Sweet success! (with baclofen)

[RobinJ]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

I started BAC on 3 April 2012. I drank wine the first 5 days, went another 14 days AF, drank wine 3 more days, although I couldn't finish more than two glasses and have been AF ever since. I realized I was drinking out of habit now...Friday night and nothing to do, or a glass of wine before bed etc.

At 100mg I had to slightly fight the urge to drink...and I sometimes lost. At 125mg just the thought of drinking wine made me nauseous, at 150mg, where I'm at now, drinking is a distant memory.

I have had wine in my refrigerator for about 10 days with no desire to drink it. I see it, but I don't want it. The real test came on Monday which was my birthday. I received wine and champagne from friends (they don't know I'm on BAC) and I did not drink any of it. Absolutely unheard of before BAC, any excuse to drink until I passed out was my motto.

Now the side effects are really difficult at 150mg and I really hit the switch dose at 125mg. Should I stay at 150? 125? Or titrate down slowly? I am really scared that I will want to drink again, but I feel like I'm in a drunk stupor most of the time, (oh the irony) especially at night.

**UPDATE: Thanks to the great advice from the BAC community I am now at 75mg and feeling great. I still have no desire to drink and the side effects I experienced while going up are slowly going away. I am hoping to get to 50 - 40mg and stay there if I continue to have no desire to drink.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

That's so great, Robin! Thanks for sharing it here.

I found my comfort zone by experimenting a little bit. It took a while, and it changed with time, too. Going up and down (with some forethought, a plan, and sticking to each change for at least 3 days) really helped me. Keep us posted!

[applekat26]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

Is it okay to take topamax 50 mg. per day and also take bac? Thanks!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

I don't really know the answer to that, Apple. And I don't know where to direct you to find some answers! Sorry!

You might try to google "topamax baclofen my way out" and see if others have done it. (I'm pretty sure they have. In fact I know that's the case. I just don't remember who or when!)

Good luck.

[baclofan]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

I've taken recently combination of Topiramate 50 mg daily with conjuction of 60 mg of Baclofen after lenghty period of slow tapering up the doses.
Both meds legimately prescribed to me by my Pdoc.
The idea was to get anticraving benefits combining those two meds at moderately low dose in order to avoid SE each of those meds are known to cause at high doses.
The combo worked great as an anticraving med, unfortunately I'm prone to tinnitus and I've experienced each of those meds cause ringing of the ear.
Finally I've discovered that the only way to be tinnitus free was to discontinue bac and take the whole topa dose ( currently 75 mg) before going to bed.

To answer your question Apple, I'm a patient that was being presribed by renown Pdoc baclofen and topamax together on daily basis. Started taking Baclofen first...low dose, slow dose increases, few months later Topamax was aded...again low dose to start with, slow dose increases.

EDIT: I have absolutely no idea if any dose of Topamax / Topiramate could be combined with relatively high dose of Baclofen (anything above 60 mg / daily)

[applekat26]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

Thanks for the info, baclofan!

[TexasAg]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

bump

[jaddyday]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

Good Evening,

I have decided to post my story here in the hope that someone may benefit. I wrote it in application for a volunteer job I am applying for at a treatment facility I access. Here goes:

My own story is rather long and drawn out so I will give you the pr?cised version! I started drinking regularly in my mid-teens and became addicted very quickly. By the time I left school I had gone from a caring, intelligent and hugely ambitious young man, interested in the world around me looking forward to all the future had to offer, to someone whose sole purpose in life was to spend as much time as possible in the pub. Although my upbringing was fairly privileged in a material sense it was also very traumatic. From the age of five I witnessed the death of my farther followed two years later by my mother suffering a stroke whilst out walking with me. Fast forward two years and I watched my maternal grandmother, who, since my father?s untimely death, had become a second parent to me; die suddenly in front of me. During this time my mother?s health had been steadily deteriorating until, aged twelve, she told me that she needed a heart transplant or she too would be dead within the year. All of this I ?dealt? with by staying strong and supporting my family; never showing emotion, asking for or accepting help. When I started drinking around the age of 14 all this emotional baggage, coupled with my burgeoning homosexuality (something which I found abhorrent at the time) was only likely to end one way.

Fast forward a few years spent partying, travelling and drinking until I reach 21, at which point I decide I need a focus. I was fortunate enough to have been endowed with a substantial trust fund courtesy of my late grandmother, so, given that I needed a focus in life and never left my local pub, I decided to buy it! I completed the purchase on Friday 4Th December 2004 and my drinking really took off. I?m sure I don?t need to paint you a picture of the following two years but it suffices to say that I emerged bankrupt, friendless and with a family who didn't want to know me. I had also developed two secondary addictions; cocaine and gambling. I was at the lowest point of my life so far but despite overwhelming evidence, it didn't even occur to me that alcohol was the issue.

