There are great baclofen stories here that inspire those of us that are desperate for a way out. But it would keep hopes realistic if we knew if people ever relapse after their switches ? I don`t mean those who relax and stop taking bac after the switch for some reason. Are there people who relapsed even though they were taking their maintenance doses of bac after their switch ?
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Relapse after switch
I've never heard of anyone that relapsed after hitting their switch when they continued to take baclofen. Even at very low doses. And even when people didn't hit a "switch".
I have heard, and know several people, that have relapsed because they went all the way off of baclofen. I also know of several people that have stayed happily sober after they stopped taking it.
It could be a matter of time. I'm not sure. Until late 2010 the suggestion was to hit the switch and taper off right away. The people who did this and continued to drink relapsed, though in one case it took a year.
Since then the protocol changed, partly because there was a repeated suggestion that we needed to stay at the switch dose. I don't know anyone that has been able to do that, or wanted to, except perhaps some people who titrated off and then went back up again.
The French forum has always (I think) had doctor involvement, and have a much more clear/standard protocol for this stuff. You can use google translate to read over there. I haven't looked in a long time, but I wonder if they have more clarity about this in their forum? -
Relapse after switch
By the way, if by relapse you mean drink, that is a different question.
I use relapse to mean that drinking has a bad result...
I drink very occasionally. I have been drunk a handful of times. The results were and are no more difficult than anyone else would have. (None or a hangover.) I don't consider this a relapse because I don't drink against my will.Comment
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Relapse after switch
Although only a low dose baclofen user, I have been on this forum (on and off) for a couple of years or more, and I too cannot remember anyone going back to being an out-of-control alcoholic after having success with baclofen.
If the treatment does indeed have such a low relapse rate, it would be unique in the entire field of addiction...well it pretty much already is unique actually. Almost every other treatment I have ever heard of, perhaps apart from The Sinclair Method in those who found success with that, has suffered from very low long-term success rates such as 5-15 percent. These poor success rates have been mentioned for AA, rehab, counselling, and other treatments. Topamax may have a good record of low numbers of relapses in those for whom it worked too, but I am not sure about that.
A new treatment method here in Australia that involves combining baclofen with an anticonvulsant (epilepsy drug) has been said to allow 70 percent of patients to remain abstinent, and 80-90 percent greatly improved. If true, and if this is a long-term result in severely dependent alcoholics, this treatment would also be remarkably effective. I have been waiting to hear back about the exact details of the treatment for several weeks now, and will post them on this forum when I do eventually find out. As far as I know, the treatment does NOT involve the type of high-dose baclofen that people here tend to use, and which Dr Ameisen pioneered, so may be more tolerable to patients but have a somewhat lower success rate.
A helpful addition to high-dose bac for some people, namely those who are willing to become abstinent rather than see how they go with controlled or social drinking, could be daily Antabuse. I have used this with low-medium dose bac and have had success, and I decided on this method because of problems I had tolerating high-dose bac during a couple of attempts at it.Comment
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Relapse after switch
Yours is as beautiful as a fairy tale for me NeNe/Neva Eva;1337822 wrote: By the way, if by relapse you mean drink, that is a different question.
I use relapse to mean that drinking has a bad result...
I drink very occasionally. I have been drunk a handful of times. The results were and are no more difficult than anyone else would have. (None or a hangover.) I don't consider this a relapse because I don't drink against my will.
I did mean losing control once again and going back there when I meant relapse.
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Relapse after switch
Hey, Joe: What was your "switch" dose, and how much baclofen were/are you taking when you drink uncontrollably? This kind of information is really important, both for helping us know how to help you, if that's possible, and for the log of baclofen information that this board generates.
And, actually, just for me. I want to know, because, as Ne and Greg say, this is something different. Hope you're hangin' in!"Wherever you are is the entry point." --KabirComment
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Relapse after switch
Switch ? Well, I wish No, I only started about 5 weeks ago.
Honestly, I never aimed for abstinence, and I`m happy now with tsm, having dropped from over 60 units per week to around 30, less during weeks with AFs. The reason I`m on bac is I`m trying to help my wife whose situation is much worse than me, and getting even worse in some ways. We`re at 70mg nowadays.Comment
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Relapse after switch
My husband said he felt like Cinderella. :H That his fairy godmother had come down and given him a whole new life...joethelion;1337955 wrote: Yours is as beautiful as a fairy tale for me Ne I did mean losing control once again and going back there when I meant relapse.
So now I'm a fairy godmother and married to a princess.
It could be science fiction, too. A pill that cures what ails? An incurable, lifelong disease? puhleeeeeez. I didn't believe it even when I was taking it to get there.
Lo0p would post about the fact that he could drink, or not. That he kept wine around and didn't care. That he had no SEs and lived a completely "normal" life. And I swear I thought he was flat-out full of it or at the very least completely delusional. Much as I loved (and still love) him. He was right. It's my truth now too.Comment
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