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    #1

    Baclofen: what can't it do?

    Hello everyone, I'll put an introduction in its proper place, but after lurking here a while checking out BAC stories and experiences there is a nagging question I'd like to ask:

    How does life change once the cravings are gone? All of the experiences I've read here are described in terms of hitting the switch and being craving free, but little has been said (from what I've read anyway) about what else goes on in life when alcohol is taken out of the picture or at least put on the back burner.

    I ask because I have a lot of goals/interests that have gone unfulfilled because of my alcohol cravings. Once I have even two beers (I'm on Zoloft and Abilify so my tolerance is very low), I feel worthless and unable to get anything done but eat and sleep. Hopefully, once my BAC arrives and I get on a dosing schedule I'll have the motivation to work on other things, but it's become abundantly clear that until alcohol is out of the picture that's not going to happen.

    For those who have hit the switch, how has life changed for the better? I don't exactly expect BAC to solve my problems for me, but how realistic is it to hope that the pieces will fall into place when alcohol becomes a thing of the past?

    Thanks!
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    #2
    Baclofen: what can't it do?

    Welcome!
    That was pretty much where I started, Fred. I felt like if I could just get out from under the burden of drinking myself into a stupor every chance I got, I could get on with what I actually wanted to do with my life. And I did! It's been easier than I expected, but I had plenty of time to prepare, and I planned ahead...Sort of.

    Specifically: I started school, repaired my marriage (with some help from my husband ), have learned to live on one salary (inexplicably), we're buying our first house, and life is good...

    No guarantees, of course. Bac doesn't do anything except help with the booze (and maybe some other things, who knows? I think so, but maybe I'm projecting on to bac all of the other things that I've done to get and stay relatively well???)
    How it turns out for you is up to you.

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      #3
      Baclofen: what can't it do?

      Hey Fred! It's a valid question. I used to worry that I would go crazy after I quit drinking. Having to finally deal with my depression and the mess I'd made of my life seemed like it would be too much.
      I haven't hit the switch, instead I got sober using low dose baclofen and antabuse. It's not a wonderful pink cloud world, but it's not as scary as I'd feared either. There is a lot of fixing to be done, externally in terms of my life and internally in terms of my thinking, but it seems...doable. More than anything, I'm finding myself more motivated and driven. Things seem to be falling into place, but I'm realizing that it's me doing the placing. I just have more mental and physical energy than when I was drinking, and stuff is actually getting done.
      Best of luck to you, and do let us know how it goes!
      "Yet someday this will have an end
      All choices made or choice resigned,
      And in your face the literal eye
      Trace little of your history,
      Nor ever piece the tale entire
      Of villages that had to burn
      And playgrounds of the will destroyed
      Before you could be safe from time
      And gather in your brow and air
      The stillness of antiquity."

      From "At Majority" by Adrienne Rich

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        #4
        Baclofen: what can't it do?

