Soz - yet ANOTHER baclofen enquiry!!

[cherrabah]

I've read the book, I keep reading all your postings, in truth I know baclofen works - yet still I'm scared. What am I scared of? I feel like telling you about me and then asking questions. I'm female, 63 (how did THAT happen?!), married almost 40 years to a great guy but we're both dependent drinkers, enabling, permitting, sharing etc., I'm only 7 stone so it's pretty good going I can manage a bottle of wine every night, DH one to two bottles, I would imagine we aren't healthy but it's what we're used to, I live bang in the middle of England.

So obviously I'm scared we're killing ourselves; cancer or heart disease must be only round the corner, I've dabbled with AA and WFS online site, tried campral, counselling, but have always found the easiest route is to drink and not worry. But now even this is getting hard being 63,moreover I would like to see what long term sobriey is like.

Questions:
1) I know some of you come from the UK - any advice where best to buy baclofen in England?
2) The titration levels often go up in tens but baclofen is available in 10mg and 25mg, do they split in half or quarter easily?
3) As a lightweight mature female, will I find 30 mg (3 x 10mg) makes a difference so I can timidly keep on that for a while (and save money), before slowly creeping up?
4) Does the fact I (we) have been drinking over 30 years make this impossible?
5) And finally, can anyone out there identify with my marriage/age/country?

Thanks such a lot. I feel slightly less scared having just written all this.

Love Cher.

[bleep]

Soz - yet ANOTHER baclofen enquiry!!

Hi Cher, and welcome.

1) From what I gather, most people in the UK battle to get it prescribed, and so use online pharmacies.
2) I've never seen a 25mg pill, but the 10's are very easily split. This is a concern only in the very beginnings anyway, not much to bother with.
3) Age, sex and weight don't seem to have much of difference, although some people may argue the point. One thing that can't be argued is that you won't know until you try.
4) Not that I am aware of, although length of abuse *seems* to impact on length of recovery. Don't quote me on that though.
5) IMO, you are asking to identified with using the wrong criteria. We can all identify with your understanding that drinking has become a force in your life that you would rather be free of. That's what brings us here together, and it is great that you have found us.

Good luck.

[Seethepony]

Soz - yet ANOTHER baclofen enquiry!!

Hi Cherrabah, Bienvenue and Willkommen, (it's that time of year again, curse it.)

I've stuck my hand up even though I don't know all the answers.
1) Erm...
2) The baclofen tablets I take can be split down the middle, but in practice I find 5mg makes very little difference one way or another, so I take 50 or 55 per day depending what I find stuffed down the back of my old blue jeans, behind the fridge etc. 2x25 or 3x10+25...
3) Impossible to answer as no one knows how you will react to baclofen. Sticking to a dose that does nothing will do achieve nothing. Taking more than you need is also pointless. You have to take the stuff to a certain point - and only you will know where that point is.
4) Long term drinkers are not disqualified, which is lucky, or there'd be no one here.
5) I'll answer that in 20 years. After I've had a sex change and moved to England.

Good luck! There's nothing to be afraid of.

[ignominious]

Soz - yet ANOTHER baclofen enquiry!!

1) got a friend in England who uses goldpharma.com

2+3) You might like to skip to the last sentence
Originally it was thought that weight might have some bearing. Rats were all switching at a certain amount per Kg body weight but then it was thought that it is the amount of baclofen in your brain that is relevant so we should all be switching at about 3X the rat's mg/Kg. And just to add, women should be about 10% less than that because they have lighter (I wont say smaller) brains. Now the line seems to be that it all depends on genetics. I would expect that a life time's habit is slightly more ingrained and more difficult to break but there is no clear evidence that it makes any difference to the 'switch' dose.
Basically no one can say what dose you will require.

5) I'm English but haven't lived there for 25 years

Best wishes for a sober future and welcome

Edit: To change 1/3 of rats dose to 3X the rats dose because human brains are 3X bigger proportionally to body weight than lab rat's brains.

[Murphyx]

Soz - yet ANOTHER baclofen enquiry!!

Hi Cher

Time to stop thinking and start doing. Pull your finger out and do the necessary. Ra, ra, ra etc etc.

1) You can't buy it in England, so you'll need to get it online. I use 4RX Buy Generic Lioresal I buy the 25mg tab and never had any problems with it or with 4rx deliveries. You don't need a prescription and they despatch in a nondescript envelope so the postie won't know what you're up to. Once you start you'll be surprised how fast your stash disappears and the delivery times can be a few weeks, so you want to make sure you buy lots and always have lots in reserve so you never run out. Running out is v v bad.
2) The 25mg splits easily in 2. I can't imagine you'll ever need less than 12.5mg at any one time, but if you think you might, then you'd probably best go for the 10mg tabs.
3) I really don't think your gender or weight makes much of a difference to how much bac you'll need.
4) You've only been drinking 30 years? Pah, you wasted the first 35 years of your life in relative sobriety. Again, it makes no difference as far as I can tell.
5) Married only 21 years (forgot the wedding anniversary last week, so may not reach 22)/ only a youthful and sprightly 45/ also England. Hmmmm, bang in the middle of England eh? Ashby de la Zouch?

