Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

[sunnygal]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

P.S. I stopped drinking the last glassof wine....and instead starting eating watermelon.....there is hope....

[spiritwolf333]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

X- Glad to hear about your eye recovery. Damn sorry to hear about your dog. Seems to me that alcohol always tries to attack us at our most vulnerable moments -good times and tough times. I was always told that the actual drink thought occurs days (or longer) after the trigger thought. ALCOHOL IS VERY TRICKY -EVEN WITH BACLOFEN -in my opinion. Just a thought. Peace to ya X.

[Xadrian]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

Yesterday, I dropped 10 mgs of baclofen, which I deducted from the dose before sleeping.
I'm now at 70 mgs, which I take 20-20-30

Yesterday I also was 6 weeks AF in a row.

Since long, this morning I stood on the scales and saw that the dial pointed at 100 kgs (220 lbs). This means I lost 14 kgs (31 lbs) in 15 months while on baclofen.
I'm not sure when I weighed below 101 kgs before, but it seems like ages. One more and I'm in the double figures.

Besides from taking baclofen, I don't do anything active to lose weight. I don't sport and don't have to do running or long walks for my work.

The only heavy work I do is building a house, bur I already did that before baclofen.

I don't watch what I'm eating or drinking, although I hardly drink alcohol (used to drink a lot of beer) anymore.
On the contrary: In the evening I often eat a bag of potatoe chips, fat ice-cream, chocolate and sometimes drink 1.5 liters (1.5 quarts) of orange soda, which contains a lot of sugar.

The only thing that has changed is that my appetite dropped, especially in the morning and the afternoon.
Often I skip breakfast or lunch and if not, I often eat half of what I ate normally. (For the health-freaks among us who say that's not healthy: I know. You know what's less healthy? Drinking too much alcohol.)
For dinner I eat the normal amount.

I haven't been planning or hoping to lose weight. It just happens.

[zampa75]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

Love to hear that! The second greatest gift I hope I'll get from Bac is to drop all the weight that alcohol kindly provided me with!

[bleep]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

Man, that's a lucky SE. I have the opposite on baclofen.

[skullbabyland]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

X, great to hear. 6 weeks AF is awesome, not to mention the weight loss.

I figure that when we go AF, that's a hell of a lot less calories we're ingesting on a regular basis (especially if our preferred drink is beer). Beer's so heavy in carbs and sugar. And all alcoholic drinks get metabolized into sugar, so us drinkers can really pack on the pounds. Not always I suppose but certainly often. I definitely know my extra pounds come mostly from beer.

So, it stands to reason that your weight loss really makes sense- 6 weeks without all that alcohol is definitely going to show a difference.

Also, and you may know this already, but if you routinely skip breakfast/lunch, that means you're doing what's known as Intermittent Fasting- which is pretty well documented to be great for weight loss. I.F. is still pretty controversial, but I believe in it. Both Loop and myself, and others I believe, have used I.F. to good effect.

[spiritwolf333]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

I agree with bleep -what a lucky side effect. I have only found my pounds increasing at an alarming rate. Time to change some things for me.

[Cassander]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

bleep;1539425 wrote: Man, that's a lucky SE. I have the opposite on baclofen.

That's not the baclofen. That's because of all the exercise you're (NOT!) getting, bleepster!

[Xadrian]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

Since Saturday again the flu.

That's the third time within a few months. Thought I already had my share, but apparently not. What's next?

[skullbabyland]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

X, do you get a flu shot each season? I think I've noticed getting sick less each year since I started doing that.

I also have been bombing myself with Vit C each day when I start to feel a cold/flu coming on. I do it first thing at noticing symptoms- like 3000mg Vit C (3 pills at 1000mg each).

I haven't been truly sick in probably over a year since starting that. May be something to consider. Hope you feel better soon!

[spiritwolf333]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

I've got to confess; regarding Cass's response to Bleep about lack of exercise: lack of exercise has been the primary cause of my weight gain. However, I must add two comments:
(1). Some muscle weakness has occurred
(2). Before Baclofen, I would receive a huge shot of "feel good" after physical exertion. I no longer receive this "feel good" rush post exercise. This should not be a legitimate excuse for not not exercising, but for now, that is my story and I am sticking to it.

[bleep]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

I generally read Cass's comments on my lack of exercise with a wry grin, and think maybe the man is right. He probably is, in fairness. In fact, there's no probably about it. However, prior to baclofen, I drank like a fish, and did no exercise, and my weight was constant and acceptable. I had a couple of periods of sobriety, 6 months being the longest, and my weight never changed. When I started baclofen, I put on 10kg's, which I lost when I stopped baclofen. When I restarted baclofen, I put that 10kg's on again, and that is where I sit (no pun intended) currently. I'm grateful that it isn't 20kg's.

I also want to add that I have never felt an endorphin rush, which may explain my apathy with regard to exercise. Why this is, I have no idea. It takes a lot of chemicals to make me feel anything, perhaps the rush is too subtle, I don't know. That said, in your honour Cass, I recently decided that 10kg's is too much to carry around with me, and so I have started a gentle exercise program. I feel like shit at the end of every session, perhaps this is the endorphin rush that everyone speaks of?

Sorry for the hijack X.

[thomas m]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

I know its early days but I think I've gained weight since starting Bac. I started in May and have been on and off since with period of drinking in between so it might be better to wait until I've steadied out. My drinking weight is around 175 (I'm 6'0) which isn't bad. That includes eating badly, little exercise and 5l of beer most nights.

