Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

[bleep]

Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

Ne/Neva Eva;1158318 wrote: I think it's bad bac, Sprat.

That's what I was about to say. Baclofen works, as you know, so this is surprising. Try your new batch and let's see what happens.

A caveat though - it'll take 4 or 5 days for the new baclofen to seep into your system to sufficient levels, so don't expect results before then. And who knows, you may even get some SE's.

I hope that's the issue here Sprat, but it certainly looks like like it is.

If it is the case, you might want to consider always having spare baclofen around, so you can switch if this happens again.

[Sprat]

Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

Well, I tried to give a good summery in opening this thread, but i threw people off by mentioning how I felt depressed even tho I was AF. That was my mistake.

Here is what i meant by 'something has gone completely wrong!:

In just over 5 weeks, from 5/31 to 7/6, I had 24 days AF! Unbelievable. :H I had to recheck the numbers several times. And some of those AL days were 4 or 5 beers, virtually an AF day for me.

In the last 2 or 3 weeks... maybe 1 AF day :upset: Lots of early drinking, late drinking, whiskey... the usual.

Nuf said. I got some bad bac. Looking back on it , it is shocking how well it works.

And I'm elated that it does and can't wait to right this ship. This is my 2nd day on a different batch. Feels a bit better, but 6 drinks in now. Will keep you updated.

if anything comes of this, maybe in 6 months someone will post wondering if their meds are bunk, and you old timers can say, go ask Spraty, he'll tell ya.

[AllyB]

Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

I've read a few suggestions that with a lot of people it seems that the more you drink on bac the higher you have to go to switch. My husband thought he hit his switch on a number of occasions but it turned out he had jumped the gun and started back drinking soon after. Each time he had to titrate up higher to regain the switch feeling. He ended up going up to 525mg, (which I think is the current record). Retrospectively he wishes he'd added a little willpower to the experiment as he suspects he'd never have gone so high if he'd drank less at the time.

I suggest you get a new, more trustworthy, source for baclofen, I highly recommend Goldpharma who worked out the least expensive when bought in bulk. Once you have the new tablets you'll find out if 280mg is still working for you. However one reason that I suspect you don't have dud tablets is that if you did you would surely have gone through baclofen withdrawal, which by all accounts is utterly horrendous and very serious medically. Once you know for sure you should start titrating up a bit and see how it goes.

[Sprat]

Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

Wow, 525?! How is your husband now? I think everyone taking HDB wants desperately to stop, and has tried/ is trying willpower to the best they can.

But that's a good point Ally about the lack of withdrawal. Maybe the pills were watered down, i don't want to get to picky about it. Maybe they are fine and it is all in my head.

Its just that things felt so different so fast, first i thought it was cause i changed my dosing amount/ schedule slightly, then i thought about the ordering situation.

Also, when i drank on HDB i had terrible hangovers that made my afraid to drink, but during July they weren't so bad at all and i felt more and more confident to drink alot w/o repercussions. What a weird statement that is.

I still try to use will power, as i did during that great June stretch, it just doesn't amount to anything, as if i wasn't taking bac.

Thanks for your input, i don't know what got me off track, i just want to set it straight again.

[AllyB]

Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

Sprat;1158564 wrote: But that's a good point Ally about the lack of withdrawal. Maybe the pills were watered down, i don't want to get to picky about it. Maybe they are fine and it is all in my head.

Its just that things felt so different so fast, first i thought it was cause i changed my dosing amount/ schedule slightly, then i thought about the ordering situation.
Perhaps they substituted your 25mg order with 10mg pills? So you were on less than half the dose you thought you were at. Not enough to keep you at a switch dose but enough to stave off a withdrawal.

Sprat;1158564 wrote: Wow, 525?! How is your husband now? I think everyone taking HDB wants desperately to stop, and has tried/ is trying willpower to the best they can.

I know it's not as straightforward as just use willpower (if I didn't we'd have been divorced years ago) but he just feels in retrospect that there was two types of addictions going on. The physical side and the habit (especially with regard to socialising with drinking friends) and he could have managed to switch at a lower dose if he'd taken a stronger approach to dealing with the habit. Going up to 525mg was pretty hellish in it's own way. He had severe insomnia and was very depressed and frightened a lot of the time. (He has a few threads on it here, username; Longshot.) He's currently doing fantastically, on a dose of 150mg with no cravings and planning to taper off more over the next few weeks with a goal of hitting zero. He's supplementing that with kudzu but that's as a precaution at my request as he insists he has no desire to drink at all.

