Switching from Naltrexone to Baclofen today

[Rusty]

Switching from Naltrexone to Baclofen today

Hoping4Better,

Thank you for the helpful info. on NAL. I pick it up at the post office tomorrow. I am much encouraged. I am currently taking Antabuse but I don't know if I want to stay on it much longer. Why....because I'm terrified that if I forget that I'm taking AB and have a glass of wine, that I'll have a horrible reaction from the AB when I'm on a business trip and alone.

Thanks again,

Rusty

[Fibejebe]

Switching from Naltrexone to Baclofen today

I have been vomiting today and am wondering whether that is a side effect of the Baclofen or whether it is just that I am over tired. I have a tendency to vomit if I don't get enough sleep. It doesn't happen often but always happens when I do long overnight aeroplane trips or have a run of insomnia.

I had a really bad sleep last night even with the Baclofen on board. Someone who I know quite well (from a few years ago) her daughter was murdered yesterday and it was a pretty gruesome homicide. I had real trouble switching off when I got home from work last night so it was around 2am when I eventually got to sleep. Then I had to be up at 9 as I had promised to go to a bridal expo with a friend who is getting married 4 weeks before me.

I drove home from the expo with really bad nausea and went to bed for an hours nap before going to work this arvo. I made it pretty much thru work OK until around 11pm when the nausea set in again. And then I had to stop the car a couple of times on the way home to vomit.

So I am unsure if the vomiting is from tiredness or directly from the Baclofen. I do not start work tomorrow until 3.15pm so can sleep as late as I like. I am thinking tho that I will just take 25mg tonight instead of the 50. Maybe do that for a few days and then go back up. After Tuesday's evening shift I have 8 days holiday so it doesn't matter too much if I have side effects then. I can have afternoon naps or whatever I need to do to get thru. Just need to get thru the next two nights at work.

FeeBee.

[Guest]

Switching from Naltrexone to Baclofen today

Fib,
I have been taking bac for a while now and have never felt nautious from it. Tired yes, even some dizziness but not nausea. Hope this helps!

[red67]

Switching from Naltrexone to Baclofen today

FeeBee, so sorry to hear about your friends daughter. That is such a senseless thing to happen. I am a spiritual/religious person but sometimes I just don't understand how evil is allowed to exist in this world. I pray your friend can make it through this, I can't even imagine how someone deals with that.

Take some time and don't push yourself too hard while starting with BAC. I have no experience with it but from reading the posts here it does seem to take awhile to adjust to it. Please rest when you can and I hope you feel better.

[birdy02]

Switching from Naltrexone to Baclofen today

Hi FeeBee. I had mild nausea when I started baclofen but I never threw up. I think the nausea went away around 60-80mg/day. I had to go all the way up to 270mg to reach the switch. It is a miraculous point when you lose all cravings for alcohol. In my opinion, it is worth all the side effects, because once you reach the switch you become free from all cravings and can start back down on the baclofen dose and down is MUCH easier than up.

When I was titrating up I had two episodes of overdoses. In both cases I was extremely nauseous and in the first case I threw up. But, I also had all the other side effects from overdose as well including extremely sleepy, very dizzy, very drugged feeling and hallucinations in the form of "light shows" when looking at a wall or closing my eyes. If you were having an overdose, you would know it based on the horrible drugged feeling.

You may be a little sensitive to baclofen or maybe it is like you said, you could just be tired. 50mg is a lot for a first time dose. I think you are smart to try a little lower dose for awhile. IMHO

I hope you will stick with the baclofen and try different things until you find out how to make it work for you. The end results are worth all the aggravation and side effects! You can read my story through the link in this thread if you are interested.

https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...0mg-41806.html

Kelly

[Fibejebe]

Switching from Naltrexone to Baclofen today

G'day Hoping and Red. Thanks heaps for your replies. :l

Kelly. What a journey. And a great website. Thanks heaps for that. It was very educational for me just starting out and also I could see many similarities.

I too have had chronic insomnia for 5 years. I have been taking either 75mg Phenergan or 25-40mg phenergan with 25mg Doxylamine. Both are over the counter antihistamines. I do get prescriptions for Triazolam and take 2 of them when really desperate. I talked to my Doc about a referral to the sleep clinic when I saw him last Friday but he said they are only interested in apnoea and not insomnia. He did think tho that the Baclofen would make a huge difference to my sleep.

He was not wrong. Last night I took just the 25mg and went to bed at 1.30am. Unfortunately there is a new house being built across the road and the roofies were there at 7 with a compressor, circular saws, nail guns and a radio blaring. I did manage to doze on and off for a while after that tho.

With regards the Baclofen I am in a different position to most here as I have already been 6 months (minus New Year's Eve) alcohol free. I do not have constant cravings. Mine build up over a period of 4-5 days, hit a crescendo and then abruptly stop. It is kinda like a roller coaster. Slow chug up the incline, hit the summit, teeter there precariously, then rush down the steep decline. I have had no cravings for 8 days but the 5 before that were a living hell.

I am wondering therefore whether I will know where my "hitting the switch" point is. Or whether my Doc is hopeful that I will be able to go straight on to a maintenance dose of the Baclofen hence why he started me at 50mg.

Kelly, with your permission, I would love to show your website to my Doc.

FeeBee.

[birdy02]

Switching from Naltrexone to Baclofen today

Baclofen should wipe away all those remaining cravings once you get to a high enough dose. Dr. Ameisen was not drinking when he went up on the baclofen and hit the switch. He knew he hit it when he became "indifferent" to alcohol.

You are more than welcome to share the web address with anyone you would like to.

Kelly

[Fibejebe]

Switching from Naltrexone to Baclofen today

G'day Kelly,

I am going to go to the library over the next couple of days and order Dr A's book. My GP has read it and wrote it down for me to get. That is how I managed to find this forum - and very thankful that I did.

I had a bit of nausea yesterday but no vomiting. I slept last night in the back bedroom so that the house building across the road didn't bother me at all. Just the cat and the dog waking me for snuggles throughout the night last night. :H

FeeBee.