The Switch and Indifference

[Longshot]

The Switch and Indifference

gratitude;1062959 wrote: hey long,
did you do the Sinclair method before BAC? sorry, can't remember.

No I went straight onto Bac.


so you have 5 days AF,yes? how long have you been taking BAC?
hang in there brother! I hope you're doing o.k.
gratitude

I've had up to two weeks AF over christmas and the new year. Been taking BAC since Oct.

[Guest]

The Switch and Indifference

What dose were you at over Christmas?did you experience a letting off your cravings?Personally I find I can often be AF over the festive period, it's straight afterwards I always have a bad time.

I am really hoping I'm hitting the switch tonight, I've made a big push and really it has to happen.

[Longshot]

The Switch and Indifference

Ukblonde;1062975 wrote: What dose were you at over Christmas?did you experience a letting off your cravings?Personally I find I can often be AF over the festive period, it's straight afterwards I always have a bad time.
370 over christmas. But I was finishing a extremely stressful job, and on new years day I had to be a pallbearer to my wife's uncle. A chronic alcohol married to a smack addict he died of a alcoholic related heart attack. I was AF for 11 days, but you can be damn sure I went out and got pissed after that.


I am really hoping I'm hitting the switch tonight, I've made a big push and really it has to happen.

I keep thinking the same thing.

[Bill Gorton]

The Switch and Indifference

.

[Guest]

The Switch and Indifference

Bill

I have put on over 24lbs with zero exercise in that time, and around 5" on my waist. People can tell and I can't train like I did. I had some events lined up and it will take me around 12 months to get back to that level again.

[spuddleduck]

The Switch and Indifference

uk, sorry to see your struggling. i know your weight and appearance is important to you, maybe that would be a good thing to focus on. ive put on weight as well and i finally realize that it isnt helping my back problems. i had big cravings today... and i knew there was booze around. i focused on my back and how my core muscles need toning up..... and how i cant fit into my jeans of course. i cant exercise when im pissed or hungover. today it worked, and i can exercise tomorrow. ok it only worked today, one day, but as we know sometimes one day at a time is the way. be great to get addicted to exercise again.

[spuddleduck]

The Switch and Indifference

cross post uk. sounds just like me on the weight. when people say 'get your big girls pants on' thats all we can do.... i actually bought some big girls pants yesterday... yep true bridget jones style big knickers.... oh so comfy

[redhead77]

The Switch and Indifference

Are you ladies eating more? I was really nauseous for a while and now all I want to do is eat. It's been a week and a half and I swear I'm gaining already. Crap. I need to start exercising to try to offset some of this. The problem is, I'm tired and out of it a decent amount. The relaxing effects of the drug are not motivators to break out the Insanity DVD's, ya know?

I just edited this. I know UKB, you've been binge eating. Were you gaining weight before the binge or eating more then, just in general?

[Guest]

The Switch and Indifference

Yes, I am binge eating all the time. Was a really healthy eater most of last year, now I'm eating junk food all the time and even when I'm not hungry. I lost a huge amount last year when I stopped drinking, and that continued through my initial relapsing. Just before I started Bac I had put on perhaps 3lbs over maybe 3-4 weeks. At the moment I'm putting that amount on in perhaps 3-4 days!

Thanks Spuds. Thing is if I concentrate on my weight or exercising I just become obsessed and stressed. To the point were I give in to more drink and junk food. I usually have a chocolate binge right before a drinking one. The two are linked I'm sure and the drink cravings don't go away after the chocolate thing, they just get worse.

[spuddleduck]

The Switch and Indifference

red, im not on bac but yes i guess ive been eating more. actually last year when i was af for 3 months i put on weight, very dissapointing but i know why... i was eating more tobut not binge eating. ah well perhaps its middle age setting in. its certainly top of my list of things to address.... after al of course

[LadyLush]

The Switch and Indifference

UK,

Sorry I missed the original post. What I understand is we are all here to help each other. So whatever else goes on you should care about yourself and just move past it.
Don't give up; alcohol will kill us if we let it. Get back on the horse, take your pills, and save UK. I'll be here.


Lady

[Guest]

The Switch and Indifference

Thanks

I am taking the pills but have been unable to do anything today, even the short trip on foot to the supermarket involved me not being able to focus my eyes. Felt as if I was in a fog and lucky not to fall down twitching.

