This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

[Cinders]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Redhead,

Please let us know how going up affects you. Bleep and others have said that going up sometimes stopped the SEs they were experiencing.

I am sorry you and Lady are going through rough personal times. That makes this tough but it is better to Bac'd out than passed out. :l

Spacebebe01, Day 8 and you are already feeling the effects!! Awesome!! I got up to 140 mgs/day once before and was still drinking like a fish. (Do fish drink??) It was pretty miserable at that level but I have a feeling I will be up there and beyond in order to hit my switch.

Cindi

[Bruunhilde]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Hey Red,

Isn't it strange to look back on relationships and not relate to the person who made the choice to be with the person with whom you're now estranged/leaving? I can't believe I spent so many years with a particular weakling (who thought he was strong, of course), and how I drowned my reason in alcohol to allow for decisions that weren't good ones? Does that make sense, I dunno.

Hang in there, things will get better. I'm glad the bac is working for your cravings. That's just excellent to hear. :l

[spacebebe01]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Hi Red I'm confused about how long youve been taking the bac, did you start in February and have been titrating up since then or have I missed something?
Anyway I hope things start turning round for you soon

[redhead77]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

I started in February, but had to stop because bac interfered with my job performance. To a signifigant degree. I worked in critical care. I was forgetting important things, it could be dangerous to my patients. Some of them my coworkers noticed, and people thought I was acting strangely. Like I was on drugs or an alcoholic. I had been a high functioning alcoholic up until that point, and was well respected in my job. I could have taken a LOA, but I decided to resign, considering my erratic behavior. Or, stop bac all together. That wasn't an option of me either. I began to really titrate after I left the second week in March.

I will not be titrating up today. After some horrible SE's yesterday and a very rough night. I will go back to my previous dose schedule. My doctor had told me the medicine would work better, if I could take it less frequently. I tried and it was a disaster. I can't tolerate more than 30mg at once, at this point. I usually take my 30mg doses at the end of the day, when I'm allowed to be more forgetful, lethargic, and spaced out. I do plan to slowly try to increase the amount I can take at once. There was a time, I didn't even tolerate 30mg.

I tried to switch it to 40 mgs with an extra 20mg an hour or two after, right before bed. I had some of the worst SE's I've had. I'm going to stay here for a few days and go back on my previous dosing, and wait for things to calm down. It turns out doctor doesn't always know best. He thinks most people can tolerate 50mg or even more of bac in one dose. Not this redhead. I think if it's working for you, and you are seeing good results, keep doing it. I can also see that messing around with titration and dosing could be the difference between success and failure. I've only had a handful of times that I've questioned if I could continue doing this. Last night was a big one. Today, I will correct it and get things on track.

[bleep]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

I had that as well Red - the inability to take more than 30mg's at once. I recently tried an experiment and started taking fewer doses, but bigger amounts, and was able to wean myself up to 80mg doses without SE's, but I felt the effect was nowhere near as efficient as lots of smaller doses, so I am back to that now.

So you would be able to train yourself, if you really wanted to. Why, is another story. I'm really interested to hear Dr L's thoughts as to why it would work better taken in bigger doses, to me that is counterintuitive.

Sorry to hear you are having difficulties going up, hopefully it is just this particular level.

[Cinders]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

I am glad to see these last two posts.

I am trying to figure out how to dose as I go up, and how often.

Thanks for this.

Red, sorry the SEs are so bad. I keep hanging on to others here saying that it does get better. I am very proud of you, btw, for resigning your job rather than giving up the Baclofen. At the end of the day, getting and being sober will allow you to do a much better job for your patients in the future. :goodjob:

Love,
Cindi

[redhead77]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

My SE's wouldn't be nearly as bad, if I hadn't listened to the doctor. I should have kept on doing what was working. I rarely am influenced by what others try with their dosing. Not yet anyway. It's too delicate of a balance for me at this point. I know it will all be fine now that I'm going to again do what I feel works for me.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

redhead77;1096169 wrote: My SE's wouldn't be nearly as bad, if I hadn't listened to the doctor. I should have kept on doing what was working. I rarely am influenced by what others try with their dosing. Not yet anyway. It's too delicate of a balance for me at this point. I know it will all be fine now that I'm going to again do what I feel works for me.

Interesting, that, isn't it? It's not the first time, I suppose, that I felt as though the doc didn't know what was best for me, of course. Or other people for that matter.

I still really like, respect and admire your approach RedH. Pragmatic and with some planning for the future. Willing to try new things but not willing to get stuck in them. I wish I'd been better about that.

Really sorry about your lousy night. Really. Ouch. Glad you're hanging in there, and let me know if there's anything I can do or say.
Ne

[Ne/Neva Eva]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

I want to add how thankful and grateful I am that I'm on bac facing all of the incredible changes in my life. It's such a gift. Not just the sobriety part, though that's 90% of it. But the lack of anxiety, and fear. AND the lessons I learned on this particular ride were profound. Lessons like staying focused. Having a clear and specific goal and not losing sight of it. All things that I've been taught or tried to learn in other places, but I found them in MWO, in bac, in my own fortitude and by my own strength of mind and body. (thank you very much! lol)

You will, too. xxoo

[redhead77]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

bleep;1096135 wrote:

So you would be able to train yourself, if you really wanted to. Why, is another story. I'm really interested to hear Dr L's thoughts as to why it would work better taken in bigger doses, to me that is counterintuitive.

