bac diary

[susanna]

bac diary

Message to Believer:
I am a sister of someone on baclofen in Toronto. There is one doctor at CAMH now who will prescribe but only low dose at this time (he is learning from my brother that the high dose approach really does work though and may come around). In the mean time we are getting the prescription from Dr. Levin in Chicago who calls it into a pharmacy in Blaine Washington. Then my dad drives from Vancouver and brings it across to Canada, and we fedex it to Toronto. So, if you live near the US border or know someone who does, this is the fastest way to get started.

Do it - it will change your life. It has for my brother!

You can PM me if you would like more information.

[seeking_serenity]

bac diary

Day 2: pretty well-rested today, though didn't get that deep, baby-like sleep that OA described. Still woke up with that familiar a.m. withdrawal anxiety.

The titration schedule has me at 5 mg a day for the first 3 days. I'm already feeling antsy & want to go to 10 mg already! I know, however, that I should follow his plan as directed. I'll be up to 30 mg within a week, so I need to have a little patience.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

bac diary

Yay! Very excited for you. Even now I want to bump the titration schedule...

Don't know what was posted before, but after months of doubt and insecurity and triple-checking credentials, I think that Dr. L is the real deal...
Stay close.

[seeking_serenity]

bac diary

Thanks, neva I look forward to the day when I can post about my switch. Yours has got to be happening soon, and I really look forward to your "switch post" as well. All the success stories have given me such incredible hope. I've always secretly suspected, deep in my heart, that my addiction was based on neurological factors, which was why AA never cut it for me. I hate the judgment that most treatments use to "treat" this disease ("you're not better because a) you're not trying hard enough b) not working the steps c) not honest enough"). F that. My brain isn't wired right, and now I feel like there's a way to correct it. Thank goodness!

[seeking_serenity]

bac diary

Day 3: I cheated a little bit today. :/ I took 10 mg (in two doses) instead of the 5mg I'm supposed to. I mentioned above that my schedule has me at 5 mg a day for 3 days...I looked again, it's actually 4 days at 5mg and then 3 at 10mg. In any event, I got antsy and took 5mg this morning. I justified this cheating by telling myself that I'll be at 10mg for another week (rather than going to 30 next Weds), since I only want to titrate up on the weekends.

Aside from some very mild sleepiness, dizziness and nausea (it felt like very mild carsickness), I've felt decidedly calmer all day. I did have a certain level of anxiety, but do understand that my "usual" anxiety is absolutely horrible. At work I was much better equipped to handle things, and I wasn't climbing the walls at the end to leave and buy my AL "reward" like I usually do. I did buy AL, but decreased the amount from what I usually drink (8 units a night). Today I'm at 6 AL units. I'd like to decrease my average daily AL each week...that should have me AF in very little time.

So, in conclusion, I'm in the very early stages, but I believe it's starting to work. Still waiting for that baby-like sleep! I haven't been sleeping terribly, but I REALLY look forward to some really sound sleep.

Take care, all of you

[Ne/Neva Eva]

bac diary

I'm going to go up today, a day early. ha! Hard not to move it along, though I did that once before and gave up the first time around. I wouldn't do it again, but speedy titration has worked for some others.
I'm very glad that I tried again and have stuck with it despite the inconvenience. It's very nice to sleep well, when it happens. I hope you get that benefit soon.

[christyacc]

bac diary

believer;1023184 wrote: Does anyone know how to get baclofen in Canada? Is it only by prescription?

Thanks. (Thinking of changing my name to "desperate" )

Hi Believer!

I got mine originally online, but eventually got the gonads to go to my GP. She gave me a script which is covered 85%, thankfully. Mine are not generic and are quite inexpensive even without the drug plan

Good luck...it does work.

[seeking_serenity]

bac diary

And now it's Day 4, with an unfortunate slip back. I had 6 units yesterday, which left me relatively refreshed this morning. Still, no really good sleep. (If you haven't noticed from my previous posts, good [deep] sleep has evaded me for a long while!) And that's what I want more than anything.

