Ya'll are tough!

[Topsy-Turvy-Tracy]

I'm only at a witty-bitty 15 mg., and I'm kinda sleepy already. I've learned that it's really important to keep food in my tummy though. I'll take 5 more at bed, so will up to 20 for my first day. That's a little quicker than I'd planned but, heck, it's working for me. You all are starting to look like super humans to me though. This may be a safe drug, but it doesn't feel like it's going to be a really easy one. I haven't had to try it, but at higher doses on baclofen, can caffeine help negate the sleepies?

I'll tell you what I am worried about. In a couple weeks, I have to drive me and three people, all innocent passengers, through mountainous passes to a place which is about six hours away, in good weather. Last time I did this, at this time of year, it was in a nasty snowstorm (gotta love Colorado), and it took more like ten hours. I am worried about trying to do that on too high a dose, so I'll probably titrate down, from whatever dosage I'm on at that point, so I can do it safely. I'll be at a place where alcohol is forbidden anyway for a couple days, so I'm not worried about that part of it. I hate to step backwards, but I don't know how else to do it - and people are counting on me to do it.

[Publius]

Ya'll are tough!

Tracy-
I have a pretty low tolerance to sedatives, and per doctors orders, my dosing schedule started at a paltry 5mg/day. On the second day (first was so hungover I never would have know the difference) I was nodding off at my desk! Needless to say, I was really worried I wouldn't be able to to dose up to the necessary amount, but I kept taking it anyway. by day 4 on 5mg I was fine. I dosed up to 10mg (5 morn 5 eve) and stayed on that for three days, and beyond a mild (and I do mean mild) somnolence, I was fine. I then dosed up to 30mg (10 3x a day) and though I was worried I would hit a wall, I'm on day 2 of 30mg, and feel totally fine. I think if you are careful about your dosing schedule, and don't try to dose up like some of these maniacs :l on here do (i.e. starting out at 100mg a day, I think I'd be in a coma if I did that) you'll be just fine. If it will help, my program stipulates that I dose up 20mg a week, always 3x a day after the initial phase of going 5-10 in the first week. I know it may seem slow, but if it's going to change the rest of your life, what's a couple of extra weeks, making sure you get it right, and minimize the side effects.

[ignominous]

Ya'll are tough!

I'm one of those maniacs and I concur with Publius.

I think you need to give the Bac time to do its thing. The SEs are managable compared to being a drunken asshole but I don't think you need to push through the SE barrier for Bac to work,

If I had to start again I would ease into it but that is talking with my non manic brain!

At-a-girl, I thought you may have been avoiding starting.

I'm pretty tough. I'll drink you under the table. I think its about time I grew out of that mentality.

[Sunnyvalenting]

Ya'll are tough!

Took me several weeks before I could safely drive right after a dose. What I did was hold the dose until I got where I was going. Luckily the 1/2 life of bac is 2-4 hours and it peaked at about 2 hours for me so I could definitely time my doses for safe activity. The first month I could take no more than 10 mg at a time and so I shortened the interval to every 3 hours. It helped a lot. Later I was able to take 20 every 6 hours which was more convenient. Take your time and be safe!
Sunny

[ignominous]

Ya'll are tough!

Sunny we've been discussing this on "Dosage and Frequency". It seems clear that the half life of 2-4 hours in plasma may be irrelevant (EDIT: or only a component) compared to the half life in the CNS (for which we don't have any data).

A test involving Naltrexone showed the half life to be 9-18 times longer in the CNS than plasma.

It would be reasonable to assume that Bac has a similar difference. Maybe a half life of 20 hours or more (EDIT: maybe 72 hours or more)

[Topsy-Turvy-Tracy]

Ya'll are tough!

Publius, Ig, Sunny and Zen, thanks so much. I will go slow. If I can't safely drive, maybe I'm overdoing it. And you all are right. I've been drinking heavily for more than two decades. Taking a few weeks to make this work just makes sense.

Hugs to you all.

[Lo0p]

Ya'll are tough!

ignominous;976258 wrote: Sunny we've been discussing this on "Dosage and Frequency". It seems clear that the half life of 2-4 hours in plasma may be irrelevant (EDIT: or only a component) compared to the half life in the CNS (for which we don't have any data).

A test involving Naltrexone showed the half life to be 9-18 times longer in the CNS than plasma.
That's not exactly correct, if you want to be picky. The study with naltrexone showed that the actual molecule had an affinity for the receptors such that it clung on to them so tightly for a very loooong time. So much longer that it made the half life less important when considering the actual duration of action of the drug in the brain.

Zenstyle;976260 wrote: p.s. I haven't seen two Baclofen stories that have been the same. It really is so different from individual to individual. I just think... take it slow and be safe. If you don't rush it you won't get such bad SE's (unless its really not for you). As for the driving thing... it may be in your system by then. Once you've adjusted to it the sleepiness wears off.

