My progress with Baclofen

[seeking_serenity]

My progress with Baclofen

Oh, and how I got into it: I'd been researching Paleo diets for a while (recently went back on my 18 year vegetarian diet--have I mentioned how this was a year of huge changes for me?) and Crossfit kept coming up. When I found out that my small city had opened a Crossfit gym, that was all it took. I was hooked.

[Isolde]

My progress with Baclofen

Thanks for the info, serenity! I found 2 that are somewhat nearby - do I just show up one day? It looks like they have class times scheduled. Maybe call first?

I really like the idea of the trainers being right there to watch your form and help you out. I do sometimes get overwhelmed going into the huge commercials gyms (especially at peak hours, which unfortunately is the only time I can go during the week). Even if I know exactly what I'm going to be doing, I still get uncomfortable, especially if I have to wait for the equipment I need.

I'm really looking to add some muscle mass. I haven't really strength trained with any degree of regularity since I got my office job more than 6 years ago. I don't need to lose any weight, but I need to add back the muscle I've lost (and then some!).

I'm officially intrigued!

[seeking_serenity]

My progress with Baclofen

I would suggest calling first--my particular Crossfit gym had me schedule four introductory personal training sessions to get me comfortable with the various exercises. It was tremendously helpful (and hard!). After those four sessions, I could have joined up with their regular classes, which are group sessions led by a trainer. I'd suspect that most Crossfit gyms have a similar setup.

[smc8371]

My progress with Baclofen

Another update

I've been on 150mgs for about two weeks and have had my switch. I can barely keep my eyes open when it is bed time. I'm titratrating back down to 125mgs per day for a couple of weeks and then we'll see where I'm at there. I've had six glasses of wine in the past 2.5 weeks when I've gone out on three different occasions. I've had no desire to have more than two at a time, and even then, it is a challenge to drink them in a two hour span. I was a 1-2 bottle per night wine drinker, so that is huge for me. I NEVER drink alone anymore. I did not start Bac with the intention of quitting completely, just the intention of being able to control my drinking and NEVER wake up with another hangover. So far, so good!

[Murphyx]

My progress with Baclofen

smc8371;1060653 wrote: So far, so good!

No kidding! That's fantastic. Well done you.:goodjob:

[Lo0p]

My progress with Baclofen

Re: Crossfit

They're not just for guys around here. I catered a Crossfit event on Saturday. The boss and I set up a "Paleo Cafe" tent and served tritip, pork cutlets, chicken, bacon wrapped asparagus, corn, fruit, drinks and this gluten free beer: REDBRIDGE - Home I took a sip, it's actually not that bad. Made from sorghum i think. 12g carbs 4ish% ABV

We pulled in as much money as the restaurant that day.

Crossfit though. Not my style. They're not as "elite" as they think they are. But to each their own.

[Isolde]

My progress with Baclofen

smc8371;1060653 wrote: I've been on 150mgs for about two weeks and have had my switch. I can barely keep my eyes open when it is bed time. I'm titratrating back down to 125mgs per day for a couple of weeks and then we'll see where I'm at there. I've had six glasses of wine in the past 2.5 weeks when I've gone out on three different occasions. I've had no desire to have more than two at a time, and even then, it is a challenge to drink them in a two hour span. I was a 1-2 bottle per night wine drinker, so that is huge for me. I NEVER drink alone anymore. I did not start Bac with the intention of quitting completely, just the intention of being able to control my drinking and NEVER wake up with another hangover. So far, so good!

That's awesome SMC!!! Congrats!

[Isolde]

My progress with Baclofen

Lo0p;1060674 wrote: Re: Crossfit

They're not just for guys around here. I catered a Crossfit event on Saturday. The boss and I set up a "Paleo Cafe" tent and served tritip, pork cutlets, chicken, bacon wrapped asparagus, corn, fruit, drinks and this gluten free beer: REDBRIDGE - Home I took a sip, it's actually not that bad. Made from sorghum i think. 12g carbs 4ish% ABV

We pulled in as much money as the restaurant that day.

Crossfit though. Not my style. They're not as "elite" as they think they are. But to each their own.

Wow Lo0p, that spread sounds awesome!

I think I'll at least give Crossfit a chance. I hate the big chain gyms, and the only time I can go is during peak hours. Damn places still intimidate me; I'm just not a fan of crowds to begin with, much less trying to maneuver around them to get my workout in.
And sometimes I suck with structuring myself, and it seems like Crossfit has a built in structure, as well as trainers around to help with form and whatnot.
One thing I do miss about having a regular gym membership right now is the treadmill - I miss doing my sprints! I know I could do it outside, but it's harder to time myself and to know how hard I'm working. And I seem to get fewer shin splints when I run on a treadmill.
Ok, I miss some of the classes too, especially yoga.

[PbarE]

My progress with Baclofen

Isolde;1001219 wrote:
Quite frankly, if this was as good as it ever got, I would still consider baclofen a HUGE success. This is really what I had thought Topa would do for me but which didn't even come close. But I recognize that considering the dose that most others have gotten up to, 115mgs is pretty paltry, and I will keep pushing forward until I get to the switch.

Amen to that. I have been holding at 140-160 for about ten days, as I do not want to ramp up until I am sure I have enough bac to hit the switch. I am also holding out hope that I can find an "enlightened" doctor, although I probably have a better chance of marrying Jennifer Anniston than finding one of those.

My SE's are very similar to yours.

