Newbie trying out Bac

[MyNameIs]

Hi all,
I am a 41 year old female with a bad habit of cocktailing and drinking far too much wine for my bodyweight. I use AL as both a reward for a long day/job well done/problem resolved at work, as a coping mechanism to any stressors that come my way, and as a social lubricant.

Not sure how many units of AL I consume in 1 week, but I have no problem finishing 1 bottle of wine by myself after having a cocktail. I know that's not normal. I tend to do drink on the weekends, as well as one or two days a week. Other days are AF.

I don't day-drink, except I might start early (3pm) on a Saturday if I am doing chores or household projects. I don't have any shakes or anxiety when I don't drink. I never have a hangover or nausea from drinking. I do, on occasion, have a blackout in memory for an hour or two during my binges.

Both of my grandfathers were alcoholics. I don't want my awful habit to get as out of control as theirs were. Also, I am a very, very bad drunk.

Here is my starting sched:

Day 1: 5mg 5mg 5mg (8 hrs apart) AL intake 7.5 units
Day 2: 5mg 5mg 5mg (8 hrs apart) AL intake 1 unit (so far)

I noticed that on both days, I wasn't as interested in AL as usual, but this was probably due to the nausea I've been experiencing. For the two days I've been on bac, I have had nausea, strange spasms in abdominal area followed by one dry-heaving episode. The spasms lasted all of 5 mins each time. The nausea, a couple hours. These all begin occurring around 1/2 hr before end of 1st dose and 1/2 into second dose.

I plan to titrate up by 5 mg per week. I really want to go slowly. I am 5'3" and weigh 112- 114 lb.

I am setting out on this path with my partner, who is also on Bac.

Just want to thank everyone for the great info on this board.

[Lo0p]

Newbie trying out Bac

:welcome:

Those are some, well, very unpleasant side effects for 5mg TID. How has your partner responded (same type of baclofen I'm assuming).

[MyNameIs]

Newbie trying out Bac

It is the same bac. No nausea for him.

[TexasAg]

Newbie trying out Bac

:welcome:

Everyone is different, so your partner might not have SE's. Most of my SE's occurred when I started and also the day or two after I would titrate up. I tried to titrate up on Saturday so that by Monday I was fine. Someone said its not a sprint so definitely be patient and remember to listen to your body.

Many people don't have SE's or have less SE's with the liquid Bac so keep that in mind.

Keep us posted!

Cheers!

[caro]

Newbie trying out Bac

Hi,

I am quite new here too but I hope I can give you some encouragement.

I am about 110 pounds (Female 51 years) and currently take 130mg baclofen day spread out x4 times a day. Like you I wanted to take it slow and so have titrated up to this amount since October last year.

Perhaps because I have gone so slow i have been lucky enough to have no side effects except a nice one of sleeping better.

We are similar as to why we drank and how much too.

I am very pleased to report that the amount i have been drinking has reduced drastically and I can easily go a week without drinking. That said I went to a friends a few nights ago (book group) and drank the best part of a bottle of wine. This was different from my normal pattern before baclofen though, as in pre-bac days I could have easily drunk 1-2 bottles and craved more and more till i passed out.
In addition i would have craved more wine the next day. This did not happen.

I asked my husband if I had appeared drunk at the book group and he was shocked. He said "but you hardly drank anything". Now this is from a man who I have put through hell with my drinking and who in the past has watched me like a hawk when any alcohol has been present. Needless to say I deeply regret putting him through this.

So how marvellous that you and your husband can support one another.

Hang in there and good luck.

Caro

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Newbie trying out Bac

Sounds like bac might upset your stomach. Sounds like maybe it's too much bac.

Body weight/size has been effectively and officially put to rest in terms of where you'll find a solution. The most recent study says that it may correlate with something genetic, amount/duration/extent of disease. That doesn't mean that body weight/size (and gender) doesn't have a direct reflection on how much bac affects you and what your side effects are. That just makes sense, doesn't it?

Listen to your body...

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Newbie trying out Bac

Congrats, Caro. Sounds like you are making some real progress!

And welcome to you both!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Newbie trying out Bac

Oh! And btw, I did it with my husband too! Well, he started after I finished, but it all worked out and neither of us drink against our will. I hope you guys find the same result. It's been...amazing.

[caro]

Newbie trying out Bac

Dear Ne,

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement it means a lot to me.

I am in a much much better place than i was before i started taking baclofen. This has only been reached by reading posts on this site such as yours, Colin, Tex, Joanna, Stuck, Play, Otter, I Love Life, Eve, Loop and numerous others (too many to mention) so sorry if I have missed anybody out.

To be honest I am not sure what 'indifference' really means to alcohol. For example i had a glass of wine today and i struggled to finish it, but I did fancy one to order it. I am a bit confused as to whether just to keep upping my dose until the thought of alcohol makes me feel sick. Any thoughts anybody please?

I have never taken part in an internet forum before but i am aware that it is bad form to 'hijack' somebody else's thread. So apologies MyNameIs if this is what i have done in your thread by asking the above question, it is definately not my intention.

