I have so many questions about bac!

[spacebebe01]

I am considering baclofen, I have been trying to stop drinking and remain AF fro many years now and am seriously worried about drinking again. I have so many questions I have decided to post them all to try and get others experience together, I have spent a lot of hou7rs reading others threads on this and am becoming more confused by the day,

If I am AF when I start taking bac how will I know when I hit the switch (what is the switch?)?

I have been on citalopram for several years and have read that this lowers the effectiveness of baclofen, does anyone know more about this?

What is the average maintenance dose?

How long did it take you to get to maintenance dose.

I am hoping to be starting a new job will I be able to work while starting bac?

I have looked at buying on-line, theres no way my doc will prescribe bac for me, am worried about quality of meds on-line and also running out of bac and withdrawals.

Would anyone say they are addicted to bac?

Sorry for asking so many questions that have probably already been answered but I need to make the best decision I can for myself. I am terrified that I am going to kill myself with alcohol and need all the help I can get.

Thanks

[bleep]

I have so many questions about bac!

Hi space,

A lot of these questions don't have definitive answers, as we are all experimenting ourselves. Your best bet is take the plunge, and try it.

A lot of your questions can be answered, such as they are, by more reading!

There is no average maintenance dose - everyone is different, and this applies to a lot of your questions.

Without hesitation, I would say that baclofen has been a hugely positive force in my life.

Good luck.

[Murphyx]

I have so many questions about bac!

As Bleep says, everyone is different and have different responses to baclofen.

spacebebe01;1081015 wrote: If I am AF when I start taking bac how will I know when I hit the switch (what is the switch?)?
You'll have hit the 'switch' when you no longer have a craving for alcohol.


Would anyone say they are addicted to bac?

Baclofen has been confirmed to be non-addictive and non-euphoric. There is no craving for baclofen.

[libmit]

I have so many questions about bac!

Hi Space,
I would think you'd know you hit "the switch" when you were no longer thinking about drinking (which it seems like you're doing now, even though you're not drinking).

I also take Celexa. I also read about it making bac not work so well, but so far it doesn't seem to be a problem for me. Do not try to get off the celexa quickly. I tried - bad move. Felt awful. I decided to continue on with the celexa and if it didn't work I'd try to get off of it later - hoping it doesn't interfere.

I have not hit my "switch", but at 100mg I have a definite decrease in consumption. Think about getting a drink, but don't immediately go get it. Not normal for me.

I've never heard of anyone getting addicted to bac. The opposite in fact - that it's non addictive (except you have to titrate up and down). And I'm feeling a little bac high right now, but I was just thinking that it's not a fun high like alcohol - just sort of an off feeling. I think that se will go away with time (I hope).

And like the others said, no average dose.

I'm at 100 mg. I've been titrating up approximately 10 mg every 3rd day. I started 2/25 with 20 (10 twice a day). I was taking it spread out throughout the day, but I'm trying to get the doses bigger and further apart. Currently at 30/30/40.

Over the years I've ordered topa, naltrexone and now bac. I've ordered all of those from River Pharmacy (which has some negative press on here), but I've had only good luck with them, and I've ordered enough to get free shipping, so I've found the pricing competitive.

Good luck.

Libby

[Guest]

I have so many questions about bac!

I don't necessarily think there is a 'switch', all I know was that I came to a dose where I simply didn't physically want to drink alcohol. That's not to say I don't have drinking ideas, or miss the release of drinking. I'm simply just not acting on it since I find the psychological urges a lot easier than the physical drive was.

Took me a few days at my current dose to realise the full effect, so I'd recommend staying at each new dose as long as possible before moving up. I believe this is also recommended to help you adjust to the side effects, so works all round.

[bleep]

I have so many questions about bac!

Libmit, I found the stoned feeling to be a fairly regular effect, although if you stay at your dose, it disappears. Saying that, you are obviously aware of the need to increase the dose! Good news on the decreased consumption!

I realise there are conflicting opinions on this, but I found a definite increase in the stoned feeling from taking larger doses. Smaller, regular doses helped to minimise this for me.

Good luck.

[Greg]

I have so many questions about bac!

