Thanks. I have posted in the 24 hour thread and will spend some time over there.
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Well that's 'day one' sorted. It should be 'night one' really. The number of those I've had..and how I hate them.
Second day today and although a bit wobbly I am already more clear headed. Posting here because I am still at 80 ng of bac and will stick at that for a few days until I'm properly dried out and then see. I don't know if it is related but I have absolutely no desire to drink. I was getting close to a mini-rock bottom mind you - well the mind in shreds and the body feeling not to far behind, so in some ways it is a relief.
SMART looks good. They have on-line audio meetings. Not a Step in sight!Comment
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Morning/afternoon, Ment.
First thing is that I noticed you've gone down from 140mg to 80mg in 3 days. Dude. Learn from me! Take it slow and steady up and down. (I have no doubt that some of those side effects you experienced had to do with your fast titration. Which is not to say I think you should take baclofen [though, of course, I believe in baclofen as one of the better options] but slow and steady up and down wins this game. Don't rush down! Seriously. It's not good for you.)
Glad you found a recovery group. I find them very helpful. Mine was here, this last time around. But it's one of the reasons that I love AA. I seriously love being in a room full of my people. I love alcoholics. Always have, always will. And I guarantee you, if I find a man attractive in any way, he's got an alcohol problem. Lol. The ones that didn't have one didn't last very long, or I took terrible advantage of them. Anyway. What the heck were we talking about? Not my old love life. I'm surprised I still remember any of it, it's been so long....
Okay. So baclofen. Do me a big favor and hang tight. So long as you're not experiencing side effects, it can help you stay sober, curb cravings at a much lower dose than finding "the switch". Many doctors use it that way, and I think 80mg is a great place for that. If you are still very uncomfortable about taking it, then you must stop! Increased anxiety when you're trying to quit drinking is exactly what you DON'T need, regardless of the source. But 10-20mg every 5 days is fast enough, since 10-20mg every 3 days going up didn't work for you very well, ya' know?
Not that I'm giving medical advice.
Hang in there on day 2 my friend, and huge congrats on day 1! :hug:Comment
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I did drop pretty quickly but I figured that as I have not been on them all that long I would be OK. I seem to have been but perhaps I was lucky.
I thought I would keep at this level (80 mg) for a while, partly because from what I have read, as you also point out, it can ease withdrawal and potentially reduce cravings. It also gives me the option to go back up again I suppose if I need to, not that it is part of the plan at this point.
I was going to go over to a SMART meeting tomorrow morning. It is 80 miles away and it would have meant an early start. Unfortunately my dear old mum needs a ride to an appointment to that has knocked that on the head. Will observe an on-line meeting this evening to get the feel of it though.
Currently I have no desire to drink at all.
Thanks as ever Ne.Comment
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"currently I have no desire to drink at all"
Could that possibly be the baclofen, working at last now you have stopped drinking & given it a chance? Why did you not feel you could stop before, when you have suddenly given it up completely without any hesitation?
Why not just stay at 80mg for a week or so, or even go back up a bit very slowly. You'll find the SE much less troubling now that the alcohol isn't potentiating them.
Just a thought.Comment
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It may be the baclofen, but basically I was at that stage most of us get to where something had to give. I was feeling so dreadful and the idea of waking up to yet another day with a fuzzy hangover and anxiety screaming through my body finally gave me enough motivation to tell myself to stop. I chucked out all the alcohol in the house and sat it out.
I do plan to do as you suggest Molly. I'll stick at 80 for a few days and when I'm fully dried out I'll think about what to do baclofen wise. Whether it is making is easier I'm not sure. It may be but right now I just feel relief to have jumped off the roller coaster.
I joined up with SMART too. Got an online meeting in an hour. Should be interesting!Comment
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Day three here and beginning to feel a little more human! The grinding anxiety that characterised the last few weeks before I managed to put the brakes on is subsiding thank goodness. I attended an on-line SMART recovery meeting last night. I was really impressed by how well it was organised and how well it worked - mostly down the to facilitator. A mixture of people with microphones, people using text (my microphone decided to develop a glitch so I had to abandon it). About 20 people attended the session and there were lots of slides and whatnot to download. Last night most of the focus was on relapse prevention. There is a forum for SMART but it is really hard to navigate. Here is the main site - click on 'community' if you want to look take a look.
UK SMART Recovery (this is the UK one - there's a USA based one too)
I will be participating in the 'general' forum rather than here from here on unless I have anything significant to say regarding baclofen. Will stay in touch though - I feel like I have made friends here!Comment
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Mentium, best of luck to you. It sounds like you know yourself and know what works or doesn't work for you. You also have a drive to be sober and are finding your way. Congratulations.Comment
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Can't stay away from this thread it seems! Day five now and not the remotest desire to drink. For some reason I'm reluctant to put it down to baclofen but it is quite possible that is helping I suppose. My reluctance may be due to the fact that actually getting that day one started was as hard as it always is.
