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**Otter** · February 7, 2016, 11:47 AM

Interesting. I find it odd that these types of people put baclofen in among others as though it I just like all others.

A more comprehensive and intelligent analysis of the drugs out there would categorize them, imho, in terms of the manner in which they work. Ameisen came up with a method of categorizing drugs as either symptom reducing or supressing. The ones which only reduce symptoms tend not to be successful in the long run and baclofen is the only drug which suppresses symptoms. He made a very profound comment about alcoholism as being an entirely symptom based illness in that if you get rid of the symptoms, you get rid of the illness. The illness is the symptoms. Supress them and you have a cure for alcoholism.

I don't think a lot of people actually understand how significant Ameisen's theory is and when I read about someone who has written on the subject and just lists a whole lot of drugs without understanding or even mentioning Ameisen's thinking I just lose interest.

**_serenity_** · February 7, 2016, 12:00 PM

Whoa! I just downloaded it and skimmed through - it has a section on Dr. Levin and Evan, as well as (anonymous) quotes from the rest of us in there. The author obviously spent a good deal of time studying this forum. This should be interesting reading. Thanks for sharing

**Otter** · February 7, 2016, 12:05 PM

Tell us more.

**_serenity_** · February 7, 2016, 12:44 PM

There is a section called "Courageous Dr. Fred Levin and the late Evan P" that went over how Dr. Levin provided help for hundreds of people. It also mentioned Evan's letter writing campaign after Dr. Levin lost his license, and the outpouring of support for the good doctor. There were a number of quotes that were clearly from MWO members (one of which I recognized as my own!) about how much Dr. Levin had helped them. It's quite a large e-book (well over 600 pages) and I haven't had time to skim through it all, but that section definitely stuck out. I'll post more after I've had a chance to read it. I did see that the book was very critical of AA, and also that it does go over pretty much every medication for AL, including experimental ones.

**Ne/Neva Eva** · February 8, 2016, 09:22 AM

hmmmm. I've downloaded the book and look forward to reading it.

Is it wrong of me to be a little irritated that a section about Levin and Evan were included? Especially since she used Evan's real name? Does anyone know if she knew them? That would make me feel better. Still...Evan had a guarantee of anonymity, just as we all do.

hmmmm. I hope I'm just being grumpy and that this book exceeds my expectations.

**Ne/Neva Eva** · February 8, 2016, 09:24 AM

Also, Evan's letter writing campaign netted a total of 17 letters. Sad, but true. I hope Levin is doing well.

**Otter** · February 8, 2016, 10:06 AM

I'm happy with what I have read, The End of My Addiction. I am interested that Dr. Leven and Lo0p made it in the book. Dr. Levin was removed from the Illinois State medical register and Lo0p sadly passed away. It seems that these are some unfortunate stories in the history of baclofen treatment.

I will be interested to hear more.

**cureforalcoholics** · February 8, 2016, 01:30 PM

Originally posted by Otter View Post

I'm happy with what I have read, The End of My Addiction. I am interested that Dr. Leven and Lo0p made it in the book. Dr. Levin was removed from the Illinois State medical register and Lo0p sadly passed away. It seems that these are some unfortunate stories in the history of baclofen treatment.

I will be interested to hear more.

Hi everyone,

My name is Linda and I'm the author of the book.

Thank-you so much Poink for posting my TSM posting. I really wanted everyone here to know about the book - especially right now when it is free, and because this community is such an important part of it. Here's the link:

A Prescription for Alcoholics - Medications for Alcoholism

I had created a new handle for myself here on the same day I posted on the TSM forum and posted something very similar but unfortunately it was automatically blocked by the moderator. I've returned a few times to see if it had made it through. I guess I'll just post as my old self though instead

I knew that there would be several areas that would be controversial and these were areas that I put a great deal of thought into. I know there will be people that don't agree with me and I respect your opinions a great deal and understand those perspectives. Thank-you Otter and Ne/Neva for bringing up a few of these controversial areas already.

I can perhaps share some of my thinking with you now.

