I won't go into my bac experience here, because I want to keep this on point. I've recently started a regular medical relationship with a Nurse Practitioner who is pretty damned thorough and attentive (her husband is an MD and runs the clinic). I think I feel okay, and almost obligated, to reveal my baclofen use to her. She knows I want to quit, or radically reduce, my drinking. She seems openminded and I think if I can support "my case" it could help her in her medical treatment of me and hopefully, help others... in the way that another recent thread advocated a little more aggressive education regarding baclofen for alcohol addiction. I've got Olivier Ameisen's "The End Of My Addiction" and the documents he provides, but even that is a little dated already. I can point to France, very recently, approving baclofen as a medical treatment for alcoholism. What other routes toward health provider education can you all think of? (Sorry about the "you all"... I'm from the south in USA). Scientific studies? Medical establishment accolades? There may already be a consolidated thread for this and feel free to point me to it. It wouldn't hurt to be able to put together a printable, uhm... database? of supporting proof for the efficacy of bac for beating the bottle. I think, conscientious, capable health care specialists would welcome the information. If we could get together to create a regularly updated and edited "infopak" to present to the medical community that would be a proactive way to expedite the process of making bac a first line treatment for what is not, IMO, a moral failing, but a physical addiction. It wouldn't hurt to have some sympathetic medical professionals involved in order to be sure that what is edited down to said "infopak" is as concise and informative as possible.
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http://baclofenforalcoholism.com -
Revealing Your Bac Use To Healthcare Provider
This may be helpful although it hasn't seen a lot of action lately:
https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...ead-38718.html -
Revealing Your Bac Use To Healthcare Provider
I don't get it from your post, but a lot of people have a nervous and embarrased approach to informing their doctor about baclofen use, as if it were something shady and underhanded. This is so wrong on so many levels. People should be kicking their doctor up the backside for not being pointed to it in the first place, instead of feeling ashamed for taking the initiative and plunging into what is a very big unknown.
To make the old cancer analogy again - if you had heard of a revolutionary new treatment, you wouldn't feel obliged to research the shit out of it, and take all sorts of documentation to your doctor - you would tell him about it, and expect him to go and look it up himself. Then you ask him why he hadn't heard about it, and why he wasn't out there doing the best possible job for you, and then you would indignantly change doctors, and feel righteous about it.
It's time they got their fucking act together, if you ask me.Comment
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Revealing Your Bac Use To Healthcare Provider
Yeah, I just went ahead and told my doc. My first doc, anyway. Actually my counselor or therapist or whatever she was first--and she actually went and read Dr. A's book after I mentioned it.
Don't feel weird about it--just say "hey, this is what I'm doing." My doc at the time would not prescribe it for me, and didn't believe it would work, but she was happy to keep a record of what dose I was taking--mostly in the interest of having a complete picture of my situation/condition/whatever. She knew I was self-prescribing and taking foreign-bought pills.Comment
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Revealing Your Bac Use To Healthcare Provider
The information you're looking for is located here:
Research Related to Baclofen - Baclofen for Alcoholism and Other Addictions
Look for the most recent research by Addolorato. The prescribing guide by the French doctors is a good idea too, but the last page may be an add on (not part of the original) and I don't think it will fly in this country. (It says something about releasing the doctor from responsibility for prescribing the drug off label. Not pertinent, and not legally viable in this country. Plus it makes it seem shady.) I wouldn't give a doctor that.
If you're in a major city, baclofen is probably already being prescribed by the addiction docs.
