Well, I mentioned Baclofen and autism to my doctor and he was very interested so I sent him a link.
But...what bothers me is that when you talk about alcoholism doctors just go blank. You can suggest they look at the posts in these threads and you get the impression they think you are a head case.
I have read posts here from people who have taken "The End of My Addiction" to their doctor. The only professional I gave it to to read handed it back saying he had "issues" with it.
The issue I have is that you would have to read the whole thing to get to the point where he describes how Baclofen works. Even then you have to analyse the text to find out what his dosages are. Why did he not publish some handy guide as to how to dose on Baclofen? And he never has. When we started using it I was instantly impressed by the vast quantity of the drug I would either have to acquire or have prescribed.
How do you go into a doctor and say, "Can you give me a prescription starting at 5 mg a day for several days, I don't know how long, and then 10 mg a day for several day, don't know how long, and then in increasing amount up to a level where I am cured of alcohol which might mean taking three times the legal limit of the stuff for I don't know how long and then tapering down, or maybe not, I don't know and staying on that level for the rest of my life." Or you could just ask him for a couple of kilos of it in a brown bag!
Anyway, how do doctors get to know how to prescribe Baclofen if they are skeptical of the idea and have no access to anything which would guide then as to how to prescribe?
I had thought that threatening doctors with lawsuits was the answer but maybe that is using a hammer to crack a peanut. Surely most doctors would realize that it is ethically wrong of them to allow patients to self prescribe. I am sure if you told a doctor that you had found that Baclofen had worked for you and that you were abstinent and had been for some time they would be duty bound to take over supervision of your treatment. I cannot see it any other way from a legal and professional conduct perspective. Certainly combining that with reference to the literature on Baclofen surely would make them realize that they were on thin ice if they refused.
Of course, that still does not answer the question of how to bring a doctor up to speed in terms of usage of Baclofen. There is a real shortage, apart from on this forum, of information about using Baclofen but what doctor is going to rely on the disparate postings on an internet site from people with no medical experience. I know Phillip Thomas has now written a Baclofen Handbook and it seems to me that whatever you think of him and whatever has befallen him in his profession, which is no different to what happened to Olivier, the next logical step is for doctors to be "educated" on the use of Baclofen and I believe the Handbook is the only book out there at the moment. Maybe if anyone has bought the book they could comment on whether it is useful and might be something which you should take to your doctor to show him the way forward. Personally, I don't see what alternative there is when a doctor just turns to you, as ours did, and said she was not an expert in alcoholism. Surely it is a doctor's duty, if they have a patient with an illness to study up on it with whatever information they can find. So why not make it easy for them and put them in an uncomfortable position so they cannot weasel out of it.
Well, that was my thought for the day. Oh, and can we leave personalities out of it because I really think it is important to find a way to persuade doctors to prescribe. Ours is still refusing to go above 80mg a day. Any suggestions are graciously received in the spirit of this forum.
Best wishes
But...what bothers me is that when you talk about alcoholism doctors just go blank. You can suggest they look at the posts in these threads and you get the impression they think you are a head case.
I have read posts here from people who have taken "The End of My Addiction" to their doctor. The only professional I gave it to to read handed it back saying he had "issues" with it.
The issue I have is that you would have to read the whole thing to get to the point where he describes how Baclofen works. Even then you have to analyse the text to find out what his dosages are. Why did he not publish some handy guide as to how to dose on Baclofen? And he never has. When we started using it I was instantly impressed by the vast quantity of the drug I would either have to acquire or have prescribed.
How do you go into a doctor and say, "Can you give me a prescription starting at 5 mg a day for several days, I don't know how long, and then 10 mg a day for several day, don't know how long, and then in increasing amount up to a level where I am cured of alcohol which might mean taking three times the legal limit of the stuff for I don't know how long and then tapering down, or maybe not, I don't know and staying on that level for the rest of my life." Or you could just ask him for a couple of kilos of it in a brown bag!
Anyway, how do doctors get to know how to prescribe Baclofen if they are skeptical of the idea and have no access to anything which would guide then as to how to prescribe?
I had thought that threatening doctors with lawsuits was the answer but maybe that is using a hammer to crack a peanut. Surely most doctors would realize that it is ethically wrong of them to allow patients to self prescribe. I am sure if you told a doctor that you had found that Baclofen had worked for you and that you were abstinent and had been for some time they would be duty bound to take over supervision of your treatment. I cannot see it any other way from a legal and professional conduct perspective. Certainly combining that with reference to the literature on Baclofen surely would make them realize that they were on thin ice if they refused.
Of course, that still does not answer the question of how to bring a doctor up to speed in terms of usage of Baclofen. There is a real shortage, apart from on this forum, of information about using Baclofen but what doctor is going to rely on the disparate postings on an internet site from people with no medical experience. I know Phillip Thomas has now written a Baclofen Handbook and it seems to me that whatever you think of him and whatever has befallen him in his profession, which is no different to what happened to Olivier, the next logical step is for doctors to be "educated" on the use of Baclofen and I believe the Handbook is the only book out there at the moment. Maybe if anyone has bought the book they could comment on whether it is useful and might be something which you should take to your doctor to show him the way forward. Personally, I don't see what alternative there is when a doctor just turns to you, as ours did, and said she was not an expert in alcoholism. Surely it is a doctor's duty, if they have a patient with an illness to study up on it with whatever information they can find. So why not make it easy for them and put them in an uncomfortable position so they cannot weasel out of it.
Well, that was my thought for the day. Oh, and can we leave personalities out of it because I really think it is important to find a way to persuade doctors to prescribe. Ours is still refusing to go above 80mg a day. Any suggestions are graciously received in the spirit of this forum.
Best wishes
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