indiffrence i think need help asap

[dags]

ive been lurking here for about 8 weeks when i started my bac i went up slowely and think i hit the switch on christmas day at 155mg, i could,nt belive what happened just when i was considering stopping bac because of the sheer chaos, depression, bad temper,dizziness and confusion it happend when i was taking the dog for a walk and almost quiet quickly i felt a sence of sheer euphoria and a totally relaxed at one feeling when i got home and looked at the beer in the fridge it had no appeal to me what so ever my wife opened a beer and i had a cup of tea i carnt stress enough how much i did not want to drink after 22years of very heavy drinking and all of a sudden like a miracal the obsession had gone just like that, that night i took 10mg of diazapam and slept like a baby for 8 hours now in the past when i tried to stop drinking i never got any sleep for the first 3 days plus no really bad sweating this time and no bad withdrawls at all, this almost seems to good to true. i would like to say thanks to every one one on this forum reggie who first helped me out and loop, bleep,tip and many others who,s knowledge kept me going when the bac was messing with my head or maybe it was the alcohol trying to fight the bac you see i could not stop drinking untill i hit the switch, which now i know made my se worse, now that i feel better i hope to post more on the boards but for now can eny body help me with the next steps;
iv upped my does to 165mg should i carrie on and go up ?
if so for how long and up to what does?
and what about comming back down how quick ?
p.s iam 116kg
now that iam not drinking the se are a better but i do go back to work in 14 days but could strech it out for maybe 24 days at best. iv got to get it right because my liver count is terribly high and iv got to get it down also i would like to here from who experienced sheer chaos before hittting the switch because i could,nt take much more and then like magic things got a lot easier i still can not belive what has happened to me i also know its early days and hope things stay good:thanks:to all of you for saving my life i dont think i would have able to keep going if it was,nt for every one here:thanks:

[terryk]

indiffrence i think need help asap

dags;1234074 wrote: ive been lurking here for about 8 weeks when i started my bac i went up slowely and think i hit the switch on christmas day at 155mg, i could,nt belive what happened just when i was considering stopping bac because of the sheer chaos, depression, bad temper,dizziness and confusion it happend when i was taking the dog for a walk and almost quiet quickly i felt a sence of sheer euphoria and a totally relaxed at one feeling when i got home and looked at the beer in the fridge it had no appeal to me what so ever my wife opened a beer and i had a cup of tea i carnt stress enough how much i did not want to drink after 22years of very heavy drinking and all of a sudden like a miracal the obsession had gone just like that, that night i took 10mg of diazapam and slept like a baby for 8 hours now in the past when i tried to stop drinking i never got any sleep for the first 3 days plus no really bad sweating this time and no bad withdrawls at all, this almost seems to good to true. i would like to say thanks to every one one on this forum reggie who first helped me out and loop, bleep,tip and many others who,s knowledge kept me going when the bac was messing with my head or maybe it was the alcohol trying to fight the bac you see i could not stop drinking untill i hit the switch, which now i know made my se worse, now that i feel better i hope to post more on the boards but for now can eny body help me with the next steps;
iv upped my does to 165mg should i carrie on and go up ?
if so for how long and up to what does?
and what about comming back down how quick ?
p.s iam 116kg
now that iam not drinking the se are a better but i do go back to work in 14 days but could strech it out for maybe 24 days at best. iv got to get it right because my liver count is terribly high and iv got to get it down also i would like to here from who experienced sheer chaos before hittting the switch because i could,nt take much more and then like magic things got a lot easier i still can not belive what has happened to me i also know its early days and hope things stay good:thanks:to all of you for saving my life i dont think i would have able to keep going if it was,nt for every one here:thanks:

Hi dags, I'm not a doctor and I don't like to give advice about how to take baclofen.

There are 2 schools of thought about baclofen dosage after reaching your switch: 1) Stay at, or very near your switch dose indefinitely, hoping the side effects will disappear in time (they did in my case and for many, maybe most others too!) 2) taper down to a more manageable maintenance dose where the side effects are automatically lessened and you still aren't experiencing cravings. A slow taper down, like -10mg per week is very conservative, but safe scheme suggested by some healthcare professionals.

In either case, you might want to stay at your current or switch dose and see if the cravings stay away and if the side effects abate. 14 days seems like a good amount of time to get a handle on things. Hopefully more people will chime in. Good luck and congrats on the switch. -tk

[Greg]

indiffrence i think need help asap

G'day Dags, glad to hear you have had a good result.

Dr Olivier Ameisen (pioneer of high-dose baclofen treatment of alcoholism) stayed at his switch dose of 270 mg/day for about 12 days I think (from reading his book a while ago) then went down to about 120 mg/day without relapse. I don't know what Dr A is currently taking, so what I said only applies to the period immediately following his attainment of indifference.

It sounds like Dr Fred Levin (high-dose baclofen prescriber) has different ideas on this, including staying at the switch dose.

I'm not one of the high-dose baclofen users here (not yet anyhow) but others here do have a lot of experience with it, and some are in touch with Dr Levin. Hopefully they can give more advice. Terry's advice is a good way of approaching this by the sound of it.

[bleep]

indiffrence i think need help asap

Hey dags,

No real need to go higher, if you are indifferent. I'd hang around at that level for a bit and see how you go. If it carries on, which it should, then you can try reducing, but go as terry says and do it slowly, 10mg's a week. There'll come a point, at least there did for me, where a beer becomes appealing again, and then you know that you have gone too low. Go back up to your previous level, but be aware that it takes about 4 days for an increase (or decrease) to be felt in your brain. And, as terry also points out, we aren't doctors here!

Well done for getting through it!