Staying at the switch dose?

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Anyone (other than me!) have any thoughts on staying at the switch dose?

[AL Fiend]

Staying at the switch dose?

I would also love to hear thoughts on this. I've been obsessed with getting to the switch, and now feel like I may be close. While that is a great thing, now there is this whole other thing to obsess about!

[bleep]

Staying at the switch dose?

I think that until proper studies are done, it's worth experimenting to find out what works for you. Everyone seems to react very differently to baclofen.

For a long time, if I dropped below 240, I wanted to go to the pub, so I stayed above it. Curiosity made me try again, and this time it seems to be completely different again. Who knows whether the effect will remain once I stop baclofen, which seems to be the plan for the moment. Taking 50 hardly seems worth it, but time will tell.

The beauty of this is that it seems if you get it wrong, you just take more baclofen and try again.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Staying at the switch dose?

Morning, bleepster! (afternoon. whatever! )

How long did you stay at your 'switch' dose? (which one, I know...)

Thing is, Levin is still recommending staying at the switch dose indefinitely...You're the only person I've known who can stay up in the astronomical numbers. (maybe lo0p, too.) So a quick recap, please. What'd you do? For how long?

(and congrats on the going down and other things, and SO nice to *see* you! :l)

[Allthestars]

Staying at the switch dose?

I stayed at my Switch dose for 6 weeks then tapered down and at the moment I am kinda stuck on 110mg. Still haveno need or want for alcohol and will be going down to 100mg as of next week. I just didn't want to stay on 200mg plus foran indifferent amount of time.to me baclofen really is a miracle drug

[bleep]

Staying at the switch dose?

Hi Ne!, long time... Good to see you too!

I'll try and recreate the timeline - I started at the beginning of Jan last year, and was at almost 400 three weeks later. That did the trick, and I stayed at that level for a while. Although indifferent, I continued drinking, but out of choice. Still brought along it's own set of cock-ups, since I tend to overdo things whether I am addicted or not! After sitting at that dose for a while, I decided to go up. A lot of this had to do with a feeling of great focus that I sometimes got from baclofen, and I tried to recreate it by going up. I went pretty high, and stayed at those high levels for a while, but there was no difference, so I came back down, and kept going until 270, which turned out to be a plateau of sorts for me - if I went below, I wanted to drink. This didn't sit with a decision I had taken in October to give it a rest for a year to break the habit.

Looking at the dates now, it's probably fair to say I was at or above my switch dose for a year. From February, I've been steadily decreasing from 270, without a real plan though - if I remember, I just take a bit less, and stick at that new dose for a bit. I figure there isn't any hurry, so it doesn't matter if it takes a while. It's probably close to 25 a week.

Timelines may be off by a couple of months in either direction - I don't really pay much attention to this sort of thing generally...

Strangely, this time, the pub doesn't beckon me like it used to. It may be that the habit is dying, and my brain is balancing itself again now that it isn't being bombarded by booze. Who knows? As to what will happen in October if I do drink, again, I don't know. I have some ideas, but as I find myself saying all the time when it comes to baclofen - time will tell.

[ifulovelife2]

Staying at the switch dose?

Ne, Bleepster, blimey, it's just like the old days innit?

I 'switched' at around 150-175 in 8 days from a standing start I experimented lots over the following year by going up to 350 and down to 80, dosing singly, 10 times a day and everything in between. If I've stayed close to my switch (no less than 130) then I don't feel any cravings. If I go down to 80 I drink vodka like it's water.

I suggest the following may be relevant to consider:
Length of time at switch dose.
AF or not, after switch.
Whether one accurately identified the switch dose, which may not be the case if titrating up too quickly or drinking through it.
Dark magik. Just kidding...mostly.

[AL Fiend]

Staying at the switch dose?

iful, Thanks for your stats. They are amazing, acutally. 8 days? Wow. That would be great!

Could you give some clues as to how one might be more accurate in identifying the swich dose. It certainly does seem elusive by most accounts.

(Also, appreciated your reply in the "What's Happening Here" thread. Cracked me up!)

Thanks for your support!

[ifulovelife2]

Staying at the switch dose?

Hi Alf

The problem is there are a great number of different baclofen stories. If you reach the 'switch' (and it is only an "if", not a certainty) you may not notice it if you continue to drink through the titration. That said, you may continue to drink and find that you don't need more than one a day, or that you only want to get drunk once a week rather than daily (as you previously might). I would say that both of those scenarios represent 'switches' as valid as the one where the person rejects alcohol completely and permanently from a single lightbulb moment.

I was lucky to be able to titrate quickly because I was self-employed and able to decide when and if I actually did any work. As I recall, I don't think I did much for the first month or two after I started on bac. Apart from the tricky somnolence, which seems to hit almost all baclonfenistas, I also suffered from the 'looking stoned' side effect, which aided my ability to reduce my workload at the time, by losing me a major client when I went for a meeting, grinning inanely and occasionally dribbling.