[cherrabah]

Soz - yet ANOTHER baclofen enquiry!!

Thanks all of you and very happy to hear your thoughts and advice. MurphyX - done it. All ordered and hopefully will soon be on its way! I felt quite shaky doing that, like 'do I mean this?' Anyway, congrats on your 21 years marriage, must be your first anniversary sober in a long time?

As a matter of interest, it seems Fenny Drayton is in the middle of England .... The Centre of England and outbuildings:: OS grid SP3696 :: Geograph Britain and Ireland - photograph every grid square!, and I'm in Leicester, so not far out! Cheers, from a soon-to-be-much-more-youthful-but-not-doing-so-bad-anyway - Cher.

[cherrabah]

Soz - yet ANOTHER baclofen enquiry!!

Oooops, copied and pasted grid link website doesn't seem to have worked - but a googled query on central England says Fenny Drayton! Cher

[Murphyx]

Soz - yet ANOTHER baclofen enquiry!!

Nice one Cher. Now's the hard part, waiting for the first delivery.

When you do start, make sure you let us know how you're getting on. You may want to get some advice on dosage schedules, side effects or whatever and there's a whole bunch of people on this forum ready to help out.

Well if you're in Leics you're quite right, you're bang in the middle. But even so, none of us are further than 70 miles from the sea. It's just a shame it's too bleeding cold to swim in.

Well done Cher, it's a great thing you're doing. :goodjob:

[cherrabah]

Soz - yet ANOTHER baclofen enquiry!!

Thanks MurphyX - most certainly will be posting when they come. I shall want everyone to hold my hand! love Cher

[LadyLush]

Soz - yet ANOTHER baclofen enquiry!!

Cher,
Welcome!

I started on Bac in February. I started at 20 mg, went up to 180 mg rather quicky and have leveled at 120. I use to drink till I dropped on a nightly basis and felt like crap every day. Baclofen has changed my whole perspective on drinking as well as my outlook on life.

To answer a couple of your questions:
3) As a lightweight mature female, will I find 30 mg (3 x 10mg) makes a difference so I can timidly keep on that for a while (and save money), before slowly creeping up?
4) Does the fact I (we) have been drinking over 30 years make this impossible?
5) And finally, can anyone out there identify with my marriage/age/country?

3) I felt great on 30 but the craving was still strong. Make sure you read the different schedules we all adhered to and you will know what is right for you.
4) I was sober for 12 years.........and then I turned 13
5) Marriage lasted 23 years, congratulations on your 40. Just make sure you get emotional support and maybe he will want to change too!
I am a light 51 year old female from America (but don't tell anyone)
* Lightweight to me is not being able to drink anyone under the table which I could win hands down!

Best of luck and stay in touch with MWO and you will find unbelievable strength and support:l

Lady

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Soz - yet ANOTHER baclofen enquiry!!

Hi, Cher, and welcome.
Fear and angst were my constant companions for most of my life. I didn't know it then, but since I started taking bac I've found a great deal of help with all of those things. Not that they weren't a BIG stumbling block in my titration up. It made things a bit more difficult than they needed to be for me simply because I didn't trust that I was going to be okay. But I was, and you will be. When you need to find some of that trust, we'll be here!

I am married to an alcoholic. That wasn't very pretty for a while. Not because it 'threatened' my 'sobriety'. The medicine does the job regardless of what's lying around the house. It was simply onerous because he reeked of booze, and I got to watch him flounder around late at night. THAT was very unpleasant and made me more determined to stay the course, of course.
He's since started taking the medicine, but only after what I consider to be a very loooooooong and painful thought process. He started only after he had 'proof' that it worked, I guess. Ironically that was when I was happily cleaning out/organizing our pantry for the third time. (long story) He said that I was happy and he wanted that! (meanwhile I was making strides in leaps and bounds in the rest of life, none of which seemed to have a profound effect on him! pffft.)

I'm a 41yo American, not overweight, but could put some booze away if the occasion called for it. I drank a bottle and a half of wine every night for years post-rehab and pre-bac.
I'm excited for you that you've ordered the pills. The next step is to take them! A plan, a sort-of flexible one, will go a long way toward managing the process. Self-imposed limits aren't so productive because of what the rest say... It's WAY cheaper than booze, and I drank the cheapest wine I could stomach. ($3/bottle. ugh. That's NOT wine. That's drunkeness bottled just for us.)
:l
Ne