Fast Titration Schedule

[I-want-to-be-sober]

Fast Titration Schedule

I'm now on 400mg Baclofen / day and won't go higher. As the side effects are quite tolerable (mostly some somnolence) I didn't want to increase the dose at a low rate, though for many people this is likely the way to go. As I get Lioresal with prescriptions from my Pdoc it's pretty annoying that one package only lasts me for three days, so I need a lot of prescriptions.

@moglor: My cravings were not force of habit. Now @400mg they seem to be gone. Hope this stays so and I can reduce my dose after maybe 3 months.

Baclofen did nothing for my anxiety by the way, but I didn't expect it to work on all of my problems anyway. I wanted to run faster and throw curveballs... Bac didn't help with too.

[Lowcountryman]

Fast Titration Schedule

Hi Sober,

I had my personal max also on 400 mg/d. Didn't get the 'hallelujah-feeling'. I think I might have gone even higher, but then again, the results are far better than I expected.
I stayed on 400 mg/d for a week prescribed by my Pdoc. Now I've titrated down to 300 mg/d. I had already two nights of great sleep, which felt like a blessing. I suffered terrible insomnia at doses higher than 180 mg/d.
I also feel a lot less dazed and my 'touch/feeling' in my fingertips seem to be not so abnormal again. For example, my hair felt ' strange' for a long time, now it feels very normal again. My head is more connected to my body than it was at 250 mg/d.

So, whatever, I just wanted to share this with you.

Low

Oh, to throw the curveball. Decrease the Bac and watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V26Fbsrpcus&feature=related[/video]]YouTube - ViewDo: How To Throw a Curveball You can also increase the Bac dramatically and the ball will show curves all by itself!!

[I-want-to-be-sober]

Fast Titration Schedule

I just wanted to add that I have the "baclofen dependence"-issue again. If I go eight hours+ without a 100mg dose I get withdrawal symptoms and I'm sure after 24-36 hours I would be in delirium again.

So I strongly suggest everyone who takes long-term especially high-dose baclofen should make sure to never ran out of it AND has a writing in his wallet / near his social security card that informs (emergency) doctors that one is taking xx(x) mg Baclofen y times a day and that discontinuation or abrupt dose reductions of the drug can result in severe withdrawal / discontinuation symptoms. Of course it would be perfect to have such a writing from a (P)doc who prescribes the Lioresal.

@Low: All pitchers in the Major League should be routinely tested for Baclofen.

[Sunnyvalenting]

Fast Titration Schedule

good plan, I want.
Sunny

[I-want-to-be-sober]

Fast Titration Schedule

I consider myself "indifferent" now as I don't care about alcohol anymore. Sometimes I think of it e.g. when seeing others drink a bottle of wine, but there is not the warm "I want that"-feeling anymore. How long should I probably stay at the high dose of 400mg / day before I can slowly taper down to a maintenance dose? And what would that probably be (225mg)?

[bleep69]

Fast Titration Schedule

10 points, Sober. Wish I was where you are.

I have a feeling that I may follow your rapid maxing of the dosage, no side effects yet...

From reading around here, I don't think you'll be able to predict what the maintenance dose will be, but someone with actual experience may have an idea.

So you were at 400 for a while and hit the switch? I had the idea in my head that a person would hit it by going up to a level and finding it there, rather than plateauing (sp??) and reaching it after a while? Badly designed sentence there, I hope it makes sense?

[I-want-to-be-sober]

Fast Titration Schedule

If there are no limiting side effects I personally don't see a reason to very slowly increase the dose over several months. But most people will not need such a high dose like me to hit the switch and won't tolerate increasing it that fast.

Your sentence makes perfect sense. For me the switch wasn't a life-changing sudden experience. Craving decreased more and more when I moved up and it took me some time @400mg to find out that I was indifferent to AL. It's because I still had / have thoughts about AL, but I just realized that the accompanying feeling is gone.