I spent the next year or so in a permanently alcohol and drug induced hell until my mother finally relented and gave me a load of money to go travelling for a year. I booked my ticket for a couple of weeks time and went on the most almighty piss-up of my life culminating in me crashing the car a friend had lent me attempting to exit the pub and being arrested for drunk driving. I blew 159ug in breath (five times the UK drink drive limit)! Threatened with the real possibility of a custodial sentence, the penny finally dropped. I admitted that I was an alcoholic, but I had absolutely no comprehension of what that word actually meant. I had decided that I wasn't going to drink again and that was that. I attended a couple of AA meeting, on my solicitor?s instruction, but frankly felt that they were making rather a meal of it. Whenever I want to do something I do it; I had decided that I was finished with alcohol so the problem was now sorted. Having a vicar and a bishop in my extended family, who I despised for their rank hypocrisy, the preeminence of the word God in the literature was also rather off-putting to say the least!

Somewhat unsurprisingly that was not the end of my association with alcohol! After a year or so of seemingly terminal decline, my mother agreed to pay for me to go into The Priory on their addictions treatment programme. I spent a challenging month there, dealing with the aforementioned emotional baggage and emerged happier, healthier and ready to start my life again. They had even managed to sell me on the virtues of AA, after all, at over four grand a week they must know what they?re talking about!

I went to lots of meetings, got a sponsor, did service and worked the steps. I never really believed any of it but I was willing to believe that others knew better than me and that it would help me in the long run. I started to rebuild my career and began to make a success of my life. In April 2011 I celebrated two years of sobriety, I had my family back in my life, a couple of good friends, a growing business and plenty of money.

It was at that point that I was the closest I've ever been to taking my own life.

I had built a life based solely on fear and greed; fear of returning to the degraded existence I suffered before I entered the Priory. I pursued wealth constantly and obsessively because I dreamed of the day that I could return to drinking without fear of destitution. Everybody was telling me how well I was doing but I was dying inside. My craving for alcohol, far from abating over time, grew ever stronger until it pervaded every moment of every day. Even sleep offered no respite.

When I started drinking again I loved it. I had my social life back. I had loads of friends and loads of sex, two things which had been very much lacking during my period of abstinence. Within nine months I had let my business go down the pan, spent all my money, lost my driving licence again and returned to a very base existence. I didn't know what to do. I knew that I was destroying my life but I also now knew from personal experience that enforced abstinence was just as bad. I had resigned myself to a life of continual binge and abstinence cycles. I longed for death. I had given up.

It was then in a nostalgic moment that I found myself going through my ?recovery file?. I have kept pretty much everything pertaining to my recovery and I guess I was looking for a glimmer of hope. I found a single sheet of A4 that my mother had printed off for me shortly before I entered The Priory back in 2009. It was an article from the national press about a French cardiologist by the name of Olivier Amesien. Amesien was a successful and respected doctor until alcoholism brought him to the brink of death. He had spent many years in rehab, therapy and AA but they had little effect. He realised, as I had, that alcoholic cravings never get better and always brought him back to alcohol. Through medical research and self-experimentation he discovered that the drug Baclofen, a safe non-addictive GABA B receptor agonist, gave him total relief from alcoholic cravings and even allowed him to drink socially without getting drunk or returning him to an alcoholic binge.

Fast forward through six months of research, procrastination and endless difficulty in getting hold of the medication and I am free from the bondage of addiction. I no longer think about alcohol obsessively. I am able to go out for an evening with my friends, wake up the next day and have no compulsion to drink what so ever. In short, I have achieved the holy grail ? the ability to drink socially. Just three months ago I thought I was condemned to spend the rest of my life in a never ending cycle of binge and abstinence; never able to build or maintain relationships or develop a career. Frankly I longed for death.

Make no mistake, Amesien?s discovery will revolutionise the treatment of addictions. For the first time, addicts are able to be truly free from addiction and go on to build happy and productive lives. Those of us who follow this treatment measure our success by whether or not we are drinking against our will. The concept of drunk or sober holds no relevance for us. I have no desire to begin drinking against my will again but abstinence against my will does not offer a palatable alternative. By removing the requirement for total abstinence and life-long AA attendance many more people will access treatment and at a much earlier stage in their lives. If I had been offered this treatment ten years ago when I first visited my GP I would have been spared ten years of abject misery.

So, my reasons for this application are as follows. There is a growing movement of people having phenomenal success with this treatment but they are, for the most part, doing it without medical supervision or support. I believe that I have been successful so quickly because I had already received a great deal of therapy and have dealt with my past. All I was left with was a simple chemical dependency. This treatment offers the chance of a real, happy and sustainable recovery for the majority of addicts but it should never be seen as a ?magic bullet? but as an adjunct to therapeutic treatment.

