New Here, My Baclofen Diary

[caro]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Hi SB,

I take 30mg at 7am/30mg at 12 noon/40mg at about 6pm and the final 30mg at bedtime.

To be honest I am beginning to think I have reached the 'switch' as over the last couple of days I have no desire to drink at all. Last week at a book group I did drink about3/4 of a bottle of wine. But on reflection I think that they may have been more because everybody else was drinking and old habits die hard!

When I first started taking baclofen like you I was not sure if it was working and I would read in wonder when people reported that they had no desire to drink. Well I believe it now. It is still early days for me so I am not sure how much store you should take by my experience. However it really helped me to read how people were managing their protocol so thats why I am chipping in.

Best wishes

Caro

[Ne/Neva Eva]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Hi, Super.

I apologize for mixing up the snoring thing. It was a different person who was affected by the snoring. I don't have a lot of time these days and didn't read back all the way.

There is some really compelling information in a study that you might want to take to your doctor. You could probably just take him the abstract, but the full thing might be useful, too. The research is sound. The primary is Addolorato and it's the one done in 2011. I feel pretty confident it's around here somewhere, but google works too. Post if you have trouble finding it.

In it, he shows that 60mg is more effective than 30mg. (There is a study done in 2010, I think, by Garbutt, that shows that baclofen at 30mg is largely ineffective. But Addolorato's studies refute that and give possible explanations for it.)

Baclofen is approved up to 80mg. Anything above that is use off-label. Of course, your doc is already prescribing off label and may be very hesitant to go up to 80mg, even. It's understandable, if frustrating. The reason I think the Addolorato research may be particularly persuasive is related to the quality of the study and the results. OA's book, and even many of the other studies, are not very scientifically compelling.

I say all that with the assumption that you'd like to go up. You haven't stated that explicitly. I guess I hope that you won't lose hope if 30mg isn't working all that well. It is not a very substantial amount, by MWO standards, but also by the standards in the research. Which is not to say that I have any idea how much it will take for you to reach a place where you feel differently about booze. It could be 30, 40, or 110. Who knows?

Glad you're keeping track. That can be really helpful!
Hang in.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

There is another reason I think that the Addolorato research would be beneficial over some of the other material. It's not scary. If I were a physician and I saw numbers that were 2 or 3 times (not to mention 4 or more!) the approved amount, I would be very concerned about what I was getting into. Wouldn't you?

It's great that s/he's working with you. I'm sure that you both want to be comfortable with the whole process. I had to get to 320mg. OA got into the high 200s. Levin prescribes as much as needed with accounts of way more than I've taken. I have been on bac for almost 3 years at this point, and those numbers still cause me to pause. And I wouldn't hesitate to do it again! But still...

Just wanted to clarify all that.

[SuperBinger]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Day 6
Baclofen 3x10 = 30mg
Alcohol = 10 units

Despite my skepticism that the low dose of Baclofen I'm taking is really having any effect, last night I stopped at 10 units (a bit more than a bottle of wine), and that is very unusual for me. So, my consumption per session seems to be going down gradually in the week I've been taking the Baclofen. I think I have to admit that the medication is doing something. Yay!

SB

[SuperBinger]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Day 7
Baclofen 3x10 = 30mg
Alcohol = 0 units. An AF day is a good day.
Mild hangover from the 10 units last night. Blah.

1 week on 30mg/day of Baclofen. Woo hoo!

SB

[SuperBinger]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Day 8
Baclofen 3x10mg = 30mg
Alcohol = 6 units (Still unable to go completely AF on my usual Tues an Thurs. nights, but the volumes consumed are definitely lower than pre-Baclofen)

I think I am noticing a side effect of the Baclofen a week in. I've got a nagging cough that feels like mucous in the back of the throat. I attributed this to the tail end of a bad cold I caught around the beginning of January, but it's hanging on too long. It's not annoying enough to make me want to stop the Baclofen.

Caro: Glad to hear you're cutting back, maybe even hitting "the switch." I am not there yet, but I think even at my low dose the baclofen is doing something in my brain that is letting my stop drinking during a session much earlier than before. I'm quite pleased about that, but still looking forward to increasing my dose and going AF for an extended period. I am not there yet.

[SuperBinger]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Day 9
Baclofen 3x10 = 30mg
Alcohol = Unknown , probably 18 units (2 restaurant martinis, several glasses of wine)
Exercise = jog 2 miles

In a mixed blessing, my wife and I discovered that a restaurant lounge very nearby our home has swing dancing on the weekends. We enjoy the swing very much. This discovery coincided precisely with the start of the baclofen regimen. We went dancing each weekend, and that was when the bulk of my alcohol consumption took place (today and Day 3). We're very glad to have a convenient place to go dancing, but it definitely is not helping my alcohol consumption -- dancing at the bar is not something I'm used to doing AF. Maybe someday...that would be great.

Ne/Neva Eva -- Thanks for referring me to the Addolorato study -- I will definitely bring it to my Doc on 2/19. Yes, I plan to titrate up gradually as soon as I can. If my doc is not on board, I will go it alone with baclofen procured online (I might go that route anyway -- it looks to be cheaper and I think I want to keep baclofen off my insurance company's radar). Like I said before, my diary is not likely to contain any news of a dramatic breakthoughs while I am limited to the prescribed 30mg per day, but I'll keep posting anyway. Hopefully things will get more exciting after 2/19 when I can increase my dosage.

[SuperBinger]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Day 10
Baclofen 3x10 = 30mg
Excercise = Walk 4.5 miles
Alcohol = 9 units in the evening. This was "hair of the dog" consumption. Hangover from last night was awful and doing my household chores during the day was a struggle. Ick. By the time I got through a bottle of wine and a few slices of pizza at 10 p.m., I could barely keep my eyes open and hit the sack.

