Freedom Journey with Baclofen

[freedom4me]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

Thank you all for your encouragement and advice, I take every word to heart. I have been doing much better today, no obsessive thoughts as of yet (5pm now). For me it is not really ODAT but one moment at a time (OMAT). Today's moments have been better.

One thing I have a question about: My appetite has increased since taking the Bac. Is this normal? I seem to be hungry all the time. I'm a good weight for my height and I do not want to gain any! Guess if Bac does cause increased appetite which would cause weight gain, I need to get busy on some exercising, huh?

[Xadrian]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

freedom4me;1630525 wrote: Thank you all for your encouragement and advice, I take every word to heart. I have been doing much better today, no obsessive thoughts as of yet (5pm now). For me it is not really ODAT but one moment at a time (OMAT). Today's moments have been better.

One thing I have a question about: My appetite has increased since taking the Bac. Is this normal? I seem to be hungry all the time. I'm a good weight for my height and I do not want to gain any! Guess if Bac does cause increased appetite which would cause weight gain, I need to get busy on some exercising, huh?

It's normal.

Some people gain weight, I lost 18 kgs.
And I'm not the exercising type.

I do remember that everything seemed to taste better (except for the beer) in the beginning when titrating up.

[freedom4me]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

Thanks for the info Xadrian. I really do not want to gain weight. I lost 18lbs about 1.5yrs ago and have not gained it back even while drinking. I will be careful about what I eat (nix the fast food) and start exercising (haven't exercised in 2 yrs). It will help my mental outlook too.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

I lost weight. And fell in love with exercising in a whole new way. Hope that happens for you, too.

[Mandiekinz]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

Freedom, you're only a few days in...don't panic about the weight gain just yet. I found that in my beginning days, I'd have cravings only due to the muscle relaxing properties. You get lazy and sleepy, you grab sugary stuff to eat for energy or to just lounge around and have a feast day. Once you balance out on your dosage and your side effects, you may not find those cravings anymore.

I still ended up losing about 15lbs on it. As you move into heavier doses, you may find you kind of forget about food. I ate until I was content and stopped. I didn't feel a reason to compulsively over-indulge with grub.

Of course you'll always want a good balanced diet, vitamins and supplements, and ample hydration.

[freedom4me]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

Happy Monday! Day 4 of Baclofen 2/24/14: So, yesterday went well, it was an AF day, with very few thoughts of drinking. I have to be totally honest about my baclofen dose, I took 10mg at 10:30am, 3:30pm and 8:30pm. I had no SE and I'm staying at this does through the end of the week. I felt great, no somnolence what so ever, had plenty of energy, and no anxiety or obsessive thoughts. Went to bed at 11pm, fell asleep right away, don't remember any dreams, had a very hard time waking up at 6:30, but I did it (with AL, I didn't have a hard time waking up, but getting up was an issue). Slept very, very hard only woke up once when the cat jumped on to my chest (she likes to sleep with me), but fell right back to sleep.

Although I have been hungrier than usual, I noticed the carb type cravings and realized that my body usually receives AL on a daily basis, which causes yeast/probiotic imbalances in the body. I noticed this problem in the past when I eat too much sugar/carbs. The good bacteria in the body usually keeps the yeast in check, but AL feeds yeast, which overgrows and causes the good bacteria to be less and yeast to be more, which causes cravings for sugar/carbs since the yeast wants to be fed. So, now that the AL is reduced, the yeast triggers cravings causing hunger to increase. So, the solution I have used in the past (to avoid diflucan) is to take oregano oil tabs 2x/day, capryllic acid tabs 2x/day, and a really good probiotic called Three-Lac 2x/day. This, over a few days will correct the cravings for carbs/sugar and over about 30 days will correct the yeast/probiotic imbalance. It has worked for me before and I'd much rather use something natural since difulcan is bad for the liver (my liver has gone through enough).

