Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

[matt2d2]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

mom, thank you for being so open, your story is inspiring.I too, go to AA , and i love AA, but for me i had to look for help outside the rooms (now taking naltrexone). I've worked through the steps 3 times now, and it's been very healing, but the biological cravings would eventually ware me down and i'd get to a point where i felt it was gonna be a drink or a gun to my head( so i'd drink for the relief from my own thoughts), and then i would beat me self up again for failing. It was a terrible cycle. i'm now trying the nal. and supplements with AA, and i have a new hope for the future. My thoughts don't seem so powerful right now. We're all on this journey together, much love, matt

[Alcoholic]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

Mom4:
What a heartbreaking story! I really hope Bac will work for you as it has helped so many.

[Kradle123]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

ArizonaMan;1423109 wrote: Hi Mom

Did you not go with Dr Phill?

I hope you dont mind, but I have emailed him about this thread.

Hi Arizona:

What do you mean?
Just wondering...do you mean Dr. Phil on Oprah ??

[Sticky]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

Welcome momof4

Thanks for sharing your story. I too am lucky to still have the support of my long suffering husband and 2 boys, 14 and 11.

I have titrated up slowly under the advice of a GP here in NZ. 5 months later I'm at 150mg. The SE's are hard going but I'm starting to notice less obsession around drinking.

I wish you all the best.

Cheers
Sticky :welcome:

[ifulovelife2]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

MomOf4Boys

I'm so glad you've found baclofen. I haven't had a chance to read the replies so I don't know what recommendations anyone else has made but just know this: if you keep taking baclofen, and enough of it, you will almost certainly get to the point where you no longer crave alcohol and no longer have to endure the hell you've been living through.

Take baclofen, take lots of it. Titrate as fast as you can, as fast as you can stand the side effects. Get to 'indifference' and stay there. You can't overdose on baclofen. As simple as that. People have tried, no one has died. An 'overdose' on baclofen is merely an increase in side effects, none of which are lethal.

That last paragraph is likely to piss some people off and I must add that I am not medically qualified. I'm merely talking from experience, mine and others. I reached 'indifference' in 8 days from zero to 175mg. That was 22 months ago. (Others titrated more aggressively and reached 'indifference' faster than I.) There have been ups and downs since then but mostly I have been in control of my alcohol consumption during that time. The only times I haven't been have been due to experimentation of dosage. I have suffered some extreme side effects during the last couple of years but they have been due to external influences including drug interactions.

Titrate fast. You will suffer S.E.s but you know as well as anyone just how bad the S.E.s of alcoholic drinking are.

Feel free to PM me. Good luck.

M

[Xadrian]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

ifulovelife2;1423234 wrote: MomOf4Boys
Take baclofen, take lots of it. Titrate as fast as you can, as fast as you can stand the side effects.

Titrate fast. You will suffer S.E.s but you know as well as anyone just how bad the S.E.s of alcoholic drinking are.
M

Dangerous statements, in my opinion.

I would recommend a slower approach, at least if you want to keep functioning "normally".
You might not die from the direct side-effects when overdoing, but think of the indirect side-effects, like having a car accident because of lack of concentration or forgetting to turn the gas off or more like that.

Do not increase more than 15 mg every 3rd day or 5 mg every day. At least the first few weeks. After that you can increase by 10 mg a day, if you want.
But please don't overdo.

Baclofen will eventually work anyway.
By the way, you didn't become an alcoholic overnight, so don't expect to be cured overnight either.

[ifulovelife2]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

Xadrian;1423250 wrote:
Do not increase more than 15 mg every 3rd day or 5 mg every day. At least the first few weeks. After that you can increase by 10 mg a day, if you want.
Excuse me? You're giving instructions on dosage as if you are a doctor. You are prescribing a regimen for this person. I qualified my statements by saying I am not medically qualified. How about you? You aren't offering a suggestion, you are telling them what to do!

Xadrian;1423250 wrote: I would recommend a slower approach, at least if you want to keep functioning "normally".
You might not die from the direct side-effects when overdoing, but think of the indirect side-effects, like having a car accident because of lack of concentration or forgetting to turn the gas off or more like that.

Did you not read the O.P.? Those are also the indirect side effects of alcoholic drinking. Those and much more!

What is 'normal' about blacking out and being raped?

Xadrian;1423250 wrote: Dangerous statements, in my opinion.

No shit!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

I have no interest in a brawl or even in a discussion about this on the thread of a newbie who has already received misinformation from members who don't participate regularly in the meds threads and sought to give well meaning advice to Momof4.

