Baclofen

[Guest]

Baclofen

I used the one day at a time principle, along with belief and working at being a calm, collected person. Bac has done nothing but blur my thoughts and made it impossible to follow my previous beliefs. Yes it relaxes me but it puts me in a 'can't be bothered frame of mind'.

I've stopped exercising, and am just existing as a result.

[sapphire1]

Baclofen

Ukblonde;1039402 wrote: I used the one day at a time principle, along with belief and working at being a calm, collected person. Bac has done nothing but blur my thoughts and made it impossible to follow my previous beliefs. Yes it relaxes me but it puts me in a 'can't be bothered frame of mind'.

I've stopped exercising, and am just existing as a result.

UK you need to put on your big girls pants on and stop what you are doing right now. Are you well enough to get out the door right away for a walk? You need to muster every ounce of strength that you have and put it all together for some intensive action. Please do not let your business fall to peices. This happened to me early in 2010 and it is preventable. Dont wait for the BAC to kick in...get yourself into a different head space by changing your environment......Are you drinking a lot at the moment. Can you call someone to help you out and make some decisions for you? You have it within you to take control of this situation...you are NOT POWERLESS!!!!! Take back your power back, you have done it before!!! You can and will do it again.

Love and strength Saff

[Guest]

Baclofen

Zen

I am drinking, quite a bit.

[CharlieBigPotatoes]

Baclofen

Reckon you can stop for a day, either by stopping taking baclofen or one last big effort while still on it?

[gyco]

Baclofen

live and lern

Ukblonde;1039550 wrote: Zen

I am drinking, quite a bit.

hi u k lady,:goodjob:i think you hit it rite on the head,there is but one way to stop drinking,ya stop,i have to say i sympathise for you,i dont normally have that feeling for people with an addiction,any kind of an addiction,the writing is on thee wall.what we will put ourselves thro just for a drink ?ive lerned over the years,willpower has a lot to do with it,training the brain to rethink,logic,it is not normal to drink the way we do,reverse psycology works,what we were tot to believe was wrong,drinking is a stimulint,a sedative at hgher doses,i was sitting lasst night with the wife,and we have or i have the odd talk about my alchoholism,at one time it was normal for me to pick up a drink in the morning rather then a coffee,but lets face it,to much coffee isnt good either,for her to here that and the accomplishment that ive made not to anymore in the morning,is a feet in itself,but only i can do that,u k it takes the mind[brain] a long time to adjust,whether you totally stop or not:thanks:its people like you that make me rethink my stratgy each day thats why i come here every day,just like when i went to AA,planning my dear friend gyco

[Guest]

Baclofen

Yes that was just one evening. What's happening at the moment is I'm not feeling the bac very much even thought I've upped the dose a bit. I am drinking with it, but I'm not getting to black out despite drinking for like 5 - 6 hours last night. I am drinker weaker drinks as the thought of wine, spirits or cider just makes me sick.

I've been for my first counselling session since last September today and am going again in 2 weeks time.

The plan is get to a day where I can wake up and not be wanting to drink all day - I'm not drinking in the mornings but am winging it until late afternoon, just wanting to drink.

I asked a friend to drive me to my appointment today since I didn't know if I'd be safe or not - would probably have been ok, but I'm not risking it.

[CharlieBigPotatoes]

Baclofen

What we need is to establish a plan for UKBlonde to be able to get to the end of the week and save her business, even if as a last resort that means working a little on it in the mornings and glugging the afternoon away, so that we can revisit the issue of baclofen at a later (not too late) date. Maybe we can come up with this between us, maybe we can't but we should try I think.

How many days have we got?

[Guest]

Baclofen

Woke this morning to feel absolutely off it. Don't know if it's the bac, or the alcohol I consumed yesterday. Having trouble co-ordinating my hands, having muscle twitches and it feels like I've got bricks attached to my eyelids. On about 75mg now and going to head towards 100mg. Today is my last day on this since I need to get back to my old self if I'm to have any chance so the plan is to reduce the alcohol today, drink a bottle of lemonade I have here and wait to see what happens.

[mollyka]

Baclofen

Bastarding disease UK - I have looked at you as the strong gutsy voice of reason on this site and even you get into the shit. Thinking of you girl. I agree with previous - you need to 'white knuckle' a bit for a few days I reckon just to get the shite out of your system and get your head where it needs to be. Hate quoting this to you of all people but ODAT, OMAT at the mo. if needs be. Thinking of you girl
Molly

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen

Ukblonde;1040099 wrote: Woke this morning to feel absolutely off it. Don't know if it's the bac, or the alcohol I consumed yesterday. Having trouble co-ordinating my hands, having muscle twitches and it feels like I've got bricks attached to my eyelids. On about 75mg now and going to head towards 100mg. Today is my last day on this since I need to get back to my old self if I'm to have any chance so the plan is to reduce the alcohol today, drink a bottle of lemonade I have here and wait to see what happens.

