Question about Dr. L (process)

[SupportiveWife]

Hi all,

I have been reading through lots of your threads and am so excited to see how much baclofen has helped so many of you.

My husband would like to try it, and we have not been able to find any information on Dr.'s in NC that would prescribe it, so would like to try Dr. Levin who is mentioned here so often.

I found his phone # on a thread, and the evening hours, but just want to make sure we are doing this right....

So we are supposed to call that # during the noted hours and not feel like we are invading his personal time? Is that initial call used to set up a time for a more in depth call? I feel weird just calling him out of the blue so want to make sure we follow the correct process.

Also, I assume he will take a medical history and evaluate any other med's you are on to make sure there aren't any conflicts?

One other general baclofen question...I've read a lot of posts about it making you really tired, and others that say it gave them insomnia...what's that about?

Thanks so much!!

[Colin]

Question about Dr. L (process)

Other members can give you more information about Dr. Levin. Meanwhile the following are good sources of baclofen info:-

https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...ead-50513.html

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/59463672/Prescribing-Guide-for-Baclofen-in-the-Treatment-of-Alcoholism-Don.pdf

[MaryGoRound]

Question about Dr. L (process)

Based on my experience with Dr. L he will ask for all medications and then let you know if there are problems.

You will still need to be self-informed. There can be Side Effects (SE) caused by BAC that DR. L may or may not acknowledge. Just look at the pages and you will find experiences. Use your best judgement.

I am still on my journey so I cannot give you a definitive before/after story.

I will say that it seems to work best if you try to work with it. The goal is to stop drinking! I know many of us harbor hopes and dreams to stop drinking "as an alcoholic" but would love to drink "normally." I don't have the enough experience to know the answer but it seems to me that abstinence is the "unfortunate" solution.

Many people drank on BAC going up. It may not be pleasant or it may be not relevant...it depends. The thing is I am not sure if BAC cures alcoholism or if it gives you a lot of room. In other words, once your drinking issue goes away, a drink here of there won't send you down the road to hell but we still just don't know the limits.

[TexasAg]

Question about Dr. L (process)

SupportiveWife;1443743 wrote:
So we are supposed to call that # during the noted hours and not feel like we are invading his personal time? Is that initial call used to set up a time for a more in depth call? I feel weird just calling him out of the blue so want to make sure we follow the correct process.

Also, I assume he will take a medical history and evaluate any other med's you are on to make sure there aren't any conflicts?

One other general baclofen question...I've read a lot of posts about it making you really tired, and others that say it gave them insomnia...what's that about?

Thanks so much!!

SW,

:welcome: I think it's great that you're helping your husband.

It took me forever to call Dr. L. I too thought it was strange to call a doctor out of the blue, but it has turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. He is a very calm, patient man that is genuinely interested in helping us.

When you call him he'll get a brief history and medicines your husband is taking to see if there are any that might cause complications. With me he set up weekly follow ups to see my progress. The harder thing is to try and get your prescription filled, he insists on having the pharmacy call him, which is a pain! But if you give the pharmacists (I use walgreens) a sob story and his phone number, I've found them pretty accomadating. The initial prescription fill is the hard one. After that you can just refill online.

Another option is to use liquid bac from a trusted friend to MWO. The link is below.

Baclofen GABA-b agonists - Items - Phoenix Research Labs

Some people experience no SE's and some very dificult. I was fortunate in that I was able to push through my SE's (at first somnolence then at higher doses insomnia). I was desperate to beat this alcohol beast and took the slogan JKTTP (just keep taking the pills) to heart.

MWO is a great resource for information and even greater for support.

God bless!

[SupportiveWife]

Question about Dr. L (process)

Thank you everyone.

[TexasAg]

Question about Dr. L (process)

Howdy SW,

How's it going? I'd love to hear an update if you're up to it!

Sending positive vibes your way!