I have tried so many times, will baclofen be the answer

[soberwithin]

I wonder if any of you can help me. I will give a brief (as much as I can) background to where I am now.

I am a 45 year old female, weighing far too much (due mainly to alcohol abuse) 98kg. I have been drinking heavily for over 20 years (between 1 and 2 bottles of wine per night, nearly every night). I absolutely love alcohol, the effect it gives me, the buzz etc, until I now wake up in the middle of the night with pains in my right side (which I assume is liver pain) and lie awake worrying that I am going to die. I cant sleep the anxiety is absolutely terrible. Every night I promise myself that I will stop drinking tomorrow, and guess what by 6pm the next day I find myself with another glass of wine in my hand.

I have tried topamax and all the mwo supplements (made me sick, but no effect) the sinclair method for 4 months (slightly reduced drinking, but nothing significant and I was constantly worried about having an accident and the real problems with side effects of morphine type painkillers), and good old willpower, the usual high hopes, and then failure, constant lowering of self esteem.

I am a mother of 6 and grandmother of 5, very successful teacher and to all extents continue with a very normal life. My family all joke about my drinking, and I know that they are a little worried, but not excessively. However, I realised in the middle of last night that of EVERYONE I know, I drink by far the most. Not good!!!

I am currently in France on holiday for nearly 3 weeks and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try using Baclofen after spending nearly all day reading posts on here. I have read Dr A's book, but to be honest with you was/am very scared of the possible side effects. I can get a moderate amount of Baclofen over the counter in France, some chemists will give you a couple of packs without prescription even though they are not supposed to. The rest I will order on line as I do not want any of this on my medical record as I am about to change jobs and need a medical pass from my doctor.

Can you help me with a titration schedule. I am a little worried about the risk of insomnia and or somnolence, as I have a very stressful job and teaching teenagers you have to be on the ball all of the time. I thought that whilst I was on holiday would be a perfect time to try and titrate up. Can you advise me of the best way to do this.

I really would like to try and stop completely whilst I am doing this, but at the moment that just seems impossible. Is baclofen still effective if you drink whilst using it?

I really would appreciate your help and any thoughts you have at all.

Thank you

[eight days a week]

I have tried so many times, will baclofen be the answer

Be hopeful my friend, there is a very good chance Bac will help you where nothing else has!!

Holiday sounds the perfect time to try it, too

You could go round various chemists and get a little from each and stock up.

I'm very skinny, and also extremely sensitive to meds, so the SEs seem to have been stronger for me than most. Even at 5mg x 3 daily I felt it for the first few days. I'd recommend taking your first 5mg one evening and seeing how it affects you, then for the next few days take a little more and again see how you go on it. It doesn't matter how fast or slow you go up, as long as you get there in the end! And doing so slowly will absolutely minimise SEs or make them not an issue at all.

Yes, it's still effective while you're drinking. I find as I take more I drink less, though I haven't hit the magical 'switch' yet. And my doctor was quite happy to prescribe it while I'm still drinking, even though he thinks it more effective when already abstinent. Just be aware that if you drink on it the somnolence may be worse. I drink at home mostly in the evenings so that hasn't been a problem for me.

Good luck, please keep us all posted how you get on

[Henrietta]

I have tried so many times, will baclofen be the answer

Soberwithin? your story is very touching. We have a lot in common. I was in such a similar situation back in January/February? busy life, lots of stress, highly functional, but absolutely at the end of my tether.

Here are my basics: AA and the mainstream rehab approaches have just not worked with my AL problem, which was 25 years in the making. I?ve always been keenly aware that the issue was with my brain chemistry and not my character or my relationship to a higher power.

I searched for some alternatives and found a non-12-step specialist. He prescribed Naltrexone. Though I didn?t know it at the time he prescribed it exactly opposite to what is recommended by the Sinclair Method. Long story short, and after the first few weeks I was getting diminishing returns. When I found MWO, I started the Topamax regime with supplements: that definitely didn?t work. Then I rediscovered Naltrexone again under the Sinclair Method. I had better results than before, but at a certain level I seemed to plateau and the cravings were still a constant companion throughout my day.

