Baclofen, a personal journey.

[skullbabyland]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

"Assumption is the mother of all fuckups" Haha I love it. I've found assumptions to be very problematic. In fact, "Don't make assumptions" is one of The Four Agreements. have you read it? Great book.

[skullbabyland]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Just thought I'd pop in and say welcome, Indy- I've been away for the last few days and missed all the action on your thread. Great to hear that you've got your bac protocol dialed in. Bac is very very helpful for me and I pair it with periods of Antabuse as well (more info on my progress thread if you're interested, as I don't want to hijack this thread). Anyway welcome and best of luck to you!

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Alky;1591665 wrote: By the way, I am still at a much lower dose than you, but I think I may be approaching the switch. I think I'm at 75 - I don't have my chart right in front of me. But yesterday after a grueling day, I cracked open a 16 ounce beer, got about a third of the way through it and got a pleasant little buzz going and decided I didn't need to finish it. I'm going to keep going up though, until this becomes a recognizable pattern. But I'm really hoping this is a sign the switch is approaching.

That is fantastic news Alky!! Happy for you! Keep me informed about further progress or even fails. We need to hear the bad as well as the good.
I've got a feeling it is all going to be uphill from now on for you tho Alky. Good stuff!

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Ne/Neva Eva;1591572 wrote:
He started baclofen in March, 2002 (p. 147 of the hardcover). He titrated up to 180 mg over the course of "a couple of months" (p. 148). He found rat studies that indicated that more baclofen might be more effective, and he decided to experiment. On Jan. 8, 2004, he titrated down to 30 mg and then he started aggressively titrating up (p.166). So it was actually closer to 2 years.

See I knew I shouldn't have lent that book out. I normally never do with any of my other books, and yes I have got a bit of a library happening over here.
Love my books.

Anyway must make sure to get said book back so I can check the page numbers you posted above Ne.
Haha only kidding.
Thanks for the info K, as I was truly unaware of that!

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

skullbabyland;1591790 wrote: Just thought I'd pop in and say welcome, Indy- I've been away for the last few days and missed all the action on your thread. Great to hear that you've got your bac protocol dialed in. Bac is very very helpful for me and I pair it with periods of Antabuse as well (more info on my progress thread if you're interested, as I don't want to hijack this thread). Anyway welcome and best of luck to you!

Hi there,

No I haven't read that book, but being the book lover that I am I will definitely check it out.

Yes I have read your progress thread, very very helpful. So thanks so much for posting it. I think it's commendable that the Baclofen seniors stay on this board! (enthusiastic hand-clap & little fist-pump ).

I think that's why I started one myself. To keep myself accountable in some sort of way.
I hope that makes sense.

Hihi the only reason there is so much action on my thread is because I post often and in lots of small postings hehe. Keeping the number of postings up (eventho they are 75% my own will make sure I stay at the top and not fade into the background).
Sad, I know and not completely true, as I do like (actually I love) the involvement of more seasoned bac users, it is also a way of keeping track of what I have been doing and what it is doing to me.

Thanks for your input Skull!
Keep it coming and I will post shortly what actions/meds I have taken in the past to try to curb my alcoholism.
(Remember I've gotto split these postings up, so I won't be forgotten hehe :H ).

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

MissIndygo;1591749 wrote: Sorry I didn't mean to be offending to you in any way.
It's just that assumptions can create sh#t, and from my own experience (as mentioned above) I have learned the hard way to never assume anything.

Plus: I really like the saying that assumption is the mother of all f#ck ups hehe. Again imho that is so true.
I sounded mighty persnickety in that last post, didn't I? Ha! Sorry about that. Don't know why I had bees in my bonnet, but I wasn't actually feeling that way. Glad you took it the way you did.

Assumption IS the mother of all fuck ups. And honestly, when I'm not posturing as a Pollyanna "lalalala everything is SO wonderful and everyone is SO kind" I'm falling into the assumption that everything sucks and everyone is an asshole. :H Both are true, at the same time.

MissIndygo;1591860 wrote:
Anyway must make sure to get said book back so I can check the page numbers you posted above Ne.

:H:H:H

I'm very conflicted about my books. When I got sober, I literally cleaned house and got rid of a lot of them. I don't have the space where we live now to keep out the ones I have left, so a lot of them are in the attic. Add to it that I got a kindle as a gift and now people are buying me books for that. As much as I love technology (and oh, my! I'm a junkie for all things 'puter) I really love paper and binding and black and white words.