Best wishes

Caro

[Hippyman]

Newbie trying out Bac

caro;1451766 wrote: Dear Ne,

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement it means a lot to me.

I am in a much much better place than i was before i started taking baclofen. This has only been reached by reading posts on this site such as yours, Colin, Tex, Joanna, Stuck, Play, Otter, I Love Life, Eve, Loop and numerous others (too many to mention) so sorry if I have missed anybody out.

To be honest I am not sure what 'indifference' really means to alcohol. For example i had a glass of wine today and i struggled to finish it, but I did fancy one to order it. I am a bit confused as to whether just to keep upping my dose until the thought of alcohol makes me feel sick. Any thoughts anybody please?

I have never taken part in an internet forum before but i am aware that it is bad form to 'hijack' somebody else's thread. So apologies MyNameIs if this is what i have done in your thread by asking the above question, it is definately not my intention.

Best wishes

Caro

I never felt that baclofen made me feel sick when I drank while on it. What baclofen did for me was to quite the uncontrollable compulsion to drink. It gave me the power to say NO. Once I had the choice of whether to drink or not to drink, I choose NOT to!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Newbie trying out Bac

Hey, Caro.

Hijacking is generally when one person wants to talk about something completely unrelated to the thread. Pretty sure we're all on relatively the same topic here, so don't worry.

Indifferent probably means different things to different people. It is also probably different than the "switch". When I stopped drinking, I didn't want to drink anymore. The idea was disgusting, and so was the taste of booze. That wore off. Indifference, for me, is that I really don't care one way or another about booze. Sometimes I want a glass of wine. But it doesn't really matter to me whether I actually get a glass of wine. I don't care about booze anymore. I don't know enough about your situation to even suggest a guess about what you should do next!

Do you really want it? Crave it? Think about it? Long for it? When you taste it do you want more? When you drank it at your book group (how very cool that your husband goes with you! Mine never would! :H) did you drink more than you wanted to? Did you have to try to not drink too much?

Those are some of the things that I remember about being alcoholic. I planned around when, how much, and whether I could drink. I had to drink until the drink was done with me, not the other way around.

It took me a really long time to figure out that not every thought about booze was a craving or longing for booze.

This was my first (and last!) forum too. It's very nerve wracking to post the first time! Congratulations! (If you stick around long enough it becomes very, very easy to do. )

[caro]

Newbie trying out Bac

Dear Ne,

Thanks for your reply. I have thought long and hard about the questions you posed to me.

In essence I think I may be confusing thoughts of alcohol (which is hardly surprising since I have spent the last 35+ thinking of nothing else!) with actual cravings/compulsion to drink. It is still early days for me (not drinking like a madwoman)
so perhaps I just need to relax a bit.

My other issue is I am not sure what my overall goal is, either totally not drinking or the occasional drink. But at least by taking baclofen I have a realistic chance of meeting either of those goals.

Thanks again.

Caro

[MyNameIs]

Newbie trying out Bac

@Caro - No worries. I don't feel like you hijacked this post. As you said earlier, your situation and mine are very similar. I know that we all have alcohol in common, but it helps even more knowing there are others out there just like me.

@NevaEva - Yet another husband/wife team? Guess it's not uncommon. Interesting point you bring up re: thinking of booze vs craving it. Being mindful of which of the two I'm experiencing will probably help me.

As for my goal, I'm planning for moderation rather than AF. I'd like to get back some form of control.

[MyNameIs]

Newbie trying out Bac

Here is another update:

Update to Day 2: My total AL intake was 7 units (1 vodka soda, 3 glasses of wine). I felt like I didn't really need that third glass, but for some reason, I had it anyway.

Day 3: 5mg 5mg 5mg (7 hrs apart) SEs: slight nausea; NO dry heaving
AL intake (Lost track here after about 5 units. I don't believe I got to 7, though, because I felt more "present" (i.e. not sauced) than I typically do. I also had a feeling of "I shouldn't have any more." However, I was having so much fun that I didn't listen. :[

Day 4: 5mg 5mg 5mg (7-8 hrs apart) AL intake 0 units SEs: NONE!

So, I am now sort of hearing that little voice that questions whether I need another one. Bad news is that I have yet to listen to it. Good news is I haven't questioned whether to have another drink in years. I always just have another without question.

Another thing -- Drinking (especially wine) can be a trigger for me to eat. It's not binge-eating in any way, but after many calorie-filled drinks, the last think my body needs is even more cals in the form of snacks. I've noticed I have less interest in snacks to go with that last glass or two of wine. Has anyone else had a similar situation?

[MyNameIs]

Newbie trying out Bac

One more thing I noticed is I don't have to start drinking at 5pm on Friday or on Saturday. I got a later start on both days, which is unusual. I wasn't purposely trying to distract myself, either.

Also, @TexasAg, thanks for the welcome. @Hippyman, glad to read that the bac is working out for you. I hope it does for me, too!