Where are the doctors?

[Ringo1997]

Where are the doctors?

Tx or ok Docs.

Any one have the contact info for any tx dr's. I'm really needing some help. If I cannot find help nearby I'm going to do my best to travel to one of the other drs.. Help please...

[Alky]

Where are the doctors?

Ringo, at the risk of sounding unsympathetic, you need to quit whining, read through the threads on this forum, find your own "under the table" source of baclofen and dosing schedule, or find a sympathetic doctor in your area. There are more of us than you can probably imagine in the same boat you are right now.

[Cassander]

Where are the doctors?

Ringo1997;1552226 wrote: Any one have the contact info for any tx dr's. I'm really needing some help. If I cannot find help nearby I'm going to do my best to travel to one of the other drs.. Help please...

Ringo, there are two mwo members (one in Texas and one in OK) who may have leads to doctors. See the first post in this thread. Good luck!

[Ringo1997]

Where are the doctors?

Ringo, at the risk of sounding unsympathetic, you need to quit whining, read through the threads on this forum, find your own "under the table" source of baclofen and dosing schedule, or find a sympathetic doctor in your area. There are more of us than you can probably imagine in the same boat you are right now.


Thanks Alky.. However I said I'm willing to travel to other Drs. I'm already headed to Ga. I was only hoping to find someone more local...

[Ringo1997]

Where are the doctors?

Thanks Cassander I did pm those guys already... Just hoping for a response...

[Cassander]

Where are the doctors?

Alky;1552142 wrote: Getting back to the spirit of Cassander's original post, these ideas have been gestating in me for a few weeks now. I don't want this to devolve into a political donnybrook and I personally don't care which side of the political divide regarding Obamacare anyone is on, but the simple fact is, for those of us in the United States, healthcare is driven by a profit margin. Even hospitals that are run by religious institutions and are not for profit have to pay insurance companies that are, and it's no secret that these insurance companies gouge. Anyone catch this article in the New York Times last week?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/27/he...anted=all&_r=0

Every physician I've sought help from except one has been dismissive of baclofen, instead trying to steer me toward drugs that are shockingly expensive. One insisted she would only treat me with vivitrol, injectable naltrexone. If you don't have insurance or crappy insurance (like I do) good luck - a shot that lasts one month is (OUCH!) $1,166.82, and that's at Sam's Club, (an American wholesale warehouse club for those of you from across the ponds) where I am a member and am supposedly able to buy stuff for cheaper. She didn't even offer the option of naltrexone tablets, which are significantly cheaper, but still not as cheap as baclofen. My own psychiatrist keeps insisting campral is the answer to all my problems. I had to pay out-of-pocket to the tune of $200 a month until I reached my deductible (again the shitty insurance), and then the copay was only (oooh!) $100 a month. I stopped taking it because it gave me wicked diarrhea, made me irritable and frankly wasn't doing a whole heck of a lot otherwise. Contrast that with a 270 tablet supply of 20mg baclofen (for which Dr. Levin was going to write me a script) for $30 at my local grocery store pharmacy around the corner. I wouldn't go so far to accuse doctors of receiving kickbacks from the pharmaceutical companies (though some undoubtedly are), but as Dr. Ameisen hammered time and time again in his book, there is no financial incentive for the healthcare industry to promote this drug when they can get people to pay through the nose for drugs under patent like vivtrol and campral.

I personally am ready to take the bull by the horns, find my own "under the table" source of baclofen using Dr. Levin's dosing schedule he dictated to me over the phone before he was shut down and go back to my own psychiatrist in the weeks or months that follow after I feel I've hit my "switch" and demonstrate positive tangible results and hope that he will take it seriously after that.

For the record, the one psychiatrist that would have treated me with baclofen (albeit reluctantly), would not take me on as a patient since his practice is in Vermont and I am only a seasonal resident there. After seeing what happened to Dr. Levin, I perfectly understand his decision and the red flags that me refilling bac prescriptions in Florida that were written in Vermont, would raise.

Anyway, these are just my opinions, for whatever they're worth, but it's cathartic for me to be able to finally express these ideas that have been floating in my mind for the past three weeks or so.

Hi Alk...

Nice post. It is hard not to be cynical, isn't it, about the response of the medical community.

A couple of reactions...

1 regarding prescribing across state borders. I keep reminding myself that baclofen is NOT a controlled substance. It is hard to understand why one or more state licensing authorities is coming down hard on Dr L for prescribing a (basically) harmless muscle relaxant across state lines. I wonder if his problems may not stem from helping patients with ancillary prescriptions for xanax, etc. I wish I understood the real state of the law better.

2 It is extraordinary...really sit-down-in-the-chair-and-think-about-it-extraordinary... that a physician would insist on prescribing a monthly dose of injectable vivitrol for $1,166.82 without disclosing that there are tablets of the same thing that cost, say, $1000 a month less. That's not only unprofessional, I would say its immoral. I'm curious...would she have "sold" you the vivitrol herself? Like an oncologist who marks up and sells his chemotherapy? If so I would say her behavior was a clear conflict of interest.