Dr. Levin and LoOp
I was extremely inspired by both of these gentlemen, and I think that will come across to anyone who reads the book. I truly think they were incredibly brave people and both of them saved so many people's lives. They didn't have to but they did what they did anyway. I really wanted to honor that. LoOp's real name was published on this forum after he passed and so his anonymity had already been broken. I wanted to honor his memory and felt that by hiding his name I was not fully doing that. I do understand completely that there will be people that don't think that was the right approach. It was not a decision I made lightly though and I do understand the other side of the perspective on this too and respect that thinking also.

Dr. Levin's letters were intended to be used as public support of Dr. Levin's work, and I felt that by publishing them in the words of the people whose lives they changed they told the true story of Dr. Levin. No names were published in association with the letters at all because the names were never made public in the first place (and I don't have any idea who those individuals are, nor did I seek to find out their names at all.) I'm sure very few people outside these forums know about the incredible man that Dr. Levin is, and I hope that becomes more widely known.

Excerpts from Forums
I did a great deal of soul searching about whether to publish excerpts from online postings or not. While this is a public and anonymous place, there is something intimate and very personal here, and so to find something that you have written online published in a book may feel like an invasion of privacy to some. I really understand this and I was very concerned that some people would be uncomfortable with this.

I weighed this out very carefully and here is some of my thinking behind it.

I have read hundreds and hundreds of medical journal articles that conclude - quantitatively - that these drugs make a difference.

But, there is nothing - nothing - I have ever read that hits HOME with me, like reading the stories of human beings in these forums. There are so many stories that make this so real to me - Andy_m's story comes to mind as I write this now for example see his story here -- AndyLink )

... anyway... I felt that no matter what I wrote in the book, for any family member or doctor or alcoholic that was skeptical and critical of the medications... I couldn't make them go and read anything from these forums, but I felt if I put a few excerpts in the book, that some of the human side of it would get through to them. People might read all of these excerpts and think 'maybe this doesn't work all the time - but maybe it works sometimes - and maybe, just maybe, this CAN change someone's life - maybe it is worth giving it a shot'. I felt the excerpts were extremely important to the overall goal of just getting these medications to the people that need help.

Each excerpt was very carefully selected. If something you wrote was selected it was because it was important and worth sharing - it brought a piece of information to the puzzle, or was poignant, or valuable in some way.

So I made the decision to put them in. But I also did my best to further ensure the anonymity of each author. For example, many of the excerpts are not word for word quotes. I took out any possible reference to any name or location or anything that could be identifying in any way. And I did not include any forum name/handle. And while every other quotation in the book has been referenced to a bibliographic source at the end of the book, there is not a single forum source that has been referenced. I have all sources, but I deleted them in the final publishing to make them slightly more difficult to trace back to the original source (it's not that hard, but it is one more measure of anonymity I felt).

There was a posting that actually finally inspired me to decide to include the excerpts in the book (I didn't use it) - it's in the TSM group too - you can see it on this page -- thesinclairmethod.com â€¢ View topic - READ ME: PRIVACY ... it's what providence wrote in 2009, which I thought was beautiful:
"I want the whole world to see what it's like. Not just TSM and the side effects, the effectiveness or the controversy surrounding it. They need to see that they are not alone, they have not failed AA, Rehab or themself. That we can see the humor, the pain, the support, we bring here everyday. They can feel that they are a growing part of the quality of life we are inspiring.
I don't care if Non Alcoholic view it, I don't care if they post. Maybe they have friends and family and they have questions. Maybe they are a med student, future therapist, new advisor for addiction and want to offer other solutions to those like us.
I hope everyday that someone reads the stuff here and finds comfort and hope."

AA

The other controversial thing is AA... well I write a lot about AA in the book and would probably repeat a lot of it if I just commented on that here, I say pretty much everything I want to say about it in the book...

