My Baclofen Experience

[grangelady]

My Baclofen Experience

Always looking for a fix

Hi Moglor

I have been reading your posts and I like many people of the forum found them to be insightful and helpful. Thank you for your brutal honesty and for sharing your experiences.

My experiences with drinking are not linked with depression and I feel that if you can cut back as you have using Baclofen then it is probably the help in need. I can't imagine what it must be like to have such deep levels of depression, yes I have down days because I hate myself for drinking and because if the weight issues I have but those days are rare and I can pull myself out of them, relatively quickly.

I am becoming more and more concerned about the amount I'm drinking, every night now I drink a bottle of wine and more often I'm opening a second and drinking that too. I really do feel that it's a habit I've got into. I don't crave wine during the day in fact ever morning I make a promise to not drink today but I get in from work, start to prepare our meal and that's when I reach for a glass of wine and so it continues during the meal and afterwards watching TV or reading whatever, after that 1st glass it all goes wrong.

I have tried to think no I don't need it or tonight will be wine free but then the feelings of resentment and being deprived take over and I give in.

I am worried about going to my GP because of the stigma associated with admitting to having a drink problem and I don't want it going on my medical records, but I really do want to try Baclofen having read the various posts here and researching Oliver Ameisen's success with it, I've just ordered his book today -yet another book on overcoming addiction!

It seems I am always looking for something that will just take the cravings away and help me break the habit I've got into.... You name it I've tried it, accupunture, hypnotherapy, EFT but all these things don't break the cycle. I am hoping that taking a prescriptive drug will break the cycle and give me the tools to find the willpower and mind switch that takes away the feelings of deprivation that always creeps in and my subconscious gives into.

I wish you and all the other forum members lots of luck in beating your addictions whatever level you're at

Thanks again for y our posts :thanks:

[moglor]

My Baclofen Experience

Hi Grangelady, welcome aboard. Like you, I rarely craved beer during the day, and I always told myself "oh, I just won't drink today." Then, on the way home from work, I'd be at the store in the beer aisle and say "oh, well, you don't have to drink ALL these beers. You can just drink a couple." ... 12 beers later..

I would encourage you to contact Dr. Levin, contact info is in the thread on doctors who prescribe baclofen. People here seem to have had good experiences with him, and he can help you with a valid prescription (presuming you're in the USA) and information on dosages.

Let us know how you progress!

[grangelady]

My Baclofen Experience

Thanks Moglor for the advice I will check the Dr Levin thread for info unfortunately I am in the UK so he won't be able to prescribe but I will have a look.

Typing this with a hangover 2 bottles of wine and a very large Jack Daniels with cola to blame!!! So here I am again looking on the net for a fix to my drinking problems which I know is pointless because only I can stop this vicious cycle

God how I hate the trap I'm in please let me find the strength to shut out my subconscious mind that keeps telling me it's okay, you can have a couple of glasses and stop.

[RudyB]

My Baclofen Experience

hi grange,

your story is very familiar around here, as you have seen. i wish you all of the luck in the world in breaking the cycle. baclofen will surely help you with that. after it takes away the driving push to drink, it often leaves us with the tough job of breaking the habit, but it is clear that you have the will to do the work, so, ultimately, you will overcome this vicious cycle that you are in. have faith.

[moglor]

My Baclofen Experience

Lots of depression yesterday and today. After 2 weeks of alcohol-free, the reality of the fact that my life continues to suck despite not being drunk/hungover, and realizing that I'll never be able to drink away my unhappiness again, is a tough pill to swallow.

Been on a strict keto diet for 2 weeks, and not lost any weight. Owe money on taxes.. Work is shitty. Feeling very down in the dumps this week.

[Cinders]

My Baclofen Experience

Moglor,

Hi there. I don't post here often because I am one of the Baclofen "failures," but I do read over here occasionally.

Baclofen is an awesome weapon against our addiction. I have seen several people here who feel it is all they need to get and stay sober. For those, I am very happy.

For others, though, it seems that just quitting the drink, even with Baclofen, is not quite enough.

I posted a thread in "What We Believe" called "The Seven Monkeys." This is an AA-centric letter because it is written by a woman in AA who was writing this letter to some AA newbies.

However, you may want to read it. It helped me quite a bit to put going AF into perspective. She wrote an analogy to quitting drinking and recovering from frost bite that applies to many. Not just AA.

This is just an FYI in case you might be interested.

Good luck with staying sober and getting a better and happier handle on living.

