Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

[Chi]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Paul that happened to my husband on low dose bac.... we were out having dinner and he had three beers and wanted to go home because he felt out of it and sick. He said the same thing! lol... (not at you, with you)... hey whatever works, right? The next morning he felt great and was happy about that

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Isolde]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

LittleLessBoozin';1107125 wrote:
- I cannot hold my liquor! I was slurring my words after 3 Heinekens Thursday night. This is NOT ME! Is this the secret to how Bac. actually works? You get to the point where you collapse into a drunken slumber after 0.5 beers so you are physically unable to drink anymore? ;-)

As NE mentioned, nope, that's not how it works. Although it happened to me too and it did cause me to drink less, which was definitely a good thing! That SE never went away for me though. And now, because I don't drink much/often anymore, add to that SE my decreased tolerance and it means that it doesn't take much for me to feel the effects. Half a beer and I'm thinking to myself, "Whoa, I need to slow down!" :H

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Isolde;1107188 wrote: Half a beer and I'm thinking to myself, "Whoa, I need to slow down!" :H

:H:H:H

You've become one of those silly chicks that drink pink things and half way through start giggling? THAT I'd like to see... Or not.


(careful there, Paul. sounds like a very dangerous SE... becoming a mamby-pamby, wishy-washy, not in for the full commitment drinker. Just a (one) glass of good wine with dinner? Wowza. Who'd have thought.)

[LittleLessBoozin']

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Ne/Neva Eva;1107199 wrote:
(careful there, Paul. sounds like a very dangerous SE... becoming a mamby-pamby, wishy-washy, not in for the full commitment drinker. Just a (one) glass of good wine with dinner? Wowza. Who'd have thought.)

Unfortunately, I was out boozing with fellow Brits last night, where an inability to drink anything less than a gallon of ale is seen as a dangerous indicator of homosexuality!

FORTUNATELY, one of the guys was a bona fide, non-baclofen induced lightweight, so he managed to end the evening before I did :-P

Still, stumbling around a bit after 8 or 9 pints (and shitty little American pints, mind you!) of Sam Adams Summer was an absolutely bizarre experience.*

Where it got to be interesting, though, was when I got back to my hotel. I grabbed a beer from the bar and was about to throw down a whiskey when I thought "No. I'm drunk already. I'm going to bed." This has not something that I can remember happening to me in living memory on a non-schoolnight.

Paul.

*Another bizarre experience is having been away from home on a Friday night and having a more or less complete memory of the night before. WTF?!

[ignominious]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

LittleLessBoozin';1107212 wrote:
I grabbed a beer from the bar and was about to throw down a whiskey when I thought "No. I'm drunk already. I'm going to bed." This has not something that I can remember happening to me in living memory on a non-schoolnight.

"Sounds suspiciously like a frontal cortex based rational decision that wasn't an option before, Holmes."

[RudyB]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

hey paul,
good luck on your journey. i'm right here with you, started three days ago and i feel great. tho, as i said on my own thread, i must've misunderstood the dosing, as i've taken 4 x 5 mg yest, and already 2 x 5 mg today, midday. i feel fine but wonder if i should bac off. tee hee.

i had a funny squiggly blind spot thing going on the morning after my first 5 mg dose, but it went away within a couple of hours. hope your situation has improved. (wonder if mine did cause i took 20 mg on the second day. you know how they say sometimes se's disappear when you up your dose..?)

all the best to you.
rudy

[LittleLessBoozin']

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

RudyB;1107268 wrote: hey paul,
good luck on your journey. i'm right here with you, started three days ago and i feel great. tho, as i said on my own thread, i must've misunderstood the dosing, as i've taken 4 x 5 mg yest, and already 2 x 5 mg today, midday. i feel fine but wonder if i should bac off. tee hee.

i had a funny squiggly blind spot thing going on the morning after my first 5 mg dose, but it went away within a couple of hours. hope your situation has improved. (wonder if mine did cause i took 20 mg on the second day. you know how they say sometimes se's disappear when you up your dose..?)

all the best to you.
rudy

Hi Rudy,

Good luck to you too! As of yesterday, I'm on 30mg/day (10/10/10, evenly spaced, per Dr. L's schedule which I'm trying to follow rigidly).

Feel OK, though by 9PM last night, my wife told me to go to bed as I looked like a zombie. As usual, I cannot tell you if this was a result of:
- Bac
- booze
- the fact that by that stage, I'd been already been up and flying from 2:30AM PST

Speaking of my wife, she presented me with a package from India and (not so) innocently inquired as to what it might be.

