craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

[Firebird]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

I'll be following the progress of some of the current/ ex tsm'ers here with great interest. I'd love to find the answer for knocking down that last bit of resistance I seem to be having. Also, the problem marbella was talking about is really familiar to me. Just taking a nal makes me feel so sick that it hardly seems worth it for a beer or two.

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

All is working out great here. starting my 19th AF day in a row. No craving, no wasted energies on alcohol. Full control over my life.

TREMENDOUS changes here.
I have a co-worker in the states and he married some bitch that likes luxury life style.
I previously started to work in CET around 8am and worked up till 11pm CET - to fit with his online times. He would come online like 10-11am his time and reference that he is doing more work in the late hours.

Now because of Baclofen I sleep only 3-4 hours a night. I had yesterday over 20 awake hours and was tired when going to bed and I guessed I would sleep at least 5 hours. And I slept only 3 hours!!! :eeks:
Will probably try to catch an hour or two extra around lunch time. I am slowly running out of work because of the amount of work I deal with each day - so I am thinking I should try to get some more sleep!
I am thinking clearly during all my awake hours, and when I sleep I sleep like a baby - entering directly into REM after 1-3 minutes. Thats the way I love it!

Because of this co-worker I had a lot of stress in my life. I had him command my life, and whenever he called - no matter what time, I got online. I was afraid that he could try to remove me off the company, making lots of work go to the shit. Imagine how much stress that adds to an alcoholic! So I drank mainly because of him.

I come online usually at 3am CET (9pm his time) now and guess what ... he is not online!! So meanwhile I spent my evenings working hard and feeling scared when taking a little time for myself, he goes out eating each day and enjoys his evenings.
I told him now that I work more in the mornings I want work done also in the mornings. In other words, he must work his evenings too now.

REVENGE IS SWEET. :yes2::gramps:

so instead of being afraid that he would remove me I turned it all around. I have so much power that I could even imagine running the company without him if needed. So that leaves me in a very powerful position. I already started to reduce his privileges and his rights, and now I am stressing him to work more. So he realizes that there is a danger in him being removed if he does not work fine :quoted: :bat

"You know the very successful business guy? I'm him. On crack."
"I am the updated version 1.1 now"

these are the quotes that follow me each day. I get up with so much power. My self esteem has changed SIGNIFICANTLY since then. I do not need to waste my evenings drinking anymore, and Baclofen reduces my sleep even further!

I was even that excited that I told my mother about the positive changes in my life. Mainly explained her that I am taking a muscle relaxant against my back pain and constant headache - I was taking a lot of Ibuprofen - usually 2400mg single dose to deal with it - sometimes 2 times a day. These pains are totally gone now.
My anxiety and fear of change is totally gone. I can think clearly now and take wise decisions. I would not have thought that I have a problem with that.
Again, both of this could be Baclofen or alcohol!

Luckily nobody knows about my alcohol problems beside my girlfriend. Not even medical system is aware of that - and want to keep it that way. I simply do not want them to give as excuse "its your alcohol abuse" instead of dealing with me correctly.
She notices the positive changes also. Just lately I am a little moody when she talks to me - I seem to have less patience with people now. If you know me, I am the person that lets everything add up until it becomes unacceptable instead of dealing with it right away. So instead of disputing my co-workers move to the states I stayed silent until it became too much for me and I exploded. This explode after a long period of patience is very typical for me. So I do not think that this is actually a bad thing - just might need some fine tuning.

Baclofen has done so many changes here. If you could see me, you would say I am a new person!!!!!

[ThisWayOut]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

I find this thread interesting. TSM, Naltrexone, Baclofen, Sleeping pills, Alcohol, no Alcohol. Fascinating. I wonder with your experimentation have you tried a Placebo as a baseline - but might not be easy to do that yourself, but it would be interesting reference point. Personally, I use Hydrogen Dioxide in liquid form (not pill form). Strangely, I have not experienced any side effects yet, but it is still early on. Good Luck, TWO

[Chillgirl]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

This Way Out you have a very good point here....
All that monitoring dosages, graphs and calculations looks exhausting!

Before we become alcohol dependant we managed to survive without all these drugs. Yes at the beginning you have to go through discomfort and sleeplessness but once thats over and your body has detoxed the physical addiction is over. Is the continuing with substitutes not just keeping the psychological addiction fed for longer...?

