This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

[redhead77]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Cindi, maybe start out light tomorrow? So you can be more with it for the client? I don't know what time you are meeting, though.

[Cinders]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Red,

My job is to work sitting next to the client and my company's program managers all day. In the same room. Being the extremely smart technical consultant. Baclofen kind of makes it hard, I forget things, I lose words when I am trying to talk, etc.

So, no way to work around.

However, remember, I am so hardcore, I have had to hide a bottle of vodka in my purse and go to the bathroom drink some until the shakes started going away. Wait long enough so that the smell was not quite so strong, go get something to eat or drink to mask it and eat lots of gum. Baclofen is nothing compared to that!!

I just have to figure out how to live with the SEs while I am working.

I almost fell today. Luckily my grandson was there to help me. I was walking up a slope of dirt and just couldn't navigate it. I was too dizzy.

BUT, this, too, shall pass and when I hit my switch, all of MWO is going to hear about it.

We can do this!!

Cindi

[redhead77]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Today is my 3rd day at 200. I decided a couple of days ago to not go up by 10 but by 20 instead, because I felt so good. I think it's really important to explain something that has been consistent with me in my titration. I had a bad day of SE's yesterday. Woke up with them. Thought to myself, I don't know if I can go up any higher. Today, I feel good. This is important because if people think the SE's are so bad one day that they want to quit, my advice is to just hold on a little longer. You will probably adjust. I'm also becoming a believer that for some of us, the SE's are a sign the drug may be working.

My drinking is at an all time minimum. For example, yesterday, I poured my beloved glass of wine, and sipped it, slowly. Forgetting where I left it, and that I was drinking a glass of wine. Poured a second, took 2 sips, and poured it out. My glass of wine was an after thought, kinda like the cherry on top of a sundae. Not the entire sundae, that it normally would be. And it would turn into many, many sundaes.

I no longer have that white hot need for alcohol. I do still enjoy the ritual of pouring my glass of wine as I cook dinner. Drinking it, however, does little for me. I'm not getting the same reward I used to get.

I'm hesitant to call the switch. I will see how the rest of the week goes. I will say, if I spent the rest of my life pouring one ritualistic glass of wine while cooking dinner, I would be happy. I have never been able to stop at one. If I did, it was because I was with a group of people who didn't drink. I would be finding excuses to race out of there, and drink at least another bottle.

Here's my dosing for today:

5:30-30
8:30-30
11:30-30
2:30-30
6:00-40
10:00-40

I have been trying to acclimate my body to higher doses, less frequently. I'm getting in the range where taking them frequently, is becoming impossible.

Redhead

[Murphyx]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

redhead77;1097386 wrote: I'm also becoming a believer that for some of us, the SE's are a sign the drug may be working.Yep, me too.

redhead77;1097386 wrote: My drinking is at an all time minimum. For example, yesterday, I poured my beloved glass of wine, and sipped it, slowly. Forgetting where I left it, and that I was drinking a glass of wine. Poured a second, took 2 sips, and poured it out. My glass of wine was an after thought, just like the cherry on top. Not the entire sundae, that it normally would be. And it would turn into many, many sundaes.

I don't understand. In America you mix wine with ice cream? You guys are weird.

redhead77;1097386 wrote: I no longer have that white hot need for alcohol. I do still enjoy the ritual of pouring my glass of wine as I cook dinner. Drinking it, however, does little for me. I'm not getting the same reward I used to get.

Absolutely know what you mean. I was the same, except with me it was ale and not ice cream mixed with wine and with a cherry on top. It's habit and all habits are hard to break.

What will convince you you've switched?

[bleep]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Great news Red, really good to hear. That sounds suspiciously similar to indifference to me - you are doing what I did, drinking out of habit. Still as you say, no point in shouting yet. Time will tell.

Either way, congratulations on getting to where you are are in order.

[redhead77]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

I will be convinced by the end of the week. I'm pretty sure I have, but I don't think a couple of days is enough to call it.

[LadyLush]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Red,

You got it going on girl:l:l:l:l:l

Yippee!


Can't wait to hear the final verdict!


Lady

[Cinders]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Red,

One glass while cooking. Amazing.

:goodjob:

I know that feeling of waiting to see if the other shoe will drop.

Please keep us posted. We are all hoping you are where you need to be.

Love,
Cindi

[GettingSerious]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

oh honey! I am SO happy for you! I don't want to jinx it, but just like you, if I could pour myself one glass of wine while cooking that i was half indifferent to, i'd consider myself blessed!! I've been following your posts for a while and it sounds like our drinking habits are similar - reading this makes me so hopeful!

