How low can you go?

[chelsea98]

So i'm now over 3 months alcohol free because of baclofen. I've had a few daliances with booze since then over the christmas period (nothing serious, maximum 6 drinks in one evening and not feeling drunk) but i've retained control and choice in the matter which of course, would have been unheard of pre bac indifference. what I'm wondering now is how low should my maintenance dose be? i hit the switch at 240 (though it could have been less, i just soldiered on up to 240) and am now titrating down, currently at 180mg per day. My prescription only gives me 100mg per day so I'm hoping to get down to that so at least I don't have to order online etc, but i'm wondering how i'll know which dose is suitable to maintain.

any pointers would be much appreciated.

:thanks:

[Colin]

How low can you go?

chelsea98;1609457 wrote: , but i'm wondering how i'll know which dose is suitable to maintain.

I had/have this problem. The only solution I could imagine was to keep slowly decreasing the baclofen while continuing periodic drinking. Any time the drink tasted juuust too good increase the baclofen by half a pill and repeat the test. So far it's working for me.

[neophyte]

How low can you go?

I'm now in the same position Colin. I'm on 295mg of baclofen a day and I would like to come down a bit in the dose. I only just hit my switch though, I think the best definitive test of hitting your switch is that when you start drinking, you end up stopping because the drink tastes rancid and youre not liking the effects. So i guess if you have that effect going down as chelsea98 then perhaps thats the way to go.

Any ideas how long i should stay on my switch dose before going down?

[Colin]

How low can you go?

There is a consensus that one should stay at the switch/controlling dose before dropping slowly down to a "maintenance dose" where there is no compulsion to drink alcohol. Unfortunately there is no good formula for determining the time to be spent at the controlling dose.

So, stay at the controlling dose until the SEs become unmanageable and in any case for at least a couple of months. Mealy mouthed advice but I can't do any better. Good luck.

[TexasAg]

How low can you go?

Just my two cents, I went up to 160 but couldn't handle work and side effects so started coming down in 20 mg doses each week until 120. In hindsight i probably hit my dose at 120mg but kept going higher. I've said before, my "switch" was more like a dimmer switch, not on/off.
I stayed at 120 for 3 months without cravings and just a few minor side effects so I decided to start coming down 20mg per month. I got down to 80 mg without worries and started liquid Bac (RIP Loop) which for reasons I don't understand allowed me to go down to 40 fairly quickly. I'm currently on minimal dose of 30mg liquid bac until I run out then my plan is to go to 40mg tablet bac and see how it goes.

Cheers!

[StuckinLA]

How low can you go?

Tex - never got the chance to thank you properly for stopping by my thread before the holidays. Great to hear from you, old friend. And really glad to hear it sounds like you're doing well. Cheers.

[StuckinLA]

How low can you go?

whatever...;1610440 wrote: Everything all right Stuck?

Just checking mate.

Hi chaos, *great* to hear from you, too.

Totally not hijacking this thread. So to the point, a lot of people have followed the rule of thumb that you reduce the dose until you feel like drinking again, and then increase 10 or 20 mgs and that's the maintenance dose. Not sure how well that works, really...

Anyway, there is a guide around here somewhere that I cannot for the life of me find right now. The recommendation is to stay at the switch dose for about 2 months - if that's practical - before then decreasing by about 10mgs/week until you're right around 1/2 of the switch dose. My non-medical opinion is to do what feels comfortable and what you can live with SE-wise. Be wary of going down too quickly, though, as that can mess with you in all sorts of emotional ways that are not very good. I got some depression issues when I went down/off.

[whatever...]

How low can you go?

Please fill me in on interpretation of: * *, I'm only familiar with " " & ' '

[spiritwolf333]

How low can you go?

TexasAg;1610356 wrote: I've said before, my "switch" was more like a dimmer switch, not on/off.
Cheers!

Tex -I think you are spot on: It is a dimmer switch -not an on off. I never even new I hit a switch until one day sitting in a restaurant watching people eat and drink and I made the statement to wife -"drinking might be fun, but I have too many other things I want to do tonight/tomorrow". It had been years since I thought in that way. Where that thought came from I have not a clue except I probably have to give the credit to baclofen.

Chel -Several weeks later I experimented with drinking and found that I felt like the alcohol (2 beers) had screwed up my evening. I was so glad when the alcohol wore off -I felt free to think and be in control again (in a way). It was almost back to the way I felt like when I was teen and had over done the drinking -would go for two or three weeks without drinking.

I'm currently at the 180mg level and think I will maintain for awhile. I'm not so much concerned about the alcohol as I am the recurrence of the anxiety. Regardless, I would rather take baclofen for the rest of my life than to return to the fire pit of alcoholism. Only time will tell.

Thanks for a good topic.

[Xadrian]

How low can you go?

Common knowledge is that the maintenance dose is commonly somewhere between 2/3 and 1/2 the switch dose.