I'm curious to see how it goes. I'm eager to tell my own NP.Comment
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Revealing Your Bac Use To Healthcare Provider
Bleep, Stuck and Ne-
I'm going to see my doc again today and needed to hear what you all said. Perfect timing. B&B thank you for starting another relevant thread!Comment
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Revealing Your Bac Use To Healthcare Provider
Just to follow up (and thanks for your help, responders) I had an appointment with my NP yesterday where I revealed to her my baclofen use. I guess I'm glad I did tell her I was using 80mgs/day bac and had achieved two weeks of sobriety, but her response wasn't what I wanted. Basically it was something about not wanting to replace one substance with another. 80 mgs is a high dose and don't want that compromising my liver (I've had some high enzyme readings which is why I'm quitting the sauce... after the appointment I confirmed that bac is mostly excreted, as is, through the kidneys and not significantly metabolized through the liver). She wants me to begin tapering down the bac and believes that although it may help with withdrawal.. it helping to reduce my cravings is psychological. I gave her a couple of studies to read and she said "Maybe I'll learn something." She gave me a "packet" full of local AA numbers/meetings blah, blah, blah. "Maybe you'll get the chance to help someone else", etc. Well... I might act as an undercover evangelist for bac but that's about it. My addiction is not a moral failing. It's a frickin' addiction and if I can end it by taking a benign medication... why not? The ironic thing is that she put me on, recently, a low dose high blood pressure med that has only brought my readings down to borderline, when I measure it in the mornings. I've charted how an hour after my morning bac dose my blood pressure goes down to a very healthy reading. So... it reduces my cravings, won't hurt my liver (but will help heal it through abstinence) and brings my bp into a good normal range. Now I'm supposed to quit the bac before she can "really" treat my blood pressure. I understand, but it's a little wacky. Gonna stick with the bac and either try to educate the nice lady or find a new doc.http://baclofenforalcoholism.comComment
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Revealing Your Bac Use To Healthcare Provider
Such a stupid and ignorant doctor.BetterAndBetter;1530967 wrote: Basically it was something about not wanting to replace one substance with another. 80 mgs is a high dose and don't want that compromising my liver
She gave me a "packet" full of local AA numbers/meetings blah, blah, blah. "Maybe you'll get the chance to help someone else", etc.
I can't understand how certain people become doctors.
The problem with a lot of doctors is that they they think there's little or nothing between themselves and God and they think they know everything better than their patients.Today is the first day of the rest of my life.Comment
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Revealing Your Bac Use To Healthcare Provider
I was recently speaking with a medical doctor about this very issue. He informed me that many doctors will not prescribe off label (especially regarding addiction) because:
1. Doctors are worried about their medical insurance restricting and non-coverage if off label is prescribed.
2. In general, a lack of knowledge of addiction and baclofen. Many are just not willing to step outside of their comfort zone.
By doing no harm, doctors are actually harming alcoholics when it comes to Baclofen. Unfortunately, for most everything, it comes down to perceived risk and money.Comment
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Revealing Your Bac Use To Healthcare Provider
BetterandBetter... that sounds really frustrating. Sorry to hear that you got what is sadly a typical response from many medical practitioners.BetterAndBetter;1530967 wrote: Just to follow up (and thanks for your help, responders) I had an appointment with my NP yesterday where I revealed to her my baclofen use. I guess I'm glad I did tell her I was using 80mgs/day bac and had achieved two weeks of sobriety, but her response wasn't what I wanted. Basically it was something about not wanting to replace one substance with another. 80 mgs is a high dose and don't want that compromising my liver (I've had some high enzyme readings which is why I'm quitting the sauce... after the appointment I confirmed that bac is mostly excreted, as is, through the kidneys and not significantly metabolized through the liver). She wants me to begin tapering down the bac and believes that although it may help with withdrawal.. it helping to reduce my cravings is psychological. I gave her a couple of studies to read and she said "Maybe I'll learn something." She gave me a "packet" full of local AA numbers/meetings blah, blah, blah. "Maybe you'll get the chance to help someone else", etc. Well... I might act as an undercover evangelist for bac but that's about it. My addiction is not a moral failing. It's a frickin' addiction and if I can end it by taking a benign medication... why not? The ironic thing is that she put me on, recently, a low dose high blood pressure med that has only brought my readings down to borderline, when I measure it in the mornings. I've charted how an hour after my morning bac dose my blood pressure goes down to a very healthy reading. So... it reduces my cravings, won't hurt my liver (but will help heal it through abstinence) and brings my bp into a good normal range. Now I'm supposed to quit the bac before she can "really" treat my blood pressure. I understand, but it's a little wacky. Gonna stick with the bac and either try to educate the nice lady or find a new doc.
I agree that it's worth finding a doctor who'll work with you on a solution, is forward-thinking when it comes to current and outside-the-box therapies. They do exist and can be found- see my recent posts on how I found mine if you're interested.
From what I understand, you're also correct about baclofen effecting the kidneys, not the liver. My liver levels were recently also alarmingly high, but after 75 days on bac (and successfully reducing units down to being AF for the last 10 days) my newest liver panel was normal. My doctor is pleasantly surprised, but still insists on liver/kidney tests monthly, which I think is a good plan.
That being said, certainly be careful in how you dose- there seems to be a lot of cautionary talk lately about dosing responsibly.Comment
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