[Accel7]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

I do find I'm hungrier now that I'm on HDB. I expected weight to simply melt off me; after all, I've stopped a nightly intake of, say, two bottles of wine or a half to two-thirds a bottle of whiskey. That's gotta be 1000 calories a day, chopped out. Yet, if anything, my weight has gone UP a few pounds--and I'm not eating junk food. Maybe my metabolism is slowing due to the muscle-relaxing qualities, etc. And, for sure, I haven't been walking as far each day as I used to. I simply don't have the energy. Which is why I'm ramping down now from 250mg ... Been at 225 the past couple nights and will aim to get to 175-180 or so eventually. Maybe even lower if the cravings for AL don't come back hard.
At any rate, congrats on your journey. Sounds like you have a great mindset--and that the BAC is already working wonders for you. Keep going.

[freedom4me]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

Thank you Accel7. I will definitely keep going. You don't sound like your doing too badly on this journey of ours either... God Speed

[freedom4me]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

Day 5 of Baclofen Journey (2/25/14):

I have stayed with the 10mg 3x/day, keeping it at every 8 hr intervals (7am, 3pm, 11pm) to keep up the therapeutic blood levels to see if that may make a difference in cravings. Yesterday went well, it was an AF day which makes 3 days in a row now. I had absolutely no SE, anxiety was minimal, but then again I am not really doing anything to be anxious about at this time...just trying to focus on healing.

My sleep is still extremely hard with difficulty waking up, but responsibility calls and getting up early (at least during the week) is not an option. No vivid dreaming last night that I can remember.

I am a bit bored, although I have plenty I could be doing, it seems I just really don't want to do those things (cleaning, reorganizing, etc). All I really want to do lately is sit, read, & watch movies. However, my energy level is good. Hopefully, I can go back to full time work soon since I really miss the thought provoking challenges. I know.... patience (let patience have her perfect work).

[freedom4me]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

Correction: Yesterday made 2 days in a row of AF.

[freedom4me]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

had a great AF day yesterday (2/25/14). took 10mg of Baclofen at 7am, 3pm, and 11pm. Slept 7 hrs, plenty of energy, no SE, no drowsiness. Had cravings between 5pm-8pm, but mild and able to ignore.

Today(2/26/14) was a different story... Took 10mg baclofen at 7am, 3pm and will take it again at 11pm (not yet time as of post). had a very difficult, stressful day due to some issues going on with my teenage daughter. started "thinking about drinking" around 6pm. It was really strong and gave in around 7pm, my drinking brain kept telling me I deserved it since I had done so well for 3 days... (you know the thought), Had 3 beers. Not a good day today at all.

[emc]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

Hi freedom,
i can see that in general your doing well, really no worries about this 3 beers.
Is just important that you don't exaggerate to much...
Feeling guilty we all know what it is and it doesn't not help.
You decide to cure yourself, you are doing it and is all ;-)

Just keep trusting the molecule and to titrate up slowly and regularly, the results i'm sure they will come!

[kronkcarr]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

If you can go easy on yourself please do so. The beauty of baclofen is that you can get right back to where you were. Plus you now have insight into your thoughts and habits. I remember talking with spirit and laughing at how we both drank at someone. This was our old habit. Someone irritated us so we drank. Pretty lame way to handle it.

[freedom4me]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

Thank you EMC & Kronkcarr for your support and encouraging word. I titrated up yesterday to 15mg at 7am and 3pm, then 10mg at 11pm. Your right about drinking due to letting someone "get to me." But after drinking on Wed night, I have worse cravings and anxiety on Thursday and I was very tired even though I had enough sleep. I'm really trying to work with my self, but sometimes I can be hard to work with! LOL! I have not been my self lately, my mind is not as alert...I walk into a room with an thought to get something or do something, then totally forget what I was suppose to do. This happens several times a day. But, I'm pushing through, indifference is my goal and it will happen.

[freedom4me]

Freedom Journey with Baclofen

As an added note to the above post regarding my "not feeling like myself": I've been somewhat spacey, my mind tends to go into a daze often, when I'm driving somewhere, I have to focus on the directions to where I am going even though I know the way very well. I tend to pass roads or places that I'm supposed to turn on due to being in a daze. I've been forgetting the words I want to say when I'm talking and having to take a few extra seconds to think of the word/words. This is all very strange for me since I am usually very alert & know my way around very well. I hope this doesn't discourage any one reading this from starting baclofen, it is tolerable and workable. I just have to concentrate a bit more and reorient my self often. This too shall pass...