jimmyjam needs help

[jimmyjam]

jimmyjam needs help

A little willpower would be nice too!.pretty disgusted with myself now.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

jimmyjam needs help

Ouch, JJ. Sounds like a fun day, in the moment, but I can remember what paying the piper feels like. (But barely, thank goodness.)
Increasing when you feel terrible anyway is not such a good idea, as you might imagine.
Hang in there. It works. Really. (btw, doesn't sound like golf is doing you any favors these days! )
Ne

[jimmyjam]

jimmyjam needs help

A little update seeing i am up at 6 30 am on a saturday morning, which never happens. Not getting as much sleep on bac but i'll take this over being hungover waking up at 9 am anyday. Amazing the stuff they have on t.v early morning on weekends. Who knew ping pong was a televised sport. Still at 70 mg and going to 90 mg. Today and speaking with dr. L on monday. Definately drinking quite a bit less but cravings are still strong. Rather than having 8 to 11 nightly, i am drinking 4 to 5 alternating between AF days. And i am buying the mini airplane size bottles so they are in fact 1 unit each. Normally, i would fill the glass half way with vodka and other half tonic and call that 1 drink, when it probably was more like 3. The few times i have 10 it has been when i am at my golf club with my drinking buddies or at my neighbors bar in his basement. Also gained 6 pounds this month and also am a bit nervous driving as i feel a bit out of it. Almost fell asleep driving south to poughkeepsie yesterday( try pronouncing that). Lastly, i was hoping the bac would reduce my anxiety but that has not happenned. Wow, this is the longest message i have left. Its nice to be awake and not hungover so early ona saturday morning ( even though i had 5 drinks last night) hoping for more success as i go up on dose. I'm off to do 5 miles on the elliptical. I' m sure i'll end up crashing and needing nap later in day.

[Getting There]

jimmyjam needs help

JJ - The great news is that you are having AF days - good job! I started BAC a few weeks ago. Got a script from my local doctor but she would only do 30mg per day because she was not familiar with the treatment. (felt lucky she would even let me try it). Talked with Dr. L early last week and he now has me up to 50 and will go up to 70 early next week. SE's are random. I get so sleepy some times during the day that I can hardly keep my eyes open but it seems to pass pretty quickly. I have an anxiety problem and I can say that BAC has really helped with that which is the best thing about it for me so far. I go pee all the time and have weird muscle cramps in my legs. I am patiently waiting for the "switch". I am craving less but it is still there every night. I am 16 days AF. Keep us up to date on your results. It is helpful knowing how other people are doing on BAC.

[LittleLessBoozin']

jimmyjam needs help

Getting There;1159089 wrote: Got a script from my local doctor but she would only do 30mg per day because she was not familiar with the treatment. (felt lucky she would even let me try it).

So....Nowhere near enough for indifference but (in my own experience) a perfect dose, when combined with alcohol, to make one a nervous, depressed wreck. Thanks Doc!

I'm glad you hooked up with Dr. L. Bac is a funny drug, and does not work for everyone, but for those it does work for, just WOW!

Fingers crossed for you,

Paul.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

jimmyjam needs help

LittleLessBoozin';1159801 wrote: So....Nowhere near enough for indifference but (in my own experience) a perfect dose, when combined with alcohol, to make one a nervous, depressed wreck.

That's a pretty unlikely scenario, JJ. (Don't get me wrong, it's what I experienced, but it's still pretty unusual.) And quite a few people notice a difference in their anxiety level and have a positive impact on their drinking at the lower levels.
Power on!

[jimmyjam]

jimmyjam needs help

Last 4 days have been an epic fail for me. 7 or so drinks each night and i feel like sh!t again this morning. Ill force myself to workout though and sweat out the booze. I was doing better on lower doses and drinking less and only every other day. Im at 90 mg now and no real reduction in cravings. Spoke with dr.L on monday and he assured me i will eventually lose interest in alcahol so i will keep goi g and dust myself off and try again

[Ne/Neva Eva]

jimmyjam needs help

Good. That's the ticket.
Are you taking it regularly, in even doses, the same amount every day?
Have you given thought to going up? Many of us had increases in amount of units at certain points. Not sure what that's about... It adds to the whole SE thing, though. ouch. Hangovers are bad enough, right? Going up often ameliorates this, though. Makes sense--finding a cessation of craving allows for less booze and then you feel doubly better. That said, if you were at a level that seemed to work better you could go down (though it will be a different experience now) and then up again...
hang in there, JJ.

