First time inquiry into Meds

[Enigma]

Wonderful site, and a great community you all have here. Myself am a recovering alcohol and drug dependent. While I was able to get past the smoke with less than full damage to my family in the last year, I have not had success with ditching the alcohol completely. Still too many urges. Still a few too many binge nights/days and it does take its toll as you all know.

My question to a few of you who have been on this site for awhile is 'Would Bac be an option for someone who can't get past that last hurdle'? I don't drink nearly as many beers as I used to for many years, average around 8 a week now... down from 60+. But, that uncontrollable urge does take me now and again.

From what I've read on this site it appears that too many meds seem to have had a fifty fifty miss ratio. Bac appears to have everyone's attention right now and I have not read as many posts of people relapsing on Bac than on some of the others mentioned. Now, just because people aren't posting their failures here does mean they aren't occurring and I fully realize that. And it seems some of the SE's get people by going up too fast. I'm not in a hurry, so that is not an issue for myself.

Definitely stressed in family life right now, so the help with anxiety which leads me into a 'bad choice day' appears to make bac a choice for me. I've never used any meds for assistance with alcoholism before, so this would be a first for me. Do the people using bac currently believe it would be something fine to try for a first time medication attempt?

Thanks in advance for any input some of you may have. Since I'm new I posted it here, should I move this into the Medication section?

Thanks,
E

[tiptronic_ct]

First time inquiry into Meds

Hi Enigma and :welcome:

I know a fellow South African who used to be a binge drinker - he would go off the rails every now and again. After an almost 3-month titration, he has become indifferent to alcohol and is now effortlessly abstinent.

You have absolutely nothing to lose by trying bac - you have time on your side and can do a slow steady titration to mitigate SEs.

No more white-knuckling it if bac works for you, which I'm sure it will.

Good luck and let us know how you're doing.

[gotta stop]

First time inquiry into Meds

Welcome Enigma!
I echo Tip's post. I have taken bac an am alcohol and craving free. Looking forward to seeing you around!

[Isolde]

First time inquiry into Meds

Enigma, you've come to the right place. You've got nothing to lose by giving bac a try. You have no idea how wonderful it feels once you're free of the craving itself, that uncontrollable urge. And you'll find a ton of support here as you go through it all.

:welcome:

[Enigma]

First time inquiry into Meds

tiptronic_ct, gotta stop, and isolde...

Thanks for the input folks. I wanted to make sure it wasn't a med for only certain cases and that it would be fine for me. Appreciate everyone putting my mind at ease. I've placed an order, and will keep you posted as to the progress over the coming months.

[Dosage0]

First time inquiry into Meds

Good luck to ya. You seem to already have the right attitude about titrating. I don't have any experience whatsoever in going quickly, but it appears that I have suffered many less side effects going slowly compared to some of the stories on here.

[RudyB]

First time inquiry into Meds

welcome enigma!

you sound so great. level-headed, willing to start slowly, open to learn about what goes on with baclofen. it's a delight to have you here. you'll be in good hands. any questions, just ask. someone will be along to help with the answers. as you might've guessed, reading the threads is a great way to glean what you might anticipate, with se's and all else. for the moment, if you go to murph's thread, there's a lot of cockamania going on right now, but rest assured that that is not the norm and that this is a safe place full of wonderful and uncommon people, and very useful information.

welcome aboard, good buddy to-be!
rudy

[RudyB]

First time inquiry into Meds

oh and, btw, you are in the right place. keep posting here. (if you didn't already surmise.)

[Isolde]

First time inquiry into Meds

RudyB;1184954 wrote: full of wonderful and uncommon people

Fantastic description of our little community! :goodjob:

[Cinders]

First time inquiry into Meds

I would definitely recommend you try Baclofen first. Baclofen has the medical community on its ears because of its efficacy. There has been none other like it.

Titrate slowly, as others have said, and with a much greater success rate than other meds or methods, you will hit your "switch."

If I was walking into this today, I would choose Baclofen first.

This may be counter-intuitive to a post I made earlier but for some people it doesn't work. But for MANY it does.

Baclofen has a much higher success rate than any other program or medication on the market.

Good luck!! Give Baclofen a try and let the world know how it has worked for you.

We are all on your side.

Cindi

[LadyLush]

First time inquiry into Meds

Enigma,

I agree with everyone. It is definitely worth the try. If you find it is not right there is always another way out. Whatever it takes you have the support here you need.

LL