        First off - HI EVERYONE!
        What changes when the cravings are gone and you aren't drunk everynight? Everything! It's a journey for sure, and getting off booze is just a step towards becoming free. For me, I guess I was a "functioning" alcoholic. Meaning I worked during the day, came home spent time with my family and drank when everyone was calling it a night. No one would guess that I was/am an alcoholic. But are you really functioning when you are at work - but are you productive? are you really spending time with your family when you are only there physically? No - no you are not there, you are just a body that only works for more alcohol.
        My turning point was going to the doctors office because of changes in my body - blood samples come back with deficiencies, sugar levels are off, and pains in my abdomen. I decided that this was not how I wanted to die. I did not want to die of alcoholism or the effects of alcoholism. I was almost 40 and I wanted to say I was healthy at 40. I started taking bac and the effects were immeadiate, like within a week I stopped drinking. By week 2 I was higher than a kite - from being sober, from being free of alcohols clutches. By week 6 I was eating healthy, excersising and loosing that beer belly. By 90 days, I had reached my goal of how much weight I wanted to loose. I was on this site evryday talking to friends, talking to those in need - trying to help, trying to show others that it could be done. For the past 4 months, I had focused on me, my accomplishments, and my drinking. Then it hit me - I am still not living, i am still obsessed with alcohol - just from a different perspective. I was figuring out how to live without alcohol but my family were still living with an alcoholic. I moved on, but I left them behind, still trying too deal with the life I had created for them as an alcoholic.
        Alcohol doesn't just change you, it changes all of those around you. They learn to live with alcohol and what it is doing to their loved one just as an alcoholic learns to "function" as an alcoholic. I left them behind, I never worked with them so that all of us could recover together. I was too busy with my new friends here, talking about alcohol, supporting them, receiving support while my family were left behind.
        My Way Out changed my life. I was saved by amazing people here - I learned about myself here - I got the chance to meet amazing people - strangers that were willing to do anything for other strangers that need help. I thank everyone for that, but don't make the same mistake as I did, don't give up your family for MWO. Don't give up your family to become an advocate of baclofen or MWO. You need to include them in the healing process. They need to heal as much as you do. I am not saying to ignore everyone at MWO, I am just saying, find the balance - make sure you don't leave your family behind.

        So in the last couple of years I have not once had a thought of alcohol last any longer than 10 seconds. Maybe compare it to craving a good bananna - yes they taste good but they don't consume your every thought, you would go out at 10:00 at night to get a bunch of banannas! you wouldn't give up everything you have for a bananna.
        When I encounter alcohol now or am asked if I want a drink, I honestly and truly don't ever get a feeling of "wow, that would taste good". It's just "nah, I don't want one". Crazy isn't it?
        Now I am a much more productive person at work. I am more productive at home, and I am not missing out on my family growing up. I never worry about drinking and driving - about how I am going to buy alcohol - or sneaking it. Tha's all gone.

        Sorry if I rambled - I am not a great communicator!

        Comment

          #5
          Baclofen: what can't it do?

          To aswer the thread title question. What baclofen can`t do is make your knob smaller. Trust me, I have taken tons of the stuff over the last 18 months and mine is still huge.

          What it can do is cause you to stop craving booze. But that is it. The reasons for your drinking remain after the booze is gone. It won`t make you superman it won`t cure any of the charater flaws you had before you started drinking alcoholically. It also won`t make your knob shrink down to average proportions. Mine remans stubbornly oversized. Oh I`m sorry, did I mention that already? :H
          "My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them." Jack Kerouac

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            #6
            Baclofen: what can't it do?

            Lol, silly you are.


            "I like people too much or not at all."             Sylvia Plath

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              #7
              Baclofen: what can't it do?

              Thanks everyone.

              About 9 months ago I tried quitting and managed about two weeks- my appetite came back, I got more serious about practicing guitar, I did better at work, etc. But it only took one frustrating day to send me right back to the bar. Sirens were screaming in my head "I just don't care anymore!"

              Intellectually, I feel ready to give up booze. That's the way it was with pot- I reached a stressful time in my life where I could rationally say that I just wouldn't do it anymore and stopped without really missing it. But alcohol, being what it is, is a harder nut to crack.

              My BAC should be arriving in the next couple of days. I will definitely keep you all posted and I'm even toying around with the idea of making some type of progress spreadsheet to share on here for everyone's reference.

              Thanks!

              Comment

                #8
                Baclofen: what can't it do?

                Bac hasn't really affected my, um, knob. But my balls are HUGE. Many people would say I've outgrown my britches.
                And that is a direct reflection of a lot of bac and some willing (and happy) sobriety.

                No fear

                (I am already regretting this. And yet. I will post it.)

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                  #9
                  Baclofen: what can't it do?

                  I hope you will keep us posted, and tarry along with us here, FtC. Despite my sorry attempts at humor. It can be fun!

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Baclofen: what can't it do?

                    HI ROAD!!!

                    Great to *see* you here!
                    I love it when you do what you consider a not-so-great-job communicating. Seems to work pretty well to me.

                    :l

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