Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

[c0ffee]

I was just wondering if there is anyone out there that didn't have success with the high-dose baclofen protocol. I dosed up extremely high and can't say that I ever reached a threshold. I still have the cravings and don't know what else to do at this point. I spoke to Dr. Levin and he said that it works just fine for everyone so,... what gives?

Please let me know...

[taw]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

I asked that question the other day...I don't know how to link threads my my thread is out there recently with almost the same title...you can see what others had to say to me...

[Bruunhilde]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

I know a friend is getting some relief but not the magic switch yet, I don't think, at 160. I'm on 50mg and feeling no reduction in craving at all, but great sleep which is definitely good. I'm looking for cheap pharmacies - I ordered bac from two and since both came in unmarked bags with no return address, I couldn't tell which pharm came through and which one didn't. All the paperwork is so generic to avoid it being traced back to them, and I ordered around the same time, so I don't want to order again. I know both were cheap. I need to reorder, anyone with a good recommendation please PM me. Thanks & best of luck C0ffee. I'm sure many people here have good experiences, how high did you get on the bac?

[c0ffee]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

taw, I did see your thread after posting this and saw that you went as high as 360. I went as high as 320mg and one day 360. 320mg is 4mg per kg of body weight for me and I had stopped drinking at 150mg in the titration. I thought for sure that it had to be enough so I started coming back down. I don't think the cravings were ever erased though. today I decided to say 'f' it and am going up to 400mg which is the absolute max i will do. i don't want to stop breathing or something. that is 5mg/per kg of body weight. my anxiety was so bad before that i had to go grab a beer. i find that alcohol seems to be the only thing that completely calms my nerves.

if this doesn't work, i don't know what else to do. i am sick of emergency rooms and rehabs.

[taw]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

Coffee...I have not started my bac yet...I am waiting patiently for it to apparently clear customs! I am just learning about this and just learned today that doses may be based on weight...

Good luck to you and keep asking...someone will have a better answer...

[Rusty]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

Hi Taw and Coffee,

Coffee....I'm sorry you haven't hit the switch yet. but there are people here who hit the switch finally at 480 mg....but Dr. Levin told me last night that it can take several months. What dosage are you on and how long have you been on that dosage?

Bac doesn't work for some people because it really hikes up their blood pressure. A huge part of Bac's success depends on how badly you want to be AF because the Bac can't work unless there is a real commitment on your part. I am not at all saying that you're not committed, but this is what I've read from members like Sunnyvalenting, who has been AF for a year due to Bac. I know this from my own experience. You can also click on LOop's name and he gives his Baclofen dosage history and how it decreased his drinking. Don't give up and come here for support.

[c0ffee]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

Thanks Rusty for the info. wow! 480mg sounds insane to me. I am trying to work with what I have available as far as what I am perscribed. My girlfriend gets a scrip for muscle spasms (60mg/day) and I go to a psych who won't go any higher than 150mg/day and my regular doc gives me 80mg/day for muscle spasms as well. maybe I titrated too fast. i started at 30mg and increased the dose by 30mg every 5 days. i was at 120mg/day for two weeks and then 150 for about a week and a half but was sick of waiting around so I jumped up to 210 and then 30mg/day increases until 320 and stayed there for about a week until I started to come back down. its possible that it hikes up my blood pressure b/c i seemed to get anxiety and what felt like a rapid heart beat at high doses.

my girlfriend said she will call Dr. Levin later tonight to get his opinion. I am considering going to Tijuana to try Ibogaine if I don't get success.

[Isolde]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

c0ffee;1029956 wrote: taw, I did see your thread after posting this and saw that you went as high as 360. I went as high as 320mg and one day 360. 320mg is 4mg per kg of body weight for me and I had stopped drinking at 150mg in the titration. I thought for sure that it had to be enough so I started coming back down. I don't think the cravings were ever erased though. today I decided to say 'f' it and am going up to 400mg which is the absolute max i will do. i don't want to stop breathing or something. that is 5mg/per kg of body weight. my anxiety was so bad before that i had to go grab a beer. i find that alcohol seems to be the only thing that completely calms my nerves.

if this doesn't work, i don't know what else to do. i am sick of emergency rooms and rehabs.

I'm a bit confused - if you stopped drinking at 150mg, wouldn't you say that baclofen worked? Or was it just a conscious decision to stop but you were still experiencing cravings even though you were increasing the level of bac? I know that there are some people here who have definitely gone as high as 400mg (I think some maybe a bit higher as well). I don't think you need to worry about the possibility of stopping breathing. I believe that there is no record of death from ODing on baclofen. I believe there is a stat floating around somewhere that says a woman once took 2000mg of baclofen (which was my WHOLE first shipment!) and survived. It is a very safe med. Though sometimes the side effects can make us feel otherwise! Best of luck to you if you decide to continue titrating up. You've come this far, you may as well keep going!

[Rusty]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

Coffee, I agree with what Isolde said....you've come this far....just keep going. I also found that changing my routine is sooooo important to being AF. You can't expect to do the same things (drinking) day after day at the same time and seeing a change. I also know that my brain tells me that it's the holidays and don't I deserve to go to this lovely resort right next to my house and have a few totties and enjoy the view of the harbor. Nooo...I deserve to be healthy, and if I go to my favorite haunt, I'll end up having a couple glasses of wine and accomplishing NOTHING the rest of the day/night.

Don't give up. You can do this!

