Baclofen, a personal journey.

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Hey anyways let's give everybody a bit of an update on me Yeah. It's my thread so it can be all about meeeee haha.

As a sidenote; about 10 years ago we (my close-knit friends at that time) had this thing that if new people pissed you off in social situations that we would turn around and say: "It's not all about you, you know?".
Complexed facial expressions abounded, but reporting back to my mates later on was always a good laugh.
Finally, one of those friends bought me a singlet with the words: "It's all about me", which I wore with pride.

I suppose you had to be there

I have gone up again by 5mg. Yesterday in fact (Monday). A bit against my protocol (of only going up once a week on Wednesday by 5mg), but I am starting to get a little impatient again.

More on that later on...

My SE's are not too bad. However, I don't have many responsibilities at the moment, so I can deal with them alright and in my own time.

I'll leave it at that for now.

All the best to you all and Cheerio.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Hiya, Indy.

Almost done with the bloody school work for the semester. Back soon.

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Just as an after-thought, I would like to add that a regular or even a Superior Vitamin B supplement is not enough to ward of Korsakof or any other alcohol related illness people.

I've been taking B-Vits for years. Thinking I was doing the right thing.
Since then I've learned that:

What drunks need is: Thiamine hydrochlorice 100mg (Vitamine B1).
In a regular or even a superior B Vitamin supplement you will never find 100mg of Thiamine.
However, it is easy to get if you just ask your chemist for it! You need 100mg of Thiamine hydrochloride a day.
Just sayin'

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Ne/Neva Eva;1597010 wrote: Hiya, Indy.

Almost done with the bloody school work for the semester. Back soon.

I hope you are doing ok with all the pressure? I remember it so well and since I got an offer to do honours I suppose I will be were you are very soon again myself :/
I think that's good....

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

skullbabyland;1596714 wrote: Indy, it sounds like you're finding some good reduction in drinking levels lately, with starting later in the day, etc. How does being on bac feel to you, and how are the SE's at this point?

Too be honest Skull-baby my drinking has climbed way up there again.
Yep I'm starting later in the day, but I still get a buzz so I will continue to drink.

I wish and wish not, if that makes sense?
That this medication would kick in already.

Why the F... am I still getting a buzz at 170mg a day?
Why the F... do I not suffer the hangovers like others on Bac seem too?

WTF is this medication ever going to work for me?

Currently my schedule is:
25mg at 6am
70mg at 12pm
25mg at 4pm
50mg at 6pm

Total 170mg of Baclofen a day since Monday.

Please keep in mind, as I had posted in one of my earlier posts, that I have been up to 235mg before (after a very rapid up-titration with no success but heaps of SE's). The SE's made me titrate down slowly again to 150mg a day on which I sat for at least 4 weeks before deciding to up it slowly by 5mg a week).

Now I've decided to increase again after 4 days (last Monday), as I really just want to hit this goddamn indifference button!

[Mandiekinz]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

I'm also a stay at home, very bored "house-frau". With a liquor store half a block from my house and two bars the other direction (also half a block from my house). I've had major bouts of drinking rather alcoholically through out my titration up. I was up to 320mg in a very rapid rate at one point and I was still slamming vodka. I then went back down to 250 and sat there for a little while due to massive SE's and certain unexplained events. I'm at 270 now, the tinnitus is still there, however that's the least of my worries right now. The tinnitus will amplify greatly after a day of boozing.

Once I pushed that bottle to the side at 250, and started to give the baclofen a chance. I noticed changes. Granted it has only been almost 3 weeks since my last drink. I'm not obsessing over it. I hardly think about it. I've even made it to the liquor store to purchase something other than booze (my first ever) and walked out successfully. If I had a glass poured and set in front of me, I would certainly take it. I've discovered that I had to incorporate what little will power I have to work with the baclofen to see the changes. Through out all this time I was actually working against it.

I also noticed the SE's were always much more severe while drinking on bac.

Have you tried breaking up your doses in even amounts? More frequent amounts? What are some things you enjoy doing without booze? (Almost an impossible question to answer in the beginning, I'm aware. hehe)

[Mandiekinz]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Also, you may want to try your "up" dosing with a larger dose. Going up 5mg in the beginning is a noticeable difference but now in the big girl digits, it would hardly strike a cord. Even going up 20mg for me, hardly makes a difference in SE's. It was only when I jumped up by 70mg in a matter of a few days that I got my face slammed into the ground.

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Mandiekinz;1597065 wrote: Also, you may want to try your "up" dosing with a larger dose. Going up 5mg in the beginning is a noticeable difference but now in the big girl digits, it would hardly strike a cord. Even going up 20mg for me, hardly makes a difference in SE's. It was only when I jumped up by 70mg in a matter of a few days that I got my face slammed into the ground.

Uhm thanks, but no thanks Mandie.

My SE's went thru the roof at higher doses, as I think I have noted in my earlier posts on this thread. I've learned the hard way, that easy does it, is my way to get there/ i'll respond to your other post in the near future.

Please know that i really appreciate your reply!
It's all good

[skullbabyland]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Indy- I can relate. As to one of your points- I for one also found that hangovers are not too bad for me while on bac- I seem to be able to deal with hangovers a little better than I used to in the pre-bac days, for whatever reason. I was scared that the hellish bac hangovers I'd read about would hammer me into the ground, but that never really happened.

But still, the drinking days for me were hell on earth in all other ways. I'm getting close to indifference I think- Be patient and have faith that you'll get there too. Best of luck

[neophyte]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

hey Indy, I got nasty side effects going up too fast, i did something like 25mg jumps every 5-8 days. It worked ok at lower dose ranges but when i reached 170+ thats when i got the weird bac hang overs. my last dose increase from 295 to 320 was particularly nasty, and i posted much about it on here.

