Newbie

[john doe]

Newbie

Well, I think it was the booze (and Bac?) I'm on 125mg today and the nausea is gone. I'm definitely feeling the effects though. No real bad SEs to speak of. I opened a beer earlier and couldn't really be bothered and ended up pouring it out. I also feel sort of upbeat. I wouldn't call it high but just cheery and catching myself sort of smiling???

I feel sort of detached and a bit dizzy? Regarding craving.. I feel like when I do try to think about booze it's like my thoughts are being blocked? Could be partly placebo but there is something at work for definite.

Make out of all the above what you will

I'm really excited and have real hope things are on the up.

[kronkcarr]

Newbie

john,

You started at 50 mgs and in 2 days you went to 125 mgs? Why? Just wondering...

[bleep]

Newbie

Sounds pretty similar to what I first felt.

Good luck.

[john doe]

Newbie

kronkcarr;1502565 wrote: john,

You started at 50 mgs and in 2 days you went to 125 mgs? Why? Just wondering...

Plan was to go up 50mg each day until I felt anything. I started feeling effects today. So I'll maybe hover around this dose for a day or two and see how I feel. I'm definitely feeling some sort of anti-craving effects as posted above. I wouldn't call it indifference but I'd love to think I'm not far away. I'm 3 days in and to be honest I feel like I'm half way there already. I don't feel like I'd be getting drunk from here on in.

I know this isn't the usual titration protocol but I never intended to go up slow if I didn't feel any SEs. I want to be AF as soon as possible.

[StuckinLA]

Newbie

If I may chime in, I'd give yourself a good 4 or 5 days. Sometimes you don't quite feel the effects until then, and you are going rather quickly. That being said, it sounds like you're having a pretty easy time of things, and that's great.

If you suddenly start stumbling around, and feeling drunk, and actually having to ask yourself if you drank, don't worry about it. Take a nap; the feeling goes away after a little bit.

[niks43]

Newbie

So, got my RX for Bac today from my GP - she is wonderful and I am and have always been 100% honest with her about my issues (yep, got more than one!). We tried Naltrexone with limited success. Had a 5 month stint AF and then fell again in December 2012. Now trying to quit to save my live and family. Am a beer drinker, not much else, but I do love my beer! Crazy Canuck! Got the titration schedule from here and am going to start tomorrow with 5mg tid and work my way from there. Been taking Cipralex for anxiety/depression for several years. Am now and have always been an anxious wreck! Please keep your fingers crossed (toes if ya can) for me as I need this SO badly - I really, really need this to work. Nothing against AA, but I will never be that person - I prefer to share in a way that is private and contemplative (which I cannot be without time to think!). Any help anyone can provide or support is BEYOND appreciated.

[man on mars]

Newbie

niks43;1502669 wrote: So, got my RX for Bac today...

Hi niks, and welcome to the forum. Congratulations on getting your doctor to prescribe baclofen. If you are like most of us, baclofen will provide considerable relief from your anxiety. I suggest creating a thread for yourself where you can share your experience like a journal. That's what most of us do.

[man on mars]

Newbie

John Doe, I am very jealous of your apparent lack of side effects! I've been slowly working my way upward from a starting dose of ~20 mg/day, now approaching 70 mg/day. I think most of us take a couple months at minimum to reach the target "switch" dose of around 300 mg. It sounds like you might be able to get there much sooner.

[StuckinLA]

Newbie

Not sure why, but 240 and 320 seem to be pretty common switch-doses. And believe it or not, some (many?) find their switch on the way down. As in, the SEs are simply too unbearable, and they give up, and start going down, and realize then that they're actually indifferent. That kind of sort of happened to me, too. I found that at my switch-dose (around 240), I was at a party and drank a few beers, and then most of a bottle of absinthe, and then about 1/2 a bottle of Maker's Mark, and then smoked hashish. And of course ended up being taken by ambulance to the ER. It wasn't until about a week later, after possibly taking a double-dose of bac and possibly OD'ing a little on it and having a really fucked up day, that I hadn't had a drink that week, and had no desire to drink.

