Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

RudyB! I went to school in the Hudson Valley! (the first couple of times! Think you'd know it...) I loved it there. (don't want to get too touchy feely on the Brit's thread so I won't gush. ha!)

LLB, There is in fact quite a bit of research about bac and craving cessation in this country and others. None of them to the extent that the one in Amsterdam is, but they are there. Most of them deal only with low-dose-bac, 30mg/day. Or the studies are on a very small number of people... Not exactly conclusive as to the efficacy and definitely not focused on the purpose of high-dose-bac for the most part. (indifference)

https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...ead-38718.html
page one has some of them.

There are more. One out of UNC, one out of UPenn. Lots of articles about OA, too. Of course his book has most of the info readily available as well.
Happy reading!

[bleep]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Jesus, I posted a long post here. I came to have a look, and it's gone! Or was never here. Oh well, so be it. I'm fairly sure the wisdom it contained can be found elsewhere!

I don't remember the specifics, but the gist is clear to me.

Your wife is a clever person. She doesn't strike me as the type to secretly browse a forum, then make cryptic comments about it. She knows about baclofen, at least a little. This is perfect. Tell her the whole story.

Baclofen will eventually become mainstream. We are fortunate to have discovered it early.

[ignominious]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

I've just started watching the BBC series MI5.
Have you considered that. Just saying!

[LittleLessBoozin']

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Well, mid way through week 2 (30mg/day; 10mg breakfast, 10 lunch, 10 bedtime) and I have good and bad news.

The good news is that last night I had my first feeling of forcing the beer down a bit. I had deliberately purchased a bunch of 'sex in a canoe' American beer, as it is both light in alcohol and lacking in flavour, and though the first one hit the spot (chasing as it was a couple of G&Ts poured by a favourite barman with a very heavy hand), the subsequent 7 or 8 were actually kind of nasty- With the exception of bottled Martini and samiclaus, I NEVER find booze nasty!

Of course, like the trooper I am I still drank a lot of booze, but it was almost against my will. I think I recall others noticing this effect :-)

Another positive is that (thus far) I've hardly touched the xanax, as booze+bac is giving me super sleep at this level- unusual indeed for me!

On to the negatives, I wake up pretty wiped out in the morning, and I'm also finding myself a little 'slow' and maybe even confused in terms of speaking/working things out in my mind. This is REALLY UNCOOL, especially in light of the important (once in a career important) meetings I have going on next week.

TBH, I'm considering staying at 30mg for an extra week, if not even coming down. Will be sure to let you all know.

Cheers,

Paul.

[Murphyx]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Paul, staying at that dose is in no way a problem. Very sensible, considering.

Forcing the drink down? Yeah, that happened to me too...very disconcerting.

[bleep]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Something to consider as well is not taking baclofen for several hours prior to your meetings. You can experiment to get the best effect, but I found that if I didn't take 8 hours before, and just started again after the meeting, all the SE's had disappeared by the time of the meeting.

[libmit]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Paul,
It might be the booze making the se's. I notice that - any booze and I feel an se intensified, along with a killer headache. Try to lay off the booze if you have something important the next day.
Libby

[LittleLessBoozin']

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

libmit;1109047 wrote: Try to lay off the booze if you have something important the next day.
Libby

You are aware that this is a forum aimed at alcoholics, right?

;-)

Paul.

[libmit]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Yea, that was dumb of me. Sorry :-). I guess I white knuckled it a couple of times, particularly on bac hangovers and I was amazed at how little the bac bothered me if I'd been AF the previous night. Hope the bac kicks in soon for you.

[LittleLessBoozin']

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

libmit;1109191 wrote: Yea, that was dumb of me. Sorry :-). I guess I white knuckled it a couple of times, particularly on bac hangovers and I was amazed at how little the bac bothered me if I'd been AF the previous night. Hope the bac kicks in soon for you.

Hi libmit,

It was not dumb of you, I was being (semi :-() facetious, hence the smily. Hope you didn't take any offence, and thanks for the constructive point.

Paul.

[ignominious]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

LittleLessBoozin';1109184 wrote: You are aware that this is a forum aimed at alcoholics, right?

;-)

Paul.

You're right Paul, of course but I also presume that most of what you are reading is aimed at alcoholics taking baclofen.