I am struggling with just normal everyday living AF. My drug is no longer available to give me any relief from the things I am not used to dealing with. My husband points out that the vast majority of people living in the world deal with all these things without a drug to help them.

I am trying to learn to do that myself.

Cindi

[GingerDust]

My Baclofen Experience

I'm sorry to hear that you're having such a rough go of it, Moglor. Have you heard of Post-acute withdrawal syndrome?

Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrom (PAWS)

It sounds like you might be suffering from it but it does go away in time. Take good care of yourself. I'm pulling for you.

[Bruunhilde]

My Baclofen Experience

Hi Mog and friends,

Mog, I'm in the same boat. Been on a keto diet with some success, not the fantastic results that most people experience. Alcohol really messes up the metabolism. I'm in much of the same fog and funk as you, with depression and metabolism BS. First week on the diet I did lemon squeezed in water three times a day and I lost more weight, I think that helped. I also read that apple cider vinegar (Braggs) in water three times a day before meals helps you get to ketosis.

Gabapentin saves me from myself if you're willing to try it. I don't recall?

Cinders, there is a theory that people who seek desensitization do so because they are super sensitive. Look around at any alcoholic/addict and most of the time they are insecure, super sensitive types BEFORE the addiction. I was, even though I had more of a positive attitude and not depressed back then, I credit much of that to being very young, in family (not isolated) and not in charge of my own financial security ... and future financial security which seems quite daunting today.

[moglor]

My Baclofen Experience

I've always been isolated, and being unable to maintain any kind of normal relationships in recovery make it even worse. I'd never heard of PAWS before, but that description, and the followup research I did on it, fits me to a "T." Really interesting material.

Bruun - I don't have any problems getting into ketosis. I think my problem is macros - too much protein, too little fat, and ironically, I believe I may be eating too few calories to support my exercise program. Since I'm already in such a huge calorie deficit from quitting drinking, I think my body is just shell-shocked and holding on to everything it can to stave off the impending famine.

[Bruunhilde]

My Baclofen Experience

Hey Mog,

I've been in that situation too, I feel pretty sure.

Have you thought about adding HCG or something to boost your weight loss and ensure you're burning fat when you do lose? I found the HCG sought out fat deposits very differently from non-HCG dieting. It seems to clear out the fat in my face and ass first. LOL I'm hoping the gut is next! :bagdude:

[moglor]

My Baclofen Experience

Before I do something radical like HCG (which, frankly, I'm scared of,) I'm going to take more care to document my food intake, calorie load, and fat/protein/carb ratios to make sure I'm hitting everything the way I need to. I think my biggest problem right now is impatience..

[Bruunhilde]

My Baclofen Experience

If you're on a low carb diet for two weeks, you should be losing. I weighed this AM and have GAINED. I'm eating 1200 calories a day and the only carbs I'm getting are in vegetables and one fruit.

So crazy. Such an effing waste of effort! WTF! :huh:

[moglor]

My Baclofen Experience

Well, I didn't have much water weight to begin with, but I am down 2 lbs now. Going from 6000 kcal to 1800 kcal has to do SOMETHING. The body has a real tendency to hang on to everything it can when it thinks it's going into starvation mode. Not sure how big you are, but 1200 is probably not enough calorie-wise, and I would guess you're not getting nearly enough fat in your diet. Check out that reddit.com/r/keto board, they have lots of FAQs and tons of posts/advice for people in your situation.

[Bruunhilde]

My Baclofen Experience

With HCG you're not supposed to get much fat on purpose. Its not a long term plan. The HCG is supposed to turn your fat needs inside, so your body burns your fat stores instead of fat from your diet.

6000kcal? Holy cow, I'd be 800lbs! I'm about 40lbs more than I should be. I typically eat about 2500/day including alcohol if I drink. So I'm cutting in half.

[moglor]

My Baclofen Experience

Weight coming off is definitely a function of how much you have to lose. It's much harder to lose when you don't have much to lose. HCG is going to wack out your hormones bigtime, too, and that's really going to hamper weight loss. I'm skeptical of its efficacy, and there are a lot of scary downsides. It's still undetermined if HCG levels are causes of or symptoms of certain types of cancers.

My suggestion would be to work out your calorie requirements, knock 10% off that as a target goal, and make sure your keto diet has adequate fat/protein ratio. Drinking, of course, adds useless calories and slows down your metabolism. Try ketostix to make sure you're actually in a state of ketosis. Alcohol will knock me right out, which is why it's more important to me than ever to stay alcohol free.