3 But the stance of the rehab industry is even more astonishing. Nobody on this board has, to my knowledge, identified a rehabilitation facility which treats alcoholism with baclofen. A month of rehab costs, say, $30,000 and a month of baclofen, say $30 (more or less). Which (do you think) is more effective?

Pretty amazing. Thanks for your post.

Cass

[Colin]

Where are the doctors?

Four years ago.

Dr Olivier Ameisen;830639 wrote:
4) In September/October 2009 I delivered my lecture titled ?Addiction: a cure at last? as part of ?inaugural grand rounds in psychiatry, in addiction medicine and as medical grand rounds in medicine in various prestigious institutions in the US and in Europe. Only in New York, at the personal invitations of Dr Petros Levounis, MD, MA, director of The Addiction Institute of New York and Chief of Addiction Psychiatry at St. Luke?s and Roosevelt Hospitals, of Dr Stephen Ross, M.D., professor of psychiatry at New York University and director of Bellevue Hospital's rehabilitation program, of Dr Jeffrey S. Borer, M.D., professor and chairman of the department of medicine at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center. As a consequence, Dr Ross, a few psychiatrists at St-Lukes Roosevelt have told me they have started prescribing high-dose baclofen and Dr Ross has asked me to help designing a protocol for a randomized trial of high-dose baclofen for alcoholism.

[redhead77]

Where are the doctors?

Dr. Levin left the names of two doctors on his machine. Has anyone had any success contacting either of them and having them accept you as a patient? I left a message a couple of days ago for one, and he hasn't called me back. I left another message for him today. I called the other doctor today and am hoping that he'll call me back. ]

Just wondering if anyone else has had success in contacting these people.

[Eagle1234]

Where are the doctors?

Anyone know of doctors in Sydney?

[Samandkatharine]

Where are the doctors?

Hi Eagle,

You can buy Baclofen online, but it takes 2-3 weeks to arrive. I used River Pharmacy in Canada. Their Pacifen comes from a small island near New Zealand, so I've heard.... It might get to you quicker though.

Sometimes we have to do this ourselves unfortunately.

Sam

[redhead77]

Where are the doctors?

Well, the one doctor still hasn't called me back and it's been about 72 hours with two messages, and he states on his voice mail that he returns all calls within 24 hours. I did look him up, however, and it turns out he specializes in geriatric psychiatry. Hmmm. Not sure if that's what I'm looking for. I would prefer someone in addiction medicine. The doctor I called today has returned my call. He was a very nice psychiatrist. He told me that he couldn't help me, but he did give me a lead. He told me of the only doctor he's heard of who might be using baclofen for addictions. I looked up this man's credentials and he most certainly would be somebody I would like to talk to. He specializes in addiction medicine. I've left him a VM and I'm thinking of writing him an email tonight too. He has his university email listed publicly.

If I'm able to find a doctor who would be willing to help in the Chicago area, I will let you know.

The psychiatrist who called me back did have a couple of questions for me. I answered them and he said that baclofen treatment does sound promising. He believes more and more doctors are looking at it and I will likely find someone.

[redhead77]

Where are the doctors?

Oops, my mistake. Guess who called me back, and left a message when I was writing that response? One of the doctor's is willing to work with Dr. Levin's patients. He does require that you see him in his office before he'll write any refills. And I will say that along with specializing in geriatric psychiatry, he might also be a neurologist. I'll find out. I still hope to talk with this other doctor. The addiction doctor that was mentioned to me. I have a sensitive issue I'm dealing with and the understanding of high dose baclofen by a physician would be in my best interest. Plus, it would help more people find doctors for treatment.

[spiritwolf333]

Where are the doctors?

redhead77;1552536 wrote: Oops, my mistake. Guess who called me back, and left a message when I was writing that response? One of the doctor's is willing to work with Dr. Levin's patients. He does require that you see him in his office before he'll write any refills. And I will say that along with specializing in geriatric psychiatry, he might also be a neurologist. I'll find out. I still hope to talk with this other doctor. The addiction doctor that was mentioned to me. I have a sensitive issue I'm dealing with and the understanding of high dose baclofen by a physician would be in my best interest. Plus, it would help more people find doctors for treatment.

HI Red -have you tried Terry Bruce -owner of Assisted Recovery Center in Savannah GA? The doctor there would require a visit as well. Of course this may be totally inconvenient for you or others. I had posted about this place before so I don't know if you already spoke to them or not. Just thought I would post again. Good luck to you and the others.

[redhead77]

Where are the doctors?

spiritwolf333;1552548 wrote: HI Red -have you tried Terry Bruce -owner of Assisted Recovery Center in Savannah GA? The doctor there would require a visit as well. Of course this may be totally inconvenient for you or others. I had posted about this place before so I don't know if you already spoke to them or not. Just thought I would post again. Good luck to you and the others.

Thanks Spirit! I'm really looking for a local doctor. I've already been on baclofen for years. Dr. Levin was technically my doctor and I always saw him in his office. I saw him every few months at first and then it was much longer, but I did see him as recently as a couple of months ago.

[redhead77]

Where are the doctors?

I would like to talk to a doctor who is using HDB and what they're seeing and experiencing. Success, SEs, stuff like that, and I've always wanted a doctor for support.