What to do after the switch? Taper or not which protoclol?

[ignominous]

What to do after the switch? Taper or not which protoclol?

Reducing to 190mg today. Impatience getting the better of me? But I listen to my body and seriously don't feel about drinking the same way.

[guardian]

What to do after the switch? Taper or not which protoclol?

You mentioned panic attacks. Was this on the way up, or the way down?

[ignominous]

What to do after the switch? Taper or not which protoclol?

It was on the way up and thet started occuring at 140mg I think though in my log I only mention them at 150mg. I think that had I been patient maybe 150mg may have brought the switch on.
Don't know about the way down yet, nothing so far, I'm at 190mg and aim to get below 140mg where I had relatively mild SEs.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

What to do after the switch? Taper or not which protoclol?

What a delightful quandary!

[ignominous]

What to do after the switch? Taper or not which protoclol?

Reggie
I frankly have no fucking idea.
Fretting about Baclofen SEs seems to keep me busy to some extent. How did you get sober?
For me being sober and not thinking about or looking forward to this evening's drinks is a brand new experience.
I'm taking it as slowly as I can! Certain life decisions loom close so I have to make arrangements for them. But as far as recreation goes, I'm at a loss like you! If you come up with anything let me know. 30 years of recreational habit needs to be replaced! Take it easy Reggie I think things will fall in to place given a little bit of time. In some respects I'm borowing from AA and day by day I fake it 'til I make it!

[guardian]

What to do after the switch? Taper or not which protoclol?

ignominous;1021875 wrote: It was on the way up and thet started occuring at 140mg I think though in my log I only mention them at 150mg. I think that had I been patient maybe 150mg may have brought the switch on.
Don't know about the way down yet, nothing so far, I'm at 190mg and aim to get below 140mg where I had relatively mild SEs.

Really? I was as calm as a Hindu cow on the way up and at my present dose. It was on the way down and on days I didn't take any that I had severe anxiety, similar to what I would have without baclofen or alcohol to cope.

Well, I guess everyone's noggin' is a little different. It also shows that the presence of anxiety or baclofen's treatment of it has little to do with it's effectiveness as a treatment of alcoholism. My anxiety was primarily social, which points to a dysfunctional D2 autoreceptor, normal NE function. Low D2 function is implicated in alcoholism as well. This is the receptor that researchers "knock out" in order to make mice genetic alcoholics.

Ahh, but I ramble on. Again man, congratulations on the new life. The fact that you are sticking around encourages me to do the same. Thanks.



Oh, and edit for this article:

First direct evidence that response to alcohol depends on genes: Dopamine receptor deficiency leads to significant brain changes in response to drinking

It's the best current research on alcohol addiction and deals with the D2-knockout mice I spoke of. The rabbit hole goes very deep if you are willing to follow it.

[Isolde]

What to do after the switch? Taper or not which protoclol?

Ig, the side effects are still driving me crazy too. The forgetfulness is getting REALLY bad! I'm so tired that doing anything after 8pm is pretty much futile. I went to a show with my dad this past Saturday that we see every year around Christmastime and I was nodding off during the whole thing.

I also think that titrating down from 135 to 120 may have been too much too fast. There's been a lot going on in my life lately, and stress and anxiety are way up. I find myself getting overwhelmed often with how much I have to do to try and get things situated. I'm not sure if the bac is even helping. Maybe I'd really be going ape shit right now w/out the bac?? :H It could even be making it worse, I'm not sure. But prior to leaving for the show on Saturday, I was feeling very stressed, and began very much looking forward to the customary glass of wine that my dad and I usually get while waiting for the show to start. I had it and enjoyed it. A couple of hours later, I had another glass of wine w/dinner. It lasted through the whole meal and then some. I was feeling nice, but not in any way feeling like I wanted anything more. Neva eva posted recently that she has been drinking her wine w/a lot of ice lately. And whereas I used to almost always drink reds, now I find myself going for the cold whites.

As this kind of moderation is something I'm happy with and would like to maintain, I consider Saturday a success. However, stress and anxiety hit me again on Sunday, even worse than the day before, and I found myself thinking of having a glass of wine with dinner. The nightly consumption is NOT something that I want to fall back into, so I took my first ever prn dose (I know what it means, but I still don't know what "prn" actually stands for) of 20 mgs. Also took my normal 6pm dose of 50mgs. I was still thinking about the wine when I made dinner, but I used some willpower and had water instead. After dinner I was full and the craving was gone. But that craving is something that I thought was gone forever.

I thought that a 15mg drop after a week would be fine, but I guess it was still too much. So I'm bumping it back up by 5, to 125. We'll see how that goes. I am just so darned tired of the SEs!! I want to get back to feeling good again. Stress and anxiety are running rampant right now. And now I am anxious about my forgetfulness! Argh!

[ignominous]

What to do after the switch? Taper or not which protoclol?

Guardian. Belated reply but yes I am going to be sticking around a while longer.
Read the link you gave. V interesting. Little far fetched to call it the first evidence that points to genes but nonetheless interesting. The point that is coming through loud and clear is that some people have brains that are more likely to embrace alcohol as a way of life than others.
Rabbit holes can be very deep and convoluted. Where I live there is a saying that uses rat's burrows in the same context. They are also very deep with lots of cul de sacs and different pathways, one possible way to rid your garden of rats would be to pour water into their burrow so they won't have anywhere to live. Trouble is one can never seem to fill them up with water. The expression is literally, "He's a rat's burrow". Which means that however much alcohol he drinks he is never full!

Isolde. We diverge greatly on what we are trying to achieve. I've just had it with alcohol and wouldn't mind if another drop doesn't past my lips for the rest of my life. Having said that I'd also be happy if I ended up a moderate drinker, after all I can do that with heroin why not alcohol.
My SEs are finally abating. Today is my 3rd or 4th day at 190mg and I am mostly out of dream state!
Noy sure about the dates because I had a bit of trouble with my story thread. I was editing it to keep track of my process but the last time I did it I inadvertently deleted the last months worth of entries. Maybe I shall make some repairs if I really cannot undo the last edit.