Baclofen and relapse

[Frankie78]

Hi all,

Im new here, after reading for a couple of weeks i just registered and decided to check this out.

I'v been struggling with alcohol for 15 years, i'm now 35. I live in Rotterdam Holland and i started taking Baclofen 3 weeks ago after 6 weeks of rehab therapy. and after that some time at home and relapse prevention.
i was clean for 3 months and goin to AA and NA meetings , then i stopped going because i did not want to be in that program anymore, several reasons..
after 3 months of cleantime i strarted having big cravings. then i heard about baclofen. i took 15 mg 1 week, then 30mg 2nd week, then i had a relapse, now i take 45mg

Wondering when the cravings will go away plus anxiety. i read so many succes stories i had to give it a shot. before i drank to numb emotions whenevr something would happen and that could be any small thing, after therapy some very big things still happened but i did not have any urge to drink, i was content dealing with it but now i started drinking jus to see what would happen and as a sort of reward .

Big mistake , i kept drinking for 3 days , now i stopped for 2 days. feeling messed up., i dont wanna go back to drinking..

My doctor gave me baclofen but knows nothing or very little about it, he does trust me on it after showing him one or two articles. . tomorrow i will see him again,
This dose does nothing for me , can i tell him to up the dose to what ??to this

hope someone with lots of experience will reply.. sorry for my english

Thanks in advance

Frankie

[Alky]

Baclofen and relapse

Hi Frankie, and welcome. 45mg is a very low dose, which is probably why you're not feeling anything yet. I'm at 90mg, and that, by the standards of most people taking baclofen is still low. We have people here that are on over 300mg a day. When I feel a craving, I take an additional 10-20mg, and it usually abates within 30-60 minutes, so you might want to try and see if that works for you (that's what Dr. Ameisen did).

A cautionary word though, as you've found, you can very easily drink on baclofen, and my experience with that is that getting drunk on baclofen negates any of its positive effects. All baclofen does is give you an opportunity to say no. As one poster so eloquently put it, "it provides a self-participatory way out." Self-participatory are the operative words.

Also, are you still in therapy? Again, in my experience, the reason rehab fails so many times is that everything is coming up roses when you leave rehab and when you get back out into the real world and find out all your problems are still there, the urge to drink returns. I relapsed many times until I started regular therapy to work through my problems.

[neophyte]

Baclofen and relapse

you probably just need a higher dose, 45mg didnt do anything for me, i was drinking well up to 170mg

have a read of the prescribing guide

Prescribing Guide for Baclofen in the Treatment of Alcoholism-Final Version

[Frankie78]

Baclofen and relapse

Thanks @Alky @Neophite

I will send the guide to my doctor.

Hope he will give me a higher dose cause he gave me exactly enough to last me for that period. en chopping up 10mg pills crumbles and wastes a lot of it.

i have read somewhere where i can order and have shipped pills?

[Frankie78]

Baclofen and relapse

@Alky

I'm not in therapy anymore . and eventhough i have learned so much there what you say is very much truth. regular therapy does sound like an option.

obviously 15 years of heavy drinking is hard to just crush in 6 weeks of therapy

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Baclofen and relapse

Hi Frankie, and welcome.

There are at least three doctors that I know are treating patients with baclofen in Rotterdam. I'm not sure who they are, but you can call around. Also, send a private message to JoannaD, or Colin. Or both of them! There's also LowCountryman. He's also in your area, though he doesn't take baclofen anymore.

Baclofen works. Good luck and hang in there.

[MickeySoFine1972]

Baclofen and relapse

Hi All

I just wanted to mention that I've been at this for some time now and still havent hit my switch and I'm at 210mg per day. So dont be surprised if you have to go much higher and that you may need to look at ordering from the internet

I also found that whilst therapy never worked for me EFT ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG-v0Gt_-9w) worked for me to come to terms with my issues. Weird thing to watch the first time you see it but it actually works for a lot of people. I WONT cure your anxiety though as that may be a chemical problem like the french Dr that wrote the book has, and indeed, I do. Hell we all probably have.

Even now at higher levels I'm experiencing a massive distance between me and the anxiety and its physical effects. For me I used to get cramps in my abdomen and shortness of breath.

I'm now just waiting for the switch for the indiference to alchohol to kick in. In the last week I've started to see that happing on 3 of the last 7 nights so I'm starting to wonder if the switch is near.

Thats my 2p if its any help

Mickey

[neophyte]

Baclofen and relapse

Mickey, sounds like you are close, i think when i was around 220 i was able to have AF days and not claw my eyes out with cravings, but when i did drink i actually drank more. i had to go up to 295mg for true indifference.

unfortunately for me, my anxiety is still high, im looking at mixing up my meds now and going to therapy. zoloft doesnt do jack for me.

[chelsea98]

Baclofen and relapse

hi frankie and welcome to the forum. take the prescribing guide to your doctor. you'll need to go much higher than 45mg a day in my opinion and it WILL take a long while. the prescribing guide suggests increasing by 10mg every 4-5 days so it can easily take a couple of months or more to get to where you may need to go. it will also take the same amount of time to come down to whatever you feel your maintenance dose may be.

what i've found baclofen does is give me the choice and control over alcohol that i had lost during my relationship with it. i do still drink on occasion, but im happy to have a bottle and a half and leave it at that and also have long extended periods with none at all. if your doctor has been happy to give it to you after reading a couple of articles then I hope that he will be able to prescribe for you whatever amount you need after you show him the prescribing guidelines.

if he is happy to prescribe all the way up to say, 300mg a day, then if you don't mind, adding his details to the doctors who are listed on this forum would be beneficial to others who come here after you.

good luck!!

[Frankie78]

Baclofen and relapse

Thanks for the advice.

I saw my doctor today, He upped the dose to 75 m and gave me just for 2 weeks and wants me to stay on 75 for 2 weeks .He would not even really listen to what I had to say about the guide and kept cutting me off. He did not even want to see it.

Looking for a place where I can buy the stuff online and then will gradually up it myself as the guide describes.
Any suggestions on where to order?

I am sooo hoping to reach a point of what I keep reading about is indifference and switch, not really sure what it means exactly but it sounds like a the biggest relief.

Thanks you guys, Glad I found this forum,

Frankie