Newbies Nest! for bac

[bleep]

Newbies Nest! for bac

No worries Evey, it's what the forum is here for, although that point gets muddled sometimes!

I seem to sleep in two hour bursts, and wake up wide awake after them. No possibility of going back to sleep, even it's 2 in the morning! After a few hours, I get back into bed for another 2 hour burst. It doesn't always fit in with work, so sometimes I'm knackered at work, having missed a 2 hour nap because of bad timing. Somnolence becomes a real issue on days like that. I haven't found a way around it yet, but if I do, I'll definitely post it.

Insomnia derails a lot of people on baclofen. I really hope you are able to find your way through it.

[Zephra]

Newbies Nest! for bac

Evey;1107164 wrote: I used AL to have a good time but I also heavily relied on it in my fight or flight response to stress. I would just keep everything bottled in all day and then pick up the bottle. I really did not want to go very high on Bac, I was a little scared for a lot of reasons.

I found that I would need to take almost of all the bac that I needed for the day before the time that I started to drink. I don't take it all before but I try to take most of it before that time or even take it by that time-knowing that it's not all in my system yet.You are at 60mgs right, that's about where I was when I saw the increase in drinking from the past weeks. Hang in there you can do it. :l
Hi Evey, I too have an over active fight or flight response to life and use alcohol for this. I also have a touch of, oh I don't know what it's called but I will get a thought in my head and can't let it go.

I am at 100mgs now and might switch it up a bit when I go higher and take a bigger dose at the witching hour.

Chi;1107168 wrote: Is bac helping with anxiety at all? It did for me, which was a bonus. I had to get used to it though, sometimes I didn't know if I was relaxed or getting somnolence lol. Either way I noticed I wasn't freaking out with stress, and haven't had a panic attack in a very long time.

Hi Chi, No difference yet with the anxiety or maybe there is cause like you said the somnolence is an ass kicker. I am sleeping way more during the day too. I wonder if it's the good sleep where it revitalizes you.

Ne/Neva Eva;1107119 wrote: :l and :H in that order. I can relate. But you know what? I kept forgetting that it's the results over the long term. Chi's experience has a lot to offer, just in terms of finding moderation for a while.
Make no mistake, though, there is NOTHING like indifference. Mostly because it's just nothing (at least for me!) It's just not caring about AL anymore.

Being scared is understandable, and I can relate to that too. But with forethought and planning and some amount of reasonableness I think this process is doable in a not so scary way. It's worth it, no matter what, im-not-so-humble-o.

Hi Ne, right now I will be happy with a reduction in drinking, I will keep going though because I really want the control back.

I hope I did this quoting thing right. Took me awhile. z Yes, the quoting worked. Thanks Ne and Bleep.

[tiptronic_ct]

Newbies Nest! for bac

bleep;1107495 wrote: sometimes I'm knackered at work, having missed a 2 hour nap because of bad timing. Somnolence becomes a real issue on days like that. I haven't found a way around it yet, but if I do, I'll definitely post it.

Insomnia derails a lot of people on baclofen. I really hope you are able to find your way through it.

I was on Ritalin for a while while I was still on high doses of bac (200mg +). It worked like a charm for the daytime somnolence. Boy, it sure gave this Tigger a bounce :H

[bleep]

Newbies Nest! for bac

And Z comes out quoting with a vengeance!

Thanks Tip, I'll look into it. It doesn't happen often, but it's debilitating when it does.

[Evey]

Newbies Nest! for bac

So, last night I drank a bottle and a half of wine plus two beers. I decided to take less bac to help me sleep better, so I dropped from 150mg to 125 mg. After I started consuming a few drinks, I considered taking more Bac so that I would stop drinking. I decided not to take anymore for two reasons. I told myself that I wanted to take the bac early in the day so that I could sleep better. Another reason, was that at the time, I didn't really see the harm in having a few drinks, looking back I should have taken more and I didn't, so that I could drink. I didn't really get that much satisfaction from drinking. I didn't really feel that bad today, didn't feel that great either. The amount that I drank was really surprising, even if I went down by 25 mg.