I'm not a high-dose bac taker so can't give as much help as most others here, but I do want to say that I have not heard of anyone getting psychologically hooked on the drug. If a person is taking it daily for ages then suddenly stops or drastically reduces their dose they will get physical withdrawals however. I sometimes read about the experiences of people with drugs, and even most recreational users don't seem to rate baclofen highly in their quest for a 'hit', so that also tells me its not likely to become a psychological dependency. I did have an addiction doctor use the word "addictive" to describe the drug but he also admitted to knowing very little about it at the time; he was basing his statement on what he had heard about physical withdrawals.

[libmit]

I have so many questions about bac!

Bleep, Thanks. I could probably find this out from your thread, but what dose are you at, and how often do you take how much? I was originally trying to spread out the doses based on your experience, but I had a hard time keeping track of how often to take how much when I was taking it practically hourly. Now, I put however many pills I plan to take for the day into a pill container, and mentally approximate at what time I'll take how much to get it all taken. I've ended up with an empty container and not remembered taking the pills, and looked around thinking I'd dropped them, but I decided that if there's no pills, then I don't take any extra. Thanks for all your input.
Libby

[bleep]

I have so many questions about bac!

Libby, currently I'm on just over 500, but I have my reasons for going so high. I go over them in my thread. I "hit my switch" at around 320ish, although I'm coming to agree with UK about her theory of the switch.

Despite being on such a high dose, I don't take more than 30mg's at any one time, as I've found I feel too stoned if I do this. It really does help with the SE's.

I agree - take extra care in putting in your daily pills, then don't deviate from it, no matter what you may or may not remember. If the pills aren't there, assume you took them and just go with it. The SE's can assist you in this regard. I've become quite experienced in determining whether I have had my pills or not, just from judging how I feel.

[Chi]

I have so many questions about bac!

libmit;1081466 wrote:
I have not hit my "switch", but at 100mg I have a definite decrease in consumption. Think about getting a drink, but don't immediately go get it. Not normal for me.

I've never heard of anyone getting addicted to bac. The opposite in fact - that it's non addictive (except you have to titrate up and down). And I'm feeling a little bac high right now, but I was just thinking that it's not a fun high like alcohol - just sort of an off feeling. I think that se will go away with time (I hope).

And like the others said, no average dose.

I'm at 100 mg. I've been titrating up approximately 10 mg every 3rd day. I started 2/25 with 20 (10 twice a day). I was taking it spread out throughout the day, but I'm trying to get the doses bigger and further apart. Currently at 30/30/40.

Over the years I've ordered topa, naltrexone and now bac. I've ordered all of those from River Pharmacy (which has some negative press on here), but I've had only good luck with them, and I've ordered enough to get free shipping, so I've found the pricing competitive.

Good luck.

Libby

Spacebebe, my experience is very similar to what Libby posted above.

So far it has been a positive experience for me because my drinking has decreased more than half over the last year, and I'm now very motivated to keep going. There are a few SE's but they are nothing compared to the hangovers I experienced on a daily basis with my heavy drinking.

I'm also quite sure I could have titrated up faster and achieved more indifference at a faster rate, but my psychological addiction was unfortunately too strong, so I've had to take some baby-steps. The good part is I'm happy to report that the decreased consumption has allowed me to psychologically warm up to the idea of sobriety.... it's been a miracle for me to feel the psychological death grip of alcohol being less and less.

[libmit]

I have so many questions about bac!

Chi,
Interesting, do you mean the call for liquor every day even if you don't really want it? To not open a bottle of wine with dinner is very hard for me. I really want to moderate more than I want to abstain, but I'd rather abstain than be the idiot drunk I've been for 30 years, so we'll see. How long have you been taking bac? Dose?
Libby

[PbarE]

I have so many questions about bac!

spacebebe-

First off, congrats on maintaining multiple years of sobriety. That is something many of us here aspire to have.

More importantly, I think it is admirable you recealize that the beast is starting to get loose from its cage, and you are taking steps to keep it locked up.

Based on my limited experience, UKB nailed it:

Ukblonde;1081468 wrote: I don't necessarily think there is a 'switch', all I know was that I came to a dose where I simply didn't physically want to drink alcohol. That's not to say I don't have drinking ideas, or miss the release of drinking. I'm simply just not acting on it since I find the psychological urges a lot easier than the physical drive was.