Then I read about Baclofen here and the collective wealth of experience on this site. I did my research. I tirated up very slowly, and most importantly, I prepared myself for the dreaded side-effects. In early February the switch happened. At 130 mg per day I became completely indifferent to AL. I have never been more surprised in my life. I simply didn?t believe that was possible for me.

Back to the side-effects. I did have tingling extremities and issues with sleep from time to time, especially at the higher dosage. Had I not read about these side-effects here I may have been scared off by them. But since I half expected them I can honestly say they were not that bad. Sure, sleep issues suck. There?s no other way to put it. But you have to place it in perspective: what is your alternative at this point? For me it was fairly plain and not at all good.

I?ve been 7 weeks AF, and I?ve slowly tirated down to 50 mg per day with absolutely no side-effects and no cravings. I still have a lot of work to do and I realize I should probably get some counseling. I won?t simplify it. This is a very complex monster with many heads. While I don?t believe Baclofen is a magic pill, I know I would not be in this position without it, the first position of strength I?ve had in years.

I understand you are on holiday now and want to jump in using these 3 weeks and the limited amount of Baclofen that you can get in France. My advice to you is please approach this with a realistic, open mind. It may take far longer. It sounds like you are already aware that it will take more baclofen! BTW, my experience with ordering it online has been excellent. You would also be well served to keep a flexible schedule and if at all possible, keep in good spirits with the side-effects. In my case they really were a small price to pay for the outcome. I?m keeping my fingers crossed for you in that regard! Remember, many people have NO side-effects.

I also started very slowly. 5 mg x 3 daily as suggested above is good advice. I only went up 10 mg every few days from there and backed off by 5 mg a couple of times when the side-effects became too much. I wasn?t in a rush. HA! I figured it took me 25 years to dig myself into this hole I could allow myself a little time to do this right!

You can do this Soberwithin. There are so many good, knowledgeable people here who do care and know what you are going through. It sounds like you have a lot of wonderful things in your life waiting on the other end. Henrietta

[soberwithin]

I have tried so many times, will baclofen be the answer

thank you so much for your really supportive replies. You reduced me to tears, it is so nice to know there are other people out there that are going through the same thing and that there is definitely hope at the end of the tunnel. What a relief.

I have just been into my local town in France and been round all the pharmacists and with a few little white lies I have managed to procure 750 x 10mg tablets. That should be enough to give me a very good start. I already had two packets that I got a couple of days ago when I wasnt sure I was going to go down this route, and I am on my third day at 10mg. x 3 times. A little sleepy at times, but nothing major. Night time sleep is the best I have had in years. Already the waking up in the middle of the night with the horrible thoughts has gone.

Have still drank 6 glasses of wine per night, but i have to say mainly because we were entertaining friends and I have not had the uncompromising acceleration button feeling as the night went on, usually after the 4th or 5th glass I just cant stop. Whereas both nights I drank similar amounts to everyone else and didnt feel the usual necessity to continue after the guests left. I think this is a start, but probably more psychosomatic than anything else.

I was wondering if anyone knows about titraing much quicker. I saw a post where Bill P recommended titrating quickly up for some reason he said that it was better. If this were possible I feel I would like to try this to get the maximum benefit before I go back to work, can cope with the side effects much better on holiday. However, on another post I saw that the method was more effective if titration was slower???

Once again thank you for all your support and I will keep you posted on how I go on.

[Brave Hearted]

I have tried so many times, will baclofen be the answer

Hi Soberwithin, I am of a similar age to yourself and have had a al problem for over 30 years and to cut to the rush I have tried every med and supp going and always failed. Untill I tried baclofen last summer and it has changed my life . I dont know how it justs takes away the desire to drink , it down grades the whole importance of al in your brain. I know some people are cautious of taking meds but I am a total baclofen convert, my life and sanity stand in testiment to that . So I say give it a go and see what happens. I just read what you said about tirating up faster, I would not recommend that as you may end up giving up altogether if it makes you ill, I suggest taking it slow if you have drunk for many years taking a few more weeks is well worth it to get it right !. Good luck to you and keep us posted xx