So it's just all screwy for all of us, and I wish there were a better roadmap, ya' know? But there isn't. So all you can do is Just Keep Taking The Goddamned Pills. And figure it out.

All my best. :l:l

[bleep]

Newbie

John, I second what Stuck wrote - time your increases to be 4 or 5 days apart. That's how long it seems to take for the baclofen level to stabilise in your brain. Nothing wrong with going up quickly, but I would stick to that.

Niks, welcome and good luck. As Mars suggested, fire up a thread and we will do our best to support you. A lot of us have found complete freedom from booze through baclofen.

[john doe]

Newbie

Thanks guys appreciate the words.

Update.... Crazy insomnia last night. If I'm honest I ended up feeling quite buzzed last night. Dizzy, bit zoned out and I did end up feeling a bit nauseous. I'd a hard time falling a sleep and woke up at 2am and didn't get a sleep until after 5am. Might get hold of a few Zolpidem to see me through the early stages?

Feel fine this morning though and I'll take your advice and stick to the current dose for 3-4 days.

Mars ~ I've gotta add that although I do seem to be having an easier time than some with SEs I used to be heavily into Benzo's when I was younger so you can imagine the way I might have felt on those. Totally zoned out most of the day and crazy insomnia when stopping. So they sort of set me up for what might have been ahead with Bac.

I do wish I had done this years ago. I've been lurking on here since 09 and for one reason or another never took the plunge.

[john doe]

Newbie

I split my dose in 2 yesterday with my second dose with my dinner at around 5pm. I slept way better.

I'm gonna stick with this dose and schedule for the rest of the week and let my body/mind settle.

Its been 4 days now since I started and I'll jump off the fence and say its there's something definitely at work. On Monday I put my lack of wanting a drink down to a wicked hangover but the last 2 days I haven't had much craving at all. I had a beer yesterday but I'm not sure why to be honest. It lasted a while to say the least.

I'd say the effects (the drugged feeling) although not overwhelming but definitely felt will be subsided by the weeks end. It was only to be expected with started a higher dose than normal but I'm glad I did. Its maybe saved my a few weeks at least. It was nice to get asleep at a decent time last night.

Upwards and onwards...

[Colin]

Newbie

john doe;1503352 wrote:
My dad's been on a very small amount of Temazepam for over 10 years. He never really had a clue why he was even prescribed them. (Insomnia I guess). He'll never get off of them and he knows it. They stopped working years ago. His mood swings like the wind and when his script is about to run out you can tell he gets into a bit of a panic.

I'd been on temazepam for twenty years when I was in a rehab clinic for alcohol. They thought I should also stop the temazepam and replaced it with very low dose (7.5 mg) mirtazepine which they said would be easy to stop. I never did stop the mirtazepine because I found it helped with my depression.

Maybe something for your dad?

[john doe]

Newbie

Hey Collin..



He's touching 70 and doesn't listen. He had cancer in 2011 and I think he just takes every day as they come. What were you like coming of them mate? They are a big big problem over here (Belfast). In N.Ireland and Scotland they're an epidemic.

Most people I know are on Diazepam, legal or otherwise (mostly illegal). Just to forget they're problems and numb them. I don't want to stereotype people were I live but a lot just walk about all day in a daze. There's a big suicide problem here and the two are definitely linked. The amount of young people I knew who have taken they're own lives you wouldn't believe

My friends mum works in a doctors surgery and the abuse she gets is unreal with patients after a repeat script.

How do you find Mirtazapine? That's what you get prescribed over here along with Lyrica instead of benzo's. Most I know ditch them because of the weight gain. I've taken they before many moons ago for sleep after a rough weekend. They knock you right out.

[Colin]

Newbie

I never noticed much when temazepam was replace by mirtazepine but at the time I was drying out from alcohol after fifty years solid boozing and had other things to cope with.