Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

[Florieanne]

Hi

I am French, posting on the French Forum "alcool et baclof?ne" where a GP tries to answer all our questions...but can't answer all of them, partly becasue he does it on his free time, after work, so while trying to find answers to my questions on the net, I discovered MWO

After battling for 3 years with my addiction specialist to withdraw, I managed to have a bac prescription and it worked. After two weeks, starting from 10mg up, I hit my switch at 70mg/day - that was 3 weeks ago. Which is really great but:

1) I've had impressive "sleep attacks" for the last three weeks..sometimes dropping off to sleep for 3 hours, half and hour after taking 10mg. Been on "olmifon" ( a psychostimulant) for three days which has solved that problem. A tip given by some members of the French Forum and a medicine prescribed by Pr Jaury, one of the leading bac prescribers in France with Dr De Beaurepaire & Dr Joussaume ( olmifon mentionned on the video of the 26.10 conference on baclofen)

2) I've been very depressed, to the point of having difficulty to go and get cigarettes at the newsagent's round the corner yesterday. Don't think I can go back to work tomorrow after 3 weeks off (holidays). I am on "seroplex", an SSRI AD, which has been lowered from 30mg to 20mg by my addiction therapist two months ago because of her fear of a medicine intoxication ( I was then on 70mg benzodiaz?pine a day, acomprosate and nalextrone (aotal and revia)

Stopped all of it on january 21st, when I started baclofen, except for the AD

I've read somewhere on your forum that SSRI Ads do not go well with baclofen. I would like more information on the subject.
Any suggestion is very welcome.

I've had reactional depression phases for many years, but always solved them with healthy food (omega 3, etc...), sport and therapy. My shrink has helped me a great deal over the last 3 years to solve the reasons for being depressed and really did a great job...except I couldn' find the strength to do sports after work and continued drinking in the evening, not as much as in the past, but still too much for me.

Falling back into depression seems like the worst thing for me at the moment professionnally speaking but I can't accept the idea of lowering my bac dose and beginning to drink again. A part of me just won't do that.

Any help, ideas, knowledge on AD is more than welcome
Florieanne

[bleep]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

Hi Florieanne,

We've chatted on the other thread, and I don't really have anything to add, other than to say I hope someone will come by soon and offer some advice. Just remember that it's only advice though, and won't replace sound medical treatment!

It's almost a pity you didn't go higher with baclofen, as it has marked anxiolytic properties at a slightly higher dose.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

Wow, Florieanne!

:welcome:
I'm really sorry that it's a struggle for you right now. It doesn't seem right to overcome the addiction only to face another debilitating experience.

That said, it's so great that you've found indifference. I so wish I could speak french and had more time to explore the other forum.

There is quite a bit of information around here about anti-depressants and bac. I think beatle may be able to shed a little light on that. If not, others will be around for sure. Weekends tend to be more quiet so don't lose hope!

How did you reach indifference at the speed and at the dose you are taking?
Best to you! Thanks for joining us!
Ne

[Florieanne]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

Hi Bleep

Well I don't particularly feel anxious, unless it's some kind of hidden anxiety I'm not even aware of...
I have just realized while chatting with my French friends ( I've kept the same pseudo) that may be it's not even depression but an extreme exshaustion, because I don't have any dark thoughts...
and procrastination may-be, as I don't allow myself to go out for a walk or anything of the kind...thinking I should stay home and work...but unable to do so..

Of course I'm well-aware that it all might be so just because I'm only at the beginning of my treatment and that baclofen has a huge effect on me - a recent French scientific study by Dr De Beaurepaire has shown that exhaustion is the main effect but that it wears off after a few weeks.. and that there are a few of us to be cured at 70mg per day, which is really a great news!

I plan to go higher on baclofen but later on to quit smoking, as this has worked for some of the French forumers who have done so.

Thanks a lot for answering me...
Not easy to venture abroad for me...
If you have any questions...I can have a look on the French forum for answers..I've already read all of our GP's answers..I'll be glad to help.
Florieanne

[Florieanne]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

Hi Ne

Thanks for your warm welcome.
As I've just said if I can answer questions that have been answered by our GP, I will do so.

I will check Beatle's thread. Thanks for the information.
Have a nice Sunday,
Florieanne

[TracyA]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

Hi Florieanne. I can't answer the SSRI question. I hope you get what you need for the depression. Ne is right, it doesn't seem fair to quit drinking and have to go through that. I am confident that there's help out there though. Super congrats for hitting the switch at 70 mg.!

Thanks also for the info on adrafinil. I'd never heard of it. For folk here who are interested, it appears to be available via internet ordering without a prescription (Canada and Australia are exceptions). I suspect that situation will change when the drug becomes more well known. Here's the info on it (and also one place to get it):

Adrafinil / Olmifon Enhances Mental Clarity and Alertness

NOTE: It is hard on the liver and you are supposed to take liver enzymes tests while on it!

