My baclofen journey

[Mentium]

Plateauing at 100 mg for a couple of days now. What would I do without advice here? I'd be rushing it and probably feeling awful(ish). I feel like I have wasted some time though. I reached 100 mg 10 days ago, wound down to 60 while I pondered whether to continue and then when I did I had a bit of a glitch. Anyway, that's in the past. 100 isn't resulting in any particularly bothersome SEs. Let's hope it stays that way. Will up the dose tomorrow.

Just in passing, many people here seem to notice other effects with baclofen. Not necessarily side effects, put unexpected or even atypical effects such as a reduction in anxiety, an increase in anxiety (less so), impacts on sleep and other neurological and/or physical effects. I can't say that I have. I may be overly conscious and looking out for effects, but the only thing I have noticed is something that feels very subtle and psychological. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it is as if my mind/thinking is subtly different. Odd and quite possibly all in my imagination.

Imagination - it can be a curse!

Edit: I just noticed that this thread has had over 150 visits. I looked at the number of hits some other threads get and some of them are high - a lot higher too relative to the number of responses. It strikes me that there are either a lot of members out there who don't feel they want to post for whatever reason and/or there are a lot of lurkers who have joined up out of curiosity and maybe even hope that there is something good going on here. All the more reason to keep our game up!

[Molly78]

It would be nice to think the lurkers are other alcoholics looking for support & advice, but not quite ready to become members yet (you can browse for quite a while without signing up.) It has been suggested that there are doctors & researches looking at this forum with interest to see how baclofen is evolving. That's Otter's theory, maybe he will be along to enlarge on it.

Well done for reaching 100 & staying there. Good news SE not too bad. Bac is GABA-B agonist, not surprising if it has subtle effects on mood & cognition.

[Mentium]

There's a side effect that seems to return whenever my dose creeps up. It's not serious or even alarming but it is a bit weird. I've commented on it before and tried to describe it, but it is difficult to. It's happening this evening, perhaps as I consolidate 100 mg?

It is a visual 'disturbance'. Imagine a scene in a film or on TV which suddenly shifts. A 'cut' to another picture perhaps, only what you get is the scene you were just watching! That's about the best I can describe it I think. This happens several times a minute and I suspect is about something happening pretty deep in the brain. Not that I know!

Anyway just thought I'd note it here. Anyone else experience anything like this or am I just weird? ..don't answer that!

[Mentium]

Well it is the first time over 100 mg today - 110. Unknown territory. Today I have tingly slightly hot hands. They feel a bit stiff too. Of course at my age it could be any number of things, but I suspect it is baclofen related. Nothing alarming though.

We are having the wettest, darkest and most miserable November I can recall in years here. It is 2.45 and it is getting dark! The poor dogs suffer the most as coincidentally much of the rain has fallen in the afternoons and we have had to abandon several walks.

A little family stuff. My parents moved to this part of the world six years ago. I'm an only child and they were beginning to struggle in their 80s. Dad died last year at the age of 89. I knew I would take it hard, but I didn't realise what a shock losing a parent is. I don't think I will ever be the same. Dad struggled with booze for at least part of his life. We lived in Hong Kong, a very alcohol focused expat life was to be had. No drinking laws at the time (thus my early intro to it) and lots of parties. I remember him coming home drunk and a few stand up shouting matches between him and my mother. He always drank and after retiring at the age of 47 from HK and buying a wonderful place in the Welsh borders countryside he make loads of home brew beer and wine. It was horrible stuff but he drank it by the gallon. The odd things was, from my perspective anyway, was the he slowed right down as he got older and seemed to have control over it.

They say alcoholism 'runs in families'. I'm not sure how much of an alcoholic he was and come to that while I am a 'problem drinker' and 'dependent' I have never drunk 'uncontrollably' the way some of the people at AA used to describe. I am sure there are degrees of the 'illness' if indeed that is what it is. Not that I would ever class myself in some way as a superior alcoholic! A lucky one perhaps.

Just thinking and reminiscing out loud.

[nicnak68]

Well as of today I'm up to 300mg and no switch and my first switch was 180mg.
Anyone heard of anyone having to this far back up?
Should I go down and in effect start again?....not sure if I should just keep trying or try a different tact

[dundrinkn]

There's a side effect that seems to return whenever my dose creeps up. It's not serious or even alarming but it is a bit weird. I've commented on it before and tried to describe it, but it is difficult to. It's happening this evening, perhaps as I consolidate 100 mg?

It is a visual 'disturbance'. Imagine a scene in a film or on TV which suddenly shifts. A 'cut' to another picture perhaps, only what you get is the scene you were just watching! That's about the best I can describe it I think. This happens several times a minute and I suspect is about something happening pretty deep in the brain. Not that I know!

Anyway just thought I'd note it here. Anyone else experience anything like this or am I just weird? ..don't answer that!

OMG!! I have that too. It is the strangest thing. And sometimes I think I'm just making it up. And you're so right, it is really hard to describe but you did it perfectly. I don't have it all the time, and it is worse for me as I go up. It seems to mostly go away if I'm at the same does for a bit. However, I do still get it occasionally and it feels like I'm living in an alternate universe or something.

[Mentium]

Experiencing this phenomena right now. Just taken my last dose of the day and it's 10 mg more than yesterday. It is such a strange experience because as you say Dundrinkn it is like experiencing some alternative reality. When the 'flashes' happen sometimes what you think you see seems for the briefest moment subtly different from what you were just seeing. Very strange indeed, though not troublesome. I'm glad it isn't just me!

