach the mg that will mae me indifferent to alcohol and then i want to go af for a month and then try drinking moderately. because i have felt like when ive drank, i feel it may be like a normal person, non alcoholic feels.(as a few of you have said, was it in your head or did u feel something drinking maybe slower, etc-has happened a few times with me) maybe... like i feel a bit happyin the beginning and after a few i get the fuzzy feeling veritas was talking about.(uncomfortable, spacey and maybe more drunk feeling) i remember feeling no pleasure after a short ime, and yet couldnt stop though. the reason partly im sure is because my; body is so used to drinking so its physically addictive. thats why an af period is really helpful in these type of situations. like maybe if we broke our bodies addiction to it aftter a brief period and took the baclofen, we could stop when we stopped feeling the good feeling.

i also had a weird situation like someone else on here who was on the plane and fell asleep. i too never ever fall asleep in the day. i did it today fter layin down for a few minutes. i definitely felt tired to. but i dont mnind that, as i have insomnia. yet sleep isnt necesarrily better. just feel tired i guess. but that only is on like the first day thati titrate up. then when i get used to it the next few days i dont feel much or at all the nause or tiredness.

i have the fear that it wont work too. like what if i go up and it doesnt do it. i also have the samethoughts as you guys. like, it would be a miracle to be indifferent to alcohol, not just have some help ith the cravings. and i wonder if baclofen really will get most to that stage, or just some. isnt it amazing these docs dont know about this? absolutely INSANE. i cant evn find much on the web.. meaning this little group here on mwo -are we like the only group in the friggin world?! my gosh.

keep posting buddies!:l

[louise]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

me - I'm sorry the dr. wasn't a help. Baclofen is fda approved, just not for the treatment of alcohol addiction. I hope it helps you soon. I don't think after a month AF you can drink moderately without the baclofen - but maybe that is not what you meant. Dr. Amieson feels it is something you need to take at low doses for life, but who knows, as this is still very new.

[Zman]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Heheh, I thnk we might be it ME. I cant find any other forums about Bac. Of course, there is the french thread which is actually a lot bigger than this one. But aside from that, i dont know of any.

The potential of Bac keeps me up at night. I have awful insomnia also, and i was hoping the Bac would help with that, but it hasnt. Now, instead of lying awake thinking about work, or random crap, i lie awake thinking about Bac and what life would be like if i was indifferent to AL. Its crazy really, how different my life would be if that actually happened. I still have hope that it will. But it just seems too amazing a thing to hope for, if you know what i mean.

[me1455]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

hey louie, yes i meant after a month af to continue taking the baclofen of course. i know its fda approved for something else.. should i have lied maybe? shouldve thought about that.. i know its for muscle spasms but not sure what else. its ok, as soon as i get another job it shouldnt be much of a problem ordering it from 4rx. im just maxin out that credit card wiith everything at the moment! goodnight, af today! yay! first day in awehile.. and it was hard, the baclofen didnt help with cravings much. i do feel it a tad though, riht after i take it.

yeah i know im obsessing over the bac helping also z man and i dont want to get my hopes up and im not planning out much right now, just doing the titrating and seeing what happens.

[louise]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Good going staying AF me! And I have faith both you and Zman will be helped - if not indifferent, at least manageable.

[Zman]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Ok random question, but how do you PM people? I dont see any PM options on my screen.

[beatle]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

It should be in the upper right-hand corner of your screen when you are logged in. It shows "private messages". You click on that, and then you have to click on the "New Message" in the left -hand column about half-way down. Then off you go.

[Cinders]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Hello all,

There is something I am worrying about and I just have to put it out there.

I know many are doing this without doctor's help and it concerns me. Even though Baclofen is a safe drug with a long history of use, it is not intended to be taken with alcohol, either.

I know many are trying so hard to reduce their drinking as quickly as possible and waiting for that "magic switch" Amiesen talks about but please do not harm yourselves doing this.

Remember that safe levels of drinking are for us so below the realm of possibility, that we can fool ourselves into thinking we are not doing "too badly." When in reality, we are still drinking way more than we should and now we have added another drug into the mix.

I hope everyone who has chosen to try Baclofen realizes this. I don't think I would consider taking Baclofen, myself, if I wanted to continue to drink. This is not the drug for that.

I am not trying to deter anyone from getting well, at all. But I am asking you to carefully consider what you are doing. Drinking, especially at the levels we do, and adding another CNS depressant into the mix can be very dangerous.

It would be horrible if one of us harmed ourselves while trying desperately to get out of the hell we are in.

Sorry if this is a downer post but please be careful, people. Baclofen is a tool, it is not a silver bullet.

btw, I am still AF and having very few issues with the Baclofen now that I titrated back down to 100 to 120 mg/day. It is a miracle for me. But, also, remember, I have a doctor who is working with me on this and I can e-mail her or call her office if I have concerns. And, I desperately want to quit. I am willing to live with some transient discomfort while doing so, i.e. drinking thoughts, etc.