This actually was a neat coincidence, as I wanted to do the 5mg/day week to see if I was likely to be able to stick this out, so I came clean. Her reaction was.... interesting! Other than focussing on the self prescription/dodgy pharma companies angle (which I expected, and thanks to our Chicago based friend was able to handle), but he first question was "Aren't you worried about side effects?"

I'm fairly good about cleaning out evidence of mywayout usage on my computer, but my wife is a very smart lady. Am I being paranoid here, or does "aren't you worried about the SEs?" seem like a fairly odd first question to anyone else?

Cheers,

Paul.

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.

p.p.s. Rudy- your signature is a nice quote from Bah?'u'll?h! Please Tell me that you just found the quote on the internet: If you're trying to tell me that there are Bah?'? practitioners in bloody HOUSTON then I know, once and for all, that I have a wet brain and need to remove myself from society ;-)

[Evey]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Hi Paul,

It's a very logical question. Given her profession, I would expect her to ask something like that. Does she have knowledge of baclofen?

[Evey]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Hi Paul,

It's a very logical question. Given her profession, I would expect her to ask something like that. Does she have knowledge of baclofen?

Good luck to you!!

[Evey]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Hi Paul,

It's a very logical question. Given her profession, I would expect her to ask something like that. Does she have knowledge of baclofen?

Good Luck to You!

[LittleLessBoozin']

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

If it works, why isn't everyone using it?

Was, of course "well, if it works then why isn't everyone doing it?" This is a fair question, and the reasons have been discussed here in the past, but I thought I'd share how I explained this:

- Although there is a wealth of data, it is ALL anecdotal. Amiesen's article in J.Alc.Alc. is useful, but as he himself acknowledges it has the massive disadvantage of being not even a case study but a self case study.
- There are numerous anecdotal cases of successful alcohol cessation due to baclofen
- There is no incentive for any pharma company to conduct double blind clinical trials for an off patent drug
- Clinical trials are extremely expensive, although a small trial is scheduled to start this year in Amsterdam
- Because of the above facts, people simply do not know about this, and if they don't know about it, they don't take it.

Still early days for me, and I can't promise that I'll be able to stick with a baclofen regimen (or that I'll succeed even if I do!), but I'm honestly perfectly happy to be a guinea pig on this one- and if it does work, it is not inconceivable that I would break my anonymity purely to help others.

I hope that this wasn't a redundant post- it's just that telling my wife was probably my biggest concern about starting Bac, and I do not imagine that I am alone in this, so I hope this post will be useful for some.

Paul.

[Florieanne]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

Hi Paul,

it sounds like a very loving and respectful question. She's concerned about your health, your well-being, etc. instead of focusing her attention on things that have nothing to do with You.
Smart & loving.
She seems to know you very well besides. Weren't you extremely worried about the side effects?
Did you tell her?
If not, do so...
The best to you.
Florie

[Florieanne]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

ps: alcohol tends to make us see things in a paranoid way. Don't worry.

[RudyB]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

paul sent fm i touch so abbreviated and imperfect... i am in ny hudson valley not houston tho i am sure there are bahais there. love that u know who baha ulla is. i have family who are bahais so am familiar w the texts and have always loved that quote. i am certain that our thoughts influence our reality. won't yr wife love thAt yr seeking help? why hide mwo? if you share it w her any chance she wld be more likely to get on board w you? there is so much positive evidence here for her to read so she can support you more wholeheartedly. it is indeed dificil at times to tell if it is an se or just a consequence of drinking or tiredness. i am on day 4 w bac and had already today much reduced cravings and still no side effects. am having some booze now but seems to b hvg the opposite effect to what u experience: it is making me loagy but not gvg the usu high. i love that. i bot booze miore as a test than out of need. like i said ctavings dimished, but i wanted to see wjat wld happen. denial? i dont care. fact is i am already feeling libetated from al and like my weathervane has recalibrated. not worried at all. seems bac is wprking. i hope that you can come to a place of toyal transparency w yr wife and that she will soon be tbrilled to see you heal from yr old tendencies. that will be proof in the pudding.

[RudyB]

Here starteth Paul's Baclofen diary

ps the best wonderful thing is that i already felt somewhat indifferent when i bot the booze. this after only three days on bac! in the past it wld have been a need to buy. now it feels like an expirement and i am finding the booze decidedly less than satisfying and less effective. wild stuff!