Need help starting (baclofen)

[dundrinkn]

Need help starting (baclofen)

JD
Yes, the SEs ease, and go away. Of course, you will get new ones. At least that is what I found. If I stay at a dose for a while, the SEs go away. Others say that sometimes moving up, or down, will make a side effect go away. I have only gone up. Slowly. I am at 130mg. now. I had sleepiness at times on the way up, but seem fine now. I had the apnea (stopping breathing), but don't any longer. I do now have strange pain in my legs. I think some others have reported this as well. It is almost like nerve pain I suppose. But more on the skin, then deep nerve pain. Oh well, I'm sure it will change as well. The memory thing just keeps getting worse, however. I am hoping that will get better too.

You can always slow down on your titrating up and wait for your body to catch up. That might help with your SEs. There is no rush. You will get there.

I recently had my blood work done for a routine physical. It all came back fine, but I was worried that the BAC would elevate my kidney values. I was prepared to try and find a way to keep taking it, regardless. Maybe not wise, but I would hate, hate, hate to have finally found my freedom only to have it taken away.

No, this is not about trading one drug for the other. This is about treating a physiological disease with a medication. That's it.

[JDizzle]

Need help starting (baclofen)

Absolutely...so how?

Also, I wrote earlier that I was not concerned about my health, but I am getting a little afraid of this medicine. I just feel so awkward and I would be used to any other drug by now and be pissed that I wasn't getting high anymore. Not the case here and as I said I hate the high. I underestimated how powerful the drug was. If I had not found you all I definitely would have stopped out of fear. How dangerous is drinking on this? Im scared I will go to sleep forever.

[JDizzle]

Need help starting (baclofen)

Oh Dun I think I know what u r talking about with the leg pains. I had something like that when I was on high doses of steroids for an allergic reaction I was having.... It felt almost like shin splints or something. I remember I couldnt explain it either. I ended up in the hospital over that pain at 3 AM. If I get that, I will stop... it was too painful.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Need help starting (baclofen)

Not very and you won't. There are a couple of accounts of people ODing on bac by taking it by the ton. In general, the SEs can be very annoying, downright disruptive, and for many, a reason to stop.

There's reason to keep going, though. And no, the phrase just keep taking the damn pills (jkttdp) is not a reflection of the difficulty (though it is obviously used that way now.) My friend, lowcountryman, said it to me when I was unconvinced it was going to work. For me. Even though I saw it work for people all around here. Including him.

It can be like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer, but it doesn't have to be. I did it that way. I don't recommend it, but I'm glad I did it.

For instance, if you wake up feeling like you're gasping for breath, lighting a smoke isn't the best solution. (I smoke A LOT, so I'm not passing judgment.) It increases the carbon monoxide which increases these hormones that exacerbate the...everything. (I still don't understand why it feels soothing to smoke when it does exactly the opposite in the body. Very annoying, that.)

There's more. Ask stuck! And bleep! And read, read, read, read. (Not the bad stuff. You will regret reading the bad stuff in the middle of the night. Trust me on that one. :H)
I gotta run. Hang in there, Jdizzle. Your sense of humor (and adventurous drug use) will stand you in good stead.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Need help starting (baclofen)

JDizzle;1509765 wrote: Oh Dun I think I know what u r talking about with the leg pains. I had something like that when I was on high doses of steroids for an allergic reaction I was having.... It felt almost like shin splints or something. I remember I couldnt explain it either. I ended up in the hospital over that pain at 3 AM. If I get that, I will stop... it was too painful.

I absolutely guarantee if you set expectations and limits now on what you will experience and what will make you stop taking baclofen, you'll experience them and you'll stop. That's the way life works, not just bac.

And if you read the bad stuff, you'll read into the bad stuff. That's the way human minds work. Dude, I watched 1 scary movie when I was titrating up (this was in Dec 2010) and I haven't watched one since. I swear I woke up thinking I had stigmata. Seriously. And I'm not religious. Or Christ-like.

How about a...walk, followed by a bath, and some warm milk? Ok. Maybe that's not for you, but you get the idea, right? Chillax. :H (Does that sound callous? It's a joke. Really.)

The scariest thing you might want to think about is what to do with all the free time you'll have when you're not chasing the beast, or rather when the beast isn't chasing you.

Dammit. I am so late now.

[MaryGoRound]

Need help starting (baclofen)

I see I am late to the party. This is a good thread and you are getting good advice.

JDizzle;1508774 wrote: Ok one major question....does anyone quit/moderate and stay that way? I know it's only been going on a few years. AA doesn't work for some people but there r many that have stayed the course for 20 years.

