My baclofen journey

[brettham]

Mentium, I am a newbie and have been following your post. You seem to have started this journey at about the same time as I did. I am at 110mg of Bac and are having some SE. Specifically, somnolence, muscle pain, sleep problems(waking early,not sleeping) and dry eyes and nostiles . I have haven't had any alcohol in 7 days, would love one, but so far have be able to beat the cravings. What was the max dose you were able to tolerate? It great to hear that you started exercise as I also have started walking 2 mile daily and am thinking of a gym.

Look forward to communicating with you as we progress thru this travel land to sobriety. good on you, brother

[Mentium]

Hi Brettham. To be honest with you it wasn't simply the 'tolerance' issue for me. I got to 140 mg when I had a rethink. The SEs were significant and similar to those you report with the addition of some severe depression like experiences. I say depression 'like' because to be frank I'm not sure I have ever experienced anything quite like it. It was like some sort of 'acute' depression where everything felt really utterly futile. Not nice at all and very weird. On top of that I was beginning to panic at the thought of being 'out there' with no support of a medical nature as I lay awake at night finding my breathing difficult as I lay there, dry nostrils too...well you get the picture. The problematic nature of bac supply also added to my worries. Of course most of that was while I was also drinking and there are some anecdotal reports here that if you can stop for a bit it helps, even if it may not be strictly necessary.

A very big 'however' though. I have had the pleasure of getting to know and trust a few people here who have been down the same route without the difficulties I had and I honestly believe that some of them have achieved that desired state of affairs- indifference. Others do seem to struggle and mix drinking with a rather haphazard baclofen regime. So be it. I do honestly believe that baclofen can relieve a good proportion of addicts of their compulsion. It is not quite the wonder drug I rather innocently was hoping it was however.

I believe, though I have no direct evidence, that I was lucky enough to manage to stop opening a bottle at the same time that the bac gave me a window. I had a decent period when I stopped drinking where I really could not care less about it. I then decided to back away from baclofen (I'm at zero as of very recently).

I go the the gym, which is a real revelation for me. It makes me feel great and lifts my mood enormously. I attend on like SMART meetings and touch wood, I am sober and while not indifferent, at least motivated to stay that way (sober that is!).

Good luck to you! Try the gym! An hour every day this last week and I feel great..if a bit knackered!

[Spellers]

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[brettham]

Mentium, fantastic that you were able to titrate down to zip. My situation was pretty dire, was drinking 3/4 bottle of rum every nite until I passed out. With Bac I was able to reduce to 2/3 glasses of wine a day until a week ago. Can you provide the website/e-mail for SMART? I think I'd like to participate.

As far as people on this site, I know what you mean.For the short time here, people having been incredibly forthcoming about their experiences.I will continue with this path and hope the SE dimish over time, although I'm hopeful that I can titrate down to levels that alleviate the SE. Hope to read your post in the coming months.

Brettham

[brettham]

Spellers, thanks to you and all the people on this site that are kind enough to lend a helping hand. If I might ask, at what dosage are you at presently? I think I can titrate up from here, but want to do it slowly.Thanks again for your kind words.

Brettham

[Mentium]

There you go. I think you are in the USA though. I'm sure you'll find a link here.

UK SMART Recovery

Mentium, fantastic that you were able to titrate down to zip. My situation was pretty dire, was drinking 3/4 bottle of rum every nite until I passed out. With Bac I was able to reduce to 2/3 glasses of wine a day until a week ago. Can you provide the website/e-mail for SMART? I think I'd like to participate.

As far as people on this site, I know what you mean.For the short time here, people having been incredibly forthcoming about their experiences.I will continue with this path and hope the SE dimish over time, although I'm hopeful that I can titrate down to levels that alleviate the SE. Hope to read your post in the coming months.

Brettham

[brettham]

Mentium, been reading this site and found a discussion on liquid Bac and pill form. Apparently, liquid doesn't the the SE that the pill form has. Any info on this? Thanks for the info on SMART.

Brettham

[Mentium]

I'm afraid not Brettham. There are many more knowledgeable people here about medication than I. I'm sure someone will have a view.

Mentium, been reading this site and found a discussion on liquid Bac and pill form. Apparently, liquid doesn't the the SE that the pill form has. Any info on this? Thanks for the info on SMART.

Brettham

[Mentium]

Popping in to say hello and that all is well. I'm on zero baclofen at the moment and will probably stay that way. The further I get away from how things were for me at 140 mg the more I think I was having a pretty weird reaction to it. I kind of envy those who seem to sail through it all. And as I've said many times, please don't take me as a typical case!

Anyway I'm going to the gym every second day, which to repeat, is a fantastic way, I have discovered to lift one's mood, attending SMART meetings now and again and managing to stay sober. A bit of boredom in the evening seems to be my biggest 'threat' but nothing serious. I should add that I've had no urges to drink so far, but that is pretty much the norm for me. My downfall in the past has been a tidal wave of cravings I've been unable to resist. More or less out of the blue too. SMART offered strategies to fight that if that should happen. Fingers crossed.