.

I don't know why. That was my first mistake, and one I rarely do, not ask why I should change something. For me it is counterintuitive at this point. I am in the process of training myself. Once I get to the higher doses, I can't remember, nor do I want to pop a pill every hour.

Ne, thank you for the reminder. When I'm not feeling jittery (Charlie was experiencing this too), and like things are crawling on my skin (talk about creepy), I feel lessened anxiety and some clarity. That part is still a work in progress. :H Mostly, when I don't screw around with it, it's been a positive experience. Riddled with SE's yes. Some of the SE's have been very positive for me too.

[LadyLush]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Red,

I was feeling weird last night and realized I had not taken my Bac since noon.. I got up and took 3 which I assumed were 10mg each. I forgot I had mixed my 20mg's with my 10's. So I inadvertently took 60mg instead of 30mg.
I have not been able to go past 20mg at a time without weird Se's but thought I could take 30mg to 'make up'. Well this was 60...
My chest got tight, I felt tingling all over my body, especially my head. I felt like you said, like something was crawling out of my skin. I felt I had dipped my head in a bucket of fire ants. If I were not on MWO and been warned about similar if not exact Se's, I probably would have freaked out and ran down the street naked like a screaming banshee!
I got up drank some milk, took a shower, went out on the porch and sat through a wonderful thunderstorm and today all is well.
I got up this morning, took my normal 20mg to jump start the day and feel fine again.

Sorry you had a hard night but we both know no pain, no gain.

Hang tight,
We are all in this together..:hug:

Lady

[Cinders]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

May I ask you both how many doses a day do you take, how far apart, and at the higher levels, how much at each dose?

I am trying to work this out before I travel tomorrow and am at the client. I will be going up to 90 mgs/day tomorrow.

I appreciate any input.

TIA!!

Cindi

[LadyLush]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Cindi,

I try to stick by this but sometimes life takes over

I will also take 10 to 20 if I wake up in the middle of the night with my mind wandering.
Some people may not agree but this is what works for me.
My doses have been different in the past but this is what I am doing over the last week, and again, it works for me at this stage of the game:

6am - 20 mg
9am - 10mg
11am - 10mg
2pm - 10mg
4pm - 10mg
6pm - 20mg
9pm - 20mg

Lady

[SassyLassy]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Still here

I haven't posted in days, but I've been following along. Red, I'm still "racing" you for the switch. I'm at 170 right now, took a week off of going up as I was sick - major headcold - and my son had strep.

Anyway, I'm getting anxious/impatient about reaching this switch. But I (we) have come too far and invested too much to give up.

I wanted to post my dosing schedule in reply to (?) whoever was asking about it. I printed this out small, and keep it in my wallet, first to remind me what I'm supposed to do, and 2nd, to let anyone know that I'm on Bac at a particular dosage if something happens.

I take 5 doses a day: 7AM, 10:30AM, 2PM, 5:30PM, and 9PM:

7:00 10:30 2:00 5:30 9:00 Total/day
3/10/2011 20 20 20 20 30 110
3/17/2011 25 25 25 25 30 130
3/24/2011 30 30 30 30 30 150
3/31/2011 30 30 30 40 40 170
4/7/2011 30 30 30 40 40 170
4/14/2011 35 35 35 40 45 190
4/21/2011 40 40 40 45 45 210
4/28/2011 45 45 45 45 50 230
5/5/2011 50 50 50 50 50 250
5/12/2011 50 50 50 60 60 270
5/19/2011 55 55 55 60 65 290


KTTDP

Week 7am 10:30 2PM 5:30 9PM Total/day
3/10/2011 20 20 20 20 30 110
3/17/2011 25 25 25 25 30 130
3/24/2011 30 30 30 30 30 150
3/31/2011 30 30 30 40 40 170
4/7/2011 30 30 30 40 40 170
4/14/2011 35 35 35 40 45 190
4/21/2011 40 40 40 45 45 210
4/28/2011 45 45 45 45 50 230
5/5/2011 50 50 50 50 50 250
5/12/2011 50 50 50 60 60 270
5/19/2011 55 55 55 60 65 290

[redhead77]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Holy crap Sassy. You are one organized lady! I love it. I'm not nearly so. Here's my plan for today. I like to take my doses 2-3 hours apart.

5:30-20 mg
8:30-20mg
1130-20mg
1:30-30mg
4:30-30mg
7:30-30mg
9:30-30mg

I'm feeling really good today. Of course, I took my first 30mg dose and hour ago, so who knows as I take a few more. If I continue to end the night feeling this good. I many titrate up after all. I think I'll go to 190. And take the last 10mg at around 11:00pm.