RobinJ's Baclofen Story

[RobinJ]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

Thanks Suneelca,
It is good to meet you. Again it is funny to be talking to the people I have been reading about for months. I feel that I have definitely not reached indifference and I will go up in 2 days if I continue to feel minimal side effects. I still feel that there are things that trigger my need to drink. For instance, when I eat gummy bears, I automatically want to drink a glass of wine with them since I always did that in the past. So last night I briefly had the thought while eating them. It is probably more so out of habit, but we will see. Again thanks for the welcome.

[RobinJ]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

Spacebebeo1,

"The sleep thing is worrying, I know some others on HDB have had trouble with sleeping, maybe there is something in their threads you can find that could help for you."

I actually had about 7 hours of sleep last night. I took 12.5mg of Baclofen and a Benadryl and I was out. I feel better today and feel as if I had a full 8 hours.

I did feel a little shaky this morning and weak until I ate breakfast. As you know I have not been eating much real food, just junk, but this morning when I awoke I was super hungry and I made a straight beeline to the kitchen and made bacon & eggs.

I did wake up coughing last night and I sort of vomited a little and had to constantly clear my throat. It went away quickly though. So other than that nothing much to report. My blood pressure was 118/90. I will see if it goes down when I go for my 3 mile walk today.

I will go up in 2 days if the side effects remain minimal.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

Hi, Robin!

I am relieved that you got some sleep! "Guard your sleep" was some good advice I got when I was on my way up.

And slow and steady, still.

congrats on all the triumphs. I still revel in them. But I also love remembering the moments of realization I had when I was titrating up.
A big one for me was when I killed a spider. (bad, I know. I got long lectures from a friend about the fact that spiders are our friends. whatever. :H) I have always been irrationally scared of spiders. I noticed one on the wall, and without thinking I grabbed a tissue and smushed it. I actually TOUCHED the spider (albeit through tissue. But still!) My prior reaction would have been a heart-pounding, blood pressure sky-rocketing, panick-y thing. Then I would have moved and stayed away from that general area for a couple of days. Seriously. If it hadn't been so profoundly life-affecting, my fearful reactions (to so many things) would have been funny.

Anyway. Hope it's a good day, full of new progress--small victories that you can recall a year or two from now.

[spacebebe01]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

Hope you slept ok last night and are still trying to eat nice food

[azurmyst]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

Way to go.... great super and fantastic

[RobinJ]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

I am relieved that you got some sleep! "Guard your sleep" was some good advice I got when I was on my way up.

Thanks for the advice. Yes I am feeling much better and although I stay up until 4 most nights, I get about 6 hours with a Benadryl and 12.5mg of BAC.

Spiders are scary so I am glad that your anxiety is down so you can face your fears. Who knew anxiety was the root cause of us being scared to deal with or confront our issues. Thank God for Bac!

[RobinJ]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

"I am relieved that you got some sleep! "Guard your sleep" was some good advice I got when I was on my way up."


Thanks for the advice. Yes I am feeling much better and although I stay up until 4 most nights, I get about 6 hours with a Benadryl and 12.5mg of BAC.

Spiders are scary so I am glad that your anxiety is down so you can face your fears. Who knew anxiety was the root cause of us being scared to deal with or confront our issues. Thank God for Bac!

[RobinJ]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

spacebebe01;1297812 wrote: Hope you slept ok last night and are still trying to eat nice food

Yes I did spacebebe01...I had so much energy that I cooked last night for the first time in weeks. Thanks for asking.

[RobinJ]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

azurmyst;1297826 wrote: Way to go.... great super and fantastic

Thank you so much for the support.

[RobinJ]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

Okay here is an update on my progress.

I am now 8 days AF free. It has been relatively easy to abstain, however there is normally one time in a day that I think about drinking. The thought normally goes away within a few minutes. That is my sign that I need to continue to titrate up to find indifference.

I have titrated to 100mg a day: (1) 20mg at 10am and (6) 12.5mg at 12, 2, 4, 6, & 8pm and 15mg at 10 pm.
Things have been well with no real side effects besides somnolence and slight dizziness.

My BP has returned to a normal BP range 118/84. I am sure it was elevated because I was going through alcohol withdrawal and not the Bac as I previously thought.