Welcome to MWO, Florieanne. I hope you stick around. It is a good place to be, and we could sure use someone who has that kind of easy access to a GP.

[bleep]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

Hey Florieanne,

I will take you up on that offer, you guys are lucky to have a GP regularly posting on your thread!

What's the generally accepted advice over on your side regarding the maintenance dose? We are a bit vague on that this side - some say yes, some say no, some don't say anything at all, some just confuse the issue - basically, I'm a bit clueless when it comes to it.

Thanks.

[bleep]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

I'm looking at the French forum - unfortunately google translate loses a lot of the nuances in the posts, but it's still worth taking a look...

Makes me wonder what forum it was that I originally looked at?

[Florieanne]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

@ Bleep

Everyone on the forum follows Ameisen's example and goes down to a maintenance dose after a while. From what I've read, the general rule is to lower you dose of 10mg per week or two weeks for some weeks, then wait a few weeks and if you don't feel any cravings at all you can start lowering again your dose.
If any sign of craving, go up again, the same way, add 10 until you don't feel any craving anymore....you won't usually have to go back to your higher dose...then wait for a long while and try again to go down..
There are quite a number of people whose maintenance dose is of 20 , adding 20 more the days they have to face difficult situations.

bye

[Otter]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

Hello and welcome to MWO

The depression is quite common. There is something called "serotonin deficiency syndrome" which occurs with alcoholism and gets worse over time. The treatment for it is taking L-Tryptophan in doses of about a gram three times a day. You have to take it with Vitamin B 6 I think. Here is an article on it:
L-Tryptophan? Natures Answer to Prozac The "serotonin deficiency syndrome" is one of the most common and widespread disorders of human psychobiology in the modern world



I know someone taking Mirtazapine through detox and it has helped. It is a newer form of antidepressant. Here are some articles about it.

Mirtazapine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mirtazapine improves alcohol detoxification. [J Psychopharmacol. 2004] - PubMed result

I hope you enjoy MWO and it helps you regain your health.

Best wishes

Otter

[bleep]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

Thanks Florieanne. Does Dr Ameisen post on your forum at all?

[Florieanne]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

No he doesn't. But he works hand in hand with our GP.
I asked our GP a rather technical question on what we call "THP".."PHT" for you?
It's the substance derived from alcohool abuse which ends up replacing natural endorphins in the brain...something discovered some ten years ago I think...and according to which it takes 2 to 4 months of complete alcohool withdrawal for the brain to start producing natural endorphins again (& stop producing 'THP') and thus to go out of the depression caused by the 'THP'...

I was wondering if that theory was still considered as valid in the model of alcohool withdrawal of Dr Ameisen because I have had access to English and French scientific research papers on baclofen and haven't read anything about that..

he answered me he had transferred my question to Olivier Ameisen yesterday.

Our GP, Dr Joussaume, has been prescribing baclofen since 2008 and is the one who created the association to promote baclofen in France, an association linked with our forum, but he wasn't an addiction specialist before... As a matter of fact, he had even stopped accepting to treat alcohoolism as he couldn't help his patients in any way.

Florieanne

[Florieanne]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

Thanks a lot Otter

I'm already taking great care of my diet and will get the L-tryptophan.
I have transferred your link on to the French forum
Florieanne

[Isolde]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

TracyA;1071131 wrote:
Thanks also for the info on adrafinil. I'd never heard of it. For folk here who are interested, it appears to be available via internet ordering without a prescription (Canada and Australia are exceptions). I suspect that situation will change when the drug becomes more well known. Here's the info on it (and also one place to get it):

Adrafinil / Olmifon Enhances Mental Clarity and Alertness

NOTE: It is hard on the liver and you are supposed to take liver enzymes tests while on it!

Welcome to MWO, Florieanne. I hope you stick around. It is a good place to be, and we could sure use someone who has that kind of easy access to a GP.

Adrafinil is also suggested in Roberta's book, to help counter the mental fog of Topamax. I gave it a shot when I was on Topa, but oddly enough, it managed to make me more tired! Well, we know that not everything works for everyone, right? I suppose I should be happy that it didn't help me, as Piracetam is a heck of a lot cheaper!

Wow, I didn't know that about the live tests! Good info. for anyone who wants to look into it.

[TracyA]

Depresion, baclofen, Ad French forum A B

Thanks Iso. I hadn't remembered that from the book and hadn't read your post before I ordered. But, if Drs. De Beaurepaire & Joussaume recommend it, I'll give it a go. And it is pricey. Ended up buying the Adafrinil from an anti-aging place. Then I found Monafrinil, which is like Adafrinil's big brother. It does require a prescription, but I had no probs ordering it from an online pharmacy. My husband is going to wonder what all the card charges were for, lol.

Thanks again, Florieanne.