Love,
Cindi

[bernard]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Cindi, I think it's possible that you're overestimating the risk. In the case of Ameisen, he was at 180 mg/day from May 2002 (page 148) until January 2004 (page 166), 20 months. All this while he was binging. ("Binge" appears 12 times on those pages.) It was, in fact, his central heroic act to push beyond 180 up to 300 if needed, and, reading between the lines on page 175, possibly 400 or more. His magic dose turned out to be 270, but let me say this in a strident tone: He was dialing it up while unable to control his drinking!

So Cindi, if your prescription is no baclofen while intoxicated, you're missing the whole point of Ameisen's teaching. He learned that you must attack alcohol with baclofen, just as a firefighter fights fire with (what?) water! If your alcohol is outta control, apply baclofen. If that doesn't work, pull a 2nd alarm and up the dose. Apply more water and up the dose until the fire is out and your alcohol is under control. Your warning is like saying don't spray water at the raging fire, you'll ruin the wainscoting!

So ladies and gentlemen of this forum, a show of hands please, and tell it to us straight. Do you baclofen while intoxicated? (BWI.) I bet just about all baclofenists guzzle and pop simultaneously.

[Evie.Lou]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

bernard;664493 wrote: Cindi, I think it's possible that you're overestimating the risk. In the case of Ameisen, he was at 180 mg/day from May 2002 (page 148) until January 2004 (page 166), 20 months. All this while he was binging. ("Binge" appears 12 times on those pages.) It was, in fact, his central heroic act to push beyond 180 up to 300 if needed, and, reading between the lines on page 175, possibly 400 or more. His magic dose turned out to be 270, but let me say this in a strident tone: He was dialing it up while unable to control his drinking!

So Cindi, if your prescription is no Baclofen while intoxicated, you're missing the whole point of Ameisen's teaching. He learned that you must attack alcohol with baclofen, just as a firefighter fights fire with (what?) water! If your alcohol is outta control, apply baclofen. If that doesn't work, pull a 2nd alarm and up the dose. Apply more water and up the dose until the fire is out and your alcohol is under control. Your warning is like saying don't spray water at the raging fire, you'll ruin the wainscoting!

So ladies and gentlemen of this forum, a show of hands please, and tell it to us straight. Do you baclofen while intoxicated? (BWI.) I bet just about all baclofenists guzzle and pop simultaneously.

Very interesting question Bernard.......I understand Cindi's concern and I had a similar one, but on the other side of the coin. My concern was too much Bac...because of too much alcohol causing bad judgment ( baclofen over dose).
I think Cindi's was basically the other side of that coin ?

I can only give you my personal experience and see if that sheds any light ???
I have been sober since May 2008 using a "MIX of things" and meds and settled that Bac was the best. In that time I have had 3 X time I drank. I don't know if I should call them Binges ???.......
BUT I surely can't call them relapses (in each case they lasted LESS than a week)!!! I stopped them from becoming full blown relapses by adding other meds to my Baclofen ...not increasing my bac. I had thought that was an option but it seemed an option that would take TOO long. What I did was increase my bac from 30mg daily to 40 mg and add Naltrexone or Topamax. This stopped me from carrying the drinking any further and I was able to maintain my sobriety.

Now that I am better friends with bac ...I trust bac alot more than I used to...I may just make a different choice if I ever drink in the future.
I'm am not sure of that but what I am sure of is I don't even think of those "episodes" as having lost me my sobriety. The reason I say that is the feeling of "in control" of this that Baclofen gave me that I had NEVER felt before...Make sense ???

[shelbysmiles]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

I have only been on Baclofen for two weeks and I have stated that I have drank numerous times since then.

I can see both Cindi's and Bernard's side to this. I agree with Cindi that it is going to be very difficult for us to ever drink at "normal" levels. Our ideas of normal are distorted. We want to be able to go out and have a couple of drinks with friends. Recently I have been ok with that because I do not want anyone to see me drunk. It's what I do when I get home that is the problem. I think we all really need to let go of that "I want to drink normally one day" thought until we can get sober (and I'm speaking to myself here as well).

Anyway, I'm up to 60mg/day now. My dreams are not so crazy anymore, thank God! I never do get that "relaxed" feel after taking Bac but I am noticing some indifference to alcohol. I seem to be drinking out of habit than drinking because I'm craving.

[Zman]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Thats great news Shelby!

My next titration level is going to be 60. Im up to 45mg now. Will stay here for one more day and then go up to 60. I hope I get the same effect you did.

Keep posting your progress people!

[louise]

Consolidated Baclofen Progress Thread

Shelby, I'm glad you are getting some effect.
I do think that Cindi has a good point that if your long term goal is to still be able to drink on a regular basis (vs. an occasional 1-2 drinks) with friends who drink a lot, that long term baclofen use may not be the best approach, although it might be useful to get you to a place where you can think more clearly about the long term. (Who knows, that goal might not be all that appealing by then.)
But I do think that most of us have still drunk some while dosing up. Although I'm sure it is probably best to try to drink less than usual! (Since going to 30 mg, the most I have drunk is 3-4 glasses of wine, which is my "normal" amount and 1/2 of my "help I'm out of control" feeling amount. Since going to 50, the most I have had is 1 glass of wine).