New here, starting Baclofen

[Ne/Neva Eva]

New here, starting Baclofen

I know I'm a bit late, but welcome, cat.

Sorry for the hangover! And for the dry county! Ugh. Although I suppose it wouldn't matter to me now, and hopefully will not matter to you in due time. My husband and I spent a loooong night in a fleabag motel in a dry county once. We were on our way across the country and stayed in some forsaken place in no-name-Kentucky. And let me tell you, if there had been ANY other option, we would have gotten back in that car and kept driving that night. Not because the motel room was so filthy that we slept on clothes from our luggage rather than the sheets! Oh no! It was the fact that we couldn't get a drink. :H

Anyway, enough nostalgia-of-sorts! I'm glad you've joined us and that you're keeping track. It really does come in handy. Hang in there. (And I am glad for you that it takes an extra special trip to get booze. That may come in handy, too!)

Hope you feel better soon!

[anxiouscat]

New here, starting Baclofen

Thanks, Ne, feeling somewhat better today. Good to meet you! Yeah, the dry county certainly isn't helping my waistline (they do sell beer here), lol. I think I forgot how to drink wine. My last bad hangover was over the holidays while visiting family, and like this weekend I hadn't had wine in months. I've always wanted to find a red wine that doesn't give me an instant headache, I can actually sip red wine. White wine...might as well just put a straw in the bottle. Man, I sound awful.

I've noticed something interesting, it seems like I start feeling weird when it's time for another pill. That makes me nervous, while I'm still just taking 5/5/5 the idea that I'd be feeling even mild withdrawal is discomforting. Then again, I'm still drinking, so it could just be that. I was going to go up a dose today but I think I'm going to wait until I get the liquid in the mail just to be safe since I don't have that many pills.

[Hippyman]

New here, starting Baclofen

dundrinkn;1463384 wrote: Hi Cat, Welcome. I started at 5mg, 3 times. Upped it on day 3, just 5 more mg. Now a total of 20 (liquid). I got immediate relief and have had a few days without any alcohol. I haven't had many SEs -- a little insomnia the first few nights. Last night I slept through the night for the first time in many years. Yippee. I am hoping to stay off the sauce and not titrate up too high. We'll see. I will do what needs to be done, as I am dundrinkn! Sure others with more time can certainly address your titration question better than I.

I got immediate almost instant relief. I could still drink but baclofen gave me the ability to say NO! I'm wondering if those who are still struggling are thinking that the baclofen is a magic bullet to take alcoholism away? That has not been my experience. My experience is that baclofen gives me the ability to say no. It takes the constant compulsion to drink away. Then I have to make the decision not to drink. It works for me because I really want to be sober and will do what ever it takes to stay that way. Including taking Antabuse if need be.

[satz123]

New here, starting Baclofen

Hippyman;1464952 wrote: I got immediate almost instant relief. I could still drink but baclofen gave me the ability to say NO! I'm wondering if those who are still struggling are thinking that the baclofen is a magic bullet to take alcoholism away? That has not been my experience. My experience is that baclofen gives me the ability to say no. It takes the constant compulsion to drink away. Then I have to make the decision not to drink. It works for me because I really want to be sober and will do what ever it takes to stay that way. Including taking Antabuse if need be.

Hi all from Ireland
Yes Hippyman - I have to make the decision not to drink. AB is indeed a great tool to be taken as a back-up to willpower.
I take it maybe once a week on Thursday or Friday - and BAM !! There is no more struggle - I CAN'T DRINK !! JOB DONE !!
Get on with something else.

[anxiouscat]

New here, starting Baclofen

Hippyman;1464952 wrote: I got immediate almost instant relief. I could still drink but baclofen gave me the ability to say NO! I'm wondering if those who are still struggling are thinking that the baclofen is a magic bullet to take alcoholism away? That has not been my experience. My experience is that baclofen gives me the ability to say no. It takes the constant compulsion to drink away. Then I have to make the decision not to drink. It works for me because I really want to be sober and will do what ever it takes to stay that way. Including taking Antabuse if need be.

The decision is still difficult for me at this point. We'll see how I am at my witching hour. Still, I am trying, and this weekend's failure is a good reminder. I know it's not a magic bullet.

[satz123]

New here, starting Baclofen

anxiouscat;1464962 wrote: The decision is still difficult for me at this point. We'll see how I am at my witching hour. Still, I am trying, and this weekend's failure is a good reminder. I know it's not a magic bullet.

Cat
Would you try the AB ( Antabuse )
It is not the scary pill I was lead to believe for years.
A pill for mad - sleeping in cardboard box - type alkos

It hass no side effects at all unless you drink alcohol. You will be ill as if you had the worst hangover ever !
It takes away the : "will I ? won't I ?" "I'll have 2" dialogue
Has literally been my lifeline in the past 7 months.

[anxiouscat]

New here, starting Baclofen

Sorry I haven't been commenting on other threads, haven't had a lot of time to get on here lately, but I do want to keep my diary going. Still taking 5/5/5, a little bit of muscle aches but overall it's been fine. I am still drinking, but last night I was able to stop and go to bed early, which is definitely an improvement. DH is abstaining right now to support me, that helps. Received the liquid in the mail today, thanks!

