A plea to sober people

[Dave_]

A plea to sober people

The rehab I went to? The Melbourne Clinic in Richmond. It's in inner city Melbourne Victoria. My doctor is in Prahan just a few suburbs away from the clinic.

Maybe evolved wasnt the right word, maybe more enlightened would have been more appropriate for that last post.

[Crunchy]

A plea to sober people

Thanks RedThread. I didn't mean to imply that you were making it up. It's just hard to imagine. I'm still struggling to get back up to where I was before I got sick.

Thanks Ne too. Especially for this "But I can attest to both the efficacy and the worthwhile-ness of finding indifference. For me it was a game-changer. A life altering extravaganza "

I don't feel very safe in my corner of the world but I suspect that there are no safe corners in the world right now. I'll just keep plodding along. Thanks again. BTW, I deleted the first two paragraphs from my first post in this thread. No reason to keep the negative going.

[AllyB]

A plea to sober people

The numbers in this story may blow your mind Crunchy, but I'll share it anyway.

RedThread12;1186299 wrote: There are lots of threads in the history of the meds section that reveal that quite a few people have gotten sober with baclofen - so sober, and with their lives so functional, that they don't come back here. It's worth a look-through to see some of those stories and know that people are living "normal" lives without the oppression of alcohol due to baclofen - and whatever else they find that works for them.

My husband is basically one of these people. He posted on here a good bit last winter but hasn't been on much since the springtime. He's just moved on with his life. A year and a half ago he was close to dying following acute liver and kidney failure and he kept on drinking. He went to inpatient detox and he kept on drinking. He tried AA and he lost all hope and drank more than ever. I was pretty sure he would not live for very much longer but against all advice to detach I started looking for good alternatives, found this site, researched the different meds options, thought baclofen seemed the most positive and suggested it to him.

He started baclofen a year ago and the change in him was immediate. It still took him a few months to stop drinking completely but from the first day his whole attitude changed, he had hope and was less tense and anxious. A friend who visited that day also commented on the difference, saying it felt like the first time he'd seen him (who he really was) in many years. It took him quite a while to reach his switch after several false declarations of it, eventually he went up to (wait for it) 525mg a day. The side effects were horrendous, he had unbelievable insomnia for months but eventually he got through it and came out the other side sober.

Since then he has titrated down to zero as we are trying to have a baby and our doctor strongly advised coming off baclofen while we are trying. He is off it for about 6 weeks now, the first week was a bit tense but he has been fine since. He takes a number of supplements, both those recommended for avoiding cravings and those which help his fertility, luckily there is a lot of overlap. He is attending CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) sessions to help get over the psychological factors which led to his reliance on alcohol and those which the alcohol dependence have caused.

There are no guarantees but I'm very confident that his alcohol dependence is behind him. If I wasn't I certainly wouldn't be planning to create a dependant person with him. Our marriage is now the wonderful one it always should have been. Things aren't perfect, his work is stressful and trying to get pregnant is an emotional rollercoaster (we lost a baby a few years ago which was around the time his drinking went out of control) but I think we are getting through those things better than many people who have never had to deal with addiction as we've been through hell and know that if we can get through that we can certainly get through normal life challenges.

[Dosage0]

A plea to sober people

Crunchy,

I am sorry you disappeared? Hopefully you will come back!

[spacebebe01]

A plea to sober people

I am maybe considering giving bac another try, at the moment I am AF and taking antabuse which is helping loads in remaining AF as I am too terrified to try to drink on it and I am also taking Campral but havew to admit I am miserable with things just now, still getting cravings and reading the posts of people on bac is inspiring me to give it another go.

[Bruunhilde]

A plea to sober people

Crunchy, how's it going? You hanging around reading at all? I'm thinking about starting a week of antibuse again. Something to get me to that point. Right now, I'm in the middle of tapering my amounts down, I can't go cold turkey without reactions (I live alone and there's no one to take me to ER and I refuse to call 911). I went from half a litre of hard alcohol (almost) to four beers in a week, but had a bottle of wine last night so back to beer tonight. I'm also starting to organize for the week, and one thing I'm doing is to line up the supps and try and clean up the kitchen space so the ALL-ONE is staring at me each AM, and the niacin is next to my computer with the EmergenC (hard to make these stand out in the ranks of fifteen other supplement bottles in each place). But I'm feeling a bit like I'm going in the right direction again. In itself, that's a good feeling. My body is definitely telling me minute by minute that I'm killing it with alcohol. I am starting to listen again.

How are you? Did you start antibuse?

[LadyLush]

A plea to sober people

Crunchy came and went during the Murph fiasco.
I LOVE coincidences!




LL:l

[help4me]

A plea to sober people

Hey Crunchy, I never thought I would want to achieve complete abstinence. I was afraid of the boredom that would be there and all the silly simple things that could not be possible to enjoy. Right? However, I did hit indifference once back in Feb of this year. I found that I could have gingerale or wine without much care. However, after 3 weeks of choosing the gingerale, I started choosing the wine to see what I had been missing. Slowly, I began choosing the wine more and more. It was as if I literally pushed myself out of 'indifference' just to drink again. Knowing FULL well the shit hell it put me in to begin with.

Fast forward to this summer. Drinking 2 bottles of wine 4-5 nights a week. Right back to where I was. Isolating, removed, self absorbed. I will still taking BAC to the tune of 180mgs. Christ, if that's not CRAZY shit, I don't know what is.

At the end of the summer when I was just about to lose my family all over again, I decided to get outside myself and do it right this time. I slowly titrated back up to about 270-80 and (LUCKY ME) switched to indifference once again.

