Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

sooooooo....

Wow. huh. How 'bout that.

Care to share?

[LittleLessBoozin']

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Hi Karen,

Not feeling particularly carey or sharey right now I'm afraid. Basically, I couldn't function highly enough on Bac and booze, couldn't muster the willpower to do bac without booze and so am now going batshit crazy on booze. With no job, as you correctly observed on the other thread.

I am off the cigarettes, as I mentioned, and next week I shall be off the booze- either using bac as a crutch or white knuckling. It will happen though, it has to.

You honestly wouldn't believe the BS I'm going through right now- it's enough to drive a man to ... oh, wait.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Hi, Paul.
hmmm. Hate it when others don't feel particularly share-y. But no worries. The rest of us will cover the care-y part. Not as in the Carrie character from the Stephen King flick. (forgot. you're british. you guys have movies back then?) And whatever. Where TF was I going with that anyway?

Baclofen is not a crutch. period.

Why aren't you taking bac now that you're not employed? I won't ask again. I only ask because that is why you couldn't.
Wanna chat?

WTF are you thinking quitting smoking? I mean, good for you. Really. That's pretty incredible. What's the impetus and how are you doing it? I abhor ruining my precious cells with the evil weed.

I wouldn't, I know. Hang in there. and

[RudyB]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

yes, paul, best of luck!

and i second ne's question about the smokes: how did you do it?! i'm duly impressed! and while still drinking. for me those two went hand-in-hand. (past tense because i seem to have switched, at 200 mgs.) if you can quit smoking, you can do ANYTHING!!!!

(i tell myself that same thing, starting now.)

keep us posted, will ya? you'll be just fine. keep pluggin, and chuggin those pills.

rudy

[bleep]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Here starteth it againeth. Great stuff Paul. I hope you have more luck this time around. Without job pressure it may be a little easier to put up with some of the SE's.

[Murphyx]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

So you're coming home? Yay! Depression, social upheaval, austerity and underemployment await. You lucky bugger!

Sorry to hear it's panned out this way, mate. But every cloud ... and all that bollocks.

[redhead77]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Hi Paul,

Thought I'd drop in and offer you some moral support. I've been following your thread and I couldn't titrate up on bac and work either. I'm sorry to hear of all the changes in your life. I know you have a huge move coming up, how far away is that? I would strongly consider using this time, if possible, to try to titrate up on bac. Maybe, this is a sign you should do this? Sorry, but I kind of believe in somewhere over the rainbow. :H

[wanttobesober]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Hi Paul,

I hope you are doing OK.
I wanted to ket you know something that might help you as it seems to help me.
I also quit Baclofen because of the side effects.
While I was looking for some other alternatives,
I came across an article that says that there is a way to get off alcohol with supplements.

DoctorYourself.com - Alcoholism

I have found it very interesting. So I use currently:

Vitamin C: 3 x 3000 mg
L-Glutamine: 3 x 2000 mg
Thiamin (B1): 2 x 500 mg

The key ingredient is L-Glutamine as it can dramatically reduce alcohol craving for some people. It looks like it does this for me, as I am on my 11th day AF and do not crave AL at all. If you buy L-Glutamine, buy the powdered form as it absorbs much faster than the pill
form. If you feel the cravings just pop in a teaspoon of this powder under your tongue (approx 5 grams) and your craving is gone in minutes. That is what some people say.
I do not know, because as I said I do not have any cravings right now.
I know it will not work for everybody, but neither Naltrexone nor Baclofen do.
I also tried Naltrexone before for 3 months with no success.
You can buy these at Walmart under $20.
I think it worth a try. Even if it does not help you much, at least you will not have side effects.

Also Zenstyle suggested a book that is called 7 weeks to sobriety, which was written by Joan Mathews-Larson. Her work is based on the same groundwork by Roger Williams, PhD, a chemistry professor at the University of Texas and former president of the American Chemical Society, has written extensively on the subject. His work dates from 1950 to the mid-seventies. (who is mentioned in the first article). Her protocol's main ingredients are also L-glutamine and evening primrose.

Check it out!
Here is the link for the feed-backs:

Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Seven Weeks to Sobriety: The Proven Program to Fight Alcoholism through Nutrition

Also Gabapentin and evening primrose have effect on alcohol cravings.

Good luck!

Brian

[LittleLessBoozin']

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Quick update to reassure y'all that I'm not dead yet!

Wanttobesober- anything is worth a try, I'm going to go out and grab some of these supplements now.
others- thanks for your support. cigarettes and drink always went together hand in hand with me too (for my entire life). In fact, I never contemplated quitting the smokes first until I saw a poster on here who has 'NF' before 'AF' in her profile and thought 'why not?!' Hilariously, I am actually still totally NF courtesy of the NTAP method, although tonight is my first big test: out for drinks with a heavy smoking crowd at a bar that allows smoking :-S

Booze wise, not so good. I had tricked myself into believing that not smoking would decrease my desire for Al as the two were so linked in my mind. Predictably enough, in fact the converse is true :-(

Sorry again for the infrequent updates, I really do have a lot on my plate right now.

Cheers,

Paul.

[Murphyx]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

I always assumed the 'NF' meant Narcotics Free.

So Paul, where you at? Both baclofen-wise and geographically. You back in dear ol' blighty?

[bleep]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Paul, it's good to hear from you again. Anything F is good, take heart in the victories!

Smokes and booze always went together for me as well - I used to gauge my consumption of each by the consumption of one, at least at the start of the night. It fell away later in the night, but that's how I'd start.

There came a point in baclofen though, where the two separated. And it's stayed that way ever since.

Here's where I'll ask all of Murph's questions...

[LittleLessBoozin']

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Murphyx;1158672 wrote: I always assumed the 'NF' meant Narcotics Free.

So Paul, where you at? Both baclofen-wise and geographically. You back in dear ol' blighty?

LOL! It probably does. So fuck me, I really AM the first SOB who has managed to quit smoking whilst a raging alcoholic. Yay me, I'm simultaneously a winner and a loser ;-)

I'm still in the US just now, liquidating my life before flying back home. Fun! I'm not on any bac whilst I do this- if I can spend some time AF I'd like to try it again, but bac+al just will not work for me at any dose.

Cheers, and I'll keep in touch.

Paul.

[LittleLessBoozin']

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

bleep;1158708 wrote: Paul, it's good to hear from you again. Anything F is good, take heart in the victories!

Smokes and booze always went together for me as well - I used to gauge my consumption of each by the consumption of one, at least at the start of the night. It fell away later in the night, but that's how I'd start.

There came a point in baclofen though, where the two separated. And it's stayed that way ever since.

Here's where I'll ask all of Murph's questions...

Thanks for the note Bleep :-)

I'm pleased to be off the fags, but the booze is, of course, the greater of the two weevils, to coin an old joke. The whole addiction community say that you can only fight one addiction at a time, but I know better right?

More seriously, the two do go together- the NTAP guy says that your cravings go after 3 days, but that just is NOT true for those of us within the alcoholic community. Or the baclofenic community for that matter- when I was on bac, I had a GREATLY increased craving for nicotine. Perhaps that's just me though.

Anyway, thanks again for checking in- it's nice to know people (albeit virtual people) care!

Cheers,

Paul.

[RudyB]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

omg! this has been an active thread! i checked in on it this morn, and now i have four pages to read! can't wait...

[RudyB]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

oops. just realized that this is not pete's thread. but llb, i'll be psyched to catch up on yours, too...