[bleep]

jimmyjam needs help

My drinking went mad during titration, so don't feel so bad. It's the last kicks of a dying horse.

Do as Ne says - go up. You'll get there.

[RudyB]

jimmyjam needs help

hi there jimmy! yep, i remember the first few doses, feeling immediate respite from the clutches of the beast, then back to its old tricks. 'last kicks of a dying horse' sums it up beautifully! and do spread out your doses as much as possible, even breaking into 5 mg at a time, as that will definitely help with the se's. you don't have to be scientific about it, making sure you take exactly the right amount at the right hour; just spread it all out as well as you can, and you'll notice a difference most likely. i sure have! the vivid dreams, the scary driving: very familiar se's, even early on. don't worry, they'll pass. and the sleeping less/erratically, is something most of us have experienced. i think the relaxing quality of the baclofen has us requiring less sleep. enjoy that if you can! as for not being able to get to sleep (did you say you're having that challenge?), darn it! but do stay the course.

i think for some of us the immediate reduction in craving is partly due to the excitement about finding a way out of the horror of addiction, and an eagerness to make things work this time. it's no less real than any other reduction in craving, it may or may not be bac-related, but it is very disappointing to find, maybe only a few days later, that we're back to our old tricks. don't lose heart. it's a process.

poughkeepsie: po'town for those who can't pronounce. i live 40 minutes from there myself. good to have a bacster in the neighborhood! welcome, jimmy!

[jimmyjam]

jimmyjam needs help

Bleep, NE and RudyB- thanks for the inspiration.I appreciate it. I just want this to happen fast but I don't want to blow it by going up too fast and not being able to handle the side effects. I have been taking regularly but have been breaking up into small doses. I just started taking it 30/30/30 though per Dr. L. He also wrote me RX for small dose of Alprazolam for when my anxiety kicks in. Anybody have experience on this? Also the weight gain has sucked no matter how much I work out. Went from 190 to 197 in a few weeks.

RudyB- saw your vegetables from your garden..nice eggplant. I am a bit of a foodie..I made eggplant Frittes last week that were awesome..Recipe was in this months Bon Appetit. Good to hear from a fellow upstate New Yorker..I am up near Saratoga Springs.Looks like an awesome weekend..Sunny and 78.

[RudyB]

jimmyjam needs help

heya kinda neighbor! isn't it amazing what food can do?! i used to avoid it so drinking would be more effective. what i was missing! now, i have more food than i can eat, and am sharing like crazy w the neighbors. just discovered bon apetit in the lawyer's office. great stuff!

i added a couple of thoughts to my last post, just so's you know, for what they're worth...

keep it up! keep us posted.

[jimmyjam]

jimmyjam needs help

I'll write an update soon but still having trouble seeing progress in reduction in cravings. Just went to 110 mg. yesterday so maybe that will help. 4 days of entertaining and drinking. Havent had an AF day in 7 days. Bleep had mentioned earlier in this thread that he drank quite abit while dosing up. Is that most people's experience? SE I am able to deal with, except the weight gain ( not good for my part time job of being a male model I don't want to give up..just want to see some progress.

[SlipperyPete]

jimmyjam needs help

I think many of us drank quite a bit while titrating up. I was told to relax and let bac do its thing, which takes time, and that's what I did. I think the last calls of a dying beast is a perfect description. Having faith that you're doing a great thing and that pretty soon you'll be right as rain will help.

I know some people here have gotten scripts for Xanax for anxiety, too, and they seem to be cool with it. I got a script for Klonipin for sleep, but only used it for a short while and don't take it anymore.

[jimmyjam]

jimmyjam needs help

FYI. I was kidding about the male model comment. My attempt at humor. Speaking of humor. Just saw the new episode of my favorite show entourage on HBO. Show rocks..