My lifestyle when on Bac is similar to my TSM days. Very little drinking, exercise and eating well. When on TSM the weight literally dropped off me. I lost a stone. You could see my jaw bones As said above though, I'd really need to look at things when I've been on Bac steadily for a few months and my healthy lifestyle has steadied out to really evaluate things.

Its not like I've gained 50lbs or anything mad like that. I've seen people starting ADs and after a few months you's think they where wearing a padded suit.

[Cassander]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

bleep;1541243 wrote: I generally read Cass's comments on my lack of exercise with a wry grin, and think maybe the man is right. He probably is, in fairness. In fact, there's no probably about it. However, prior to baclofen, I drank like a fish, and did no exercise, and my weight was constant and acceptable. I had a couple of periods of sobriety, 6 months being the longest, and my weight never changed. When I started baclofen, I put on 10kg's, which I lost when I stopped baclofen. When I restarted baclofen, I put that 10kg's on again, and that is where I sit (no pun intended) currently. I'm grateful that it isn't 20kg's.

...
Sorry for the hijack X.

Morning X, morning bleep (or good afternoon over there)

Excuse me, X, if I persist on this tangent for a bit.

When I tease bleep about gaining weight because he's not exercising, well, its because he's not exercising...

I do accept that weight gain is a recognized, if "less common or rare" side effect of baclofen. And, as we all recognize, we are all reporting the side effects of high dose baclofen as we experience them here in this, our online clinic. See: Baclofen (Oral Route): Side effects - MayoClinic.com. So some weight gain may be a by-product of HDB.

However, for most of us, especially as we get older, maintaining weight is largely about insuring that daily calorie burn exceeds daily calorie intake. It is very very hard to do this without some, moderate daily exercise.

Alcohol, in general, does the body no good from a nutritional or calorie intake point of view. There are nearly 100 calories in a jigger of vodka (1 1/2 ounces), over 120 calories in a 5 ounce glass of wine, and over 150 calories in a 12 oz bottle of beer. It is easy to see that if your target daily calorie intake/burn is, for example 1800 calories a day, adding ten beers to the equation nearly doubles the burn requirement.

And while it is possible to drink ten beers a day, eat normally and burn 3300 calories, most of us are disinclined to do that. So we either eat less (impacting our overall nutrition) or simply gain weight. Over time, for most of us, the latter.

Alcohol is also a wild card which can lead to both weight gain and weight loss because of its overall impact on our nutrition and metabolism. While I am just a lay person mostly just interested in my own health, my understanding is as follows.

Not only are there a lot of calories in alcohol, they are so-called “empty calories” which have no nutritional value. Since our bodies can't and don’t store the alcohol for nutrition, it is metabolized right away. Our bodies make metabolizing the alcohol a priority over all other metabolic processes, which often has a detrimental effect on the other, important metabolic processes. For example, because our bodies don’t metabolize sugars and fats as efficiently during the metabolism of alcohol, drinking heavily causes our metabolisms to slow. This can also contribute to weight gain, just as the empty calories do.

But…heavy alcohol consumption can also cause weight loss over the long term. Not only does alcohol not contain any nutrients of its own, while it continues to slow the metabolism, it also often causes inflammation in the organs of the digestive tract, impairing the body's ability to absorb nutrients, vitamins and minerals from the food that we do eat. If this results in malnourishment, weight loss can occur in spite of a slower metabolism and the empty calories.

Maintaining adequate blood sugar levels is one of the key functions of our metabolic systems, but when we drink too much, maintaining healthy blood sugar levels is disrupted. Alcohol inhibits our ability to make and maintain healthy levels of glucose (or blood sugar) in the blood. Over time, this can result in glucose intolerance and eventually diabetes.

And, the body sends alcohol to the liver, which produces the enzymes necessary for the oxidation and metabolism of alcohol. Heavy alcohol consumption over the long term can also impair the liver's ability to activate vitamins, which can contribute further to the malnutrition (and often, cirrhosis) resulting from heavy alcohol consumption.

And lastly, when we drink too much, other behaviors are often impacted which can lead to metabolic disruption and malnutrition and weight gain or loss. As we all know, when we drink we may also smoke. We may binge eat or we may eat less to compensate for the calories in alcohol. We may exercise less and not only burn fewer calories, but also lose the other health benefits of exercise. We may sleep less regularly, also disrupting our metabolisms and other systems.

So alcohol is truly a nutritional and metabolic wild card, and when it comes to maintaining healthy body weight excess consumption certainly alters the equation.

That's the end of my hijack.

Cassander

[Cassander]

Xadrian's Baclofen Experience

bleep;1541243 wrote: ...

I also want to add that I have never felt an endorphin rush, which may explain my apathy with regard to exercise. Why this is, I have no idea. It takes a lot of chemicals to make me feel anything, perhaps the rush is too subtle, I don't know. That said, in your honour Cass, I recently decided that 10kg's is too much to carry around with me, and so I have started a gentle exercise program. I feel like shit at the end of every session, perhaps this is the endorphin rush that everyone speaks of?

Sorry for the hijack X.

Further on the hijack...with apologies...

bleep...you have to look at exercise just the way you do high dose baclofen. It is a magic pill, but, you have to titrate up on it, and along the way there will be side effects. Like, you will hate it. Like you won't want to do it. Like you will say, "Where is the endorphin rush?" And it won't be there.

And then, magically, one day you will hit the exercise "switch". Instead of hating it, you will love it. You may not get a "high" or "rush" from it, but you will experience an amazing calming effect, which for many of us is, in fact, highly addictive. The good news is that no one has found any detrimental consequences from this particular "addiction". Its "all good", as they say.

So, just as we say jkttgdp (or whatever), jkgttg (just keep going to the gym)!

Your friend,

Cass