Took me a few days at my current dose to realise the full effect, so I'd recommend staying at each new dose as long as possible before moving up. I believe this is also recommended to help you adjust to the side effects, so works all round.

The fact that you can come here and ask these questions illustrates the beauty of this thread. After I read Heal Thyself, I was under the impression that "The Switch" was going to be some defining moment when the heavens would part, the angels would sing, and I would be "cured".

Now I am sure that happened for the author of the book, and others on here report the same thing happening for them. But for the vast majority, it seems to be what UKB, libby and bleep say. If I had been looking for an "A-Ha" moment, I would never have realized that the bac had done its job. The frontal lobe of my brain was now weighing in and I was making sane choices around my using thoughts. I would never have realized this without the sharing of the folks on this thread. I had this "dawning" at 280 miligrams after I had been on bac around 70 days.

I also strongly disagree with the claim that bac is not addictive. If you can't stop taking something without going through withdrawal, you are by definition physically addicted (i.e. physically dependent) to that substance.

Glad you are here!

[ignominious]

I have so many questions about bac!

I would like to add my tuppence worth.

There is a switch. It happens when the nerve impulses are enabled to go a different route than the craving route.

In addicted alcoholics when we get an alcohol trigger the nerve impulse goes straight to craving and how to satisfy the thirst.

In non addicts the nerve impulses would go to the front part of the brain and be reasoned with. Addicted alcoholics don't get a chance to reason with the desire to have a drink. The nerve impulse doesn't get to the reasoning part of your brain.

When we have enough baclofen swishing around our central nervous system (brain) then the pathway to the reasoning part of the brain is opened again. Now you get an alcohol trigger and it is possible to think about it rather than just need a drink.

The switch has happened. How long you take as an individual to realise that you are no longer a slave to alcohol is up to the individual.

The A-Ha moment came over a few days for me. I was drinking up to the switch and literally forgot to drink one night. It took a few days of disbelief and not drinking to realise I had got there. OA himself was in a bar, no doubt employing his usual tried and practiced will power not to have a drink when he realised that he wasn't lusting for a tipple.

[PbarE]

I have so many questions about bac!

ignominious;1081567 wrote: I would like to add my tuppence worth.

There is a switch. It happens when the nerve impulses are enabled to go a different route than the craving route.

In addicted alcoholics when we get an alcohol trigger the nerve impulse goes straight to craving and how to satisfy the thirst.

In non addicts the nerve impulses would go to the front part of the brain and be reasoned with. Addicted alcoholics don't get a chance to reason with the desire to have a drink. The nerve impulse doesn't get to the reasoning part of your brain.

When we have enough baclofen swishing around our central nervous system (brain) then the pathway to the reasoning part of the brain is opened again. Now you get an alcohol trigger and it is possible to think about it rather than just need a drink.

The switch has happened. How long you take as an individual to realise that you are no longer a slave to alcohol is up to the individual.

That is excellent, Ig. This is turning out to be a great thread.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

I have so many questions about bac!

ignominious;1081567 wrote:

There is a switch. It happens when the nerve impulses are enabled to go a different route than the craving route.

In addicted alcoholics when we get an alcohol trigger the nerve impulse goes straight to craving and how to satisfy the thirst.

In non addicts the nerve impulses would go to the front part of the brain and be reasoned with. Addicted alcoholics don't get a chance to reason with the desire to have a drink. The nerve impulse doesn't get to the reasoning part of your brain.

When we have enough baclofen swishing around our central nervous system (brain) then the pathway to the reasoning part of the brain is opened again. Now you get an alcohol trigger and it is possible to think about it rather than just need a drink.

The switch has happened. How long you take as an individual to realise that you are no longer a slave to alcohol is up to the individual.

Wow, Ig. I really appreciate that insight.
And there are other really good thoughts here.

I'm no more addicted to baclofen than I would be addicted to insulin to treat diabetes. Or any other life-saving medication that I am loathe to take but do so to stay healthy.

Best to you all!
Ne