2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

[Otter]

Just something that has amused me lately.

I predict that by the end of the year two major theories will be blown wide open. One is that there is no cure for alcoholism.

The other is that Shakespeare was some bumpkin from Stratford. I think that by the end of the year, everyone in the world will know he was the son of Queen Elizabeth I and that he shagged her. Think Oedipus Rex. Think Vanessa Redgrave, Derek Jacobi... Think

Emmerich versus Shakespeare: Anonymous

[bleep]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

The baclofen theory, I hope so.

The Shakespeare theory, I find hard to get stuck into. They're both dead, the bumpkin and the son, what does it matter. I prefer a bumpkin penning it all to some noble fellow, I think.

Hold on, I just read that properly. He shagged his mum?

[Ne/Neva Eva]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

Could I nominate this one as the long-awaited, much-needed "Otter thread"? It's an auspicious start!

There is something on another thread, Bill G's about dosing down, about someone who uses bac for anxiety. He has to take a break from it in order for it to continue to be effective.

I certainly experienced periods of time when I felt bac exacerbated my tendency to fixate or obsess about certain things. More often than not it was bac itself or MWO. Or both, of course!

xo
Ne

[Otter]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

I went onto the autism website and posted for a while. Eventually someone outed me as a sufferer of Asperger's sydrome. So what though. Baclofen sorts it out very well.

The thing with the Shakespeare idea is that I just thought it interesting that this theory is going to be released to the public this year. The idea is interesting. The Hamlet soliloquy "to be or not to be" is borrowed from an Italian book, Cardanus Comforte, which is considered to be one of the earliest explorations of cognitive therapy. The Earl translated it into English. He was likely bipolar as, although he was a great writer, his life was completely messed up. He divorced, burnt his house down, probably drank to excess, hung about the theatres in London which were notorious for prostitution. Quite a character. And, as the theory goes, as the son of the Queen of England, he should have been a Prince. But because he was a bastard he could not publish his works under his own name and he was buried in an anonymous grave.


Cardanus says:

"A man is nothing but his mind: if the mind be discontented the man be all disquiet though all the rest be well."

Hamlet says:

"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so...

This is what anxiety is all about.

I think we all need something to drive us forward and to take away the anxiety of life and give us a sense of inner fulfillment. I am probably obsessed with this forum and Baclofen at the moment but I enjoy it because it is helping people, and us. And the chat is good.

I have this idea that alcholics are more intelligent, certainly here. Think of people like Hemmingway who drank and eventually killed himself. The more intelligent a person is the more they appreciate the human existential dilemma.

As Hamlet said..."Conscience does make cowards of us all". And so we drink.

Ameisen is a very intelligent man and a lot of his anxiety stems from the conflict he had with his mother. If he was stupid he would have just got a job and not been so stressed over his mother's expectations of him.

Anyway, that is my take on it FWIW.

[LadyLush]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

Otter-

Now is my chance...YOU ARE MY HERO!



?Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.?

I love Shakespeare!

Lady

[bleep]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

Yay, good to see you are still alive and well!

[LadyLush]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

I don't want to hijack Otto's thread but this thread feels safe right now

Hugs everybody, don't let me stray again:l

back to the Paradigm theory!

Lady

[Otter]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

Here's a song from my youth.

I needed a change from paradigm shifting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrGDoDloD1M[/video]]YouTube - 45 years - Stan Rogers - Live

[Otter]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

I suppose I am not posting so much on this site because things are so much better now. I have my wife back and we stand a chance as a family, thanks to Baclofen. The big thing it gives you back is peace of mind so that, even with the most evil stuff going on, you can feel normal and even optimistic. We now both have a dosing regime. For my wife it is 25 mg every few hours and in the middle of the night. It is important to take it upon waking up to make up for the lack of it during the night. It is good to take a larger dose at bed time because it helps you sleep. Taking it in the middle of the night stops those awful thoughts occupying the mind and allows you to get back to sleep. I think the morning is one of the most stressful times of day, mentally and physically so it is good to set the day up properly by having Baclofen upon waking up so that it gets into the system right away.

The really good thing is that you can start to think about just doing ordinary things again. My wife is taking an exercise class and has met a woman she went to school with. It is the first friendship she has had for years which has not been blighted by this illness. I can think straight, I think, and get back to work and concentrate on what I am doing. Our son is much happier too.

[bleep]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

That's really pleasing to hear Otter. Glad things are going smoothly for you at the moment, and I hope you are able to enjoy this new-found peace.

I agree about the even supply as well. The first thing I do every morning is take baclofen, straight away.

[spacebebe01]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

Hi Otter, so glad to hear that things are going so well for you on so many fronts in your life.

Shakespere? you just got too deep for me there, but about the prince being a bastard and thrown out of the family I'm not sure, so many of Royalty have had something wrong with them, I think it comes from all the inbreeding, right now weve got Prince Andrew being best friends (and most probably joining in with) a peadophile its been all over the papers but nothing seems to be happening to him.

[Otter]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

They have a long history of sexual depravity, unfortunately. What is a Prince Albert? Think about it.

I think the movie coming out should be interesting. It is going to send shock waves through the academic world because it is actually a true story. It reminds me of Baclofen because it shows how the whole world can be wrong about something. Everybody thought there was no "cure" for alcoholism. Now there is. We are at the beginning of a new age for addiction treatment and people here are in the forefront of that movement and know more about it than almost every doctor in the world, which is an embarrassment for doctors when they find out a bout it. They don't like looking out of touch, but there it is.

I just post a few things about other topics here once and a while because every so often the atmosphere degenerates and it breaks the tension, at least for me.

[Otter]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

I should say, since this is my thread, that my wife is doing well. She is off the booze altogether. We went to Tartan Day and watched men in kilts tossing kaibers.

I feel good too. The tiredness and confusion has lifted. I am taking about 50 mg a day.

Get this... my wife is now dosing me. She tells me when to take it and hands me a pill and a glass of water.

What a turnaround!

She is taking 25 mg every few hours and knows when to take it by how she feels. Today she said she has never felt better in her entire life and such a shame to have lost 20 years of her life!!! She says she will never relapse.

I don't know how to deal with this. It is a different, sober person. How do I let go of my angst? She was talking about getting a car today. She has not driven for nearly 5 years. I said I was just concerned that she moves to quickly and that driving is stressful.

We are going on holiday at the end of the month. I hope to be able to get on the plane first time, without a wheel chair, without staying in a hotel near the airport the night before and timing the drinking so that she is sober enough to get on the plane but not insisting on downing half a bottle of vodka on the way. We have missed our last 5 flights....

We got stuck on holiday last August which cost us $3000 in Villa rental, flights, car rentals etc.

OMG. Is this really happening?

[LadyLush]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

Otter,
I am at work but come on every so often to read new posts.

What a remarkable journey and what a lucky woman to have you by her side and help her through this.
Love really does exist if you believe in it, it takes work, but it does exist.:h
You will have a wonderful holiday full of awesome memories!

In your own words:

Otters in Britain have made a remarkable comeback :l

Lady

[bleep]

2011 - The Year of the Paradigm Shift

LadyLush;1094933 wrote: ...

Otters in Britain have made a remarkable comeback :l

...

Couldn't have said it better myself. Beautifully put.

Otter, I am really pleased for you and your wife.