brand new to baclofen. need input

[bacon]

So I started seeing a addiction specialist for my OCD and alcohol abuse. Before starting with him I was on naltrexone, campral, and antabuse. He stayed me on baclofen yesterday. I am to take one 20 mg pill twice a day. I am wondering when I should be taking it. Like I said I am very new to baclofen so any input is greatly appreciated. I am starting EMDR therapy for traumas and I really want to do this right. Thank you everyone!!!:thumbsup:

[kronkcarr]

Hi bacon. I love your name. When I started baclofen I split my dose throughout the day and took the last before bed. Now I take it all in the morning. I did EMDR years ago and it helped me. I hope this helps.

[Hudstar]

Hi Bacon. I have only recently started my own baclofen treatment. You're addiction specialist might be - rightly - being cautious. But you could do worse than to read Dr Olivier Amiesen's book the End of My Addiction. It is what inspired thousands of addicts like you and me to investigate baclofen. Some amazing advice on this site so keep learning!

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/may/09/alcoholism-health-doctor-addiction-drug

[Lostinspace]

Hi bacon. Welcome to the forum! When I first started, I did even doses, four times a day. You’re on such a small dose that I don’t think it’s at all harmful (side effect wise) to take it in only two doses, but you might find it helpful to break it up even further. The pills you have should be easily splittable in two. You can take 10 mg four times a day.

I’m at a much larger dose than you, but I’ve always stuck to the same dosing schedule: 5:30 or 6am (depending on when I’m awake enough to remember - and to check my phone - more on this later), 10am, 3pm and 9pm. You don’t have to follow this exact schedule, of course, but I’ve found that by breaking it up somewhat evenly throughout the day, it works well for me.

Another thing, as I alluded to earlier, set phone alarms/reminders, if you can. It makes it so much easier. Even if you forget, the next time you check your phone, there will be an alarm either going off, or telling you that it tried to go off (at least with the two phones that I’ve had since being able to set reminders for myself).

One more pointer for good bac info - look back into the archives of this forum a good two or three years ago. It was a lot more active then, and there is a lot of good info to be found! Good luck to you and keep us posted on your progress

[neophyte]

I think this is the most important resource to read when using baclofen for alcoholism

prescribing guide

here is the Pharmacological hypothesis of how baclofen reduces cravings to alcohol.

this should hopefully give you an understanding as to what baclofen is doing in the brain and how dopamine plays a role in addiction to alcohol, and indeed other drugs of abuse such as opiates, amphetamines etc.

[GradeT]

hi bacon i hope this will help you. Oral: Initial dose: 5 mg orally 3 times a day for 3 days, then 10 mg orally 3 times a day for 3 days, then 15 mg orally 3 times a day for 3 days, then 20 mg orally 3 times a day.
Maintenance dose: 40-80 mg/day.
80 mg/day doses should be administered in 4 divided doses.

[Ga.peach]

Grade T is right on the money.I did the same-40mg four times a day.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Hi Bacon and welcome to the forum.

Many of us here are self-prescribing by ordering it online. As you can imagine, it's not the best way to go about taking a medication. It also leads to some experimentation and lots of opinions. (I have some, too.) But since you're just starting out, I think it would be a really good idea to take it as prescribed and stick to what your doc suggests. Particularly if your struggling with other things, and taking other meds.

Baclofen is a lifesaver for me. I hope you it works as well for you! Hang in there.

[bacon]

Thank you everyone for the great information. I will stick with my doctors reccomendations but he only said twice a day. Yesterday I took it at 12 pm and 5 pm. Today I think I am going to take 10 mg at 10 am, 10 mg at 2 pm, and then 20 mg at 6 pm. I drank yesterday but it was not that enjoyable and I did not drink as much.

[bacon]

Oh my gosh!!! Why don't all doctors prescribe baclofen. I was at my mom's house tonight which is the spot where most of my drinking occured. Even on only 40 mg a day I really did not care to drink. I thought about it a couple of times but I did not want to.
I had a 6 pack and a bottle of wine at home. Usually I would have stayed drinking the second I got home. I kept forgetting about it. I ended up drinking 2 glasses of wine because of habit. I ended up dumping the test because I just did not want it.
This is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I cannot believe it.

[neophyte]

The reason why they don't prescribe is because it hasn't gone through enough clinical trials and plain ignorance to it being useful. The amount of times i raised it with doctors attempting to get a prescription, they didn't know that it could be used for alcoholism and didn't care to read the studies i provided them. That said, I had much better luck with a psychiatrist who specialises in addiction, they should be more up to date.