[Isolde]

My progress with Baclofen

Bac Update

Realized it's been awhile since I updated about my bac progress in my own thread. There's little bits of it scattered here and there in other people's threads though! :H

Though I was experiencing indifference at 140 and 160mgs, I pushed up to 180mgs. It seemed like the right thing to do. As in 180?, being completely on the opposite side of where I began. So it was significant for me. Because the SEs were so intense, I only planned to stay there for 3 days, but decided that since I was already there to go ahead and stay there for a week.
The first half of the week, I was flying high. I felt like I was rolling on E - I wanted to connect with everyone, every single thing was beautiful, birds in the sky, music, colors, etc. Then I got manic. Got a bit depressed for a few days and felt hopeless, etc. Saw Black Swan at a BAD time! Luckily the near panic attack state (which quite frankly I'd never even felt before) didn't last too long. I decided to start titrating down and dropped to 160 1 day early.
I was also having a really hard time concentrating at work and the somnolence was worse than it had ever been. I was having a lot more coffee during the day and into the afternoon and it didn't even seem to be helping much. This SE lasted all through 160. I was even taking piracetam (though maybe not as much as I should have been), but I was really only functional until about 3 o'clock each day. After that I was a lost cause, and it was all I could not to just go straight to bed when I got home from work.

I decided that I wanted to titrate down more quickly. So I spent about 5 days on 160 and have since then been dropping by 10mg every 2 days. Today is my second day on 130mg and I'm feeling so much better. I have energy again that doesn't fizzle out in the early afternoon. I can stay awake and alert easily without continuing to drink coffee all day (2 cups in the morning and that's it). I feel much more positive, and some of the anxiety at the higher levels has dropped again and I'm feeling happier and more relaxed.

Sleep is still hit and miss. (Just remembered I was supposed to start a sleep thread! I'll have to get on that!). I convinced myself that my old mattress was the cause of my back pain and was also contributing to the tossing and turning. So now I'm adjusting to a new mattress. It's memory foam, which I'm not used to. It's definitely more supportive than my old mattress, but I'm still not getting a solid night's sleep. Hopefully it will just be an adjustment period, and I know that the level of bac I'm on is contributing to it at this point too.

It seems that after almost 2 weeks, I've gotten used to the .25mgs of xanax that I've been taking nightly. I'm going to bump it up to .5mgs for a few days, while I continue to titrate down. Hopefully at that point I'll be at a low enough dose of bac that I can quit the xanax completely for awhile and just sleep normally. I'm not even sure I know what normal sleep is anymore!

My current plan is to keep titrating down to 80mgs (that's always been in my mind as my sweet spot), assuming there are no bumps in the road. I'd like to stay there for a good long while, depending on what's going on with the cravings. Since moderation is what I'm after, if I can stick to having just a few drinks on occasion w/out getting obsessive about it, I'll be happy to stay there. It might take a little bit more work on my part, as I might not be completely indifferent (the indifference provided at the higher levels of bac is SO easy!). But right now I really need some relief from the SEs, I need to sleep normally for awhile and be able to see what I'm like when I'm not jumping all around with the bac dosage.

It's never been so crystal clear to me just how much our brain chemistry affects our moods and happiness as it has been since I began this bac journey. Just look at me on my 180mg dose! 3 days of intense happiness, followed by 3 days of feeling like shit and being absolutely manic and constantly on the verge of a full on panic attack. Increase or decrease the dose, and the brain chemistry changes. Happiness/energy/mood changes with it, either up or down. It's amazing. I would love to see what's going on in my brain over the course of a week while I'm adjusting to a new level of bac. I'm imagining MRI imaging over the course of the week that I started on 180mgs - to be able to see the changes on the screen, here's what happens when you dose up, here's what's going on at night when you can't sleep, speed up to the next major change, etc. Here's your brain on a panic attack! Here's your brain watching Black Swan! :H I bet the colors on the MRI would be all over the place!

[Isolde]

My progress with Baclofen

I've been on 80mgs for a week now, and so far I'm doing really well on it. Today marks a month that I've been AF. I haven't been counting the days at all, but I was able to figure out when was the last time I had a drink and count from there. I haven't even been trying to be AF, my plan all along has been to mod. I just haven't thought about drinking, and if I do, it's just a habit type of thought and it doesn't last long. Sometimes I ponder having something to drink with dinner, but to determine if it's just out of habit or out of actual desire, I tell myself that I'll eat dinner first, and then if I decide that I actually want a drink, I'll have it. By the time I eat dinner, I completely forget about the drink.

Good sleep returned at 90mgs, so I don't need to take xanax regularly anymore. I no longer get daytime somnolence or brain fog, and I can even stay awake late! No more falling asleep while watching TV in the evening. I almost have the opposite problem of staying up too late because I'm engaged in whatever I'm doing and not feeling tired. The last few nights I've been taking some melatonin and valerian just so I don't stay up too late! But once I fall asleep, I'm out like a light. Very deep restful sleep that I had been so desperately missing. Wednesday night I actually slept through the ENTIRE night, it was amazing. That hasn't happened in longer than I can even remember. I was in shock when the alarm went off in the morning.

I'm also once again enjoying the anti-anxiety and anti-depressant effects of bac on this dose. All around good stuff.

[TracyA]

My progress with Baclofen

Iso, that is so very cool! Even 160 doesn't sound half as scary as some of the numbers here.

I'm very happy for you and appreciate the inspiration you give me (and no doubt everyone here).

Go girl, and thanks.

[Bruunhilde]

My progress with Baclofen

Congrats Is, boy I did NOT feel that way at 80mgs, I felt awful. So interesting how different we all are. Congrats on the AF days, and thanks for sharing your story. I think there already is a sleep thread, btw.

[Isolde]

My progress with Baclofen

Bruunhilde;1069992 wrote:
I think there already is a sleep thread, btw.

Bruun, I created that sleep thread after my last update, about 2 weeks ago! :H

At least I followed through!!

[Murphyx]

My progress with Baclofen

Isolde;1069995 wrote:

At least I followed through!!

Oh no, that's a terrible SE. :H