Today I'm back to the 8 AL units. It's not something I'm even remotely proud of. I've already adjusted to the 10 mg of Bac a day, sorry to say. I want to titrate up even more right now. I want to be at 30, and I have how many more days? This has been a disappointing day for me. But I know it will get better.

[Sunnyvalenting]

bac diary

It can take a long time to get your sleep patterns back into balance. Please be patient with yourself. Good luck
Sunny

[Ne/Neva Eva]

bac diary

I think it might undermine the ability to continue taking bac if one has unrealistic expectations. 30mg may be no better than 10mg, in terms of your ability to abstain/moderate or your quality of sleep/anxiety level. I hated how I felt at 30mg and still love how I felt at 120mg.
The quest for sobriety takes time. It took time to get here. It'll take some time to get out. My experience, for what it's worth, is that endurance matters more than jump starting toward the goal. Even those that titrated up very quickly went through some really difficult periods of time, drinking and sober.
For all that I wish it were, and all that it really is in the long run, this is no magic pill in the here and now.
Hang in there.
Chat soon, I hope.

[ignominous]

bac diary

Yeah take it easy Seeking.

Bac isn't going to sort your life out over night. It might just turn it around though.

For me it allowed me to look at the underlying reasons for wanting to drink in a new light and those I am working on now and expect to be doing so for some time to come.

Without alcohol blurring my brain I think I have a chance to resolve my 'issues' now.

Tried to look up how long you've been drinking but you'd deleted your background info. All I can say is that Al can get us fairly well entrenched in the unproductive ruts of our lives and it takes some time to get completely out of them.

For me 3 decades plus of wrong thinking and actions. Whoa, maybe long road ahead! But without alcohol I feel I can handle it now.

Best of luck, just don't burn yourself out!

[seeking_serenity]

bac diary

Thanks you so much for your comments, guys. Chalk it up to my extreme impatience. Since I'm not really noticing SE's at all, I am really chomping at the bit to titrate up faster. Yesterday, for no real reason, I felt very profound anxiety as my "drinking hour" approached.

I know that I just need to give it time to work. Some days I feel like I can't take the anxiety for one more second. I hate that.

I know that there is no overnight solution, but man, I'm ready to be done with this.

[Lowcountryman]

bac diary

Hi Serenity,

In my humble opinion and experience, there's nothing wrong with titrating up when your body tells you it's ok. For me, the Bac was working at already well 110-120 mg. Before that, I had also no SE's at all so I titrated up easily to that level. Even for little children Bac is prescribed. Considering you can have a lot of units, you might as well could be able to handle a higer dosage of Bac.
I know, titrating up slowly is the 'safest' way to go, but when your body says it's ok, just titrate. I took by accident a double dose of 200mg, and all I felt was a little more headache and some pain in my muscles, near the neck. Nothing compared to a real big hangover and I never felt 'unsafe'. It's clear to me that I should avoid these mistakes, but aside from terrible insomnia I'm living a pretty easy life on 400mg/d, my personal max.
I listened to my body very carefully at 250mg a day, and I had to stay there for several weeks.

So, besides taking it slow, which is always safe, listen to your body.

Low

[Sunnyvalenting]

bac diary

I agree, The titration schedule is a recommendation and not strict. If you have SEs go slower, if you don't at a given dose and are still not AF then you can go up a bit faster. Stay a day or 2 at a given level to see about SE and response and then step up or back as needed. be sure to spread the dose out over a day but consider pulsing it up a bit at your demon hour. It may help to have just a bit more on board at that time
Good luck
Sunny

[seeking_serenity]

bac diary

Low and Sunny--I think I agree, and have decided to titrate up to 20 mg/day today. It seems silly to stay at such low doses right now when they're not affecting me (positively or negatively). I'm going to stick with 20 for a couple of days and then go to 30, which I was scheduled to do anyway.

Day 5: I took 5 mg this morning and another 5 at noon. Felt a little sleepy, yet oddly anxious/craving all day. It's not even "drinking hour" for me and I've already opened a bottle of wine. I hope that with the 10mg I'm going to take shortly, I can limit my AL usage to just this bottle. I really, REALLY don't want to go on a bender today.

Thank you for all your thoughts/comments/suggestions, everyone.