So slow and steady is a great idea, i got a little over excited when i heard about baclofen and went up as fast as possible.

[skullbabyland]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

MissIndygo;1597001 wrote: We all have (you too Neo) turned into Bac info junkies hehe.

I first found out about MWO years ago when I researched Topiramate. I was a member then, but didn't contribute much, as I didn't and still don't like 'Roberta's' push to buy her book, supplements, and hypnotherapy Cd's.
We should all move these discussions to Lo0p's forum really. That way we may get some stickies that are ultimately important to us Bac users.

Let's face it, 'Roberta' wouldn't want to encourage or aid the Baclofen threads too much, as she (or her corporations) don't have a stake in it!
There is no money to be made out of Baclofen!
Just sayin' ...

I for one tried Roberta's protocol and did not find it very helpful, but I don't fault her for it- she was just sharing what worked for her.. And this MWO forum doesn't seem particularly inhospitable to bac and bac users- if anything it seems fairly all-inclusive to other treatment methods. That's how it strikes me, anyway- do you find it otherwise?

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

skullbabyland;1597138 wrote: I for one tried Roberta's protocol and did not find it very helpful, but I don't fault her for it- she was just sharing what worked for her.. And this MWO forum doesn't seem particularly inhospitable to bac and bac users- if anything it seems fairly all-inclusive to other treatment methods. That's how it strikes me, anyway- do you find it otherwise?

Yes it does strike me differently, as I find all the advertising for the supplements, hypno-therapy, her book and what not offensive.
They are aimed at desperate people, who will almost gladly part with their money for just about anything that may work for them.

Sure the side is not inhospitable to Bac or other treatment methods, but why can't we have our own heading. And also why can't TSM have their own heading? And all the other methods? Why does Bac have to be heaped with all these other methods?
Posts that are important get lost all the time, because there are so many others...

No stickies are possible or allowed. Except for what 'Roberta' finds important (e.g. her supplements etc).

Just my opinion.

[spiritwolf333]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Good points Indy -just please try to remember, Roberta could shut down any threads not related to her program. At least in my opinion, most alcoholics are thrilled to see their fellows escape from the hells of alcoholism any way that they can. The fact that some may make money by helping others does not bother me in the least -unless they have a corner on the market. Just a thought.

[MissIndygo]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

Mandiekinz;1597063 wrote: I've discovered that I had to incorporate what little will power I have to work with the baclofen to see the changes. Through out all this time I was actually working against it.

I also noticed the SE's were always much more severe while drinking on bac.

Have you tried breaking up your doses in even amounts? More frequent amounts? What are some things you enjoy doing without booze? (Almost an impossible question to answer in the beginning, I'm aware. hehe)

Yep I am with you there, as I believe that for one reason or another I am working against it too. Fuck knows why. I compare it to getting anesthetic before an op and I will try to fight it for as long as I can (I love the experience of anesthetic, as you may gather ). Trying to stay awake, which never works in the end hehe. I am just hoping that my scrambled alcoholic frame of mind will not last against Bac either!

I will start breaking up the dosage in more even amounts during the day. See if a more level dose of Bac in my system may be beneficial.

Everything I enjoy; be it reading, drawing or gardening, cooking or whatever, involves alcohol at this time of my life. I am scared to death to try those simple mundane activities without alcohol. What if I don't enjoy them anymore then? Although I do feel that reading has helped me so far to start later in the day and I have now come to the point of realising that it may be a good tool for me.

Oh sober times with my daughter are the best! Also I have to be sober again when I hit the study books (if I decide to go ahead and do my honours) in Feb.
So there are a few incentives there

Off to start my day. All the best to everybody out there.

Cheerio

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen, a personal journey.

I like the anesthesia analogy. It made me chuckle...

MissIndygo;1597193 wrote: Yep I am with you there, as I believe that for one reason or another I am working against it too. Fuck knows why.
...

Everything I enjoy; be it reading, drawing or gardening, cooking or whatever, involves alcohol at this time of my life. I am scared to death to try those simple mundane activities without alcohol. What if I don't enjoy them anymore then? Although I do feel that reading has helped me so far to start later in the day and I have now come to the point of realising that it may be a good tool for me.

I searched in vain for a post on JoannaD's thread that I remember having the same tenor as the part of your post that I quoted. I also remember thinking that almost exactly...What to do without the booze??? And it's readily apparent in Stuck's thread, too.

I guess the point is simply that alcohol was a part of every aspect of my life. It was almost impossible to imagine life without it. (Even up to the end, I didn't really believe in a way that I could understand, that baclofen would give me true freedom from alcohol.) Then lo and behold it happens. Just. Like. That.

I was so unsure about what I would enjoy (and who I would be) without alcohol that I literally opened it up to advice from people here. I listened to different music, read different books, tried different activities, until I got to a place where I recognized myself. They're all dusty, now. :H But it was definitely worth trying and listening to. Some of that music can take me right back to the moments of new-found freedom...I learned a lot about exercising, too, starting here with stuff Lo0p posted. But basically, I really enjoy the things I always have in a much more authentic way than I ever did before. Have no fear! Many of us find that we have too much to do after the fact. It's time that's lacking!

Oh, and while I'm at it, it doesn't play well to beat yourself up for drinking. That's why you're here. You'll quit when you quit. It takes what it takes. Some of us have to do it the really hard way. Hope that's not true for you! But if it is, it doesn't mean you are failing. Just the opposite, Indy.
Peace out! Bacinabit.