I threw away all the self-help books when I cleaned house. All of them in the garbage. I sort of regret that. They marked a loooong journey, you know? And I've had to re-order a bunch of them for reference. I also wish I'd kept all of my Big Books from over the years. That would be quite a collection! But every time I stayed drunk, I would get disgusted and throw the book away. I have a long story about what happened to the one from my last rehab...Short-ish version is that I put my phone number in it and someone called me 4 years later to say she'd found my book. I was mortified at the time. Now I wish I'd picked it up! I used to hide all of that stuff in my closet with my other (ahem) unmentionables. Now they're in the living room. ha! Fuck you, shame.

I've got to get back to the business of school and studying in the next couple of days. (And painting walls/decorating, 'cause my all-important-brother is coming for Christmas and I want him to be awed and amazed by my brilliance and stuff. ) I'm going to try really hard to stay off the internet, just so's you know.

How's today going?

[Alky]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Ne/Neva Eva;1591965 wrote: As much as I love technology (and oh, my! I'm a junkie for all things 'puter) I really love paper and binding and black and white words.

Plus, people can't see what you're reading. I love sitting outside a coffeeshop (formerly pompous wine bars) with my well-worn copies of Kerouac novels hoping some attractive young Bohemian will stop and start a conversation. It has happened, lol!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Alky;1591996 wrote: Plus, people can't see what you're reading. I love sitting outside a coffeeshop (formerly pompous wine bars) with my well-worn copies of Kerouac novels hoping some attractive young Bohemian will stop and start a conversation. It has happened, lol!

:H I'm not sure how my husband would feel about any attempts I made to attract young Bohemians. I am trying to convince him to let me bring home a foster puppy. That's about the same thing, isn't it?

Indy, Hallo? Heelllllllllooooooooo! Howdy! Wassup? I wish I knew how to speak Australian.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Ne/Neva Eva;1592352 wrote: I wish I knew how to speak Australian.

This is, of course, a joke. (I saw that post, Reggie. )

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Good Morning/Evening all,

I was starting to develop a new addiction, namely this forum, so I decided to back off just a touch. Still been lurking tho. Never have been much good with keeping my addictions under control hehe.

All is well in my world, as I hope in yours?
Not drinking excessively, because my man is home and I'll start later then. Maybe something to try for when he is not here...

I applied for honours yesterday. After 2 years since I graduated. I had hoped that I would have gotten a job instead in those years, but that hasn't eventuated so time to look at other options. At least it will give me something to focus on and everything might not seem so hopeless and boring anymore then. It would still be nice to get a part-time job so I can bring some money in, as being poor is starting to get to me. Anyways it some positive movement towards my future.
So here's hoping.

Still on the same dosage with Bac, but a bit earlier as I am waking up earlier and a bit more in the middle of the day.
25mg at 6am
60mg at 11am
75mg at 5pm

@Ne regarding my books. Hmm I am not that much into self-help books as such, but did have a stage where it was all things meta-physical. Afterlife and astro travelling and that sort of stuff. For lighter reading I like murder mysteries and biographies where people overcome difficult situations and flourish. Good for the soul, the last one I mean.

Since I've been on bac I have just about found it impossible to read a book, as I fall asleep grrr. And reading the same page night after night gets a bit tiresome.
Having said all that, yesterday I got myself a new book and read some during the day and voila that worked very well. So maybe I just need to change my timing. Then again there's always so many other things to do during the day.
I do have some bookcases, but mine are empty also. Since we moved house 6 months ago (we lost the other one, due to business troubles) I have not unpacked my books. I would never throw them out though.
I should unpack them actually, as all the psych & addiction study books do make me look rather smart hehe.

Anyway babbling here.
Have a good one and cheerio

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Where art thou? Ne/Neva Eva?

K?

Anybody...

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Morning!

I find that I stay much more motivated and focused if I ban myself from writing on the internet when I need to get something(s) done. Hence the absence. The next 10 days are going to be pretty intense, too. I have two exams next week. One places me in my class and is a good predictor for how I'll do when I have to take the next level of certification. It's a big deal in my little world. Sadly, I am finding it difficult to care too much. It takes 1 billion times the effort and amount of time to do things when I don't really care about them, which makes it particularly onerous. I've put on my big girl panties, though.