Zilch done today because I cannot co-ordinate myself. Tried to read a book and eyes just crossing again. Still on 125-150mg depending upon when I remember the doses I've taken.

[RedThread12]

The Switch and Indifference

UK: I gained about 25 lbs. when I first started taking baclofen. I actually didn't change my eating habits much at all, but I had to buy "big girl" jeans for the first time in decades. Fortunately, the bac took my drinking down to no more than 2 glasses of wine/day, so I decided to be fat and almost sober.

Then, while I was titrating up, I started with massive doses of l-glutamine. Really, a lot. Like 10 grams first thing in the morning, 10 grams in the early afternoon, and another 10 grams in the evening if my appetite was overwhelming. Fortunately, my doc is a body-builder and she said I could take that much and even more safely.

It totally stabilized my blood sugar. I live alone, so it was easy to start skipping meals - I just wasn't hungry - and after about 6 months I lost 40 lbs. with no effort. As a matter of fact, I have to make sure I eat well because I'm about to go below the weight I was when I graduated from high school in 1974, and the saggy skin just isn't attractive.

You may already be using l-glute, but if not, give it a try, at really high dosages. My doc says you can take it until your urine starts to smell of ammonia. Hasn't happened to me yet.

On another note: I'm self-employed. When I was in the worst phase of my drinking I lived by re-financing my house, selling my car and maxing out my credit cards. Then I got "sober" for 3 years with AA and intention, and still couldn't get my s**t together to work. I relapsed, found baclofen in Oct. '09, and almost immediately returned to higher levels of productivity than I had had for years. Bankruptcy followed, of course, because of all those years, drinking and sober, that I didn't work.

BUT bankruptcy was a breeze compared to the struggle I kept perpetuating thinking that I had to keep everything going. And it hasn't affected my life at all. I just do things the way "normal" people do now and pay as I go. Makes me realize that I wasn't very sane even when I wasn't drinking. Baclofen has had many beneficial effects for me.

I meant this to be a short post about l-glutamine. But seeing your struggle to maintain, thought I'd share my story of how not maintaining at all until after bac'ing up has worked out fine, no, actually, great for me. When you have your life you can clean up the detritus. I know. I did it.

The phrase I'm seeing around the forum is "just keep taking the pills." I'm glad you are. I'm pulling for you to get free from AL. Then you can put your life together. Who knows, the pieces that fall apart might open up something even better. You can do this. You can do it all.

[Bruunhilde]

The Switch and Indifference

UK, Spud, Red,

I can really relate to the weight issue, the frustration, and UK, the despair. I thought bac was going to be my ticket to AF, and I stuck with it for a little more than three months. I had to lower my 80 mg to 25/day due to hypertension but I haven't gotten my energy back. Ten pounds heavier with lost muscle tone, it's harder to do everything. I find every decade older makes a difference with all of this (hangovers, rebounding fitness, etc).

I've been eating less, in fact with my GI problems, I've barely cleared 500 calories a day, not including AL. For example, yesterday I had 3oz grapefruit juice, a chicken soft taco and about 3 ounces of ground bison with tomato, and an all veg smoothie (no sugar/fruit). And tea (no sugar/milk). To calm my stomach after the acid of the tomato, I had psyllium husk. I bet that's 500 cals. And for once, no AL due to severe GI meltdown.

Eating less doesn't help me lose weight, I will somehow have to exercise more and keep AL to a minimum which are like a cat fight in my body/mind and the AL cat has won more and more in the past ten years. My goal is to ultimately quit sugar including AL. I know days I have milk or gluten, I'm more susceptible to AL - both usually have sugar of some type in the products so difficult to say whether it's the sugar or the dairy/gluten causing cravings.

Hope I'm not seeming to hijack the thread, UK, this seemed like a safe place to share my pain and relate to yours and others. I'm full of fear and frustration, and feel fat and so weak that walking around the block with the crazy dog might do me in. Today I'm thankful that I'm not hungover, for once in a very long time. I'm afraid of tonight, and am trying to plan something to fool myself around the witching hour...

[RedThread12]

The Switch and Indifference

x-posted w/u, Bruun. see above re l-glutamine and I forgot to say that I also take All-One Rice Based vitamin supplement (actually, I'm taking handsfull of neurotransmitters, too, but that all came after the weight loss). Trying to repair the dain-bramage from years of drinking. I think it's working.