Indifference.

[bleep]

Indifference.

I went and saw my doctor today, and wanted to hit him!

Based on my story, he is prescribing baclofen to his patients. Great news, I thought. He is starting them off at 90mg's a day. One guy has said he never wants to touch the stuff again, he thought he was tripping on acid. Based on that, my doctor went out and got some and tried 90mg's. He said he felt drunk.

He's doing it completely wrong. I volunteered to put together a protocol for him to give to patients, but he rejected it, so I sort of overcame his objections and talked him through a sensible start up routine, hopefully he will follow it, but I have my doubts. He's going to fire a few 90mg missiles at people, see that they all freak out and land on their faces, and give up.

It especially doesn't help that he's got me as his only test case, who screamed up through the levels, so I think he thinks that that is normal.

And now to the shit part... Partly because there are all these people out there on relatively high doses, and partly because this is Zimbabwe, and things like this happen all the time, when I went to fill my prescription this morning, there was 300mg's of baclofen left in the pharmacy. A day's supply. I went to every other pharmacy in the area that would be likely to stock baclofen, and managed to find about 4 days worth. The next resupply for the country is end of next week, so it is going to be close! I have immediately cut my dose significantly.

The irony of the situation has not escaped me!

[Guest]

Indifference.

This is the problem Bleep, lack of medical evidence and only anecdotal to go on. People wonder why Drs aren't prescribing. Some of it is because they don't/won't know what they are doing.

[redhead77]

Indifference.

That really sucks Bleep. Was he convinced at all when you left? I hope your reaction had some effect? I wasn't so sure that you should do this "experiement", but now I suppose it will help conserve the supply. Good luck, with all of it!

I wanted to ask you something. Have you ever gone on safari?

[bleep]

Indifference.

No, he didn't seem too convinced really. Makes me very frustrated. I may write a letter to him, maybe if he can read it calmly and have some document to work from he will reconsider. I wish he had waited a bit before prescribing it to everyone though, it really has left me in a pickle here.

I used to manage a game farm, so pretty much worked on a safari full time.

[TracyA]

Indifference.

A lot of people are going to fail if starts them out at 90 mg. He's really shot-gunning it. Heck, he'd fit right in as a member here! But you would think that a doc would take a more cautious approach.

Sorry about your bac supply though. The irony is . . . ironic.

You know, given a few days notice, I'm sure you have a whole host of people here who would be happy to send you a back-up supply! We kinda like you - don't want no damage to the Bleep brain. :l

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Indifference.

yep. you know I'm in. Keep meaning to let Tip know too. (Tip, I'll send you some too!)

Maybe we can all mail your doctor? That's effin nuts. What an ass. At least he's open to the idea!
(I'd blame it on the witch docs in Zim just to get a rise out of you, but many fare worse here trying to get a doc to rx at all. grrrrr)

[beatle]

Indifference.

It seems to me there is a long-term and a short-term problem here. I feel like the short-term problem should probably be addressed first.

Bleep (and Tip, if he hasn't resolved his bac supply problems yet) need bac, bac that they can't get at the moment.

Are there good prospects for them to get some soon enough? If not, is there a way we can get it to them? I feel like this is our responsibility.

If I am overreacting, please let me know. It will be a relief to me.

Assuming this really is the potential crisis I am interpreting it to be (people who have found a new life on bac being forced to back down, with possibly dire consequences?), then we don't have so much time to act. Cutting down on dosing to minimize withdrawals is the only way to deal with this in a rational way. Still, it's fairly drastic and we don't know where it will lead for these very important people.

Can we somehow mail you bac? Will it get through customs if we disguise it as something else? I have done this for other people before an it has always worked, and the same goes the other way. But it has been within western countries, so I don't know.

Can you let us know what can be done?

[tiptronic_ct]

Indifference.

Awwwww, Beatle :l:l:l

I'm OK for now - I just don't have any scope to play with dosages, and I'm not sure for how long I can get a prescription. When it comes down to it, I'll shout for help.

It is a worry, I must admit. My local pharmacy still hasn't dispensed my full prescription because they don't have supplies. I guess the reason is that we represent a very small market for pharmaceuticals. The majority of the populations in South Africa and Zimbabawe hardly have access to basic medical care, never mind "luxuries" like these...

[bleep]

Indifference.

A few things have happened - I have been rushing around to all the pharmacies, and as a result have scraped together about 1 000mg's. Also, the other day, the first ever (and only) order I placed online was delivered, about 3 months after the fact, so thankfully I didn't wait around for that! As a result of all of this, I now have 3 290mg's of baclofen in total, and the shipment for the country is due in next week. If that goes according to plan, I should be okay, It turns out there was slightly more baclofen at home than I thought, as a result of the internet shipment.

The pharmacy that I originally deal with, and the only one who understands the implications of running out, have said they can order the same baclofen that Tip is currently on if it comes to that. That will cost $40 a day, so I'm going to try avoid it if at all possible! I was told, by a couple of pharmacies, that the reason we are short is because there is a shortage of baclofen in the UK. Don't know if there is any truth to that, but be aware, those who need to be. Probably just an excuse though.