Topsy-Turvy-Tracy;976261 wrote: Publius, Ig, Sunny and Zen, thanks so much. I will go slow. If I can't safely drive, maybe I'm overdoing it. And you all are right. I've been drinking heavily for more than two decades. Taking a few weeks to make this work just makes sense.

This is probably the safest road to take and the idea that you should take home.

[Lo0p]

Ya'll are tough!

Topsy-Turvy-Tracy;976187 wrote: Y'all are tough

Or a lil' Lo0py :nutso:

Stay safe. :l

[Sunnyvalenting]

Ya'll are tough!

Ig and others,
It may have been a placebo effect but I doubt it. I was quite aware of significant somnolence about 1-2 hours after even a 10 mg dose. This was especially true if I was sitting down reading or watching the tupe. If I was moving about it wasn't as bad. It lifted slowly such that by about 4 hours after a dose I felt just a little tired. I am sure that CNS binding is important but I don't know what it is for baclofen so I had to go by my symptoms which, after all, reflect the medication's activity in my CNS. It worked, I drove, I stayed AF and i am passing it on.
I have been following the info in the "dosage and frequency" section as well. There are obviously significant variations in the activity of this drug that have little to do with mg/kg/day.
All the best
Sunny

[ignominous]

Ya'll are tough!

Sunny
I also get an immediate response to takeing Bac. For me the strongest point is about 40 mins after I take it,

So there is something else going on apart from the 'half life in the CNS'

But ........ always a but............. I've been at 160mg since the 30 Sept. That's over a week (had to look at my log thread to get the dates) and the fucking SEs are not going away. If the half life in the CNS is 72 hours I've still got another week at 160mg till my CNS gets saturated.

[PhoenixRising]

Ya'll are tough!

Caffeine DEFINITELY helps. I've taken to drinking diet Mtn Dew in the afternoons. Never was a pop drinker before.

[Sunnyvalenting]

Ya'll are tough!

The clinic where I went did not allow any caffeine! So for the first few weeks I just had to struggle through and luckily I wasn't back to work yet. I would have had to work the doses differently had I been working. However I found that I didn't experience the sleepiness near as much if I was moving around. That continued for about 2 more months.
Ig, you have been on bac for only a few weeks? I think if you stick with it the SE will slowly improve. If you are AF you may want to fiddle around with the dose timing or step back 10-20 mg/day and see if the SEs are more tolerable. The most important thing, tho is to stay AF so don't risk that part. These SEs IMO are a minor price to pay for the freedom I have now. It, in a sense, was my self imposed "penalty" the alternatives were a cell or a coffin!
All the best, I enjoy reading these posts
Sunny

[ignominous]

Ya'll are tough!

Hey Sunny

On Bac for 6 weeks now and apart from the honeymoon period I am not AF. Greatly reduced and no blow outs.

I know you're going to urge me to try AF so the Bac has a chance to work. You are our resident 'white knuckle' it (a bit) evangelist. Please don't bother.

I know I can do that. A few months ago I went 10 days AF because I was in a potentially life changing situation and being scrutinised by all around me. It was not easy but I have a lot of will power. The trouble is that I know long term it is doomed to failure.

If I thought that was all Bac could offer I wouldn't be so ethusiastic. Bac has prooven to me that its due to some chemical imbalance in the brain and not a lack of moral fibre. An absolute epiphany! I intend to hit the switch and move effortlessly to AF.

Its almost as if I've moved stopping alcohol onto the side burner. After all I'm not neglecting it, I've already embarked on the best course of action, come hell or high water, for it.

Other issues that have finally shown up need to be addressed for my long term sanity/sobriety and these require my full attention now.

I think we see things from a different perspective. Your "self imposed penalty" may suggest that you feel you need to be punished a little. I don't need to be punished any more, I've been doing that for the last 30 years. I didn't do anything wrong, I wasn't born bad. Bac is allowing me to see that and get a sane perspective of the best route back to a happy life.

Sorry for going on. Thanks to you all out there on MWO for giving me your time and coming to MY private (not so private), exclusive (not so exclusive) therapy session.

[Sunnyvalenting]

Ya'll are tough!

You mistake my intention in the use of "self imposed penalty" I am only referring to the need to tolerate the relatively mild side effects in this worthy goal
Sun

[Topsy-Turvy-Tracy]

Ya'll are tough!

I understood that you were talking about the side effects and kind of read it the same way Sunny, but I grew up Catholic.

What I make of it is that you believe that you have sinned and are paying a penance to gain redemption. For me, it's more like putting up with the side effects of a drug so that I can get better - which, in my mind, is what it actually is. If anyone deserves to be penalized, it would be my parents for being so inconsiderate as to pass on these really lousy genes by bringing me into being!

Of course, I don't believe anyone would ever choose this road (or choose to pass on this little bit of genetic curse). And where there is not a choice, why should there be a penalty?