Today, the urges came back strong. During the day, I could taste the wine in my mouth, an intense craving that I used to get. So the beast is back. I felt the need taking over all of my thoughts as I drove home. It's such an awful, intense feeling.

I started taking another brand and I feel like that has a lot to do with my increase in drinking. Luckily, I didn't buy that much of the new brand. I was really happy with the new stuff, because it wasn't making me feel loopy at work. Unfortunately, it is doing nothing for my cravings. So much for progress, lol... I'm not too worried about this though. It can be fixed.

[bleep]

Newbies Nest! for bac

That's exactly the right approach to take Evey. All of us had nights like that.

I too noticed an increase in drinking when I switched brands. It was RedHead who pointed it out to me, I hadn't made the connection. I fail to see why it should make a difference, but clearly it does. On a positive note, the new baclofen seems to kick in quickly once the adjustment is made, so see if this happens with you, and you'll be able to stay on it if the SE's are better.

I doubt it had anything to so with the 25mg's decrease. I find that baclofen takes a few days to affect the mental processes, rather than the SE's, which are anything from a few minutes to a few hours. This is why most people report reaching indifference a few days after going up to a particular level.

The more I drink, the more I want to drink the next day. Pleasingly the reverse is also true. OA noticed the same thing.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Newbies Nest! for bac

Hiya, Evey.
You're spot on, I think. What bleep said.

But also, the sleep thing has to be addressed. Do what you can to mitigate that, will you? Melatonin, maybe, or xanax. Something.

Isolde, can you weigh in here about that? I just punished myself by suffering through it until it went away, which it did rather quickly when I went down after indifference. I wish, in retrospect, I'd taken action earlier. I did resort to xanax on a couple of occasions, but that stuff, even .25mg, makes me feel wonky and knocks me out. Good for a decent night's sleep, not so good for productivity!

Hang in, Eve. jkttdp!

Ne

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Newbies Nest! for bac

Hiya Newbies and lurkers and all!
Just checking in.

hope it's a good day for everyone!
Ne

[Evey]

Newbies Nest! for bac

Hi Ne,

Sorry that I am so late in responding. The past few nights I have been crashing in the evening and today was filled with tons of things to do, blah, blah, blah...

So, after my major slip-up on Sunday, the most I had to drink the rest of the week was 3 drinks on 1 day and I had 1 AF day in there.

I was wondering if on Sunday, when I drank way too much if maybe I only took 100mg which would be a decrease by 50mg. I was drinking a fruit wine that I received as a gift, I don't normally like it but this one tasted good and it didn't really seem like I was drinking AL. It went down a lot easier than my normal heavy red wine. On Bac, the lighter stuff seems much easier to drink.

I had been mixing my old brand and new brand of bac for the last two weeks and took only the new brand on Sunday which turned into a disaster. Only Monday, the majorityof what I took was the new brand and had increased cravings. The rest of the week, I took only the old bac brand, all was good.

I was thinking of taking Nal along with Bac so that I could take less Bac. It started to worry me that you are not supposed to take Nal on days when you would do things like exercise or sex. I don't know, that all seems a little strange to me and I don't know if I am at the point where I am willing to try something like that.
(I hope that I didn't say anything "unnecessary" )


Chi & Zephra, I hope that you both are doing good!

[Evey]

Newbies Nest! for bac

Hi Ne,

Sorry that I am so late in responding. The past few nights I have been crashing in the evening and today was filled with tons of things to do, blah, blah, blah...

So, after my major slip-up on Sunday, the most I had to drink the rest of the week was 3 drinks on 1 day and I had 1 AF day in there.

I was wondering if on Sunday, when I drank way too much if maybe I only took 100mg which would be a decrease by 50mg. I was drinking a fruit wine that I received as a gift, I don't normally like it but this one tasted good and it didn't really seem like I was drinking AL. It went down a lot easier than my normal heavy red wine. On Bac, the lighter stuff seems much easier to drink.