I have decided that I want to help bring this treatment into the mainstream and, to that end; I will commence training as a therapist in September. I would very much like to spend some time working with the bridge to kick-start my learning and to offer my support to an organisation that, during my brief association, has offered me a great deal of support and encouragement.

Justin

[flamengo]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

Like many stories, this is an amazing read Justin. WOW!

I too am starting to think that Baclofen may be my way out of PTSD. I am making myself a guinie pig because doctors here in the US are too stubborn to think outside the box. I am documenting all the steps so that I too can someday be of help to someone else.

I have found this forum extremely full of good research and some really smart folks. I stumbled across this board but believe that it may be for a reason. I will be more then happy to share anything on my end to help you and again, anyone else that is on a journey from addiction, whether be physical or emotional.

[TexasAg]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

bump

[TexasAg]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

Jad, I just want to say Wow! I don't know how I missed your post but it's truly inspirational.

I'm on my third week of Bac, and while I'm not free, I can feel something going on in my brain and my anxiety and cravings are starting not consume my every moment. What more I have hope now which is beautiful.

I've only mentioned my Bac treatment to my sister because I wanted someone to be aware of what I was doing in case I went off the deep end. And let's face it, when you've been a drunk as long as I have, noone believes you're going to take a pill and be better. My sister is a supervisor for the state's child welfare division. She's doubtful and hopeful for me. But she's very interested if it works because she sees first hand how much pain addiction causes to families and kids. I look very much forward to giving her a first hand example of success!

Good luck and God Bless you in your endeavor. Please keep us posted.

Cheers!

Day 23 on Bac - 80mg
AF - 8/5/12
BBF (binge beast free) – 8/2/12

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

There have been a couple of posts in the last couple of days that might want to go in here. (Greg and Musiccreationist).

Also, some of the newbies might want to check out this thread! It works, peeps! Hang in there and let the magic/medicine happen.

[Greg]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

Below I have reprinted a post about a friend's remarkable turn-around in 2 months using a maximum of 30 mg baclofen per day, spread out in 3 doses:

Recently I have seen one of my severely alcoholic friends change his drinking pattern from hopeless uncontrolled bingeing to almost a controlled style of drinking, and I thought it could be helpful to post his story here.

This guy has been drinking in a dependent and excessive way, on a daily basis, for the last 12 years. He began drinking as an escape from anxiety and depression, after trying numerous antidepressants, therapy, and counselling. He also tried Campral and underwent 3 medicated inpatient detoxes, and is now taking Lexapro and Seroquel for his psychological issues. After all these steps however, his drinking remained almost hopeless, with a daily intake of at least 14 standard drinks and binges consisting of 20-30 standard drinks followed by a whole day recovering from this massive intake. Despite his medications, ongoing counselling, and problems caused by drinking, the drinking continued unabated and he had reached a stage of no longer being in touch with his family.

A couple of months ago my friend read about baclofen, and we had also spoken about it on various occasions. He took some printed information about it to his doctor, who is a general practicioner, and after reading the information the doctor prescribed him 5 mg 3 times a day, to be increased very slowly to 10 mg 3 times a day. My friend kept drinking as usual but started the baclofen, and found that even the 15 mg per day had a mild effect on his thoughts and feelings about alcohol, although not enough to cause much reduction. However, to his surprise and also mine, after about 1.5-2 months, he is now finding he has a much reduced desire to binge and doesn't always want to drink heavily after he starts drinking. This is a person who both of us thought was doomed to hopeless alcoholism and a slow death from drinking. I am literally amazed at the change that such a low dose of baclofen has brought about.

I know that this result will not happen for everyone, and from what I have read here most people will need a much higher dose, but I thought this story worth printing here. There is no other explanation for this guy's drastic change in drinking habit or attitude, and I would rule out placebo effect because he wasn't hopeful about the drug helping him. He mentions he doesn't get the runaway alcohol desire once he starts drinking now, which I imagine is probably a reduced dopamine hit from drinking (although most things I have read about baclofen don't specifically talk about it having this exact effect).

My friend has further stated that, based on his experience of 30 mg per day, he thinks he would be completely indifferent to alcohol if he was taking 60-80 mg per day. However he is happy with his results so far. He did say that it took some time at his current dose for the effect to really kick in, so the length of time of being on baclofen daily may be a contributing factor here.

I also wrote the following, a bit further on in the original thread:

My friend was drinking largely due to anxiety, and he is happy at being able to drink a greatly reduced amount even though he hasn't totally quit. This guy was dying in front of my eyes, and was so drunk/hungover that he wouldn't even answer his door or his phone for 2-3 days at a time and had cut all ties to his family. It's like watching someone come back from the dead, in fact he was virtually a living dead man. We have another friend who is also like this, who we are hoping to introduce to baclofen with his doctor's co-operation.

[joanna_d]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

great to read this! thanks all!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Sweet success! (with baclofen)

good stuff Reggie. Keep it around, will you?