Hey why does everyone's story include it was working but then I quit taking them? If it works why stop?
From what I have heard from others, and I have only been doing this for 6 months, if you hit the "switch" find a comfortable "maintenance" dose, you can moderate. The trick is the more you want to moderate, the higher the maintenance dose will likely need to be. It is highly desirable for many people to moderate, and many people seem to have done so while taking baclofen, BUT they have to keep taking the pills.

The only way to be totaly sure you have arrested alcoholism for the long term is to not drink. Pills or no pills, meetings or no meetings, God or no God, these are all methods to get to the only proven way arrest the alcoholism. I am not sure that baclofen is a "cure" as much as it is a treatment. I fantasize about getting off the medicine because of the side effects. I am loopy, have the combination of being tired in the day and trouble sleeping at night, loss of emotional range (much more depressed than normal), low libido, etc. On the positive side I am more calm and most importantly, I have lost the obsession with alcohol. I just dropped to 200 mg. I hit my switch at 230 mg one month ago. I wanted to stay at the switch dose longer but I could not take the SEs. I want to go lower and maybe someday in the future, get off completly, but only if I am 100% abstinent and I am willing to work through potential cravings without drinking.

JDizzle;1509761 wrote:

I am getting a little afraid of this medicine. I just feel so awkward and I would be used to any other drug by now and be pissed that I wasn't getting high anymore. Not the case here and as I said I hate the high. I underestimated how powerful the drug was. If I had not found you all I definitely would have stopped out of fear. How dangerous is drinking on this? Im scared I will go to sleep forever.

Baclofen is not candy but there have been no life threatening issues. That being said, plenty of people have scary stories. I went through a period of worrying about the whole experiemental aspect, worrying about emergencies, worrying about the growing physical dependance, blah, blah. These are real concerns but I do know the consquences of long term drinking (especially during my last 18months) are awful! I mean I can't go back there.

[bleep]

Need help starting (baclofen)

The SE's can be a real bitch. Falling asleep when you're smoking comes with its own set of risks as well. I did, often. Or the reverse - waking up in bed convinced I had dropped a smoke, when I had actually been fast asleep for a couple of hours. I had other drug experiences, which definitely helped, but I also came to realise that baclofen was probably the most powerful drug I had ever taken, except maybe acid. But acid only last a day or two, and this stuff seems to be around for ages.

Most of the SE's sound like ones I had, and they were caused in part from titrating too fast. You can slow down, and they should diminish, but not all of them will go away.

You won't go to sleep forever, although it can feel like that sometimes. You either can't sleep, or sleep like the dead, normally just when you have to get up to go to work. All of this fades once you manage to get on a stable dose. If you are really struggling, you can try and reduce a little and then hold that reduced dose for a while, which will give you a break from the SE's. Or you can push through. It's a tough choice to make, because the end is perhaps in sight.

How do you feel about drinking?

[JDizzle]

Need help starting (baclofen)

Thank you Mary for the shared experience. I could not be on 200. I guess if I went up slow enough. I think maybe I am having a rough time because I didn't come here first. I just went from 60 to 120. That was too big of a jump for me. But, I am deep into it. I keep thinking another day or so and my body will adjust but it just keeps lingering. I really want to push through. If I wake up tomorrow and I have adjusted, I will still not go up anymore right now. If I need to eventually I will, but I want my body to get used to this. If the only way I can feel indifferent to booze is by being loopy, I will go back and give the rooms their 10,000th time in court.

Bleep, I guess I have the hope that I will feel normal again and still not drink. Unfortunately, I want to moderate. CMON MAN thats the holy freakin grail. I gotta get me some of that.

God it takes me an hour to freakin type. I have to go back and re-read it a lot to remember what I was saying. Then I zone out and stare at the keyboard, then I kind of forget what's going on...fun fun fun. I so dont want to take my night dose, but off I go to take it.

I am over emotional as well. I saw that 90s movie Alive and cried. I don't cry .

[JDizzle]

Need help starting (baclofen)

I think I'll be good tomorrow.. I woke up feeling normal. Was brought down shortly after first dose, but it was so priceless to feel normal for an hour this morning. I'm getting used to it now I hope.

JD

[kronkcarr]

Need help starting (baclofen)

JD,

You say "unfortunately I want to moderate". It's not unfortunate. I have moderated since I started bac. As they've told you JKTTDP. I'm away at a gathering, by myself, for the weekend. I did stuff with people, came back to my hotel, had a vodka and tonic, don't care about another and most likely won't have another. It's so sweet for me to be outside and see the sunset, feel the breeze and be sober. In the past I would have drank on the drive up, drank at lunch, drank before tonight's gathering and finished the night drinking more at the hotel. It's not even a thought now.

You'll get there. The SEs will most likely pass. They change for me and there are a few I just don't like--my hands buzz a lot and I am fatigued but can't seem to sleep. I'll take those any day over the way I was.