Finally got Ameisen's book, but have only read chapter 1. I got the book at the weekend, which is drinking time. My wife once took an ironic photograph of me eating directly from tub of Ben & Jerry's Pistachio while reading "Legendary Abs" workout book. Reading "The End of My Addiction" while drinking white wine reminds me of that photo. I seem to have good intentions, but insist on self-sabotage. Haha.

Ne/Neva Eva -- Yes, I'm willing to take the Baclofen as high as I need to get where I want to be (AF). However, I'm having trouble imagining taking 320mg like you were, simply because it just seems like so many tablets! If dosing three times a day, isn't that 10 pills three times a day?? Or do folks dosing that high switch to the liquid version? On the other hand, if I can pour 2 bottles of wine down my throat and feel like crap the next day, I can eat 30 tables in a day to protect my health, right?

SB

[caro]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Hi SB,

Please don't be discouraged (or thinking baclofen is not doing its job) because you drank about 18 units on Day 9.

I can only comment on my experiences, and I am a Newbie too, but I am becoming increasingly confident that I have hit the 'switch' at 130mg daily. This has taken me over 3 months but I cannot explain the joy I feel not to be frightened of social situations. Not waking up the next day feeling the overwhelming anxiety of not knowing what i had done/said. It is also really nice to feel much healthier and not look so rough!

It was only day 9 of your baclofen protocol when you had a bit of a binge. I did that type of drinking (lots of units) on several occasions when I was on the lower doses.

As Ne (and others) so wisely say, just keep taking the pills and eventually all will be well.

Best wishes

Caro

[SuperBinger]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Thanks Caro -- I'm not getting discouraged, but I admit I'm a little impatient and wish I could start increasing my dosage. But even at this low dosage I have seen a decrease in my overall intake, so I'm very happy with that.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Caro, so happy for you.

SuperBinger;1456136 wrote:
Ne/Neva Eva -- Thanks for referring me to the Addolorato study -- I will definitely bring it to my Doc on 2/19. Yes, I plan to titrate up gradually as soon as I can. If my doc is not on board, I will go it alone with baclofen procured online (I might go that route anyway -- it looks to be cheaper and I think I want to keep baclofen off my insurance company's radar). Like I said before, my diary is not likely to contain any news of a dramatic breakthoughs while I am limited to the prescribed 30mg per day, but I'll keep posting anyway. Hopefully things will get more exciting after 2/19 when I can increase my dosage.
I can't imagine that bac is cheaper online from an international pharmacy than it is at the local pharmacy. Even if you don't use insurance. And that's certainly an option. I have two scripts. I fill one with insurance (to treat depression!) and for the other one (at a different pharmacy) I pay cash.

There aren't really dramatic breakthroughs, btw. It's more of a slow realization. And much like what Caro's experienced...

SuperBinger;1456145 wrote:
Finally got Ameisen's book, but have only read chapter 1. I got the book at the weekend, which is drinking time. My wife once took an ironic photograph of me eating directly from tub of Ben & Jerry's Pistachio while reading "Legendary Abs" workout book. Reading "The End of My Addiction" while drinking white wine reminds me of that photo. I seem to have good intentions, but insist on self-sabotage. Haha.

That's a funny image. I've met several people who didn't really like the book, but I couldn't put it down. And yes, drinking like a fish the whole way through it. I was a daily drunk, too. I definitely had to reread it!

SuperBinger;1456145 wrote: Ne/Neva Eva -- Yes, I'm willing to take the Baclofen as high as I need to get where I want to be (AF). However, I'm having trouble imagining taking 320mg like you were, simply because it just seems like so many tablets! If dosing three times a day, isn't that 10 pills three times a day?? ...
On the other hand, if I can pour 2 bottles of wine down my throat and feel like crap the next day, I can eat 30 tables in a day to protect my health, right?

It is A LOT of pills.

It may not be necessary to go that high. And thinking about it might not be such a good thing! I started taking the pills every couple of hours when I got into the high numbers.

Comparing the way I felt on HDB to some of my worst hangovers was one of the tools I used to keep me focused on the goal. And there's absolutely nothing worse than a really awful hangover when on HDB. Nothing I can think of anyway.

[caro]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Thanks Ne for your support.

SB, I fully understand the being impatient bit for a big improvement. I was like that to, but that resolved when I began to accept that it was going to take longer than I had originally planned.

I was lucky enough to have found MWO, and to have read the previous posts describing this understandable desire to be free from alcohol quickly.

I think it is really good that you are keeping this diary as apart from helping yourself you will be helping other people to, me inculded.

Best wishes

Caro

[SuperBinger]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Day 11 (Sunday Feb. 3)
Baclofen 3x10 = 30mg
Exercise = Jog 2 miles, weights
Alcohol = AF

[SuperBinger]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Day 12
Baclofen 3x10 = 30mg
Exercise = Jog 2 miles, weights
Alcohol = Significant amount ?? units. 4 beers, couple glasses of wine.

A friend of mine was having relationship problems and asked me to go out for beers after work. Of course, momentum kept my going with the wine when I get home.

[SuperBinger]

New Here, My Baclofen Diary

Day 13
Baclofen 3x10 = 30mg
Exercise = Brisk walk, 35 minutes
Alcohol = AF
Bad hangover. Long day at work.

Neva Eva -- The price my wife found online was 200 count 10mg for $52. My pharmacy's price was $35 for 90 count 10mg. Per pill, the online price is better. Maybe I need to find another pharmacy, but CVS is usually competitive.