I had been mixing my old brand and new brand of bac for the last two weeks and took only the new brand on Sunday which turned into a disaster. Only Monday, the majorityof what I took was the new brand and had increased cravings. The rest of the week, I took only the old bac brand, all was good.

I was thinking of taking Nal along with Bac so that I could take less Bac. It started to worry me that you are not supposed to take Nal on days when you would do things like exercise or sex. I don't know, that all seems a little strange to me and I don't know if I am at the point where I am willing to try something like that.
(I hope that I didn't say anything "unnecessary" )


Chi & Zephra, I hope that you both are doing well!

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Newbies Nest! for bac

Morning, Evey.

Your experience with the booze is really interesting to me. I had the opposite experience. I went from cheap white wine and beer that would make our British friends dismiss me to good red wine and good dark beer. (Stouts even! I have never understood how people can drink those. They fill me up so quickly that it's uncomfortable getting the job done!)

Anyway, I wonder if it's simply that you're losing your taste for what used to do the job? Then again, sweet fruity wine fits the bill for drinking when you don't really want to be drinking (which is what we all do--or did!)

Interesting too about the change in brands. I tend to think that's overrated, but I have always insisted, much to the consternation of the pharmacist, that we get the same brand. :H Pretty funny, that, but maybe helpful too.

I understand the inclination to try to mitigate the amount of bac you will need to take. The thing is, I'm not sure it works like that. Not if the goal is indifference. I am intrigued by Nal, too. I have thought MANY times that it might've been a good tool to add to the mix. Then I read the SEs and the downsides and all of the other related information and I'm relieved that I didn't take it seriously when I started the bac. (Little did I know that it worked for people with 'the gene'. 'Cause if there's a gene, or genes, I've got it/them, I guarantee you.)

I have more thoughts about this, but they're not fully formed yet, I don't think.

The bottom line is that I hope you stay the course. It's so easy to second guess, to doubt and fear and be worried. And no solace to be found in the bottle, where we usually find our answers! But the stuff works.

I take great heart from the number of doctors in the Netherlands who are actively embracing bac as a treatment for addiction. It's astounding, really. It's not willy-nilly or back-door or 'here's the meds, have at it.' It's a sound and reasoned approach to addiction treatment. As in, someone goes to see a pdoc, (psychiatrist) and they walk out with a rx for bac and a protocol. When I get my act together I'll find out what that protocol is.

There is also some very interesting information being gathered by one of us as to the safety and efficacy of long-term, high-dose-bac. Needless to say, I'm waiting with bated breath. (huullllooooo brother! hate to call you out, but come on! A woman/forum needs some encouragement!)

I've been wondering where Chi and Z are. huullllooooo to you too!

:l and :h
Ne

[bleep]

Newbies Nest! for bac

Hi Evey,

I too noticed a wobble when I changed brands. I can't see why it would make any difference, but it clearly did, for me. It seems to sort itself out quite quickly, but for me there was a definite wobble as I changed brands. Luckily it sorted itself out, because shortly after that, I was switching between brands on a daily basis because of a shortage here.

You definitely want to gradually switch brands, if you can. Often though, this isn't a possibility, so it helps to be aware of the potential for differences.

I wouldn't be too concerned with drinking whilst titrating up, one way or the other. Ultimately, it sorts itself out. The baclofen/naltrexone combination has worked successfully for some, so is worth looking into, but you sound like you are doing great right here.

[Zephra]

Newbies Nest! for bac

Hi thought I would check in. I am tired. I am now at 120mg. I am reading but do not have the energy at the moment to participate. I will when I get some energy because I know that's it's important to share. Thanks to the old timers, or I would not even know about Bac.

Evey, Chi, thinking about you.

Ne and bleep you guys are just sweet hearts. z

[Evey]

Newbies Nest! for bac

Hey Zephra, Hang in there!

Are you able to take naps in the evening? I found them really helpful when I was able to take one.

Alright, just wanted to say hello...

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Newbies Nest! for bac

Morning, newbie-types and lurkers.

I am very concerned about the fact that my favorite icon:

:H

is having various malfunctions that cut off sides of it's face.

aren't you?

jkttdp

love, Ne