[_serenity_]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Fingers crossed, red! I'm very happy for your progress! :h

[LadyLush]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Red,

Serenity is in the house! Yippee! I am not far behind! The other threads are rocking my beliefs but you are rocking my heart and soul! This is the water the 'crazy' doctor wanted us to drink. Neva spoke the truth, so be it. She knows the 'truth'. BACLOFEN WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love all you guys...and Neva among others has kept us strong through this journey. Screw the naysayers...BACLOFEN WORKS!


Yippee Red, Yippee:h:h

Love you lots,
Lady

[Bruunhilde]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Congrats Redhead! Sounds very promising!!!

[redhead77]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

I've been looking for a new avatar. One where the the princess slays the dragon (beast). It turns out, the princess never saves herself. I guess I'm the first one. It's time to profess it. Scream it from the rooftops.

I'VE HIT THE SWITCH!!!!!!!!

Here's my stats:
I'm 35, 67 in, and 68 kg. Or, I was before starting baclofen. We all know I don't keep a battery in my scale now. I hit the switch on 200 mg, which is 2.94 mg/kg. I'm not a veggie, but believe in a very healthy diet, with minimal processed food and few chemicals. I also take loads of supplements, and I never stopped.

I have been an active alcoholic for a little over 2 years. I was abusing alcohol for a year prior to getting pregnant with my last child. After my pregnancy, I picked up where I left off, and the drinking accelerated. I drank up to 2 bottles of wine a day. Prior to becoming an alcoholic, I did binge drink. Nobody considered it a problem, because it didn't appear to be frequent enough. Deep down, I thought it was a problem, and knew ultimately, that this is where I was headed. I suffered blackouts, went to therapy, saw a shrink for antidepressants, went to AA. Nothing helped, like this has.

I am from a long line of alcoholics on my mother's side. That side of the family is of Scottish and Irish decent. Many of them suffer early death. And I mean early. My uncle died in his 30's. My mother at the age of 56. Both died of heart attacks, but both were active alcoholics.

I was told by the coroner that my mother's drinking had much to do with her heart attack. Her liver was trashed too. He estimated that she had been dead around 4 weeks. He didn't even want to autopsy her, she had been dead so long. I begged him. I knew she was an alkie, but I needed to know exactly what the cause of her death was. I needed the closure. There were spilled pills all over her room, and I thought she had taken her own life. Turns out, it was a heart attack.

We had stopped talking, after she got drunk and crazy with me. For the hundreth time. I remember leaving her house, and driving home 8 hours, and crying for the better part of the drive. I knew I was never going to see her again, I just didn't fully understand why. I never got to say goodbye, never got to see her. I never did end up having closure. It has left a permanent wound. One that I never want my kids to go through.

On Christmas Eve last year, my estranged husband took the kids to see his parents. I was supposed to spend the day wrapping their gifts. Getting ready for Xmas day. Instead of getting ready for the most magical day of the year for my kids, I decided to start drinking early in the day. I was half in the bag when they got home. They came home to their mother wasted, and I still hadn't gotten the presents wrapped. I had to sleep it off, and started wrapping in the early hours of Xmas morn. I never got everything done. I bought gifts for them, they never even received, because I got drunk. I wanted to die. I felt pathetic and useless. Contemplated suicide. Thought, maybe if I were dead, someone who was sober, could bring them up.

I was at an all time low. I remember I was sobbing, contemplating death, and all I could think to do was pray. I prayed, begged, that there was a way out of this hell. It was a few days later that I found this website. I started lurking, then researching what I could on the internet. I joined in January and started taking bac on Feb 7th. I couldn't titrate up effectively until March 11th. I knew I hit my switch exactly 30 days later.

The switch was definitive for me. I hadn't drank for a few days before, but it was when I took a drink that I knew. It was no longer the center of my universe.

I guess I can't really take credit for saving myself. I want to give the credit where it is do. Thank you Dr Ameisen for making this great discovery, one that most likely saved my life. My children want to thank you for giving them the gift of freedom. Freedom to laugh, cry, be children. Without being raised in a household riddled with substance abuse.

Thank you my dear friends, for being such a great support system. I could have never done this without you.

Love you all, :l

Redhead

[Cinders]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Red,

omg. :l:l

I am so extremely happy for you.

Love,
Cindi

[lucky 2.0]

This Redhead's Baclofen Thread

Red, give yourself some credit too. The teacher appears when the student is ready. Maybe Bac is the teacher? I am always delighted to read success stories so thanks for posting. Sorry for the loss of your mom though. There is such a yin/yang to life.

Continued success! And, btw, I love the frog avatar! It is so colorful!