Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

[kronkcarr]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

I second what Eve says. Pay attention. I do have a drink or two every so often. If I'm not aware I believe that I could go back into my old patterns. I had these thoughts over the holidays so I went up from 40 to 60 mgs. That seemed to do the trick.

[neophyte]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

ok thanks for the input, ill have to watch it then, i really dont want to have to go up higher in dose again

[Fred_The_Cat]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

neophyte;1608664 wrote: that has me worried about losing my switch if i drink at all, should i completely abstain or is it ok to have 1 or 2 beers when i go out?

I lost my switch twice, once over a period of a couple months and then again for about a week before hitting it hard with bac again. The sole thing that triggered both was starting to drink every day again. I would limit alcohol to whenever you go out and not keep it in the house.

[Jazi's Mum]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

Doesn't this prove that many other things have to change after you reach your switch? Like forming new better habits, and new interests?

I was able to drink through naltrexone and topamax because I had not done any work around my addiction. I sense baclofen is changing the way I feel generally and I can SEE now what I have to do - from a new place of calm. But I still have to DO.

[neophyte]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

Thanks Fred for the insight, I will be careful not to drink. I have some antabus, perhaps ill take that for a few months to ensure that i dont screw it up, i cant imagine going higher in baclofen again, the SE are just too much to bare this high up.

Jazi, right now i havent really engaged in any new hobbies, im trying to just keep up with my old exersize routine but i have lost motivation with it since i dont get the same post exersize high , i just made a thread about it. That and i've been feeling pretty unmotivated to do anything lately, even the cleaning of the house has been pretty low on the agenda, maybe it's depression, im not sure, but at least I'm not running to the booze to try and cure my boredom anymore.

[skullbabyland]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

neophyte;1608545 wrote: and my thinking is different, It's hard to articulate what thinking different is though, it's like my mind is wired a bit differently now.

I know what you mean- I feel the same way. For me, it's not unwelcome, or unenjoyable-- and I don't really know how much of it is the bac and how much of it is the absence of alcohol. I'm just going to stay the course for a few more months and then re-evaluate my next steps.

[skullbabyland]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

neophyte;1609113 wrote: Thanks Fred for the insight, I will be careful not to drink. I have some antabus, perhaps ill take that for a few months to ensure that i dont screw it up, i cant imagine going higher in baclofen again, the SE are just too much to bare this high up.

Jazi, right now i havent really engaged in any new hobbies, im trying to just keep up with my old exersize routine but i have lost motivation with it since i dont get the same post exersize high , i just made a thread about it. That and i've been feeling pretty unmotivated to do anything lately, even the cleaning of the house has been pretty low on the agenda, maybe it's depression, im not sure, but at least I'm not running to the booze to try and cure my boredom anymore.

As you know, the antabuse in combo with bac has done wonders for me as far as getting a few months of AF time racked up... this has given me room to wrap my head around cleaning up the other areas of my life and living as a whole, strong human going forward. I'd highly recommend it.

There are definitely days of sadness, depression, anxiety, and boredom, but I take them as a fact of life and just let them come when they will- they're still MUCH less so when not magnified x1000 by alcohol.

[neophyte]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

skull, the antabus/bac combo I was inspired by your success and bought a few packs. right now im just terrified of drinking if i take them, im not going to drink a glass of beer or anything but im worried about accidentally ingesting alcohol if its in a drink thats mixed and i cant tell or if i swallow some mouth wash. Are those fears overblown? if you had one mouthful of beer for example, would you have a bad reaction?

[spiritwolf333]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

neophyte;1609993 wrote: skull, the antabus/bac combo I was inspired by your success and bought a few packs. right now im just terrified of drinking if i take them, im not going to drink a glass of beer or anything but im worried about accidentally ingesting alcohol if its in a drink thats mixed and i cant tell or if i swallow some mouth wash. Are those fears overblown? if you had one mouthful of beer for example, would you have a bad reaction?

Great question.

[skullbabyland]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

Neo and Spirit- I replied to you in my progress thread as well, so check that out, but the answer is yes, you will become uncomfortable/sick if you drink a mouthful of alcohol with AB in your system. One mouthful won't kill you, but you won't feel good.

That said, don't be terrified of the Antabuse- get the Antabuse in your system, and then just be wary of drinking alcohol! Once you ingest the Antabuse,- just don't swig other people's drinks. And don't drink "just a little" beer. AB is DEFINITELY a 100% AF tool, not a 98% AF tool. Buy alcohol-free mouthwash, it's easy to find in any store. If you're on Antabuse and you're accidently ingesting mouthfuls of alcoholic drinks, you're not watching closely enough what you put in your mouth Don't worry man, it's not that hard, and it's worth it.

It's even freeing- once you pop an Antabuse, the monkey chatter lifts. "Well, I just went 100% alcohol free, and that's that". It feels like a weight off the shoulders.

EDIT- However, be honest with yourself. If you feel wary of trusting your sense of self-preservation while on Antabuse, for example if you think your craving will be so bad that you'll just say "screw it" and just drink while on Antabuse, then those are questions to really ask and answer to yourself before you take it. There are horror stories of alcoholics just drinking heavily while on Antabuse and ending up in the ER. I believe you're not in this situation, though, if I recall right you've hit your switch and don't crave alcohol too much?