When my primary focus was getting sober, and because the life I wanted to live depended on it, I spent just about every waking moment here. I used MWO chat, and g-chat, and private messages and email and posted here almost every single morning. I definitely read almost every new post in every forum. I don't regret that at all. It was time well spent. I've never been more motivated. I made friends. (And lost them.) The people on the meds threads definitely got me through, though. (Much more reliable than either of the doctors we refer to here, and infinitely more understanding than anyone in my 3D life.) So don't feel badly about spending inordinate amounts of time here. Alcoholism is (by definition) incurable, so focusing all of your intention and energy and resources on curing it is a positive gamble. Right? Add to it that there are a lot of interesting people and things here! I would honestly love to take the time and go back and read all that old stuff, even now. (Even when it makes me cringe about what a knucklehead I am. Which is often. :H)

Almost all of my self-help books had to do with booze. Autobiographies and pseudo-science galore! Interestingly, there's bits and pieces of truth in almost everything...Even those erroneous and misguided posts you were responding to in your first post on here. It amazes me, actually, how often I come across something in actual science or research that I first read about here. (Myelination, most recently. Interesting stuff, first brought to my attention here by a certain aquatic mammal. The post here went off into random tangent and was mostly unfounded, but with a smattering of glitter that was truth. Anyhoo. Where was I?)

Sorry about the house and the moving. I hate moving. With a passion. Change of any kind isn't fun in my little world. :H I hope you're comfortable where you are, now, though. Lemme tell you, when the curtain in front of my face lifted, I found myself truly inspired to make my surroundings fit my (new) life. I think I'm doing a bit of that now, too. (We moved in to this house about a year ago and for various reasons--mainly school--I've not made it into something that suits me. Fixing that now.)

Alrighty, I've got to go. I've got a dreadful thing to do today, full of crowds and strangers and it promises to be really, really, really boring. I hope I'm pleasantly surprised and that my bad attitude is unfounded. Fingers are crossed.

Hope you're having a good day!

This post definitely needs editing, but I am not going to do it. Sorry it's such a shambles!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Evening, Reg.
:l

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Reggie;1593432 wrote: I am here Indy love your thread
Reg from Australia

Thanks Reg & Ne

Sorry I have been very slack with checking in and posting these last 5 days.
Good news though, as my drinking is way down whooptiedoo!

The way for me too drink less is to start later in the day and I have been able to do that without my man here as well.
Bac is definitely helping with that!

I now start at 5pm and probably have 5 glasses (a liter), as I still go to bed at 8:30-9:00. Like a hour after dinner.
Dinner now stops me from drinking on, whereas pre-bac that made no difference what so ever.

Bad news is that se's have really amped up these last 4 days too.
This is odd, as I change my dosing on Wednesdays by 5mg. I had already been on the dose of 160mg for over 3 days.... Strange I tell you.

The se's that I feel have increased or first presented themselves this week are for example:
Saturday: Extreme fatigue. I had a nap and I could have slept the entire day.
Sunday: Sore sore sore joints, but especially my knees, tired body and a tired mind as well.

I have started to wake up earlier at around 5:30am, which I don't mind as that is pretty much the only time I can sit outside here at the moment with temps of 35c degrees (95 Fahrenheit) during the day. Today 38c degrees btw (100.4).

Monday: My ears started to feel very pressured again and I was having this constant static like white-noice sort of droon. It was driving me nuts.

A little side note with regards to my ears.
I have had chronic ear problems my whole life. Mainly to do with the my Eustachian tubes getting blocked. Therefore between the ages of 4 to 20 I have had close to 20 grommets or pressure equalization tubes put in.
Moving to Australia has been very beneficial for me, as I can count the middle ear infections I have had in the last 22 years on one hand.
Namely 3 times.

Interestingly the last time was 2 weeks into my bac adventure in August. I was down for days with the worst flu that I had had for ten years. I mean the one with the sore bones, fever etc and not just a head-cold. I was not surprised that it eventually let to a middle ear infection.

However, I do find it surprising that months later I am still daily trying to open up my ears with what I just googled is called the Valsalva maneuver. Where you take a deep breath, hold your mouth closed, plug your nose closed, and force air up the Eustachian tubes by blowing. I always just called it, blowing your nose while blocking it, but hey now I know

I am right sight walking around town blowing my ears. My daughter tells me off all the time

Now I have read around the boards that people's sinuses can be affected by bac. So I am starting to wonder if that may be the case with my ears as well?
Its all connected isn't it?

Thank goodness today (Tuesday) the white noise and pressure seem to be gone!

Oh further good news is that my night sweating seems to be getting less. Over the last 4 days I have only woken up drenched one morning. Yeah that sure makes it nice to wake up.

Anyways I must get this show on the road.
I hope everybody is doing well.

Cheerio

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Just found online that: "The tissue that lines the Eustachian tube is similar to that inside the nasal cavity and may respond the same way (swelling) when presented with similar stimuli."

So I may assume () out of that, that my ear problems are similar to other people's sinuses problems and are an SE because of taking bac.

I think that's my answer right there. Far out, I don't know how much longer I can put up with my ears being like this. On the other hand, I am happy that I didn't rush to the specialist and got more grommets.
Then again grommets might just be the answer for now.
Confused.