[Mentium]

Second day at 110 mg here. I don't seem to have developed any SEs to speak of (except one I will come to in a moment). I think I will go to 120 tomorrow all being well.

Raining again here and there are flood warnings out. This is the longest wet spell I can remember - and this is a wet part of the world! It means being stuck indoors which is not good for me - or the dogs. We all love getting out and about and walking an hour in the morning and a shorter walk in the evening in winter are my main forms of exercise.

Well it could be because life is a bit boring what with the rain at the moment or it could be a SE - it is certainly on the list of common SEs, but my..er...'naughty' drive seems to have gone into overdrive the last couple of days. I will say no more! Might as well enjoy it, right?

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Haha! I remember having that, and my husband had a period of time when he was 18 again. I bent over when we were on a walk with the dog (to pick up poo, no less) and the next thing I know, we're rushing home. It was very fun. I definitely recommend that you enjoy it. It doesn't last. Thank goodness! I took this comment from another thread:

I am once again struck by the variety of experiences and effects baclofen seems to create. I'm on 110 mg as I titrating up and I can't say I've noticed any particular effects on mood, levels of anxiety or anything like that. Ameisen's book left me hoping not only that I would stop craving alcohol when I quit drinking but that my low chronic level of anxiety when sober would go. It was Ameisen's experience after all, though his anxiety level was somewhat higher. Professor Chick, who I saw prior to starting on baclofen said he wasn't sure there was much evidence that it did combat anxiety, which was disappointing. I'm going for it anyway, as 'indifference' will be worth it too.

So it seems that baclofen has a pretty wide spectrum of effects, side effects and creates very different experiences from individual to individual.

I think, as you go higher, you will have a variety of experiences that do just what you want them to do. I don't think baclofen alone was enough to combat my lifelong anxiety, but it definitely helped. And there was a period of time when it was completely gone. Much like the SE you're experiencing now, that calm didn't last. But the experience stayed with me and I know to look for it now. It can definitely be found using other tools, as well.
jkktdp! And you'll be surprised, I think.

[Mentium]

Well today I'm at 120 mg. It feels kind of like climbing one of our Lake District mountains in the hope you will reach the top soon, though it is out of sight in the mists above. Of course also not having experienced this before - as well as it being new territory for most people - one can't be 100% sure there is actually a 'top'!

When I have had periods of sobriety in the past, the longest being with AA for two spells I felt a whole lot better in lots of ways, but I was never content and never what one might call 'happily' sober. There was always something missing - of course that was alcohol and the evil magic it performs on the brain chemistry. People who managed to stay sober for a couple of years seem to recover - literally, and the serotonin and related brain chemistry systems appear to repair themselves. Or maybe they just got used to the sober state of affairs. The long term sober people I met certainly had found something.

I never stayed sober long enough I fancy. The combination of huge relief combined with self disgust, guilt and disappointment when I caved in were extraordinary. It was craving for that elusive something - not alcohol as such, but the state of mind - of being really - that comes with it that did me in and does so every time I manage to stop. It is this 'baclofen journey' I am on which I am so much hoping will knock that for six.

Elsewhere on the forum a certain individual promotes the idea of stopping drinking before starting on baclofen - or other drug regimes. What that individual seems to have forgotten is that most of us would do that if we could. That is the nature of addiction after all. People who are dependent on alcohol have enough guilt and low self esteem, self loathing sometimes and a nagging doubt that this is all their fault even if a part of us knows beyond doubt that this thing has a vice like grip on us. Reinforcing the sense that we are weak and should, indeed and actually can 'pull ourselves together' feels like the least helpful and old fashioned blame game of an angle one could take on this problem. People sometimes drink until it kills them. Most that do, do so because they can't stop themselves. That a person who has suffered the curse of addiction can take the 'self control' view is beyond me.

Anyway I live with hope. Onwards!

[lex]

Mentium- compelling post. I'm rooting for you! Lex

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Man, those people who swear we have to be abstinent for this to work have been around forever. Mine was a woman named Sunnyvalenting and she and I battled about it for what seemed like years. (Here's one of her first posts about it on my thread, but we had the debate elsewhere as well. https://www.mywayout.org/community/me...tml#post958562)

Well, I'm here to tell you, she was wrong. Not only that, she relapsed, couldn't stop drinking and so wouldn't take baclofen again. Oh, the irony and the tragedy of it.

So jkttdp. But listen, particularly as you go higher, 20mg/week is what the professionals recommend... It is hard to do that, I was never able to, but I paid the price with a bevy of SEs I might have avoided.

[Mentium]

I hear you Ne. I know I'm rushing. I will slow down. Tingly and slightly shaky hands today - and it isn't the booze!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

By the way, it's a common urban myth, perpetuated by me, that many people find some sort of solace, some difference, at 140mg. Now I'm not sayin' it's true, but I believe it.

It happened to me, right around this time in 2010. I had my whole family for Thanksgiving, didn't drink a wink, and everyone remarked how calm and put together I was. Too bad this Thanksgiving isn't gonna be like that one! HA!

[Mentium]

Using this thread as a log more or less now...Just to note that this evening having possibly increased the dose a tad too fast the shock sensations in my hands and the visual disturbances described earlier are quite severe. I wouldn't say they are in any way unpleasant but they are certainly weird.