I had dental work this morning, ouch. Dentist gave me antibiotics and pain pills, the anesthetic just wore off so I took one...wow. I forgot how weird they make me feel. Going to try for AF tonight because of the meds, take more milk thistle to support my liver, and increase my probiotics. I shouldn't need to take the pills for long though, he was able to get most of the nerve today.

[Lo0p]

New here, starting Baclofen

Psst...check your doorstep.

edit: oh, you did :nutso:

[anxiouscat]

New here, starting Baclofen

I didn't take my last 5mg of the day because the pain pill was making me feel weird and I didn't want to feel worse, but then caved to AL when it started wearing off. Didn't have much though, so if anything I'm calling this week a taper. Just used 5mg of the liquid (tricky but I think I got it right - it's the 20mg solution, so that's 0.25ml right?). I need to get the guts up to increase the dosage. Thinking about doing 10mg for the last one of the day maybe.

[dundrinkn]

New here, starting Baclofen

Hi Cat. I am starting day 10 of bac. Just strung together to AF days. I upped my dosage yesterday adding another 10mg on the way home from work. I am up to 40 a day spaced out over the day in 10mg doses. I was able to not drink last night, even though I had planned to have a beer. It didn't bother me not to have it. So even though it makes you anxious to up your dose, I would try a little more in the evening. If you have SEs, just go back down the next day. Nothing is permanant. Good luck. Sorry about your tooth. That stinks.

[anxiouscat]

New here, starting Baclofen

I did not feel well at all last night, I think the combination of Baclofen, antibiotics, and pain medication was too much. I didn't take the PM dose of bac again, I am wondering if my liver is taxed because of the amounts of tylenol in those pain meds. I felt absolutely awful and I only took them twice (once in the AM, then once in the afternoon). Took some NAC and milk thistle, felt better but still too nervous to take the bac.

My conundrum right now is bac or pain pill... I'm not taking them at the same time again. I tried ibuprofen but the deep jaw pain is still there and making it hard to think, let alone eat. I'm still at starting dose, so I think I may take a few days off from bac and restart once I'm feeling a little better.

[RedThread12]

New here, starting Baclofen

My guess is that it's the antibiotic-pain pill combo that is more likely to be "upsetting" your system - especially if nausea is contributing to feeling funky. And especially if you're drinking with those meds. Not that we pay attention to stuff like that, but it's considered a BIG no-no.

Maybe try just 5-10mg of bac sometime in between, and as far away as possible, from taking the other meds. Stopping altogether is probably okay, although even 15 mg/day for a few days might have some withdrawal effect. I really don't know for sure about that, though. My heart goes out to you about the jaw pain. Horrible. Just horrible.

[anxiouscat]

New here, starting Baclofen

RedThread12;1466623 wrote: My guess is that it's the antibiotic-pain pill combo that is more likely to be "upsetting" your system - especially if nausea is contributing to feeling funky. And especially if you're drinking with those meds. Not that we pay attention to stuff like that, but it's considered a BIG no-no.

Maybe try just 5-10mg of bac sometime in between, and as far away as possible, from taking the other meds. Stopping altogether is probably okay, although even 15 mg/day for a few days might have some withdrawal effect. I really don't know for sure about that, though. My heart goes out to you about the jaw pain. Horrible. Just horrible.

Thanks, I just took some bac for that reason, the pain meds wore off a little while ago and my jaw pain has calmed down some, but I was starting to feel tense and achy, and I'm wondering if that was because of the lack of baclofen in my system.

I felt awful well before drinking actually, so I think you're right about the antibiotic/narcotic combo. I was nauseated, extremely thirsty, and feeling woozy. I haven't been drinking "with" the meds per-se, the thought of respiratory depression scares the daylights out of me so I waited until my last dose had worn off well before having anything, and didn't drink excessively, just enough so that I could relax and go to bed. I'm not going to take any more of the pain meds if I can absolutely help it, the trade off between jaw pain and the other side effects is about even at this point. Thanks again for your input.

[TexasAg]

New here, starting Baclofen

Anxious,

I just recently had a run in with a circular saw and my leg, yeah it wasn't pretty. I got stitches and they gave me an antibiotic for infection and painkillers. I took them and felt nauseus and like caca. I've been on Baclofen for 7 months so I know it wasnt the bac.

Hope you feel better.

Cheers!

[anxiouscat]

New here, starting Baclofen

TexasAg;1466717 wrote: Anxious,

I just recently had a run in with a circular saw and my leg, yeah it wasn't pretty. I got stitches and they gave me an antibiotic for infection and painkillers. I took them and felt nauseus and like caca. I've been on Baclofen for 7 months so I know it wasnt the bac.

Hope you feel better.

Cheers!

Ouch!! Hope that's healed and you're doing better. The pain was worse for a couple of days but I think the antibiotics are finally working now.

I'm still taking bac, though I was inconsistent for a bit because I was just feeling so ill with the medications. I'm back on track now though and will start titrating up again tomorrow. We had people over this weekend and I tend to use AL as a crutch for social anxiety, I did drink but I was able to limit myself thanks to the bac.