I have been busy cleaning and cooking these last few days. I have more energy than I've had in a long time and more time to finish projects I'd put off during my drinking days. I only did the bare minimum then.

I will say this, my body cannot handle large doses of Bac like many people. I can take 20mg at once, but then I have to take 12.5mg or 10mg for the rest of the day. I am hoping I will be able to take a higher dose when my body can handle it. This dosing every 2 hours sucks. Also the side effects of the BAC seem to really affect me at night after I fall asleep. I wake up the next day, foggy, dizzy and disoriented with a stuffed nose. So minimal side effects throughout the day, substantial side effects after I go to sleep into the morning.

Very, very happy right now and staying at 100mg until I feel I am ready to increase the dose.

[spacebebe01]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

Your sounding great Robin

[RobinJ]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

spacebebe01;1298044 wrote: Your sounding great Robin

Yes I feel great. I am just sitting here gulping down Gatorade because Bac makes me so thirsty. I did learn that Gatorade is better than water at relieving thirst.

Well it's 10:30 and I need to go to sleep. Have a good night spacebebo01.

[spacebebe01]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

Goodnight Robin

Is that photo of you?

[RobinJ]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

spacebebe01;1298199 wrote: Goodnight Robin

Is that photo of you?

LOL I wish. I have a photo of me on my profile page. I'm not sure if you can view it or not.

[RobinJ]

RobinJ's Baclofen Story

RobinJ;1296480 wrote: :new:


On the night of 12 April I took 20mg of BAC at 8pm and an additional 20mg at 11pm with a Benadryl to try and sleep. I had started taking 12.5 mg every 2 hours from 9am to 5pm. I took both 20mg doses at 8pm and 11pm, partly because I was hoping to get some sleep and partly because I wanted to ensure I took the entire 115mg for that day. I awoke at 3am with the worst buzzing sound in my brain, it was loud and awful. In addition I was so dizzy, I could barely walk to the bathroom and I trembled so bad that I could not even type using the keyboard. The side effects lasted until noon the next day.

NOTE TO SELF...never take a high dose of Baclofen at night. I kind of fell behind on my BAC doses yesterday so I took a 12.5 and 5mg dose at 10pm and 12.5mg an hour later. As I waited for my Benadryl to take effect and fall asleep, I heard a strange noise in my house. It sounded like a motor that had a light hum to it. I walked throughout the house and could not for the life of me find the noise, although I heard it wherever I went. I then proceeded to go to sleep, convinced that the noise was in my head. An hour later I awoke hearing the same noise but 5 times louder and it was definitely in my head. It was the same noise as the quote I pasted above but about 50% less in intensity. The dizziness and coordination problems were also experienced with it.

It is not a coincidence that these symptoms were experienced on the two nights I took an increased dose of BAC. I don't know why, but my side effects are more pronounced during the nights I take BAC close to bedtime. The noise in my head finally disappeared at 7am after I ate breakfast. Lesson learned!

On another note, 15 days on BAC and 9 days sober...yeah! Also as I was writing this post, the mailman delivered my second order of BAC from Online rezeptfreie Medikamente kaufen und Andalusische Spezialit?ten - Index. I think they are located in Spain, but it arrived in 5 working days. A good option for those in Europe. They also deliver to the States, but it takes longer due to customs issues.

I have an appointment on 24 April with a neurologist who prescribes up to 75mg. So hopefully that will help bring down the cost of ordering BAC online. I am also hoping he will prescribe Xanax because I forgot to mention I had the worst panic attack on the day I started BAC while driving to work. I suffered a very minor one a few days ago and I took a Xanax that was left over from a previous prescription I had 8 months ago. I don't need them very often.

I forgot to mention also that I have been taking Wellbutrin for about 3 years (my how time flies) and 2 days after taking it, I stopped drinking for 8 months and stopped smoking (I was a 5 cigarette a day person for about 6 months) within 14 days. I no longer smoke, but I started drinking again when my mother died. However 8 months of sobriety was wonderful. I ran a half marathon during that time.

Lastly, I am unable to reach orgasm on BAC, but not drinking is more important to me right now...I have absolutely no control over my drinking without it. I would drink until I passed out every day.