Anyone ever lose their switch?

[lostsole]

Ever hit your switch and it seems to start to dwindle away?

I've had some yuletide beverages. I don't feel horrible about it but still drinking. Nothing like in the past but it concerns me.

I even went up in dose but nothing yet.

[Lo0p]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

My personal rule is "I drink whenever I want, however much I want." It just amounts to very few (more like couple or one...or 1/2 or a sip) and far between. Or once in a great while I actually get drunk with friends. I never even give it a second thought the day after. I haven't had a "craving" for alcohol since '09

A lot of people have lost their switch by reducing their baclofen to soon (eg after only 6 months or more or less).

I don't recall reading about anyone who lost it without reducing their dose.

[lostsole]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

Thx, LoOp. It seems like it kind of happened to me. Kind of. I had some wine again tonite. Not a lot but about 3 glasses.

I'm at 240 mg which made me borderline ill before. Might have to go up. Probably doesn't help I am off for a couple weeks of use or lose vacation time.

[Lo0p]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

Sure, go up. I'd add some in the afternoon.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

Yes, I think it's possible to lose the place where one is happily indifferent to booze. I've seen it happen many, many times.
It's coupled with a reduction in bac, but that's not the only factor, imho.

That said, I drank again after I hit the "switch". For a while it was regularly. Then I decided to do 30 days sober. It was effortless, and since then I haven't had a drink against my will. I've gotten drunk. Usually on a pathetic, paltry amount of booze. And suffered (ouch!!!) the consequences. But neva eva had a drunken night, one I regretted or was ashamed of or suffered about. Except the hangover. omg. I can't believe I used to feel that way all the time. Now I recognize the sluggish, grumpy yucky-ness related feeling after just a couple of glasses of booze. If you pay attention, I bet you will too. Two beers makes the next day blah and blech. But of course, I'm a lightweight. and :H

[lostsole]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

Thanks Ne. Well I went up in dose. I did not go down so not sure what happened. I guess I could simply try harder but when I had hit that switch it was effortless in the past.

[Lo0p]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

Small adjustment. May take a few days to take effect. And if it's still there then you know what to do.

What brand are you taking? (I asked this all the time before my current... "situation" ) Read my "Bad Baclofen" thread. Can't link because I'm on my phone. Go to "For those who don't know me yet". I think there's a link there.

[lostsole]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

Teva

[joanna_d]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

do i understand this correctly: you're supposed to stay on you switch dose longer than one month?

[Xadrian]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

I stayed on the switch dose for a month or so.

[lostsole]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

I think I need to stay at mine longer. Dr L says to stay at it period. I don't think I like that idea though.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

I recently had the opportunity to reread some of the stuff I went through at switch time. I stopped drinking against my will on Feb 4, 2011. I wrote that I would never (neva eva) drink again a couple of days later. A couple of days after that (I think on Feb 20?) I realized that I hadn't taken enough bac and I decided to take the opportunity to get drunk!

:H

It's not funny, of course. It's the irony of the disease. Also of the process. I didn't see any hypocrisy in that at the time.
Nor in the fact that I swore on all I hold dear that I would never drink again if I had a choice about it. And I drink! (very occasionally!!!)

Don't get me wrong. The people who hit the switch and keep drinking regularly...keep drinking regularly. I don't care how much bac you take, if you keep drinking, you'll keep drinking.

And though Lo0p may disagree, I haven't seen one person (not one) get and stay happily indifferent without working on it in some other way. Regular exercise. Therapy. Some sort of focus on something other than what life used to be like. (I sat on the couch every night for years drinking, watching tv and on the computer. When I got sober, I cleaned up and reorganized the room, got rid of the tv and got a new computer which I then had to learn how to use.)