Hang tough.

[_serenity_]

Need help starting (baclofen)

I cried a lot when I was titrating up on bac. And once I started, I couldn't stop--I'd cry all day. That passed once I hit my switch and went down to a stable dose. Now I never cry. Bac definitely does a number on your brain chemistry while you're adjusting to a dosage level. But most of the weird parts pass, so just ride it out!

[bleep]

Need help starting (baclofen)

Glad to hear you woke up feeling normal. You are definitely adjusting. And 60 to 120 is very likely to cause all of those! On the bright side, you are already at 120, and it's not going to take you 3 extra weeks to get there, so take some heart from that.

I moderated on baclofen for about 18 months, give or take, before foolishly coming off it. I am on it again, and moderating, but a part of me is starting to wonder if it's worth it. I'm considering not drinking, which for the most part would be pretty easy, but there is always that 1 or 2 drinks that I would miss. I will see how it pans out, I'm not in a hurry to make a call.

Serenity, it's great to see you!

[StuckinLA]

Need help starting (baclofen)

JDizzle;1509751 wrote: I would rather take mini thins everyday (cmon, there has to be other high school screw ups in here like me). The breathing thing is horrible. I don't think I am really having trouble breathing. I think I am just panicking about it and it makes me think I am not breathing good. I wake up to go smoke at night and I can barely walk and also fall asleep for 30 second intervals while I am smoking... that part's kind of funny. I wake up everyday late as hell and don't know where I am or what day it is. I am starting to get really sick of this.
Hehe... mini thins. I get the panicky night wake-up-feel-like-I'm-not-breathing, too. I'm not sure if it goes away, you get used to it, or after the switch everything just seems so right with the world that nothing matters anymore, but it's not always going to be as bad as it is now. Especially after the switch--here's hoping you make it--since you get to start coming down a little and that makes everything better.


dundrinkn;1509760 wrote: I do now have strange pain in my legs. I think some others have reported this as well. It is almost like nerve pain I suppose. But more on the skin, then deep nerve pain. Oh well, I'm sure it will change as well.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, Dun, but this sounds like what I've been talking about since day 1, and in my experience it does not get better. About the only thing I have not tried is switching over to liquid bac. I will say this: the longest so far that I've been off bac completely, since I started, was early December to about mid-March, and by the beginning of March my legs felt back to about normal, with only the very occasional reminder of any kind of pain when I bent a leg a certain way and the skin stretched around my knee. If that description makes sense to you, you've probably got what I got... Came back as soon as I started titrating bac up again in March, and is here again now.

Sorry if that's the case man, the pain's a bitch...

[JDizzle]

Need help starting (baclofen)

So last weekend I had that drink-a-thon that I knew I would indulge. It ended up one of the hormones there passed out with his legs in the lake and fell over the fire right before that. Usually there is a 99.999999999999999999% chance that is me. Hahaha. I drank too much, but I didn't get that like freakin psychotic mind I always get where I say and do humiliating crap. So anyways, I didn't drink all week. Today my fianc? and I went fishing. I had a 16 oz there....took me a while to build the desire to drink it and I took 6 of them. After we went out to dinner and I ordered a Dos Equis. I drank half of it and walked out of the restaurant. I got teary eyed when I was walking away from the table and saw half a beer there. I have never once done that in my life and I'm 37. Getting teary eyed now. I honestly believed that was not a possibility in my life. I just didn't want it.

Dr L.... Thank you for turning me on to him. I called him. He sounded like a genuinely nice person. He kind of cut me off and said u need more pills...if u run out it is not good. He told me go to the pharmacy and tell them what u need then tell them to call me. Now this was VERY awkward. It stunk of JD trying to scam the pharm out of muscle relaxers. I got kinda nervous cause it got weird. They asked where my dr was located. I said I don't know. They said they would call him tomorrow and I said it had to be between 7 and 9 pm. Hahahaha. So they had the pharmacist call him. He came back and said it was approved. Got 180 pills same day for 20 bucks at Walmart with no health insurance. I guess he isn't going to bill me because he doesn't know my number or address....anyways. I am going to come clean with my doc. He will be interested in how it is working.

Other stuff... I have not done any coke this week at all. I have not gambled at all. I'm addicted to whatever dude. Cigarettes and one and a half beers all week. This is wild. I feel abnormal being normal. I am going to keep upping my dose prob from 120 to 150 slowly. I can still see I am obsessing. I am not following the obsessions but they are still there.

Everyone....sorry for the long ass post, but ur help may have totally changed my life. I hope this keeps up.

[JDizzle]

Need help starting (baclofen)

Auto correct.... One of the normies passed out