No more baclofen for me

[wanttobesober]

No more baclofen for me

Hi Bruun,

Bruunhilde;1152032 wrote:
Still on the gabapentin, 300mg day most days. Also should say I'm on niacin, fish oil, calcium, magnesium, D, C, choline, B12 and a hair/skin/nails multi, and baclofen. Oops and whey protein and All In One. No longer taking lithium orotate nor a grocery bag full of other supplements.

Seven Weeks is an awesome book!

Wow! That's a lot of supplements. I saw it on your thread that you have tried L-glut but it did not work for you. Too bad!
I think it has some effects on me. I am on day 10 AL free, since I have started on L- glut.
That includes two weekends. This is my record for this year. Last year I had 15 AL free days in a row. I am hoping to beat that next week.
Looking forward to read Seven Weeks!

Cheers,

Brian

[DrunkAndTiredInFLA]

No more baclofen for me

Murphyx;1152090 wrote: No, I wanted to know what advice your prescribing physician had given you when you informed him of your symptoms. Don't you think that should have been your first action? I can't imagine why you took it upon yourself to simply discontinue with your medication when you have the experience of Dr Levin to call on.

I am not going to call him about this because his answer will be to put me on medicine for depression and that's not going to happen. I know this because he already tried to bring it up in one of our earlier conversations. I am not going to continue to take medicine that is making me more and more depressed with each dosage I take. Thanks but no thanks it's not worth risking my life over.

[DrunkAndTiredInFLA]

No more baclofen for me

wanttobesober;1152083 wrote: Zen,

Thanks again! I ordered the book last night from Amazon.
Lots of positive feed-backs over there. There are some with only one star,
but most likely they are AA pushing idiots who can not accept the facts that there are
other ways to quit AL than their stupid 12 steps.

DrunkAndTiredInFLA,

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

Cheers,

Brian

Thanks Brian! I am definitely going to look into this. Just because I have decided to stop taking baclofen doesn't mean that I wouldn't try alternatives. Acamprosate is a newer drug that they use to fight alcoholism. I may decide to look into that. I have no given up the fight. I have just decided that baclofen isn't the fight for me.

[Bruunhilde]

No more baclofen for me

Hi Brian, I used L-glut for years on and off, but most recently the alcohol seems to have rotted out my guts and the L-glut falls into the ulcers and makes everything worse (GI upset). I've cut my alcohol intake down to 15% of what it was, meaning I have some wine about once a week more or less instead of alot of gin every night. So I'm expecting to be able to get back on the L-glut and I want to do that soon, since I'm having all sorts of ice cream addiction screwing up my weight plans. Not to mention I'd like to control that one night a week a little better. I have a big tub of the powder just waiting for the day when it doesn't give me the runs.

[DrunkAndTiredInFLA]

No more baclofen for me

wanttobesober;1152107 wrote: I disagree with you.
He told me that "You should not have any side effects".
Also he told in the radio interview that you have posted, that Baclofen has
99.5 % success rate.
What else can he say when you say that the side-effects were intolerable?
I do not see the reason why should one pay for one more consultation unnecessarily.

just my 2c.

Brian

I didn't ever have to pay him anything. However, I do wonder where he gets his 99% success rate while Dr. Ameisen says it's 80%. Just saying.

[DrunkAndTiredInFLA]

No more baclofen for me

Murphyx;1152090 wrote: No, I wanted to know what advice your prescribing physician had given you when you informed him of your symptoms. Don't you think that should have been your first action? I can't imagine why you took it upon yourself to simply discontinue with your medication when you have the experience of Dr Levin to call on.

I am listening to my body, and my body is telling me that this isn't good for me. My head has enough sense left in it to say, "Amy, you are depressed and not caring about life or your future. This medicine is screwing with your head in a bad way so get off of it or it's going to get worse." I don't need some doctor telling me to push on and I end up worse. The higher the dosage the worse the depression got. Death is not an option!!

[DrunkAndTiredInFLA]

No more baclofen for me

wanttobesober;1152083 wrote: Zen,

Thanks again! I ordered the book last night from Amazon.
Lots of positive feed-backs over there. There are some with only one star,
but most likely they are AA pushing idiots who can not accept the facts that there are
other ways to quit AL than their stupid 12 steps.

DrunkAndTiredInFLA,

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

Cheers,

Brian

If Zen if typing, how come I am not seeing any of these posts????

[DrunkAndTiredInFLA]

No more baclofen for me

havefaith;1152215 wrote: You know, when I spoke to doctor Levin about a month ago-He was a very nice caring man & I enjoyed our conversation about the effects of Baclofen. But the one thing that concerned me a little was that our conversation was a little scripted.Kinda like one shoe fits all.
And when I went into my own personal medical history-He quickly went back to his speal on Baclofen(which I understand is the reason why I called in the first place).
I guess I just figured that if a doctor was going to put you on some medication, he would want to know more about your physical condition.
Needless to say, I kinda agree with Brian(I want to be chemical free) so I'm going to try a more natural way!