I have received a number of emails and PM's from concerned people. Thank you very much for your concern, it is extremely touching, and I'm very grateful. It turns out that I should be able to ride this out, but it demonstrates the need of having a private stash. I need to come up with a plan of getting a full months supply squirreled away for when this happens again. In Africa, this will happen again.

I've prepared a letter to my doctor, that I'm going to drop off at his surgery, that lays out the hows and whys of baclofen. It's good that he's onboard, but he will ruin it if he caries on the way he is going. Hopefully he will agree, and won't take it in the wrong way!

Again, to end this long post, thank you to everyone who helped out!

[Lo0p]

Indifference.

bleep;1088048 wrote: It turns out that I should be able to ride this out, but it demonstrates the need of having a private stash. I need to come up with a plan of getting a full months supply squirreled away for when this happens again. In Africa, this will happen again.

Way ahead of ya! I live in the US and have a prescription AND a safe deposit box! :H Laugh at me if you want, call me paranoid...but for me, running out would mean hell AND high waters.

[bleep]

Indifference.

Here goes the experiment...

I have started, following what Murph did in his thread, reducing the number of times I take baclofen in the day. I'm currently on 270mg's, which I break down 60, 70, 70, 70. I originally took it every two hours to minimise SE's, and it worked beautifully for that. Now though, there are no SE's at all, even taking it like this, and it's much more convenient.

So, after taking my 3 o'clock dose of 70mg's, I am going to "run out" of baclofen. I won't take any until I start to feel weird. Hopefully there is some warning, and it's not straight into seizure mode! I'm already feeling a bit nervous, but clearly it is, dare I say it, psychosomatic.

If I don't feel strange by tomorrow evening before bed, I will chicken out and resume baclofen as normal until next weekend, where I will try again, missing more doses on Friday.

Fingers are crossed.

[tiptronic_ct]

Indifference.

bleep;1088600 wrote: Here goes the experiment...

I have started, following what Murph did in his thread, reducing the number of times I take baclofen in the day. I'm currently on 270mg's, which I break down 60, 70, 70, 70. I originally took it every two hours to minimise SE's, and it worked beautifully for that. Now though, there are no SE's at all, even taking it like this, and it's much more convenient.

So, after taking my 3 o'clock dose of 70mg's, I am going to "run out" of baclofen. I won't take any until I start to feel weird. Hopefully there is some warning, and it's not straight into seizure mode! I'm already feeling a bit nervous, but clearly it is, dare I say it, psychosomatic.

If I don't feel strange by tomorrow evening before bed, I will chicken out and resume baclofen as normal until next weekend, where I will try again, missing more doses on Friday.

Fingers are crossed.

Watch out for irritability - that was the 1st sign I noticed. My fuse became very short. It mimics alcohol WD...

[bleep]

Indifference.

Thanks for the heads-up Tip. I am going to have to be careful not to spot symptoms where none exist, which I think will be tricky. The slightest twitch is going to have me nervously playing with my pills!

[Florieanne]

Indifference.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you,
Some users in France sometimes drop of 60mg in a day (don't ask me why...wasn't able to figure it out)..
Never read anything real bad happened to them... Except depressive mood and desire to drink again when they stay a few days at that new lower dose..
Take care
Love,
Florie

[beatle]

Indifference.

Sorry to get all serious on you here, but...

In alcohol withdrawal, it is my understanding (and, unfortunately my experience) that seizure onset happens 24-96 hours after cessation of alcohol. I was told in detox that 72 hours is the most dangerous, which had been exactly when I had my seizure (that was before I know anything about detox... I just knew I had an alcohol problem and decided to quit).

So I don't know if it applies to bac, but if it does, the other withdrawal symptoms would come first, and you would start to up your bac again before that. Still, it could be that even though you re-start bac it is not enough to stop the seizure... not sure about that.

The more I think about this the less I like it. Or at least the rationale for it.

Even if you went on holiday and didn't bring enough bac with you, you would realize it and could taper down, or spread out what you had left so you wouldn't suffer acute withdrawal. And you can always carry a prescription with you, and your doctor's phone number. Maybe a letter from your doctor explaining what would happen if you had bac suddenly cut off?

I have a feeling this little experiment is not only about fact-finding. I suspect there is an element of thrill-seeking, searching for the kind of endorphin rushes people get from extreme sports, bungee-jumping... and we all know you are bored --.

Anyway, if you are determined to do it, people around you should be prepared for what to do if you should have a seizure. Like make sure you are somewhere you can't hurt yourself -- i.e. remove all sharp objects from the area. There's also something about biting your tongue and choking (I think everyone who has a seizure bites their tongue to pieces).There are a lot of other preparations... you can google it. Apparently, if you are prepared, it doesn't have to be so dangerous. But this is not medical advice, of course.

I had a seizure while driving on the highway in rush-hour traffic going to pick my kids up at summer camp. Try to pick a less inconvenient time and place than that.