G'day all,
I've been following and reading advice from this forum for around six months now. I'm very much sceptical of 'miracle cures', but that said I have a medical science so am sceptical of, well, pretty much anything, including that which has robust evidence behind it.
I'm also an alcoholic & addict. I'm 28 and have been using substances since 14, and for those of the psychiatric inclination, have dysthymic disorder with anxiety which my Psych (Dr) reckons was triggered by, amongst other things which I won't bore you with, by excessive enjoyment of cannabinoids in my teen years.
I was reading through some journal articles and came across a letter by Bucknam, W in Alcohol and Alcoholism 2007 (42):2 (i'm also really bad at html) which led to a convincing but statistically irrelevant case report that Olivier Amieson had produced. The next best research I could find looked promising, but was still a statistically insignificant sample size (can't track down the reference) but the results were a 30% relapse rate in baclofen treated patients relative to about 70% in placebo, done by a team in Italy (Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 37, No. 5, pp. 504-508, 2002) edit: found the reference
So I decided weak evidence was better than none (not to say that all the members of this forum aren't evidence in themselves - in my mind attested personal experience is invaluable) and went off and ordered 400 10mg Baclos. First day - took 30 mg. Then read Amiesen's account, and ignored the titration suggestion (read = went 30 to 50 then to 120mgs). Drink suppression was noticeable at 30mg. I thought that was awesome. Nothing had even done that before, not even threats of divorce. But, 120mg, a bottle of really nice shiraz (Clonakilla 2004 Shiraz Viogner - probably shouldn't be suggesting that on a forum meant for alcys!) and some codeine and then...
13 hours later, my lady tells me she found me on the floor in our bathroom and called an ambulance.
I wake up in intensive care in the Hospital. I had been sedated as I was thrashing around when intubated. The Drs intubated me because I was bradycardic and had a very very low oxygen saturation levels.
So after a few days in Intensive care and the ward where they put people they really don't know what to do with, I was discharged.
When I got home, I rested for a bit and then the anxiety kicked in and a nice bottle of red followed. Revelations in my overactive mind --> GABA agonist (grog) + GABA agonist (baclofen)+ GABA antagonist (codeine) = intensive care. Slept off the wine. Started again at 60mg of Baclofen. No desire (well a little, but not too much trouble resisting it) and now I'm titrating very slowly up. Baclofen is a medication that has very different efficacies in different individuals. In english, 20mg for you might work as well as 270mg for Amiesen. Go slow. No one (except Amiesen) has suggested a miracle cure. Don't expect one. Baclofen is very promising.
I've been following and reading advice from this forum for around six months now. I'm very much sceptical of 'miracle cures', but that said I have a medical science so am sceptical of, well, pretty much anything, including that which has robust evidence behind it.
I'm also an alcoholic & addict. I'm 28 and have been using substances since 14, and for those of the psychiatric inclination, have dysthymic disorder with anxiety which my Psych (Dr) reckons was triggered by, amongst other things which I won't bore you with, by excessive enjoyment of cannabinoids in my teen years.
I was reading through some journal articles and came across a letter by Bucknam, W in Alcohol and Alcoholism 2007 (42):2 (i'm also really bad at html) which led to a convincing but statistically irrelevant case report that Olivier Amieson had produced. The next best research I could find looked promising, but was still a statistically insignificant sample size (can't track down the reference) but the results were a 30% relapse rate in baclofen treated patients relative to about 70% in placebo, done by a team in Italy (Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 37, No. 5, pp. 504-508, 2002) edit: found the reference
So I decided weak evidence was better than none (not to say that all the members of this forum aren't evidence in themselves - in my mind attested personal experience is invaluable) and went off and ordered 400 10mg Baclos. First day - took 30 mg. Then read Amiesen's account, and ignored the titration suggestion (read = went 30 to 50 then to 120mgs). Drink suppression was noticeable at 30mg. I thought that was awesome. Nothing had even done that before, not even threats of divorce. But, 120mg, a bottle of really nice shiraz (Clonakilla 2004 Shiraz Viogner - probably shouldn't be suggesting that on a forum meant for alcys!) and some codeine and then...
13 hours later, my lady tells me she found me on the floor in our bathroom and called an ambulance.
I wake up in intensive care in the Hospital. I had been sedated as I was thrashing around when intubated. The Drs intubated me because I was bradycardic and had a very very low oxygen saturation levels.
So after a few days in Intensive care and the ward where they put people they really don't know what to do with, I was discharged.
When I got home, I rested for a bit and then the anxiety kicked in and a nice bottle of red followed. Revelations in my overactive mind --> GABA agonist (grog) + GABA agonist (baclofen)+ GABA antagonist (codeine) = intensive care. Slept off the wine. Started again at 60mg of Baclofen. No desire (well a little, but not too much trouble resisting it) and now I'm titrating very slowly up. Baclofen is a medication that has very different efficacies in different individuals. In english, 20mg for you might work as well as 270mg for Amiesen. Go slow. No one (except Amiesen) has suggested a miracle cure. Don't expect one. Baclofen is very promising.
but me very los...start with 15mg and after 3 days to 20mg...etc up to 30mg, then i will see how i feel. but the big jump, directly to 30 ...60mg, would have knocked me down. ok, thats how i feel, but so more i read, all side effects jump in, when people pamper them self to quick with a high dose.
Comment