[neophyte]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

thanks Skull, yeah i have definitely reached my switch. I'm just scared of screwing up and doing something stupid. I should be fine but I'm just a cautious person. It's like when i prepared my baclofen i was too scared to try it for weeks.

[RedThread12]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

:bow Neo, and everyone here . . . I think this thread is an incredible semi-summary of the exact present state of Reality in the world of baclofen for those of us who have been unable to not drink against our will. If I could, I would "stickie" this exchange of hard-won knowledge from direct experience at the top of a dedicated "Baclofen" thread. And WILL somewhere, someday. We've had a go at such things, here - no joy. And still, what a debt of gratitude I, and all of us, owe for this forum that forged a new and different place for us "willing to go to any lengths" drunks.

What "it" takes is different for everyone. Someday even those factors will be more clearly understood. However;

1. We are living experiments, in a totally new paradigm regarding a condition that has plagued humanity since . . . well, since written history of humanity, as far as I can tell. And that says to me that we are living history.
2. The "switch" to indifference is real.
3. The "switch" requires respect. It will not determine the course or quality of your life after you feel the demand to drink against you will will. Over-drinking it isn't the end. Probably. But it multiplies all challenges.
4. Being among the first on this planet to actually walk through this door leaves the rest of our lives before us to discover the answers to so many questions that remain. It's more than likely that what we don't know yet is a tsunami, compared to the wave of what we know today, individually and collectively.
5. The world has never seen what will happen when a bunch of drunks, long understood to be highly creative and intelligent, are no longer drunk, can do to change the world.

That is not an imperative to do anything. It's just what's happening. And I just wanted to make note. And say :wow:

[neophyte]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

RedThread12;1610599 wrote: :bow Neo, and everyone here . . . I think this thread is an incredible semi-summary of the exact present state of Reality in the world of baclofen for those of us who have been unable to not drink against our will. If I could, I would "stickie" this exchange of hard-won knowledge from direct experience at the top of a dedicated "Baclofen" thread. And WILL somewhere, someday. We've had a go at such things, here - no joy. And still, what a debt of gratitude I, and all of us, owe for this forum that forged a new and different place for us "willing to go to any lengths" drunks.

What "it" takes is different for everyone. Someday even those factors will be more clearly understood. However;

1. We are living experiments, in a totally new paradigm regarding a condition that has plagued humanity since . . . well, since written history of humanity, as far as I can tell. And that says to me that we are living history.
2. The "switch" to indifference is real.
3. The "switch" requires respect. It will not determine the course or quality of your life after you feel the demand to drink against you will will. Over-drinking it isn't the end. Probably. But it multiplies all challenges.
4. Being among the first on this planet to actually walk through this door leaves the rest of our lives before us to discover the answers to so many questions that remain. It's more than likely that what we don't know yet is a tsunami, compared to the wave of what we know today, individually and collectively.
5. The world has never seen what will happen when a bunch of drunks, long understood to be highly creative and intelligent, are no longer drunk, can do to change the world.

That is not an imperative to do anything. It's just what's happening. And I just wanted to make note. And say :wow:

thanks for the kind words, i realise at this point there is no way i could have stopped drinking without baclofen. I always set dates on stopping drinking: after my vietnam holiday, after my europe holiday, after this set of parties in the following weeks etc etc. id taper off the booze, try to live sober, get bored, the cravings would be overwhelming. There would be times when i was dry and my cravings were so bad, i would hang my head over the toilet and there would be a non stop stream of salivating thinking of drinking a big tall glass of whiskey.

All that is now in the past and i cant imagine why i thought i would want that tall glass of whiskey now, it would just make me feel like crap

[skullbabyland]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

neophyte;1610675 wrote: thanks for the kind words, i realise at this point there is no way i could have stopped drinking without baclofen. I always set dates on stopping drinking: after my vietnam holiday, after my europe holiday, after this set of parties in the following weeks etc etc. id taper off the booze, try to live sober, get bored, the cravings would be overwhelming. There would be times when i was dry and my cravings were so bad, i would hang my head over the toilet and there would be a non stop stream of salivating thinking of drinking a big tall glass of whiskey.

All that is now in the past and i cant imagine why i thought i would want that tall glass of whiskey now, it would just make me feel like crap

Totally. Drinking milestones were a big mental hurdle for me to get over- I'll stop drinking after this trip or that trip, this vacation or that vacation, this party or that party, etc. I just had to realize that stuff is neverending, and eventually I'll have to learn to do them without booze. That's why I made myself go AF up to and through my christmas holiday trip.

I get the salivation thing too, when I think of beer, but especially lately food and cigarettes. Who woulda thought something as gross as cigs could make a person salivate.

So cool to hear that the thought of a drink now has a different, revulsion effect for you. That's amazing.

[Jazi's Mum]

Indifference reached - Success with high dose Baclofen

I can't add much to what has already been said other than I'm so glad for you. Such hope for the rest of us who are right behind you. A HUGE thank you!! for being such a good little lab rat, and for telling us your story.
JMum