Hi Momof4. Welcome.
*sigh* Sorry for what may be about to ensue. Particularly after the (erroneous) answers you got regarding your questions about Phill.

It will come as no surprise to ifulovelife2 (a dear friend) that I absolutely disagree with just about everything he said regarding titration. He has the best of intentions. It worked for him and has worked for one other (Lo0p).

But I am hoping that you are getting titration advice and a protocol from someone outside of the boards, and that you are here for support and help. If that is not the case I will weigh in on the advice, why I think it's not productive and what I think might work better. And why, exactly, I think I'm more qualified to contradict someone else's advice.

There is one thing that we can all agree on without a fuss, without hesitation and without argument. Baclofen works. You've found a supportive group of good people who want to help. We're all glad you're here and hope you find the way out just as we (Xadrian, ifulovelife, myself and many others) have.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

Finally, please take good care. I love AA for many reasons, but I found it very easy to be very hard on myself in those early months in the program when accepting that I was morally flawed and a horrible person seemed to be part of "acceptance" and "surrender". There is nothing further from the truth. Acceptance and surrender, and support from other peeps like me, are a part of my own recovery and spiritual (Yipes I am not fond of saying that!) path. But there ain't a damn thing wrong with me that getting rid of the booze didn't fix. The rest is simply a bonus.

And :l

[Colin]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

ifulovelife2;1423234 wrote: MomOf4Boys

You can't overdose on baclofen. As simple as that. People have tried, no one has died. An 'overdose' on baclofen is merely an increase in side effects, none of which are lethal.

M

There is one recorded case which calls this into question. The case is somewhat obscure but it should be a warning concerning simultaneously consuming large quantities of both.

[Colin]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

A case of de novo seizures following... [Alcohol Alcohol. 2012 Sep-Oct] - PubMed - NCBI

Forgot the link

[TexasAg]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

momof4boys;1422466 wrote: Rusty, I have only been on Baclofen for two weeks. So far, no change in alcohol consumption. I have worked my way up to 80 mg. per day. I have been at that for two days now. I've been sick with the flu for the past week, so the side effects have not been too awfully bad because they are masked by my overall generally shitty feeling and extreme fatigue.

:l :bump:

Hi Mom, How are you? Still on 80mgs?

As you can see, plenty of support and info.

JKTTP (Just keep taking the pills!)

[Xadrian]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

ifulovelife2;1423256 wrote: Excuse me? You're giving instructions on dosage as if you are a doctor. You are prescribing a regimen for this person. I qualified my statements by saying I am not medically qualified. How about you? You aren't offering a suggestion, you are telling them what to do!

Just read the instructions that come with the Baclofen. It's not that difficult.

We don't want risking to bring anyone in danger by doing faster, do we?

[Xadrian]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

ifulovelife2;1423256 wrote: Excuse me? You're giving instructions on dosage as if you are a doctor. You are prescribing a regimen for this person. I qualified my statements by saying I am not medically qualified. How about you? You aren't offering a suggestion, you are telling them what to do!

I said "I would recommend", just like you recommended.

I don't have to state in every post or reply that I am not a qualified doctor.
Do you?

You didn't write a disclaimer that you're not a qualified psychologist, life coach, psychic or fortune-teller either. Did I blame you?

Guess we both do want to help other people and we differ in opinion about dosage and increase. I go for the safer option. Everybody has to dicide for him/herself.
But don't suggest there's no risk involved in faster titration than what the baclofen instructions say. The manufacturer certainly calculated in a safe margin, but they don't provide instructions for nothing. By the way, did you ever read them? Well, I did.

[keenegear89]

Recovering AA member tries Baclofen. Will it work?

I would not go up to fast! I had the worst experience of my life, doing just that. I went extreme and went up to 300mg in 4-5 weeks, thinking I could hit my switch quicker. I went completely insane. I had every side effect in the book, awful panic attacks, delirium, horrible depression, hallucinations etc. Also, had 2 er visits begging them to fix me. I was boozing like crazy fighting the sides. I lived that horrible nightmare for a couple months, thinking maybe my brain would correct its self. Never did.

I believe I was having baclofen toxicity but idk. I was drinking gallons of water a day, I felt my kidneys becoming sore.

I had to come down at a fast rate and that wasn't fun either. Also, I bypassed my switch by 180mg mg by going up stupidly fast. Took me weeks to feel half way normal again.


I'd go up slowly. I think it takes time. Its a very powerful drug that can mess you up bad! I learned that the hard way. The only good thing that came out of it all, is I found out God is real.

Good luck.