Really, you're never going to know with baclofen until you try it. "Suck it and see" as my grandad used to say. He stopped saying it after his arrest.

BTW, 8 days is unusually fast but there have been much quicker switches and some at much lower doses. Lo0p I believe went up to a sickeningly high 300(ish) in just a few days and RedThread12 was completely indifferent to alcohol from the very first 10mg pill she ever took.

[woywoyboy]

Staying at the switch dose?

Well i'm on 160 again after trying 120. After a week of 120 I found I was drinking again. Not a lot but every 2nd day or so for abt 2 weeks. Been back on 160 for a week now with no drinking nor cravings. As soon as I went back up all was OK.
My view is that 160 works for me with minimal se's so that's where I'll stay but with no real plan for how long.

[redhead77]

Staying at the switch dose?

ifulovelife2;1308591 wrote:

Really, you're never going to know with baclofen until you try it. "Suck it and see" as my grandad used to say. He stopped saying it after his arrest.

That explains everything. It's genetic in your case.

I stayed at the switch dose the last time for about 10 weeks. The first time, it was around 6 weeks (I think?). This last time, I was absolutely miserable. Ohhh, no, I didn't want to drink, but I couldn't remember anything. I kept forgetting important things, and had an incident at work that didn't result in anything catastrophic, but scared the heck out of me. I remained with other SEs as well, such as severe insomnia (I still have some, but not like that) and paranoia. I've come down to between 140-160 from a high of 220. I do want to drink more on the lower dose, which I think isn't typical of most here, but I find myself in a much better place in general. I'm happy at this dose. Even if I want to drink more, I don't find myself returning to what I was prior to baclofen. I've also started taking naltrexone before I drink. For the most part, it's working well together. I did just go out of town, and I was able to whoop it up a bit. I knew ahead of time that I would. I don't think that would be unusual for many normal people who escape three kids and a stressful life (or a rat who escapes the cage ). Not to insinuate I'm normal in the least, but I know that life is back as before, and it will be a non issue.

Dr L will maintain that we must stay on the switch dose. He told me the last time, he knew I would adjust. I asked how long, and he guessed within 2 months. It didn't happen, and I couldn't afford to try to wait longer. It was ridiculous at that point I continued to try. I think Dr L needs to titrate up on baclofen, and experience what some of us do. I'll bet he wouldn't say it's like water and SE free. Now that would be interesting. I would pay money to see it. :H

[Bminor]

Staying at the switch dose?

I don't know exactly what my switch dose was... or if I ever actually had one. I went as high as 300 one weekend after being at around 240 for a few months (moderation came fairly easily to me once I got to around 100mg, had one binge episode but mostly just had a few beers here and there during this period) I Went back down to 200 and drank a few times moderately then just decided I was done with alcohol. I was at 200 for several months (it's hard to remember now to be honest) I then tapered down to 120 and messed around with different dosages all while not drinking... I had my mind made up I was done. Decided I would totally taper off and in December 2011 I took my last pill. That was nearly 6 months ago and I've not had the slightest inclination to drink. NOT THE SLIGHTEST. So in the end, I was on baclofen from May 2010 to December 2011.

To those of you who feel like giving it a try, I say go for it but proceed with caution. If you fuck up, you can always go back up. If you still have the idea that you want to drink moderately, I'd say tapering off completely is not for you. I think part of this whole game is mental (I know it was for me).

[tiptronic_ct]

Staying at the switch dose?

From a switch at around 270mg, I was at a maintenance dose varying between 80 - 120mg for roughly two years. I've been tapering off further over the past two months - now at 35mg and reducing by 5mg per week. Feeling fine, with no inclination to drink.

[COSGringo]

Staying at the switch dose?

Well I am at 250 and hope I hit the switch soon. I find I don't crave until later in the day vs. where I was. The crave I seem to get is that I feel like junk from the Bac that I actually feel a bit better after a few drinks sadly. I don't sleep normally at all no matter what I take so thank god I WFH. I was nodding off at a restaurant 2 nites ago which is sad but I do feel better about the drinking overall. I am not sure if I am at my switch or not. I am going to shoot for 300 but probably will not go above. Then go lower and just work at it.

[Road to Recovery]

Staying at the switch dose?

My last drink of alcohol was on February 07 2010. Was on bac for about 8 months - the remaining 18 months have been without bac. My feelings toward alcohol have not changed since switching - I never think of it - I don't miss it. Went out for dinner with friends Saturday night, people were enjoying a nice cold beer - I had zero interest in it - 3 years ago I would have told you that I would never give up alcohol.