Yep. Bac can suck. Bac and AL has definitely made me feel like I wanted to crawl into bed and not leave for a week. Or go to the ER. So has a 'good' hangover. On many, many more occasions than I've experienced with baclofen.
I'm going to preface the following with this: I am not AF. I have not white-knuckled it, for the most part. I have trusted the medicine, and the doctors, to do what it's prescribed to do.
Disclaimer aside.
So, to your post(s). I would politely remind you that you are not drinking because you are taking baclofen. Period. There's no correlation there. None. Alcoholism=drinking. Baclofen=submission of disease. Not a magic pill. A miracle pill.
Lots of ways to not drink. And lots of advice on this thread about how not to bring your life to a screeching halt (again!) Heed some of it. Or don't.

I just wrote and erased a tome. It seems like you are not following any particular advice. (I get it, I didn't either early on) But heed this: Dr. L reminds me every time I speak with him, EVERY time, that I should not abruptly stop taking baclofen, for any reason. He has told me that if a doctor suggests I stop, I should call him immediately, from the doctor's office, so that he can speak to the doctor.
Just sayin'.
There is a lot of advice around here about how to take baclofen, how to manage the side effects, how to hold life together at the same time. Heed some of it. Or don't.
Finally, the first couple of months (months mind you) that I was on the lower doses were hellish. 120mg/day was when things started to get better. And now? Now I can see an alcohol free future. Indifference awaits.
I wish only the best for you. I am very sad for you. I hope you can pull it together. I agree with a previous post, about yours being a voice of reason and thought. I would add that you seem very resourceful and capable.
That said, there are lots of lessons on this thread and I hope others will heed them.
I hope you won't abruptly stop taking baclofen. Take good care, UK.

[Guest]

Baclofen

I am not going to stop taking Bac suddenly and am quite aware of the consquences if I did do.

I'm not suffering hangovers at all which is unusual for me, but the sedative effects of the bac is what is making me not care a jot and therefore want to drink. In other words the side effects are making me want to drink. I've had the same with other drugs that have made me spaced - sedatives such as valium, majuarana, as well as a opiod based painkiller I was once prescribed.

[terryk]

Baclofen

Hello UKBlonde, Just my 2 cents here: It took 7 months of a slow titration on baclofen to reach the 280mg/day level that I needed to be *totally* indifferent to alcohol. Early on during that titration, I had many urges to drink because I could not imagine a life without drinking in the future, and reasoned that I might as well have a few last hurrahs. *Every* time I drank and *every* time I got careless and impatient with my titration, bad things would happen, sometimes disastrous. If you believe that the side effects are making you relaxed, complacent and unable to care about not drinking, I recommend that you level off at your current dosage for a while, white knuckling, until your body adjusts. Titrate down if you must, but please do so carefully (-10 or 20mg per week seems to be the current thinking for safe tapering, as you are probably aware of).

Best of luck to you -tk switched at 280mg/day on 9/26/10 currently at 250mg/day AF (actually I've tried to drink a beer here and there and it just doesn't do it for me anymore)

p.s. even dosing on a 8 or 6 hour schedule were key to me as well (i.e. 8am 40mg / 4pm 40mg / 12am 40mg - I take 4 even doses now. Early on I learned that loaded doses (and p.r.n. doses) on an uneven schedule gave me a baclofen roller coaster of side-effects.

[Road to Recovery]

Baclofen

Ukblonde;1040099 wrote: Woke this morning to feel absolutely off it. Don't know if it's the bac, or the alcohol I consumed yesterday. Having trouble co-ordinating my hands, having muscle twitches and it feels like I've got bricks attached to my eyelids. On about 75mg now and going to head towards 100mg. Today is my last day on this since I need to get back to my old self if I'm to have any chance so the plan is to reduce the alcohol today, drink a bottle of lemonade I have here and wait to see what happens.

UK,
I have been following this post, as I know you dont particularly like turning to meds for help. It appears to me that you are going up too fast. You have been on it for about 3 days? that is quite an aggressive titeration schedule to be following - you are setting yourself up to fail with Bac (IMO). I have done the bac and it was a miracle for me. I understand your issue with needing to be alert but that should be resolved by increasing your doses a lot slower! I want to see you succeed with this - I truly do. Dont give up on bac - it will work.

[Guest]

Baclofen

I've been on Bac 7 days now and had been taking 10mg per day for 1 week before that with a break of around 5 days when I didn't have any left.

[Rusty]

Baclofen

UK,

I agree with everyone here. I can tell you that going from 10 mg. to 75 mg. so quickly was way too much and way too fast, according from my notes with Dr. Levin. To titrate up, you have to take it 10 mg. at a time....for a week at a time. That's probably why you feel spaced out. Baclofen will also exaggerate the effects of the AL if you're drinking while taking it. I want you to succeed on Baclofen, too. So much of how fast Baclofen works (confirmed by Dr. Levin) is how advanced your alcoholism is....how many years you've been struggling with the beast, and how much you drink and how often. We're here for you...this is a battle and I want you to slay the beast!