Side effects of AA

[TracyA]

Side effects of AA

TracyA;1077948 wrote:
SOS is a lot of places but not near me. If folks live in area where there is an SOS meeting:

drug - alcohol - addiction - SOS-Save Our Selves - Non 12 Step

that would be a good place to talk about the alternative stuff too!

And I forgot to add SMART:

SMART Recovery? - Meetings In Your Area

[Otter]

Side effects of AA

I am sorry but I have to disagree with this. Yes, a large percentage of alcoholics recover without any treatment or AA. But, 2 million people die a year from alcoholism.

And, no, not every treatment is ok. That is the point of all this. What you are saying is that if a cure for cancer came along it would be destructive to tell people to take it and they should stick with "whatever" tickles their fancy. There are no other meds out there that work. The whole point of Baclofen is that it replaces the chemicals which the brain lacks and the lack of which causes alcoholic craving.

What is destructive, to the point of being life threatening, is sending people on wild goose chases thinking that there is some other way. Yes, give people information about Kudzu root and L-Glutamine, Soberrecovery, AA, Potato therapy, Seven Weeks. All very high minded but the bulk of serious alcoholics need Baclofen desparately. And when I say serious, I mean the 2 million who are dying each year. Your idea is great for people who are on this forum and are still able to type, work, function, but not for those who are nearing or at rock bottom and need the right medical intervention and not the wrong medical intervention.

There are no statistical long term studies which involve Baclofen.

[Cinders]

Side effects of AA

What about those of us who can't take Baclofen?

Are we doomed?

I hope not.

Cindi

I cannot believe I posted to this thread again. I am sorry, Tawny.

[coalfire]

Side effects of AA

Cinders If you are interested in taking a look at the different meds there is loads of good info here and no shortage of people to help you. Do you want to talk about them?

[Otter]

Side effects of AA

Why can you not take Baclofen? It is one of the safest medications out there. Much safer than drinking.

Anyway, I want to kill this thread. It is not giving me a feel good feeling.

[Cinders]

Side effects of AA

Yes, I do.

I want to try Naltrexone next.

I avoided it because it does damage to the liver but Good God, a liter a day of Vodka doesn't do much good, either.

Thanks for trying to help.

Cindi

[coalfire]

Side effects of AA

Well come on to the meds section now and make a new thread Interested in naltrexone. We can talk to you about it there. I think Otter is right. we should let this thread die. Start your new thread and I will talk to you about it.

[AllyB]

Side effects of AA

Otter;1078705 wrote: And, no, not every treatment is ok. That is the point of all this. What you are saying is that if a cure for cancer came along it would be destructive to tell people to take it and they should stick with "whatever" tickles their fancy. There are no other meds out there that work.

Alcoholism isn't cancer so it can't accurately be compared to it. Yes many people die of alcohol dependency related deaths but most people do eventually recover from it, eventually.

Alcoholism (technically alcohol dependence syndrome) is often caused by people self-medicating undiagnosed mental illness, NAMI (the National Association for Mental Illness in the States) estimates that 37% of alcohol addicts and 53% of illegal drug addicts have at least one mental illness. Baclofen won't fix this, if the alcohol abuse has been sufficient to cause damage to the GABA(b) receptors baclofen can take care of the effects of that damage but it won't do a jot to fix the cause. It won't treat bipolarism, schizophrenia, severe bipolarism. It won't take care of emotional problems which may well require counselling. And sometimes other treatments, ones with less side-effects will work just fine.

Baclofen is not for everyone and it does have side-effects for most people. For one it's a Category C drug (as it's been shown to be teratogenic in animal studies), it's not safe for use in pregnancy and is linked to birth defects like undeveloped heart walls. Plenty of women develop alcoholism and try to treat it before starting families. If they rely on baclofen they should not be getting pregnant. For any woman who hopes to have children in the future baclofen should be the last thing she tries and when she does try it she will be doing so with a necessity of coming off it before deciding to try to conceive. That's huge.

[gyco]

Side effects of AA

well interesting thread,i guess what ever gets you going AA bashing,i think Mario said it,and i beleive its an old AA or life saving praise,WHATEVER WORKS,i m curious for those who went to treatment DID IT WORK,i remember a councillor saying,if it doesnt work the 1st time,you could come back the 2nd time,would you,if you don t get it the 1st time you never will,my thot

[bleep]

Side effects of AA

AllyB;1078776 wrote: Alcoholism isn't cancer so it can't accurately be compared to it. Yes many people die of alcohol dependency related deaths but most people do eventually recover from it, eventually.

Alcoholism (technically alcohol dependence syndrome) is often caused by people self-medicating undiagnosed mental illness, NAMI (the National Association for Mental Illness in the States) estimates that 37% of alcohol addicts and 53% of illegal drug addicts have at least one mental illness. Baclofen won't fix this, if the alcohol abuse has been sufficient to cause damage to the GABA(b) receptors baclofen can take care of the effects of that damage but it won't do a jot to fix the cause. It won't treat bipolarism, schizophrenia, severe bipolarism. It won't take care of emotional problems which may well require counselling. And sometimes other treatments, ones with less side-effects will work just fine.

Baclofen is not for everyone and it does have side-effects for most people. For one it's a Category C drug (as it's been shown to be teratogenic in animal studies), it's not safe for use in pregnancy and is linked to birth defects like undeveloped heart walls. Plenty of women develop alcoholism and try to treat it before starting families. If they rely on baclofen they should not be getting pregnant. For any woman who hopes to have children in the future baclofen should be the last thing she tries and when she does try it she will be doing so with a necessity of coming off it before deciding to try to conceive. That's huge.

Implied in the above is that baclofen works. I agree, and as such, it should be the first line of defense, and not a last resort.

Gyco, one of the themes of this thread is that AA doesn't work. 5% is the same rate of spontaneous remission. It is telling that generally those who claim success using this method often claim it was the last method they tried, that no other method worked.

You may notice that the use of correct punctuation makes this post easier to read.

[JackieClaire]

Side effects of AA

Bleep,hun.
I'm not here to cause another unholy blow up, but Gyco suffers from severe arthritis and often in severe pain when typing. He's also a tad dyslexic to put it mildly. So his posts take some reading.

[bleep]

Side effects of AA

Apologies then.

[JackieClaire]

Side effects of AA

No problems, some one had to tell me, so it's just a case of sharing info and reading them 2 or 3 times.

[redhead77]

Side effects of AA

I popped back on here after a day or so of ignoring it to try again to have an open mind. I'm getting back off. Otter, you are not the only person who this thread gives a bad feeling to!!!

[AllyB]

Side effects of AA

bleep;1078794 wrote: Implied in the above is that baclofen works. I agree, and as such, it should be the first line of defense, and not a last resort.

Why would a drug with as wide ranging and common a selection of side-effects as baclofen ever be the first line of treatment in a syndrome with many root causes? It's this level of evangelism that will make the medical establishment likely to ignore baclofen.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that if and when baclofen becomes a common tool in addiction treatment it will be a wonderful thing. But it's one tool of many and not always the best way forward.