This time I am not drinking. I'm dealing with the 'boredom' which is really not boredom, it's just life. I now watch TV with my family (gasp!) and am reading more (although not as much). I'm keeping up with the simple things like cleaning my kitchen at night and listening to my daughter play piano. Simple things that I had been missing and checking out of over the past 10 years.

I think back to the time I have wasted and it kills me. All those simple things that I have missed. My family growing up around me and me thinking I wasn't 'missing' anything at all. All for the sake of isolating into myself just to drink wine, go online and do nothing. I just hope and pray now that my family remains here for me. I am blessed and will NOT take the wrong road again. I hope you will get there....

Raising my gingerale to you. Cheers to simple things

[Crunchy]

A plea to sober people

Thanks for your story, AllyB. The numbers are scary! Good luck. I hope you have a announcement for us soon.

Doseage, thanks very much. I cant be around much. I've been working 80 hours a week. This is my first full day off in a long time. I hope to catch up but I almost feel like I don't belong here now.

Bruunhilde, I never tried antibuse. I hope you tapered down OK. I understand what you mean by feeling like the booze is sucking the life right out of your body. I'm doing OK. I have not had time or energy to drink. I pretty much have been falling asleep as soon as I sit down.

I'm still on a low dose of baclofen but do not start taking it until later in the day. It has been hard enough to stay awake! My life should be returning to normal since I finished one job. I hope to try again. On the drinking end I have done really well but that's mostly because I barely have time enough to eat and sleep lately. I will try to catch up on everything later. It feels like an eternity has gone by!

[Toro]

A plea to sober people

Been off alcohol for the past 3 years.

Dose fluctuates depending on need, from 40mg up to 150+ when required.

Even on a high dose I function at a high level in a demanding career and to say my quality of life has improved would be a vast, vast understatement.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

A plea to sober people

TORO!
Nice to hear from you again. I really, really wish I could get you to sum up your experience in one place. As it stands I may glom together all of your posts over the last year and put 'em in one place! They make me smile...
(I will of course PM and ask you first.)
Glad you're well.

[PbarE]

A plea to sober people

Crunchy;1185588 wrote: I would like to hear from decent, sober people who behave that way here and in their lives. I am sure they are here. I wonder why they are not more visible.

I would like to know how life is for you now. What?s it like being on the other side? Please say everything that is wonderful about that.

I would like to know whether trying to get to the switch is pointless or not. If not why not? I have one friend in PM who went up to 270. I already know that I won?t be able to do that. My drinking is reduced a lot. So far no drink for 3 days. But it?s not switch. I have to resist drinking. What is the point of going up to switch and going back down again to just to wind up where I already am? I have to make a living and my employer is showing every sign of packing up and going home. That is probably going to happen no matter what I do. I am storing up food and trying to save money because I know that it is going to happen. I need the unemployment thing to be as far in the future as I can make it. I cannot afford to be a zombie right now.

Anyway what I would most like to hear is really wonderful things from truly long-time sober people. I think this forum could really use that too. This is my plea: Spoon-feed me hope.

I haven't been on this board in a long time for a variety of different reasons. But I can hopefully give you some hope.

In three weeks I will have a year sober. I was on baclofen for the first 3-4 months of that. It gave me a good kick start and I would do it again. That worked for me. Others have different opinions about how long you should stay on it and it appears to be a very individualized deal. I also did ibogaine at around 6 months sober, and will do it again after the first of the year. It was a real difference maker.

However, the real reason I have stayed sober is because of AA/NA. That is not a real popular opinion on this particular board, but it is my experience nonetheless. While those organizations have their flaws, the philosophy behind the 12 steps is a great way to live. And there is an imperfect beauty about both fellowships.

This is just my opinion based on my experience, but bac alone is not enough for a real alcoholic/addict.

Good luck to all. I will cruise back by in another 6 months or so.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

A plea to sober people

Hiya, PBar! This post made me laugh and smile and squirm and pissed me off all at the same time. Nice job!
Bottom line is that I'm glad you're well and sober, and I'll leave most of the rest of it alone, because it matters not how we get there, but that we do.

Except this:

PbarE;1222095 wrote:
This is just my opinion based on my experience, but bac alone is not enough for a real alcoholic/addict.

Because that is just feckin' funny. So...If you're lurking, and a REAL alcoholic, and you've tried a bunch of other options and they didn't work, well, I'm here to tell you that bac worked for me. Alone. Without 12 steps. Without counseling. Without supplements, meditation, handstands, antidepressants, support from my husband, or support from my friends outside of MWO for the most part.

And your summation, without sharing your experience with bac, and your issues related to that, is a big reason that I find going to the rooms absolutely toxic. But go I will. In no small part, my friend, and I hope we still are, because I am a real alcoholic and bac fixed me. For good.
:H P. Stay well.

[bleep]

A plea to sober people

PbarE;1222095 wrote: This is just my opinion based on my experience, but bac alone is not enough for a real alcoholic/addict.

Pbar, good to see you, and glad things are going well.

I have to disagree with your comment above though. Strenuously.

I haven't used a single other tool/group/drug/thought process/etc other than baclofen, and it's worked perfectly, despite being a very real alcoholic.

EDIT: I spent a lot of time here, on MWO, during the baclofen process, and for a while after, and that was extremely helpful.

[redhead77]

A plea to sober people

Pbar!

I'm at work waiting to start my day, so I'll have to leave the argument out of this. I'll just say welcome back, albeit so briefly! We'll be glad to see you in another 6 months or so, and I hope you have as much good news to share...regarding your sobriety. Congrats!