[c0ffee]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

wow! Rusty was right about the blood pressure. Just checked it- 163/116. Gonna go to duane read and pick up some beta blockers. i hope that helps. or am i part of the small minority of people bac doesn't work for??

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

Isolde;1029995 wrote: I'm a bit confused - if you stopped drinking at 150mg, wouldn't you say that baclofen worked? ...It is a very safe med. Though sometimes the side effects can make us feel otherwise!

What Is said.
But also, lots of red flags for me here!
Do you have a titration schedule? How long were you at the higher doses? Have you been AL free? Are you taking other meds?
And with a nod to Sunny and Rusty, are you continuing to crave out of habit or white-hot-need?
No judgement implied with the questions. I'm curious too, why you haven't had relief from the craving.
I think there are some risks related to taking high-dose bac. And the risks may be exacerbated with other meds (other cns depressants for example, like cold medicine.) I'm not trying to be alarmist, it's safe. The chick DID actually take more than any of us, combined, and did actually live through it. Doesn't mean we don't want to go into this aware...

No, you are not likely to be part of the small minority that bac doesn't work for. It works. It just needs to be managed thoughtfully, imho. And if my blood pressure were that high, I'd probably head to the doctor and save the trip to Tijuana for tequila! :H
I seriously doubt you're going to find anyone answering a post about baclofen failure. I know I wouldn't. There have been many. I used to latch on to them. There are many success stories, and those are the ones I'm focused on now. Lo0p, tiptronic, Phoenix Rising, Beatle, Ignominous, Moglor, Road to recovery, rusty, seethepony, terryk, lvb, sunnyvalenting and that's just off the top of my head. Hang in there peeps. It works if you work it. :H

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

Also lots of good sobriety on the other threads, too. Doggygirl and techie come to mind, but there are many, many more. It's not just us and this path...ftr.
K. I know I've used up my mwo quota for the week!

[Rusty]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

Coffee,

If you click on Neva's name and Tiptronic's, you can find all their previous posts and they are EXTREMELY helpful.

Neva, I must say, when I was first starting my journey on Bac, I clung to your posts, Tip's and LoOp's like I was a 2-year-old clinging to a blanky!:H

I just talked to Dr. Levin on Monday night. He gave me a script for Bac because my shipment from River Pharmacy is stuck in Frankfurt!:mad-door: He was sooooo kind and helpful, and I have made a follow-up appt. with him....just because I feel I need support. I'm going to Spain in 10 days for business and I'm traveling with my drinking client and I want to be AF. I hang on every word Dr. Levin says.

I am including Seethepony's post from September, 2010. It's a testimony to its success: I started Baclofen in the last days of August, after knocking myself out every evening for the last 15 years.
The most I managed to go AF this year was 4 days, when I felt so crap I could barely move.
Since taking Baclofen, there were a few shaky days at the beginning when I continued to drink relentlessly,
then, without any real effort, entire five day periods during which I wouldn't drink a thing. The last time I
drank "only at weekends" is the early 90s. Last Sunday I suddenly felt the urge to get wrecked, which I did
-- but one day out 7 it is a gigantic improvement compared to getting sloshed every single day of the
week.
My mother died during this time and was buried yesterday. She had made some elderberry wine in 1978
and there was a bottle of it still around, which we opened in her honour. I drank a glass - it was yummy!
And I left it at that. So I got through a whole funeral without getting wrecked. Amazing!
And today, at lunch I had a single pint of beer, which I didn't even finish. So those are the only two
alcoholic drinks I've in the last six days.
Thanks Baclofen and everyone on this forum! I may not be 100% AF free but I am 100% healthier than I
was a month ago. Thinking about increasing baclofen dosage up a bit (I'm on 90mg per day) but if I can
continue to "drink normally" instead of getting plastered at every possible opportunity, I may have already
hit "the switch" as they say, or be close.

This is my favorite See post. He was talking about a recent conversation he had had with Dr. LEvin. It echos my thoughts on doctors and Baclofen, including mine (time to fire her bony *ss! : "He was very clear with me that doctors don't know much about bac, much less high dose bac."
You should have seen the look on my doctor's face when I asked her if she'd prescribe me baclofen.
Had I said "Any chance of group sex with you and your sister?" she might have looked less
astonished. (I'll refrain from testing this theory, however.) :H:H

See...where the hell are you, man? I need a laugh.

[Isolde]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

c0ffee;1030214 wrote: wow! Rusty was right about the blood pressure. Just checked it- 163/116. Gonna go to duane read and pick up some beta blockers. i hope that helps. or am i part of the small minority of people bac doesn't work for??

Wow! That's close to what my blood pressure was before I started taking meds for it. The messed up thing is that I was looking forward to getting off of my bp meds, because I finally realized that when I don't drink, my bp gets back into the normal range. But the darn bac, which keeps me from drinking, increases my bp! I'm hoping that getting down to a lower dose will help normalize my bp and that eventually I will be able to get off the meds for it.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Anyone that Baclofen didn't work for??

wasn't going to respond, as I've used up my mwo time... but I can't help myself. Thanks so much Rusty. Just goes to show you that you never know who is reading, and who might be getting something from what you've written. For the most part I regret almost every single post I've ever put on here. seriously. And never felt like I fit in here, really. So again. thanks.:blush: And, um, please don't click on my name. lots more sanity and clarity and sobriety on here.

And my favorite part of seethepony's post was the part where he said he'd turn to tip or lo0p for advice. but not for group sex. Lo0p, for the record, is up for either apparently. lol :H
and yes, where the hell are you pony-boy?