The drug gives us back the ability to make use of our frontal cortex (reasoning part of the brain) again. When the message that 'drinking is not the wise thing to do' becomes the only way to think about going on a bender then you will have reached your switch.

In the meantime baclofen is making this sensible way of thinking more of a possibility. You have already said that you had a strange occurrence one night when you forfeited your regular habit to get blotoed and decided sleep would be good.

Now you're reporting that some of the drinks were a strain to get down. That's also not typical alcoholic mode. The hangover has made the next day difficult. You blame the baclofen rather than the booze. That is typical alcoholic thinking.

I used to have a running battle with a poster that was always advocating that we should try to stop drinking. WTF, that's what I've been trying for the last 30 years. I wouldn't be taking a drug if I thought trying would work


So I understand the dilemma but also think that the psychological switch must come from you. Baclofen makes it easier and on painfully higher doses, a foregone conclusion.

So my advice is not to "stop drinking". In fact drink as much as you need, drink to your hearts content. Make yourself happy. You know whats good for you!

[libmit]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

No offense at all Paul. Actually, I started laughing when I read your comment because thinking back, I think I read to drink less, and I thought WTF? Amazingly, now on bac, my mind can actually make a decision to drink or not - and I often pick to not have a drink because I don't really want one. And yes, I'm amazed.

[bleep]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

I too was given that gem of advice on my way up! I ignored it completely, my response was very similar to yours Paul, but without the rolling eyes, even though it's given with the best of intentions.

Ig's post was, as always, spot on. Drink what you want, but be aware the next day won't be your normal day in terms of your response to booze. For me, baclofen SE's were magnified horribly if I laid one on the night before. Even a few drinks made them more noticeable and unpleasant. It never stopped me though.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

LittleLessBoozin';1107752 wrote: p.s. good news- my eyesight seems to be better today. I do not think that it is a case of larger doses removing the SEs, I suspect it is more that after x amount of time, one's body can compensate for the drug effect.
Respectfully disagree. But only because of this:

LittleLessBoozin';1109028 wrote: Well, mid way On to the negatives, I wake up pretty wiped out in the morning, and I'm also finding myself a little 'slow' and maybe even confused in terms of speaking/working things out in my mind. This is REALLY UNCOOL, especially in light of the important (once in a career important) meetings I have going on next week.

TBH, I'm considering staying at 30mg for an extra week, if not even coming down. Will be sure to let you all know.

Or you could go up. Find out if your body has acclimated enough that this SE also dissipates. Might be worth a weekend's attempt. just sayin (It might not, though, so if you don't have a couple of days free from life-changing events, I would amend my suggestion and say that yours is a perfectly practical plan!)
I would watch out for the somnolence.

LittleLessBoozin';1109184 wrote: You are aware that this is a forum aimed at alcoholics, right?

I have been meaning to respond to this, having had the same response as you did and drinking myself completely silly all the way up to 340mg/day. It was remarkably painful.
But Ig summed it up, and said something similar to me bac in the day. (Then the guy disappeared for a month right before I hit a wall and then, finally, indifference. , Ig. xo)

Hang in, Paul!

[Isolde]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

LittleLessBoozin';1109028 wrote:

On to the negatives, I wake up pretty wiped out in the morning, and I'm also finding myself a little 'slow' and maybe even confused in terms of speaking/working things out in my mind. This is REALLY UNCOOL, especially in light of the important (once in a career important) meetings I have going on next week.
For the foggy mindedness, you can supplement with piracetam. It's a nootropic that improves focus and concentration and has zero side effects as far as I can tell, even when I've increased the amount that I've taken. A few others here have found it helpful as well. I've only been able to find it online, not at any local vitamin/health food stores. You can get it in capsules, but I buy it in bulk powder form because it's cheaper. Tastes like shit, but I take it with juice and it's not a big deal. Always take it with a choline source, as something about the choline makes the piracetam work better (sorry for the lack of technical info.!, I'm tired and can't be bothered to dig up the info. for something you might not care to look into in any case! :H). I take a lecithin supp. for the choline. Very cheap stuff and does the job. Mental concentration is much improved!!

LittleLessBoozin';1109028 wrote:
TBH, I'm considering staying at 30mg for an extra week, if not even coming down. Will be sure to let you all know.

In a word - NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Oddly enough, increasing the dose tends to help diminish the SEs. IMHO, staying at a low dose for too long will only hinder you.