Staying at the switch dose?

[COSGringo]

Staying at the switch dose?

Well I went down to 230 after having very bad SE's at 260. I have not had a drink in nearly 5 days now. I am not sure I hit my switch or what. I have thought about a drink many times but then I think again and it does not seem that appealing. My wife had a drink in front of me last night and it did not phase me one bit.
I am hoping in am there now.

[Bminor]

Staying at the switch dose?

Road to Recovery;1316250 wrote: 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.

This REALLY resonates with me... it's exactly how I feel too. In 2007-2010 when I was really struggling, I thought life would be hell without alcohol... just could not fathom living without it. And now, I can't imagine life with it again. It just seems like it would be such a chore! I look back at how my life used to be, and I can hardly believe it.

[AL Fiend]

Staying at the switch dose?

Road to Recovery;1316250 wrote: 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.

Road,

I have always felt the same way-that I would never give up alcohol. I switched at 360 and have been at that dose about 4 weeks.

How long did you stay at your switch and how long did you take to titrate down and off?

Thanks,
AL

[spacebebe01]

Staying at the switch dose?

When you say you switched does that mean you stopped drinking? I dont know what this switch is, is it a feeling, is it a thought, do you suddenly wake up one day knowing you dont want to drink

[paulslice]

Staying at the switch dose?

Hi everyone - it's been a long time. Time to stop wringing my hands and jump back in.

I'm at a maintenance dose of 200 now - though even now, over a year and a half after starting baclofen - no, let's say a year and a half after I hit my switch, I'm still experimenting with my maintenance dose. And let me say that if I hadn't titrated down from my switch level, which was in the high 300's, actually into the 400's on a few days (but that's another story) I don't think I could have carried on.

I've come down now 80 mgs in the last 6 months - ever since I quit smoking on november 4/12. Smoking was always a major player in my drinking. I'm convinced of the mixed nature of my addiction wherein smoking… oh lord, more on that later - you see, it's 4:30 in the morning and I'm up as usual in the mid-night with insomnia…

I really have to get to bed, but I'll continue this tomorrow - let me say for now that I think that the maintenance dose is a moving target until you find one that's just right for you.

I have much more to say on the subject vis-a-vis my personal experience and I'll do it demain but let me end here by re-iterating what I had posted a long while ago - I had heard that Dr. Levin was advising people to remain at their switch dosage, so I emailed Dr. Ameisen directly, on february 3, 2011 saying:

Hello Dr. Ameisen. I've heard recently, through Dr. Levin, and with some alarm, that you are now recommending that one should remain at the dosage where one reaches their "switch point" at. I know that for myself, and many others, remaining at that dosage (380 mgs in my case) would be completely intolerable. I have titrated down to 160/day and am managing quite well. I fear that this new regimen will dissuade many from continuing the medication. Any response or direction to further information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Paul.

To which he responded:

I have never made such a statement. It probably has been misunderstood.
What I say officially is in papers in medical journals, in my book and on my website. Please pass this information along.

Ok man I am tired now so off to bed. I'm sorry if this has been a tad incoherent, but the over the counter sleeping pill has been kicking in AND the birds are starting to chirp outside my window!

P

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Staying at the switch dose?

Paul-
It is so great to hear from you. I'm really sorry that you're still having insomnia.

Your sister checked in, I'm sure you know! But always nice to have an old-timer revisit the boards.

I completely agree with you about the switch dose being a moving target. That was certainly my experience.

And I had almost exactly the same email exchange with Dr. Ameisen related to Dr. Levin's insistence about staying at the switch dose. Dr. Levin is wrong. Period. And he is the only one I know of, anywhere, who insists that we should do that. (I write this out specifically for a lurker who is trying to maintain the switch dose and not faring well.)

I'm considering titrating up again in order to help with quitting smoking. How did you do it?
Thanks, and again, great to hear from you.

[paulslice]

Staying at the switch dose?

Hello Again Neva Eva Eva Eva - I feel like such a turd for taking so long to continue here! I've been insanely busy here for quite a while working through getting my real estate license - something I sure couldn't have done back in the bad ol'days. I wrote the course 2(of 4) exam on SaturdayI'm dying to continue a bit on the switch dose thing, and here I have 3 minutes until I have to split for work...

As of yesterday my new dosage is 180/day, which is 100 mgs down since I quit smoking 7 months ago! Smoking played such a crucial role in spurring me on to drink more and more, and smoke more and more, the two of them feeding off of each other. I could happily light 5 in a row, one off of the next, and get through most of a pack of Camel "Blues" and a whole mess of booze...

Gotta run here but I'll be back to this dosage thing...

Neva I quit using the methods outlined in a book called "How to Stop Smoking and Stay Stopped", by Gillian Riley, and I totally wholeheartedly unreservedly recommend it to any and all - I could never have stopped without it, no way, and I continue to use the methods in it when I have the very odd cravings these days. Order it up online and start reading...

Gotta run!

[Road to Recovery]

Staying at the switch dose?

AL Fiend;1321019 wrote: Road,

I have always felt the same way-that I would never give up alcohol. I switched at 360 and have been at that dose about 4 weeks.

How long did you stay at your switch and how long did you take to titrate down and off?

Thanks,
AL

AL,
I apologize for not catching this sooner. I stayed at the switch does for about 8 months. I probably went down about 10mg per week. I wanted the decrease to be slow so that if "THOSE" feelings felt like they were returning, I would be able to go back up. The cravings/thoughts never returned. I never think about booze unless someone mentions it - zero interest. One thing I should probably mention though is that I switched at a very low dose - between 60-80mg. so coming off bac was not a very long process.
Just don't be in a rush to taper off - it may be beneficial to stay on until it cemented that your life and habits do not involve alcohol - like going out for dinner - working around the yard - anywhere that you incorporated alcohol - learn to do it without the thought that alcohol needing to be involved.

[bleep]

Staying at the switch dose?

Hey Reggie, good to see you.

I've been off baclofen for about 3 weeks to a month at the moment. I tried a drink or two to see what would happen, and very surprisingly was not enamoured of it. Indifference seems to have remained. Of course, it's very early days, so there's a good chance I'm talking too soon! As we stand now, I'm not drinking, and don't want to.

I think I'll end up going back on baclofen anyway though. I have noticed I am bored more easily, and my wife tells me I'm grumpy, despite me feeling ok.

Baclofen's cool, allowing little experiments like this. I wonder if there will be "a way" to do this once the studies are in? It seems so different for each individual.

[Grizzy]

Staying at the switch dose?

Thanks for pointing me over here Ne - great thread. I think I may experiment with going a little lower in my dosage after reading this. No really wicked SEs for me, but I could stand to be a little less anxious and a little more with it. I switched at like 240-260 and kept going up to 340, now I'm down to 280. Probably start knocking off 20 a week down to 200 and see how I feel. Interesting to read that Dr. Ameisen contradicts Dr. L's insistant point.

The difference for me is that I don't shoot for abstinence anymore now that I've "explored my switch" so to speak. I drink casually a couple times a week. It feels different, I just can tell that the chemical compulsive aspect doesn't kick the way it used to be. I guess I'll just have to be careful and be really real with myself as I titrate down. I think I'll be able to tell if the compulsion rears it's head before I launch into any kind of destructive binge. I could stop drinking while I titrate down but that's almost my measure of if it's working in a way...like can I drink a couple beers and not just go totally ham.