Attended two SMART online meetings in three days now. Very helpful and even more so that they start at more or less the old wine o'clock. Anyone can join in, as a reminder.
Wrote to my 'consultant' last night to tell him of my good news, given that our last communication told me he would not prescribe over 100 mg and I should use 'all other means' to get sober. Left me wondering if he really does understand what Ameisen and others discovered. Either way I should not be ungrateful as without it, whether getting off the booze is the direct result or not, I know I would still be struggling. Reading, researching, seeking guidance, making the effort to go 100 miles to see a consultant, feeling a ray of hope after so many years. All of that due to Ameisen's book and the good people here.
Not to be complacent. Only day five. But I feel more a member of the human race today.Comment
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"for some reason I'm reluctant to put it down to the baclofen" WHY??
Why can't two different methods work in combination - your SMART meetings plus the baclofen? The two together mean you can keep the bac at a dose low enough to avoid SE, but high enough to prevent craving. Please don't be tempted to eliminate the bac altogether on the basis that you have found "the right answer" in SMART. Endless posts in this forum attest to the fact that medication needs psychological back up & vice versa. There is no one single magic bullet.
And what a bonus - the SMART meetings start at wine o'clock! What could be better. I seem to recall the discussion earlier about finding an activity that covers the period of time when you would normally start to drink, which was difficult for you as not much starts at 9pm.
It looks as though many factors are coming together for you. Please keep posting your progress here as I can't be bothered to labour through all the other fora!
And - KEEP TAKING THE BACLOFEN!Comment
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You may well be right Molly. I am not ruling it out that is for sure.
And I will continue with the bac for now!Comment
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Mentium - First of all, congratulations on five days AF! That’s awesome! I also want to second what Molly said. It looks to me like the bac is working for you. You said it was just as difficult this time to get that day one started, but by day three, you had no cravings or desire to drink at all! Has that ever happened in the past when you’ve quit drinking? I would guess almost definitely not, otherwise you would have quit years ago, if all it meant was a one or two day struggle. I agree that by combining bac with SMART, you can keep your bac dose low and still benefit from it. You don’t really *need* to reach true indifference if you plan on working the SMART program to stay completely AF from now on, but having help with cravings will go a long way in helping you achieve your goals. I also agree (for selfish reasons) that I’d like to see you keep posting in the meds forum. I like seeing you here
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It is the end of the sixth day since I quit drinking. It hasn't been the best of days to be honest. We have had huge floods in my small city and it has made the national headlines. Several hundred ruined houses and the place is surrounded by water on three sides which means that all the traffic is coming in and going out via a road not far from here. Still we are lucky as we live at the top of one of the few hills in the city. I suspect the value of our house has just gone up a few notches given that similar floods ten years ago were a 'once in a thousand year event' according the 'experts'. People who have been flooded twice in a decade won't be able to get insurance. Climate change deniers take note.
All of which might seem irrelevant to alcohol or its absence except for the fact that all the parks in the city - and there are many and they are glorious and the river side walks - are flooded and so my dog walking, usually up to two hours a day (maybe 90 minutes in the dark days of winter) has been severely curtailed. So I have been a bit stir crazy today. Walking Alfie and Molly are my exercise and my aerobic workout - there are a few hills here and there - and I always feel better after a decent walk. I hate winter anyway and I am sure I suffer from SAD, having grown up in a hot sunny climate and never having quite acclimatised I fear.
So today has been dark, tedious and really very boring. That boring thing when you can't even summon the energy to get off your arse and find something to do to overcome the boredom?
Be all that as it may I am not drinking and don't intend to. I have no desire to, although consciously I know alcohol is something of a cure, if that is the right word, for boredom. Somehow knowing that consciously and being tempted by it are two different things and I am not really even remotely tempted.
I'm still not sure if I am technically 'indifferent; but it doesn't really matter does it? I'm not drinking and I don't really want to. That's what matters.
Tomorrow will be a week. That's something to feel good about!Comment
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Incredible! Awesome! Well done Ment. It only gets better from where you are now. The "boredom" syndrome seems to be the key to relapse for many, if not most, AUD'ers. The brain is definitely missing it's euphoria (though short lived) and will try to convince you to have just "one or two" to liven things up a bit. It truly does take the brain the months to adapt to living without alcohol. Before baclofen, my brain simply refused to allow me to 'think' that anything could be worth doing unless it had alcohol to 'help'. LOL -but true. Baclofen or not, the brain does not easily forget the so called 'perceived' positive effects that alcohol provided.
You are doing great Ment! This was a good read -to read tonight.Comment
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A week has gone by I am a little amazed to realise. How do I feel? Anxious and a bit shaky to be honest. Early days of course, but I would be hoping for a bit of a sobriety bonus by now.
Oh well, onwards!Comment
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