My Bac journey

[zampa75]

My Bac journey

Thanks Cass! Will do on Fri, as tomorrow is an impossible day for me! How was the insurance thing working for you?

[bleep]

My Bac journey

If I lived in the States, my order of preference for doing this would be:

1) Liquid baclofen. As others have said, it is much better than the pills, even the pills you will receive on prescription. I can only speculate that it is the filler used in the pills, I have no basis in fact for this. I have lots of experience though.
2) If I absolutely had to have a doctor overseeing this, I would call Dr L. From what I gather though, he doesn't really oversee, but provides valuable comfort where necessary. I would get the prescription filled at Walmart. This is the cheapest of the options, provided Dr L doesn't bill you, which seems to happen if it needs to. Walmart have some club you can join (hopefully a USAean can provide detail here) where people on high doses pay about $20 for their month's prescription. I'd also like to see inside a Walmart, I can't imagine 200 different types of breakfast cereal.
3) Order online. There are several reputable online pharmacies that several members here have had success with. Although it seems a shady practice, against the odds, it works, and the pills are genuine. I wouldn't be a brave adventurer here, and go with an untried pharmacy though.

Above all, I would get baclofen somehow.

Zampa, there are going to be SE's. Be very grateful for that, because one of the SE's will sort out your drinking once and for all. Then you can go your vampire's den and give them the finger. Just live through them, they will pass eventually. You give them more power when you obsess and worry over them. Some of them are even enjoyable, those are the ones you can magnify.

[Cassander]

My Bac journey

zampa75;1541218 wrote: Thanks Cass! Will do on Fri, as tomorrow is an impossible day for me! How was the insurance thing working for you?

He charged us for one telephone call. I didn't bother to try to claim reimbursement from insurance. The prescriptions just went right through on our insurance.

[RedThread12]

My Bac journey

I exponentially ditto what bleep says.

[Xadrian]

My Bac journey

Sad to hear the doctor/therapist story, Zampa.

That slavedriver therapist. Is her first name Jesus and her last name Christ?
She surely seems to think so.

It must be professional blindness or so, or otherwise shortsighted. Like someone else mentioned, for some people the world is still flat and you mustn't even think of objecting.

Anyway, they shouldn't forget you're still their client and they are obligated to try to help you.
And as long as you are progressing, they will not deny you your medicines.
Sure they will try to push you in their desired direction, but if you don't want that, but still get your baclofen, it's only annoying. No more than that.

Did you by the way print out some articles and studies for them to read? Eventhough I doubt they will read it, there could be a slight chance that it will move a sprocket ar two in their stuck-rusted ideas.

[Mandiekinz]

My Bac journey

You don't pay first, he'll submit the form. He did however send me a handwritten invoice, in which he even wrote that he forgot if we submitted my insurance information or not and that the phone consult was $130. So when I called him for my second phone meeting, he refilled out the insurance information. I went along with it as I know what it's like to be forgetful. I'm sure my insurance would be smart enough to figure out that it was a replicated invoice to them when they receive it. Not that I care if they got charged twice for 2 meetings. Then, if you have a fax, he will fax you your script or he will mail it to you. After that, all refills, just tell your pharmacy you need x-amount and they'll call him to verify and you're all good from there. I also went to Walmart for my Bac. as walgreen's wouldn't submit it without specific directions. Same with Walmart, however, I was able to pay in cash and they still filled it for me and for 78 pills was only 46 bucks. Then, later a lady resubmitted it to my insurance company and she gave me back the difference in what I paid and what my insurance covered. So, 40 bucks! To avoid all that, you can just have them call Dr. L to get the specific doses. He'll probably say something generic b/c he'll probably have you on quite the schedule, it took up a couple of notebook pages when I wrote it down.

Let me know if you have any more questions. As you can see, you have many that are here to help you through this.

[zampa75]

My Bac journey

Xadrian;1541315 wrote:

Did you by the way print out some articles and studies for them to read? Eventhough I doubt they will read it, there could be a slight chance that it will move a sprocket ar two in their stuck-rusted ideas.

Xadrian: the guy has been doing this for more than forty years and has written books that are used as textbooks in school. He has a whole wall covered in awards and plaques, as the therapist made a point of making me notice. Can you imagine their reaction if I gave them articles to read to ...educate them? His especially?? The man was practicing medicine in rehabs before I was born!
I am just a nobody in his eyes, in this respect. Quite sure of it, though he is very polite...

Anyhow, thanks for your insights guys. They help a lot, as usual.

Today I was actually thinking about the therapist and thought I do not want to keep up with this anymore. Pay to be miserable?? To get beat up, and be told that what to me is good progress is instead delusional failure, yet again??
I wonder what she'd think if she knew that when I think about our meetings I just want to go buy a gallon of wine ( like today, by the way).

I'll have to find the guts to tell them I just want to get my med - do they have a moral obligation to say yes, if I am, in fact, doing better? If not, so long. Not gonna keep up with this. The thought of next Wed makes me sick...

Mandi, excuse my slowness...I still don't get if your insurance reimburses you part of the 130 bucks or not. The 6 bucks for 78 pills is great! I paid $10 for 90/10 mg and for 30/20 mg...!