If things stay the same, they stay the same.

just sayin'

And one more thing: I noticed an effort to find other things to work on cravings that arise. (Meds and/or supps). I get it. New indifference is scary because it takes tiiiiiiimmmmmmeee to reorganize all those brain cells/receptors/synapses and create a whole new life. Time! That's the key. Not supps or meds or whatever.

Dream a little dream! (Or a BIG HUGE ONE!!! ) Get muscles like Linda Hamilton's in Terminator 2. (oh, yes! That's a goal. I loooove her muscles.) tae kwon do, everest, ballerina, fireman. Whatev. Just pick something.

I kid not when I share that I basically took an online poll about who or what I should try to be. I listened to all kinds of music, tried on all kinds of things outside of my normal frame of reference, and found some sort of place that I recognized me. I don't know that I knew who me was going to be, because I'm 43 (now) and started drinking at 14, alcoholically at about 18. Wth did I know? That has been fun and also sometimes humiliating. Some of the things I tried to be, I am definitely not. And some things that I desperately want to be (enveloped by yogic calm and kindness, for instance) are going to take a lot longer than I thought. Maybe never, actually, as I am not particularly calm or kind. (I think you have to be patient to be truly kind. So while I may be a nice person, in general, I am not very kind because people drive me crazy. :H)

Huge :l to you both. Just keep writing it all down, too. It helps and we'll help.

[joanna_d]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

big :l to you Ne!!

i asked about the time on switch dose, because of something Lo0p wrote earlier:

Lo0p;1429126 wrote:
A lot of people have lost their switch by reducing their baclofen to soon (eg after only 6 months or more or less).

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

I can't really say exactly, Jo.

I went up to 320mg. Then quickly went down to about 140mg (?) and jumped around, I think. I drank pretty regularly, though not alcoholically, for a couple of months. Then I went back up to 220mg. (I do remember that part specifically, because my goal was 240mg and I just couldn't get there.) I stayed at 220mg for months. Then I slowly went down to 140mg. I stayed there for months, and went back up to 160mg about 4 months ago.

The reasons I went up and down are these:

I went down so dramatically the first time because there were a couple of people on here (trolls) that kept suggesting it was dangerous to take bac and I freaked out.

I went back up because I figured it was more dangerous to become an alcoholic again than to take bac. Plus baclofen is good for me. It levels out my moods, keeps me from the big highs and lows. I like it.

I went down again because I don't want to take more of a drug than I need to. And I went back up by 20mg because my life became inordinately stressful and my stress level was off the charts. I didn't find myself wanting to drink again, but I did find that I was...a bit frantic.

My husband went up to 320mg, came down slowly and methodically, and has been at 140mg for almost a year. I'm not sure it's quite enough, because he has gotten very drunk on several occasions. But he doesn't crave alcohol, doesn't think about it, and doesn't drink alcoholically. He doesn't see any reason to go up, so he hasn't. Mind you, he's super-busy, our lives don't really have anything to do with booze anymore, and he's not as...moody (?!) as I am.

I would never suggest anyone stay at the switch dose unless they took a really long time to get there (a year?) and they weren't having any side effects. The switch dose sucks. Terryk has stayed at his switch dose of about 240mg for a loooong time. But it took him 8 months to get there and he doesn't have any SEs. Lo0p is the only other person I know that has stayed close (or above!) his switch dose.

I think it's a really bad idea, actually, to stay at the switch dose for too long. (Paranoia, anxiety, and more seem to me to be the result for people who take too much bac for too long.) And the thing is, going down by small increments and then back up is a rational and reasonable plan. Right?

Update your thread will you? I'd like to hear a bit more about how you're doing! Rock on, sister!

[lostsole]

Anyone ever lose their switch?

Well I went up to 240 and it seems to help although the SE's are back big time. At least the tinnitus. I am kind of used to that though.

I do wonder if there are any studies out there for long term high dose baclofen usage? It has crossed my mind. I just hate having to take all these meds.

India is working on a patent on baclofen ER but it is like 2 years out. That would be a huge blessing!