Everytime I spoke with Dr. Levin, he wouldn't know who I was. lol I had to remind him everytime. However, when I did mention side effects he told me to stay at that dosage for another week so that my body would get use to the medicine.

[wanttobesober]

No more baclofen for me

Hi DrunkAndTiredInFLA ,

DrunkAndTiredInFLA;1152274 wrote: If Zen if typing, how come I am not seeing any of these posts????

Zen had one entry. Page 2 #18.

Cheers,

Brian

[Guest]

No more baclofen for me

DrunkAndTiredInFLA;1152273 wrote: I am listening to my body, and my body is telling me that this isn't good for me. My head has enough sense left in it to say, "Amy, you are depressed and not caring about life or your future. This medicine is screwing with your head in a bad way so get off of it or it's going to get worse." I don't need some doctor telling me to push on and I end up worse. The higher the dosage the worse the depression got. Death is not an option!!

This was exactly how I felt, my thoughts became extremely wierd whilst on Baclofen. It did take a while for them to go away once I tapered off HDB, but now months later I'm back to normal. I no longer have the same horrible thoughts and can only attribute it to Baclofen, obviously some of us just aren't wired to take it.

[wanttobesober]

No more baclofen for me

Hi Bruun,

Bruunhilde;1152270 wrote: Hi Brian, I used L-glut for years on and off, but most recently the alcohol seems to have rotted out my guts and the L-glut falls into the ulcers and makes everything worse (GI upset). I've cut my alcohol intake down to 15% of what it was, meaning I have some wine about once a week more or less instead of alot of gin every night.

That is awesome!
Congratulation to cut it back so much! What do you think that helped curb the cravings?
Was that L-glutamine or Gabapentin?
Is your goal total abstinence or moderate drinking?
I would probably settle for a bottle of wine per week. That sounds reasonable.

Cheers,

Brian

[redhead77]

No more baclofen for me

wanttobesober;1152107 wrote: I disagree with you.
He told me that "You should not have any side effects".
Also he told in the radio interview that you have posted, that Baclofen has
99.5 % success rate.
What else can he say when you say that the side-effects were intolerable?
I do not see the reason why should one pay for one more consultation unnecessarily.

just my 2c.

Brian

He won't charge you a fee for calling him and telling the truth. Maybe part of his success rate is due to people not telling him they quit. He might be able to assume so, if people never call him back again, but not really. Maybe due to finances or circumstance they decide to obtain their script elsewhere (:H:H:H). I know, there are far and few between who prescribe. Maybe he thinks people are getting it online due to finances or whatever. I won't speak for the doctor. One thing I can tell you, unless he has concrete information via word or writing, he can't really add anything to his statistics.

He did a radio interview. It has reached some of the public, I'm sure. Do the public a favor and call him, supply him with accurate information. Let him add you to the 3 failures out of 300 (that he knows of because many aren't honest and follow up). You too havefaith, call the doctor and get brutally honest. I'm sure it makes it difficult for him to believe the handful of us who actually tell the truth, ad nauseum, regarding our SE's.

As far as L glut and all the rest of the supps? I am thrilled this is working for you. It doesn't work for me, as far as curbing my cravings. I have owned 7 weeks for a couple of years. I took loads of supps before hand, and I still do. I believe they have done much for me, but they have not stopped my cravings. And L glut doesn't work for me at all. It just causes me other issues. Alcoholism is not a one size fits all disease. It is multifaceted.

Good luck on your endeavors. I hope you continue to update us on your success and/or failures...if this ever happens.

[Bruunhilde]

No more baclofen for me

wanttobesober;1152447 wrote: That is awesome!
Congratulation to cut it back so much! What do you think that helped curb the cravings?
Was that L-glutamine or Gabapentin?
Is your goal total abstinence or moderate drinking?
I would probably settle for a bottle of wine per week. That sounds reasonable.

Cheers,

Brian

Hi Brian! I think it's the gabapentin which I added to my low dose baclofen. I also take 1/2 mg of xanax as needed, usually at night but sometimes I took it at the witching hour too. The L-glut helps with cravings but I'm not on it right now. I still have cravings and drinking thinking but much reduced cravings. I thought I'd be much slimmer by not drinking but apparently ice cream becomes a requirement of the non-drinking person who never had this problem prior. I need to start the L-glut!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

No more baclofen for me

Bruunhilde;1152953 wrote: H apparently ice cream becomes a requirement of the non-drinking person who never had this problem prior.

Don't I know it! erg. :boohoo:

[Bruunhilde]

No more baclofen for me

Ne, have you tried using L-glut? I can't right now because of a bout of gut upset, but plan to try it again soon for the ice cream problem.