Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

[CharlieBigPotatoes]

My first post on here, hello everyone.

I've been feeling for a while (couple of years) that my drinking has got a little out of control and I am getting into the situation where I spend mornings either trying to work out what I did the night before or regretting what I did the night before. Hangovers can't be shrugged off like they were 5 years ago and they ruin my productivity for at least a day after a good drink.

So, I have a period in my life coming up where I need to be able to concentrate on business and my family a lot more than I am now. I have tried knocking drinking on the head a few times (usually in January as I try to go as long as I can without a drink during this month, the longest I managed was all of January, February and a week into March but that was while quitting smoking as well, I knew if I had a drink I'd start smoking again instantly) but always go back sooner rather than later. I need at least good 6 months with as clear a mind as is possible so intend to try and achieve this with the help of Baclofen and hopefully use that as a springboard to a longer period of my life without booze being at the centre of it. Ideally I'd love to reach the stage where I can go out for a social drink or two without needing to carry on into bender territory although if this isn't achievable I'm not going to be too upset.

I have two bottles of Baclofen, each one has 100 pills in it, one contains 25mg pills and one contains 10mg pills. I weigh about 95kg and had intended to start at 10mg a day for a week before moving up to 30mg a day and then on to 50mg a day, does this sound about right or maybe a little too slow?

I'll be thankful for any advice and hope to be able to offer encouragement to others as well!

[ignominous]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

Welcome Charlie

We're still trying to work out the best schedule.
Slow and steady seems to be the most painless route but a lot of us are fairly impatient.

I would suggest:
10mg for 3or 4 days. Some people get an immediate positive reaction and it may possibly be enough.
I would then suggest increasing by 10mg every 3 or 4 days if you feel comfortable.
It may just be that the dosage that produces SEs for you is when Bac is doing its work so I would suggest holding at that dose until the SEs diminish a bit. Listen to your body.

How much do you drink, you say its been the last couple of years that it seems to be getting out of control but not how long you've been drinking.

That's a nice supply of Bac you've got there but it goes at an alarming rate when you get to higher doses so make sure you have your future supply worked out.

There are many different opinions, with some outliers ramping up the dose to 3 or 400mg within a few weeks. Ha. I'm sure someone will come on here and recommend that you simply stop drinking. Haha. Anyway its good to see another face and wish you the best.

[CharlieBigPotatoes]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

ignominous,

Thanks for the reply, if no hard and fast schedule has been worked out then I'll go slightly differently from what I first thought of. I'm going to go 20, 35, 50mg a day for 4 days each, split the dosage equally between the morning and evening then see what happens.

Regarding my fuel intake, there's no real hard and fast pattern but when asked by my GP before a recent operation I told her that it's at the very least 15 pints o'Guinness and 5 bottles of red a week on average, sometimes more, sometimes less. I'm not sure how that compares to other people on here but I'm not sure quantity is the thing to be worried about but more the effect that this was having on me, my family and our lives. I have been drinking for about 27 years, since just before I was able to legally here in the UK and have a reputation amongst my friends of really being able to pack it away. I can usually stay off it for a couple of days without too much trouble but after that the cravings usually kick in. I work for myself from home and over the last couple of years have found myself ordering my day around a drink or putting off work in order to go drinking - I think this fits the pattern of either being an alcoholic or being well on the way to becoming one. So something has to be done!

So, no side effects so far after my first 20mg....

[Seethepony]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

Hi Charlie,

I'd go with ig's suggestion - 10mgs for a few days, then 20 etc. Take it easy and don't expect miracles overnight. Works best if you can manage a few consecutive non-drinking days.

Let us know how it goes!

[bleep69]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

Hi Charlie,

Having just started myself, I can't really offer too much practical advice, other than to warn you about the possibility of your hangover increasing exponentially in strength! This hasn't happened to everyone though, so you may be lucky. Don't let it stop you though, if anything it's added another reason to my growing list of reasons not to drink.

Wish you all the best.

[CharlieBigPotatoes]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

Seethepony - thanks, I see that most people recommend being as abstinent as possible, this is the route I intend to follow although I must admit to being attracted to the fact that it doesn't seem to be a prerequisite of baclofen to work its magic when I first happened upon Dr Ameisens story. A big test for me is going to be the nights (or afternoons) that I'd usually spend watching football with my friends, indeed tomorrow night would normally see me out in a bar getting wasted with friends while watching the game. I have already decided to cancel planning a trip to Europe in late Feb to watch my team which would be a 2 day glugathon...

bleep69 - I wish you luck as well, keep everyone updated with your progress as I intend to do.