[Lowcountryman]

Fast Titration Schedule

Bleep,

Last two posts of Sober could have been mine. I totally agree since I feel like it happened exactly the same way Sober experienced.
So, keep that in my mind. But maybe for you the angels will sing, dixieland-bands start playing and a Revelations will come upon on you. That might be a token that you're indifferent and hit the Switch. If all these things don't happen: think of Sober and Low, and i guess many others

[I-want-to-be-sober]

Fast Titration Schedule

I had a relapse out of nowhere, two days mostly beer and wine. :-( :-(

I don't know what to do now. Giving up? Increasing a last time to 500mg / day (~5mg / kg) or combining 400mg with Naltrexone?

[bleep69]

Fast Titration Schedule

IWTBS, bad luck, sorry. Don't give up. I would try upping your dose. In Toro's thread he just posted about indifference, he said something along the lines of if he drunk, he drunk like the old Toro, it was in the choosing to drink at all where his indifference lay. Perhaps this applies to you?

Chin up, shit happens.

[Lowcountryman]

Fast Titration Schedule

Sober,

Thank you so much for sharing this. How was the drinking. Can you tell us (me) more about that? Was it fun, did you get the high? Still drinking, or it stopped? Did you drink a lot?
How about 'that feeling'? Did it go way to 'nowhere' again?

Can't give you any advice here. If I'd have had a relapse at 400, and the SE's are pretty ok, I'm sure I would titrate up. But that's me.

I went to 5.06mg/k. So why not titrate up.

Low

[I-want-to-be-sober]

Fast Titration Schedule

I think it's very important to share all information, not just success stories, but also relapses, SEs, problems with abrupt discontinuation...

The craving returned suddenly and was very intense, I couldn't resist. The drinking wasn't fun, seldom is since years. I drank 2,5 bottles of wine pretty fast until I blacked out. Then continued with beer the next day. There were no bad interactions like breathing problems, not even much amplified CNS effects.

After a relapse I get strong withdrawal effects instantly. I did the only thing that works for me in such a case and treated myself with Xanax (and Baclofen as usual +50mg at bedtime). Otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep and have very intense anxiety. Once - after heavy drinking - I was awake and paranoid for 120 hours straight.

But I managed to reduce the drinking time to two days and I'm AL and benzo free since then.

I will up the dose. I think 500-600mg / day won't be a problem from the side effects. Going higher than that would very likely be useless and sounds insane... even to me.

My Pdoc won't prescribe me more than 400mg. Than means I will have to taper off slowly, save Bac and then go up again. Not a good solution, but I have no choice.

What do you - and others - think about adding Naltrexone. There is a Clinical Trial about the combo. Low dose GHB (Alcover) is used successfully in Italy and some other countries for alcohol withdrawal and as an anti-craving-drug. It's also a GABA-B agonist (among other things) and is more effective in combinaiton with Naltrexone.

[37degrees]

Fast Titration Schedule

NAL is a very safe drug (biggest downside is if you suddenly need narcotic painkillers), and is probably worth trying. The consensus in the medical literature is that it is mildly effective in treating alcohol dependence. I am not referring to TSM, but it sounds like you want to take it daily while trying to stay abstinent.

The NAL+BAC study you referenced was completed a year ago. The same investigators just published their BAC-only study, with negative results. However, both studies use only 30mg/day and don't address the high-dose regiments advocated here.

Good luck.

[ignominious]

Fast Titration Schedule

Disturbing news and thamks very much for putting it out here.

I firstly want t know how much you had tapered down too. I'm also on the wat down and alcohol is definitely more noticeable, for this and other reasons I have increases my dose from 90mg to 110mg in the last week.

Lets know the details and we will try to work out some sort of plan.

I also think it's very important to get these not so positive stories aired.

[I-want-to-be-sober]

Fast Titration Schedule

I haven't tapered down yet, I need a few days to completely recover from the drinking and don't want to change the regimen now. I think I wil go down 12.5-25mg / day from 400mg, if I experience any problems I will of course slow down. Some weeks without baclofen are not a bad idea, I very much doubt it will result in heavy drinking.

And I'll have naltrexone soon. I know it's not a great drug (nalmefene will be somewhat better), but it can't hurt. Of course there's the small risk of needing opioids in an emergency situation, but analgesia is still possible, just higher doses are needed.