Hoping people are well and managing to find the right place for themselves with the demon booze!

[brettham]

Mentium, would you share your experience with titrating down? What dosage, for how long, any nasty SE? I'm trying to cope with the SE at 110/100 but having a tough time of it. Any info would be very helpfully. How is the exercise coming? Still at it.Thanks for all the info you've provided so far, it been of a great help. Also, I live outside of Jacksonville, Fl. and wonder if you have heard of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team. We've played in London for the last couple of years and will continue to do so.

Thanks again

Brettham,

[Baclofenman]

Popping in to say hello and that all is well. I'm on zero baclofen at the moment and will probably stay that way. The further I get away from how things were for me at 140 mg the more I think I was having a pretty weird reaction to it. I kind of envy those who seem to sail through it all. And as I've said many times, please don't take me as a typical case!

Anyway I'm going to the gym every second day, which to repeat, is a fantastic way, I have discovered to lift one's mood, attending SMART meetings now and again and managing to stay sober. A bit of boredom in the evening seems to be my biggest 'threat' but nothing serious. I should add that I've had no urges to drink so far, but that is pretty much the norm for me. My downfall in the past has been a tidal wave of cravings I've been unable to resist. More or less out of the blue too. SMART offered strategies to fight that if that should happen. Fingers crossed.

Hoping people are well and managing to find the right place for themselves with the demon booze!

Hi Mentium

Cravings - Yes, Cigarettes (4 a day so not too bad at the mo) Baclofen (lol) Ham slices (?) and pickled onions (wtf)

The guy who takes my sons football has offered my some personal training this Saturday, free as a taster which I (reluctantly) am going to accept

I was a sail through guy until I got carried away and titrated up too quickly and had a bad night - Hopefully I am now back on track but have learned a valuable lesson

Regards


Bacman

[Mentium]

Hi Brettham, I have to say I didn't plan it all that carefully. If I felt OK I reduced the dose almost daily. I went from 140 to zero in about three weeks if I recall. I had no side effects at all to speak of and certainly no withdrawal symptoms of any kind. I suspect the SEs going up are the result of introducing the drug to your brain and body. It is worth just noting that I had not been on baclofen all that long. I lose track of dates but it was only about three months as I recall from when I started taking it (easy enough to look back along this thread). Whether it is more likely one will get SEs going down if one has been on bac for a longer period is a question to ponder perhaps. Having said all that the only cases of really unpleasant SEs I have read about are where people on very high doses suddenly stop altogether. My experience seems to indicate it is safe to titrate down fairly swiftly. My rule of thumb would be to keep the dose steady for a few days if one feels at all wobbly. As ever, just my personal view and experience.

Mentium, would you share your experience with titrating down? What dosage, for how long, any nasty SE? I'm trying to cope with the SE at 110/100 but having a tough time of it. Any info would be very helpfully. How is the exercise coming? Still at it.Thanks for all the info you've provided so far, it been of a great help. Also, I live outside of Jacksonville, Fl. and wonder if you have heard of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team. We've played in London for the last couple of years and will continue to do so.

Thanks again

Brettham,

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Brett, slow is good, going up or down.

The doctors recommend going up every 5 days. I would guess (just a suggestion) that going down would be about the same. Say every 3-5 days by 10-20mg.

Keep in mind I'm not a medical professional and this is just ordinary advice from someone who has been around here for awhile.

Hang in there.

Ment, so glad you're doing so well. Still wishing I could get my ass off the couch and to the gym. I know how well it works. Good on you and keep it up!

[Mentium]

A few days since I posted so I thought I would! The forum seems busier at the moment, which is good!

Nothing much to report here except a bout of winter blues which is bringing me down a bit. I grew up in the sub-tropics and although I have lived in the UK much of my adult life I have never really acclimatised to the short dark days from late October to late March. I do have a full spectrum lamp that is supposed to help but I'm not sure it does. That aside we had snow over the weekend and I was out and about in it yesterday which was fun with two terriers gavotting and leaping about in it!

I am getting a bit tired of the SMART online meetings these days. They are long - up to two hours, though usually 90 minutes and if there are more than 15 or so people people don't get to speak for more than a couple of minutes. The moderator goes down the list of people in the screen and asks them for a few words about how they are doing and then later on a bit about the topic of the evening. Don't get me wrong, they are far better than nothing, but they are very limited really. They have got me almost (but not really!) thinking about attending AA locally. I really don't have time for the pseudo-spiritual judgementalism one finds there, but at least locally they are a pretty decent bunch of people who would do anything for you (as long as you were in the 'fellowship' of course..) I think not on balance.

I am not drinking, which is the main point of all this and life is feeling sort of normal(ish) which is to say the initial honeymoon of being sober is over and now it is time to do all that other stuff!

Spring will soon be here, so that is good!

Hoping people are as well as they can be. Take care all!

[nicnak68]

Hi all X
Re titrating down,I'm afraid I broke all the rules and went from 270 to zero in about 2 weeks but I think I'm in the minority who can do it so don't do as I did!