I read in the Dr Ameisens book that large scale trials of Baclofen are almost certainly going to be impossible due to financial reasons, is there anywhere where we can report our dosage so that someone can build up some kind of record as an alternative?

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

Charlie, Welcome.
That was a good suggestion. To that end I've started a thread about dosing. We'll see how far it goes, but hopefully people will weigh in. It's a start anyway.
https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...ons-47246.html
Bleep, what did your doctor recommend?

[Rusty]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

Good Morning Friends!

Neva-what a great thread! You have helped so many people. But if you ever scare me again like you did the other day, I'm going to kick your *ss.

Charlie-I would follow Ig's suggestions...they're spot on!

[CharlieBigPotatoes]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

I'm not sure where to put this so I'll bung it here.

I have a regular job I have to do every couple of weeks, it's very easy and I'm always finished early afternoon. My journey home is at least an hour so I always (without fail for the year I've had it) look to break up the journey home by going for a gargle - meeting friends, hanging around for others to get out of work, even retracing steps back into town if someone replies late to a text that they fancy a drink. I have even waited in pubs on my own for a couple of hours for people to show up. Today is the first time ever I just did the job and went home.

I really can't claim that it is the baclofen that has done this because I have only taken 50mg over 2.5 days so far, it could be that the excess of Christmas (I made sure I did the rounds because I knew that I was going to try and tackle the problem on January 4th), it could just be willpower working as it has done in the past during the month of January, it could be a kind of mild placebo-type effect (wrong words I know but I think you'll understand), I dunno. Just felt I should report this, maybe someone else has had the experience of a very quick reaction, maybe someone lurking needs a push and this is it. Odd.

[Sunnyvalenting]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

When you combine your higher brain's intention to abstain with the powerful anticraveing effect of baclofen on your mid brain reward pathway, even at low doses it allows you to use the high level judgement you have available to you. Great going and keep it up. Use ALL the tools. Don't wait for the switch. Just do it.
Sunny

[ignominous]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

So that's 1 time in 52 weeks you haven't waited around for a drink.
I'll give you 10 to 1 it was the Bac

[CharlieBigPotatoes]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

Today would normally be another big day for me, two big games on back to back that would be a good excuse for a day in the pub. By now plans would be being laid, I'd be texting all my cronies to see who would be out. But..... nothing, I plan to spend the day helping to clear up the house, teach my daughter how to ride her new bike and watch the game at home.

I still think that the baclofen is helping my good intentions rather than the sole reason for these five days of abstinence but if I am going to crack it I would expect it to be on days like today.

Still on 20mg a day for another 2 days, will then step up a bit more, to 35mg a day probably.

[ignominous]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

The very first time I took Bac, it stopped me from becoming an argumentative drunk. I was impressed.

[bleep69]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

neva eva;1035397 wrote:
Bleep, what did your doctor recommend?

We didn't really go into the high dosage area's. Strange really, but he's a very casual doctor! I'm expecting that when I go back to get a refill we'll discuss it. I reckon there's more knowledge here that at most doctors anyway regarding high dose baclofen. Hopefully this situation will change with time.

Good to hear your recent success Charlie!

[CharlieBigPotatoes]

Baclofen Dosage Advice Needed

Right, I think I should report back on a couple of things. I've been really busy with work over the last week or so and haven't had a chance. I started out on 20mg a day two weeks ago then hiked it to 35mg a day 6 days ago. I have had the very occasional thought about booze but have come nowhere near actually going for a drink and I'm very pleased with the way things are going so far.

I have noticed side effects though - Jesus I have felt tired over this last week which in turn has led to an inability to concentrate at times. I have also had a couple of very mild headaches, something which I have never had in my life before. Libido up, corked bottle situation here though! I think that I'll stay at 35mg for another week to see if things stabilise.

I have a bit of a trial coming up though, I have bought tickets to a Thin Lizzy gig for an old friend of mine, he's an original fan and is really chuffed about going to see them. I'm not such a big fan, I like a couple of tracks but that's about it but even so I just cannot imagine going to a gig sober - does not compute! Any advice? The gig is in 7 days time.

I'd also like to express my feelings about some of the people on this site, it's a great community and to get emailed out of the blue by someone asking about my well being is extremely kind, it's much appreciated.