Tried everything but Balcofen - advice?

[YouKayBee]

Tried everything but Balcofen - advice?

I agree with much of Palladium's post.

In my opinion and experience a medication will not take it all away, it'll help remove the symptoms and help you break the addiction link which is a gift and a chance to be embraced and respected. It won't teach you how to live or make any underlying issues suddenly dissolve into nothingness. Individuals have their own way of sorting this bit out and it's whatever works for you.

[davelet]

Tried everything but Balcofen - advice?

MisterSaunders;1700371 wrote: I suppose it's the same with achieving sobriety through other methods - a few can, most can't.

As for that being something I don't want to hear in my twenties, I am coming to terms with it, but it's also causing me massive depression and anxiety - after football at the weekend a close friend remarked that I'd lost my character. Not great from a friend point of view, but indicative of how I feel and how I am perceived - I have lost my entire social life.

Ever onwards I guess. 102 days AF now, I just thought I'd feel better at this stage, but I feel worse than when I was drinking.

Hi MisterSaunders

I sympathise with you. I am only 12 days alcohol-free and dearly hope I can get to your 102 days alcohol-free but as I have said in another post, I feel as though I have lost my life. People at work have commented how different I am, and not in a good way. I am bad-tempered at work (I manage a team of 14 people, by the way) and little things going wrong put me into a foul mood out of all proportion. And there isn't that nice relaxing refreshing gin and tonic when I get home to unwind and put everything "right" (which of course, it doesn't).

But the big problem is the social life and I fully understand your wanting to go to the post-match bender. I'm not a football fan, but like you I have interests and they ALL involve drinking. I sing in choirs (drinking societies with singing), play croquet seriously (which is all-day drinking while playing), like going to concerts (errrr bar before and during the interval, surely?), and like going out with my friends, but my friends are all heavy drinkers and all we ever did was sit in the pub. So I don't know what to do with myself anymore!

But your 102 days AF is seriously impressive and at your young age you haven't got as many years of habit to "un-do" as someone of my age. I've got twenty years of heavy drinking habit to un-do and somehow try to rebuild my life.

Good luck!

[terryk]

Tried everything but Balcofen - advice?

Alky;1700455 wrote: I'm glad to see some responsible advice is finally being dispensed on what baclofen is and isn't and what it does and what it doesn't.

I came here expecting to see, "YEAHHHH!!! DRINK AS MUCH AS YOU WANT AND WHEN YOU HIT THE SWITCH, YOU'LL BE A MODERATE DRINKER!!!" horseshit.

Has common sense finally come to the meds forum?

Alky- after nearly 5 years of reading, and posting in, the meds section I know that there's a plethora of quality information, valuable collective experience, and common sense here - the shrill hyperbole in your above post adds nothing to it.

-tk

[MisterSaunders]

Tried everything but Balcofen - advice?

Alky;1700455 wrote: I'm glad to see some responsible advice is finally being dispensed on what baclofen is and isn't and what it does and what it doesn't.

I came here expecting to see, "YEAHHHH!!! DRINK AS MUCH AS YOU WANT AND WHEN YOU HIT THE SWITCH, YOU'LL BE A MODERATE DRINKER!!!" horseshit.

Has common sense finally come to the meds forum?

Okay so what are you saying? Is moderate drinking not possible in any circumstance? I probably should have been clearer. I fully intend on drinking again at some point in the near future. I'm not ready to commit to a lifetime of abstinence - the anxiety, boredom and isolation are harrowing at the minute.

I was hoping that balcofen could put me in a position where I can have a drink on occasion, or else eliminate this feeling that I have while I am not drinking - the burgeoning force that drives my compulsive behaviour. If that's not the case then perhaps I need to rethink my plans.

[Lostinspace]

Tried everything but Balcofen - advice?

Baclofen can definitely help you with this. It seems impossible to believe from where you are right now, but once you reach your switch dose, you simply won't want to drink. I'm not even fully there myself yet, but am close enough to my switch that most days I truly don't want to drink - imagining myself drinking is just unappealing. As far as I can tell, this is the reason some people are able to drink in moderation. Alcohol has become a nonissue for them. They're drinking to enjoy the taste, not because they feel compelled to, and would be just as happy not having it.

The problem comes when a person drinks day after day. Baclofen will kill cravings, but it does not erase habit. Building new healthy habits in place of drinking is something that you have to work on, otherwise it's entirely possible that you could still drink excessively while taking bac.

I know how painful it is to contemplate a life without drinking. It used to terrify me beyond words and drive me to tears at some points. But baclofen has changed my whole outlook in ways I couldn't even imagine until I experienced it myself. When you reach a point where you truly don't want to drink, where you would just as soon clean your bathroom, there's no feeling of loss. With the exception of the very few days that I still have cravings (because I'm not quite at my switch dose), I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I'll actually think about drinking and be turned off by the idea. Don't lose hope. Once you get your cravings under control, you'll have a much different take on things.