[ThisWayOut]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

ChillGirl, you make a good point. - Your right - we did manage to survive without all these drugs. It is exhausting enough monitoring my Hydrogen Dioxide intake, I can't imagine all these other dosages and calculations - someone taking them not knowing why and worrying about the side effect (short and long term). Fascinating though - its like watching a science experiment first hand. TWO

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

ThisWayOut;800438 wrote: ChillGirl, you make a good point. - Your right - we did manage to survive without all these drugs. It is exhausting enough monitoring my Hydrogen Dioxide intake, I can't imagine all these other dosages and calculations - someone taking them not knowing why and worrying about the side effect (short and long term). Fascinating though - its like watching a science experiment first hand. TWO

I have never heard of Hydrogen Dioxide before. What is it and for what do you use it?
On my search I found this page Ban Hydrogen Dioxide which sounds quite scary to me!!

Baclofen is at least not brought into combination with unwilling suicide

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

Although I was never in AA, I have read a short story about it in Ameisen. It says to avoid feelings that make you go up or down too much. The euphoric post the other day was most likely one of these days.

21 AF days in a row. 3 wonderful weeks! :goodjob:

Yesterday the slap back came for my euphoric work fanatism. I already reduced my work time - as 20 hours a day was simply insane, and nobody of my co-workers is doing any hours near to that.

I have been sleeping in some nights this week 3 hours - and still was fully functional. Now it seems to adjust itself to a comfortable 5 hours sleep. Not to talk of the extra hours I was wasting on sleeping before!

So we have been yesterday at the Cinema and spending our time useful on our free time. She told me she would get a beer and started to order food - movie would start in 5 minutes, and I told her, but why did you do it?
Figured she has a lot of problems with me lately, as I am very focused at work and every time she wants to talk to me she has to wait some time, as I like to finish work before putting it out of my hands again. She dislikes my reduced patience and the less tolerance towards her. She got used to tell me - oh go upstairs and get this please. I was basically all day running up and down for her. Not doing that anymore.

So she was not talking all night with me - then sleeping in another room. :durn:

I did not consider drinking alcohol. It was not an option. Without Baclofen I would have never succeeded in 3 absolute abstinent weeks!

I was reducing my Bupropion dose slowly to withdraw from it. I was down to 150mg a day (1 pill) - instead of taking usually 2-3 pills a day. Yesterday my feelings became too intensive. Too much for me to handle. I was keeping talking to her, instead of just shutting up. So what this brought me into is a very bad positions where I accepted her "i am liabeled" and she was re-assured she is doing the right thing - she figured she can hurt me with it, as I really seemed to care too much about this. I was really scared that a long term relationship could go down the drain because of this. Having dealt with so many things the last weeks, and then potentially loosing my gf would have really put me in a very difficult position yet again.

Will keep on ignoring her all day, which is not a problem on Bupropion - I could not care less.
When she is like that she needs her space and not me being a whine!
And wait until she gets back to me. Stopping talking is not a valid option - it just leaves me sick. My father used to psychologically mistreat me by punishing me with ignorance.

Ignorance is really a terrible thing for me to deal with.

So I am back to 2 - maybe 3 pills today Bupropion - making my withdrawal go to sh%t. Baclofen has had so far quite positive success in handling the depressions, anxiety and I can focus on things although I am ADHD (also taking Bupropion for that)

Yesterday I had a wonderful cosy cotton feeling. Was feeling like being wrapped with cotton. Very woolen. I figured this is something I have heard before about Benzos - feeling wrapped in cotton. Still I received overwhelming emotions.

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

still having this cotton feeling. Feels like all my body is covered with cotton. Feeling totally woolen. I really like the feeling. Feels warm.
Anyone having had the same thing? It did not happen before on Baclofen!

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

I just returned from the hospital.

I took yesterday 2 pills Doxylamin to sleep - it was my first time taking that amount.
I could not go to the toilet anymore. retention of urine in the bladder.

They had to put in a Catheter and clear out the urine!

I am not sure if it was Doxylamin - they confirmed my view at the hospital that this is a possible side effect. They recommended me to not take anymore Doxylamin - not even one.

I did not reference the others medicine I am taking though. Bupropion (raised from 1 to 3 pills a day yesterday), Pseudoephedrin (for my nasal congestion) and of course Baclofen - which I really did not want to reference to them.

I really hope that I can go to the toilet on my own now - otherwise I will have to get a Catheter until Monday - which would be very painful.
For now I have not taken any Pseudoephedrin, no Bupropion and also reduced my Baclofen. I really hope I can have my body to figure this one out!!

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

update: the problems have not passed.
doxyalamin has a half-life of 10 hours. So the effect should have been passed by now.

It might be Minocyclinhydrochlorid instead!!! I take it only short time against acne and it has so far caused tons of side effects for me. Look at that! A thing that causes esthetical benefits with a such unacceptable side effect!!