[Mandiekinz]

My Bac journey

Sorry Zampa, what do you mean the insurance reimburse you? If you pay him out of pocket, I'm sure you can submit a reimbursement form. As for me, I didn't pay out of pocket.I just told him I'm using insurance and he'll submit a form to your insurance company charging them, not you. I'm also at max out-of-pocket though, so everything's covered at 100% for me. I just looked today and it appears that they got the form Dr. L filled out and they paid him directly the $130 for each visit. He called me today for another appointment, and yet again I had to walk him through all the insurance information to submit another form. I think they will have 3 forms now with all the same dates. Such a lovely man, but oh so unorganized.

A gallon of wine, eh? You planning to stick a straw in that beast and go to town?

[RedThread12]

My Bac journey

Thank you for this, Mandiekinz. I think Dr. L should be sainted for being a fount of baclofen. And then there's that. Like you said . . . and more, in case anyone has the idea that Dr. L will manage their titration schedules and therapize them into blissful sobriety. Hopeless. Which in no way diminishes what he does do.

I have a script from a D.O. I took the book and researches to, almost 4 years ago. She knows she knows nothing about the nitty-gritty, so sends folks who need baclofen to me, to help them along. I also had a prescription from Dr. L for 300 mg/day, which I have never gotten close to. Then I managed a 3 month supply because I was going out of the country, and for months after my return, I could pick up another 3 month supply every month. lolol Boatloads of bac.

And in the end, I far and away prefer liquid bac, for both quality and price. I, however do not have health insurance, and avoid that hassle with delight. And despite Cassander's magnificent opus re physician's and baclofen, I would be very surprised if the percentage of those physicians listed who write prescriptions for baclofen know as much as can be read here about its effective use to quit drinking against one's will is very high. Just a wild guess on my part; and I would rather be wrong than right.

Which returns me, once again, to what he said - bleep.

This treatment is NOT mainstream; anyone taking baclofen for alcoholism is already outside the envelop, so it would be fairly impossible to try to stuff it back in. Ae have a lot more information and so many more resources now. But there's still a massive component of figuring it out for ourselves.

[zampa75]

My Bac journey

Ok, thanks Mandie! Now I got it. Thanks so much : ) Sorry it took me two days to get it! Love that it's that simple. And I do not mind giving him my insurance details a million times, as long as he helps me. Forgetfulness, you are welcome : )

A gallon of wine is a figure of speech, fortunately!

What does 'go to town' mean?? English is not my first language, so some expressions are still cryptic to me...

[zampa75]

My Bac journey

Great post Red... Have you reached your switch? At what dose??

[zampa75]

My Bac journey

Just an update on SEs in the meantime:
I've been at 50/day for 4 days- on Bac for a little more than 2 weeks.

The incredible afternoon drowsiness seems gone. It seems. Hope it's true.

Just an annoying muscle pain in the left side of my back, upper and lower. It usually hurts on the right for other older injuries. Never on the left. So I guess it's the Bac. Bearable, but persistent and uncomfortable. Still sleep like a baby even when I don't drink, even if I don't take any sleep aid - impossible till 3 weeks ago.

A little nausea, but not a problem.
So far, so good. Hope it lasts.

Great thing is that some days I do not feel the urge to drink. Not even close. Again, unthinkable till a couple of weeks ago. Totally. To have more than one day- two or three- two weeks in a row almost totally immune to it? Unheard of before.

And then other days like today it's the usual drinking me. But, today, without the desperation of last infamous Wednesday. It's really hard to explain: some days the urge is dead. Some others it's still there... But it's getting more and more...rational. It's like I am deciding, not the beast... Does it make any sense?

[Mandiekinz]

My Bac journey

zampa75;1541507 wrote: It's really hard to explain: some days the urge is dead. Some others it's still there... But it's getting more and more...rational. It's like I am deciding, not the beast... Does it make any sense?

That makes perfect sense! I received some awful news yesterday, which normally I would immediately stomp off to the store to get me some sauce to "fix" it. However, it felt as though I had to force myself into thinking about the alcohol. It wasn't that unbearable urge to go for it...and surprisingly I didn't have that body crippling anxiety that goes along with it. It was kind of like spacing out into flat ground when I thought of it. Weird.

I'm glad things are starting to change for you!!! As for the saying "go to town" it means to do something with intensity. Example: I went to town on that pizza last night. Meaning I ate that som'bitch with no hesitation and no crumbs left. What is your first language, you write beautifully for English being your second language!

[zampa75]

My Bac journey

I totally understand what you mean when you say you had to force yourself to think about the alcohol. When I don't have the urge, those blessed days, I feel exactly that way. There is a damn voice in me that forces me to think about it when I really wouldn't, otherwise. It's the alcoholic fighting to stay alive, relying on habit, I guess, in order to do so. But those days my indifference is so new it surprises me every time as sort of...alien! Other than me. But it's me!!

Thanks for the compliment : ) My first language is Italian. Born and raised there.

[Mandiekinz]

My Bac journey

Lovely! I lived in Napoli for 3 years! Where in Italy??