Baclofen
Otter - as for your point on baclofen, "He made a very profound comment about alcoholism as being an entirely symptom based illness in that if you get rid of the symptoms, you get rid of the illness. The illness is the symptoms. Suppress them and you have a cure for alcoholism." I have to agree with you on this.
Unfortunately, when I provide a summary of the book I do tend to lump all of the drugs in a big long list like that, even though many of them are very different as you've pointed out. I wish I could go into more detail everywhere (I'm sure as you can see from this posting and from the 600+ pages of the book I'm a detailed kind of gal!). If you do change your mind and decide to take a read through I would be very interested in your opinion on the baclofen section in particular. Within the book itself, the most important drugs, of which baclofen is certainly one, are dealt with completely separately from each other.

I hope that provides some more insight to anyone who was interested. Thank-you in advance to anyone who has taken the time to download it and look through it.

You can download it today for free even if you don't want to read it right now (you'll own it forever - it won't disappear).

Linda

**_serenity_** · February 8, 2016, 05:55 PM

Hi Linda,

I just wanted to say that I wasn't offended that you used my quote, just surprised to see it.

I wasn't offended either by the AA criticisms. I found them quite valid.

**Ne/Neva Eva** · February 8, 2016, 06:00 PM

Linda,

Thank you for your thoughtful response about our concerns and the information you made available about the book.

I've read about half of the book, jumping around, and I am really impressed. The only other book that I can think of that comes close (and it doesn't compare, in some ways) is Clean by David Scheff, which heretofore has been my recommendation when someone wants to know the truth about addiction, treatment and the real ways to get contentedly sober.

I will reserve the right to be annoyed about information you've included from this forum without reaching out to the people to get permission. I haven't read that section, yet.

In the meantime, I have sent the book to two people. One of whom, a friend of a friend, reached out to me today to "admit" she was alcoholic and that AA didn't work for her. There are no coincidences, something you reluctantly point out in your book. (And I agree wholeheartedly with your take on that.)

Needless to say, when I finish it I'll be reviewing it on Amazon, recommending it on our new forum and Facebook and twitter and everywhere else...I hope what I haven't read is as good as what I have read.

I also hope that we may be able to talk soon about some projects we're working on outside of this forum relative to medication for addiction. Without question I know that we are working toward the same goals. I'll PM you or send an email through your website.

Thank you for the book. And a huge congratulations to you. I can't imagine what it's like to write, finish and then self-publish. I'm awed.

Karen (Ne)

**Ne/Neva Eva** · February 9, 2016, 11:55 AM

Linda, my psychiatrist does not own a kindle. Ridiculous I know! I don't know how she exists without one...

I see that it's only available in kindle right now. Do you have an estimate as to when it might be available as a bound book? If not, I'll show her how to download the kindle app tomorrow at our appointment and have her get it that way. It's too important a book for her not to have it!

**cureforalcoholics** · February 9, 2016, 12:34 PM

from _serenity_:"I just wanted to say that I wasn't offended that you used my quote, just surprised to see it. I wasn't offended either by the AA criticisms. I found them quite valid."

Hi _serenity_
I'm so glad you said that and I'm really glad I didn't offend you. It means a great deal to me what the people on this forum think. Thanks so much for posting that... :happy2:
Linda

**Ne/Neva Eva** · February 9, 2016, 12:38 PM

Originally posted by Ne/Neva Eva View Post

I will reserve the right to be annoyed about information you've included from this forum without reaching out to the people to get permission. I haven't read that section, yet.

Btw, if I am annoyed, I'll get over myself.

The book is a wonder.

**cureforalcoholics** · February 9, 2016, 12:44 PM

Originally posted by Ne/Neva Eva View Post

I will reserve the right to be annoyed about information you've included from this forum without reaching out to the people to get permission. I haven't read that section, yet.

Yes - I completely get you and I will not try to talk you out of that Ne/Neva!

Everything you have written has been so incredibly kind and gracious and generous - thank you so much for such kind words.

Last night when I read them I was just overwhelmed - it really made many of the hours on this thing feel worthwhile

I also really greatly appreciate your offer to review it on Amazon. I'm just learning this publishing thing, but it seems books without reviews (even bad ones) don't get any traction on Amazon so any and all reviews of the book are very important right now.

I will definitely keep an eye out for your email or PM.

Have a great day!
Linda

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