I am curious what the doctors will say. Probably since it is an antibiotics my possibility to urinate will not instantly return!!:upset::upset:

I have upped my Baclofen dose back to normal (5x50mg=250mg/day). I definately don't want a fall back because of that. And knowing that Baclofen did not do that to me, is a very safe thing. The only thing I could read about Baclofen is that people go more to the toilet.

[Jenn]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

you might consider...

Hi Craving,
I almost don't want to post this, because your posts sound so upbeat and positive overall...
but, quite honestly, I think you may be doing yourself a wee bit of a disservice...
yes! not drinking is great! yes! I believe baclofen may be the answer many of us are looking for....
However, you are taking a chemical stew of meds. It's no wonder you are having some problems. IMHO, you need to tell your medical professionals all of the meds you are taking before you end up having more serious problems. They can at least check out what is conflicting in your very own body, and help you adjust them. Worst case there are some web site that will ID conflicts between different meds... I am not an MD, just a nurse who actually often has issues with the medical establishment. But if you don't know the interactions of what you are putting into your body, you are playing with fire at the very least.
In addition, I have been wondering just how fast you titrated up on the baclofen. You post you started it a month ago (1/8/10) but you are already taking 250 mg/day?? This is not a judgement, just curiosity. I started bac on 1/24/10 and would love it if I could push the titrating up faster so I could get to "the switch" soonest. But everything I have read (here and Dr A's books and other places online) advise to start at 15 mg & only go up 10 mg every 3-5 days...
Thank you for posting all that's going on with you.......all info is good.
wishing you well,
Jenn

[craving]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

So here I am - in my 20s with my first serious medical intervention.

The funny thing is that I always thought that my first serious medical intervention would be related to alcohol. A fall being drunken, some liver problems or withdrawal effects, I guess you get the idea.

That made me realize one thing. Baclofen is my "wonderdrug".
I use the word "wunderdrug" although it is not. Pencilin for the one having pnuemonia and being cured is not a "wonder" at all. When Penicilin was first used it was unbelievable for the previous thought that it was uncure-able.

Baclofen is not a "cure" for alcohol though. It is only a replacement - a substitute that lets me avoid serious damages to my body. I am fully aware that I will be relapsing should I stop taking Baclofen. Its an immediate action of the drug that happens just as long the drug is in your body - the absolute suppression of craving.

I figure if they had found the Anti-Craving pattern of Baclofen before a lot would be different now. Meanwhile the patent was still in force they would have been surely interested in running trials and their company value would have increased extremely just by releasing high dose Baclofen for alcohol addiction.

Jenn, I understand what you mean. I really hope that this problems are solved next week and then I can hopefully look into a good future. Otherwise I am seriously considering disclosing all the medicine I am taking. Only thing is really Baclofen and Bupropion that I did not disclose yet. Just for now I think we have found what has caused this. I was before on Baclofen and Bupropion and was always dosing it like required, with not serious side effects.

For now I am reducing my Baclofen. 6.25mg a dose (1/4 of 25mg pills) less - I am taking 5 times a day, so reducing by 31.25mg now. Will see how fast I can reduce with it, and how fast withdrawal effects might set in (with one withdrawal effect having craving back!)

About Baclofen, I found it very effective taking it in as needed. If I was feeling the urge to drink I would up the dose, and shortly after I was feeling indifferent to alcohol. If you consider Baclofen as a replacement for alcohol it is really that - a substitute.

As you can see the biggest withdrawal I took was a 100mg reduce in a day which almost had me relapse to drinking. Biggest increase was by 150mg in 2 days (adding each day 75mg). I was really sleeping very deep those days.

[Jenn]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

Thanks Craving for posting your "dosing up" schedule of the baclofen. Think I may try to push my own up just a little.... still drinking too much, tho' it's a lot less than before!
Be Well,
Jenn

[christyacc]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

craving;798702 wrote: Happy to keep you guys updated.
On TSM I wrote a report almost all days. But hardly ever had any feedback from the forum.
Will increase my presence on this board and stop to post on TSM. It makes much more sense, as I am not doing TSM anymore (had no success) and MWO seems to cover all kinds of techniques to quit, I feel here more welcome!

Hopefully now just success stories! - I deserve it!

Craving...I felt that was as well on TSM. It didn't work well for me either, as for a couple friends....... One is here now and is taking Bac, and the other has ordered Bac, but hasn't taken it yet....she's frightened.

Thanks for your interesting input! It will benefit many! :goodjob:

[christyacc]

craving Nal start 23. Apr 2009 - Bac start 08. Jan 2010

Craving..

I am also wondering when you started feeling no cravings. Was it at 250mgs? A little before?

Also, I am unaware of your personal stats, age, sex, weight. Sorry to get personal, just curious......seems to impact indifference to AL.

Thanks!