Certain supplements can be very helpful if you are feeling depressed while on bac. St John's Wort and Lithium Orate are helpful with depression. Superfoods like Maca, Royal Jelly and Spirulina also have natural anti-depressant effects, but they taste like Satan's bile so I recommend capsules if you go down that route. Also recent neurological studies have shown that practising yoga increases GABA receptor function by up to 27% reducing depression and possibly symptoms of addiction. Before baclofen yoga was the only thing my husband found helpful for his cravings and mood. So maybe instead of smoking on your deck you could try a few yoga poses instead? If you have no idea about yoga but have a laptop and wifi you could stream some lessons off youtube. And lastly but really importantly, take Thiamine supplements if you aren't already, both alcohol abuse and withdrawal can cause wernicke's encephalopathy which can lead to irreparable brain damage and Thiamine supplements are a good preventative measure.

[bleep]

Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

Hi Ally, Longshot and Sprat - please give my regards to LS, it's good to hear that all is going well!

I thought long and hard about the withdrawal side of Sprat's bad baclofen before posting what I did. I've switched batches often before, and had wobbles, but they've always sorted themselves out before disaster has occurred. I think that's because the baclofen has always been relatively sound. To my mind, this was dodgy baclofen. Enough of it in there to stave off withdrawal, but not enough to work effectively. It's all just conjecture though - in 4 or 5 days, when you've been on decent doses of decent baclofen, let's see what happens. That's why I said there may be SE's. All just waffle really - let's see what happens!

Good luck Sprat.

[wanttobesober]

Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

Hi Sprat,

Sorry to hear that you have issues with the switch.
I would like to recommend something that might help you. While you are on Baclofen, you can try to add L-Glutamine to your meds. It is very cheap. I bought a bottle at Walmart for $6.
I don't know in which Counrty you are in Asia, reading this thread I think you are maybe in Japan, so then you have Walmart there.
Anyway 500 mg 100 pills for $6. They recommend 2-3 grams per day.
I have started taking 3 x 2000 mg / day 24 days ago. Today is my 23rd AF day. Last time I had this long sobriety was in 1992. It is not a joke.
L-Glutamine dramatically reduces alcohol craving. Since L-glutamine is an amino acid that you already have in your body, there are no side effects. It is a natural substance and not men made chemical. Try it! You have nothing to lose, only a few bucks.
For me it was like a switch. Just like I imagined the switch that the people talk about regarding Baclofen. I know, I am out of the woods now! Check out this article:

DoctorYourself.com - Alcoholism

I wish you luck!

Brian

[RudyB]

Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

hi sprat. sounds like things have improved a bit, if i understand correctly. ? a couple of things have come to mind. if you had no extra-bad hangovers on bac and booze, maybe it was bad bac. and the fact that you've had no bac withdrawl suggests same; maybe it was some bac, enough to prevent the withdrawl but not enough to help you with the cravings.

looking forward to another update...

[Sprat]

Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

Thanks Ally. (and sorry for late reply) I read about Longshot's journey, quite amazing he never gave up and so happy to hear it came out well.

AllyB;1158579 wrote:
I know it's not as straightforward as just use willpower

At first i told you that if i had willpower I wouldn't be here. But the other day i was waiting for a bus at 6pm in front of a 7-11 and i had the strongest urge to drink, alot. Which has been the norm for most every day of my life except this past June!

I wanted to go in, buy a bunch of beer, slam one in the bathroom and then get on the bus and drink the rest at home. I thought about your post, jumped quickly on the bus, and distracted myself til bedtime and that helped me springboard into a few good AF days. I do need to use more will power, not just rely on the pill.

Guess that sounds pretty simple and most people will think, Duh! , but i just wanted to tell you your thoughtful post helped a stranger! :thanks:

I guess Nancy Reagan was right. Now if i could switch from smoking on the deck to yoga... I'll let you know when it happens.

[Sprat]

Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

AllyB;1158579 wrote: take Thiamine supplements
wanttobesober;1159490 wrote: While you are on Baclofen, you can try to add L-Glutamine to your meds.

Check out this article:
DoctorYourself.com - Alcoholism

Brian

Thanks Brian, that is great you have had success w/ L-Glut. I looked up all those sups on the DoctorYourself site. They are in my 'checkout basket' but not yet ordered. (My Costco membership has expired, it is about 1 hour away and Japanese houses are too small for keg-sized peanut butter jars anyway).

Is it advised to take them all with Bac? The thiamine, the super C dose, etc. I know the site is to take them all if you are not on meds. I try to search the forum for bac and l-glut but it comes back w/ every thread where it is mentioned, not the post itself.

I'm sure this is covered somewhere here. I think some people have had some problems with it. Dunno.

Thanks for sticking w/ this sporadic poster. And thanks to Rudy and Bleep for posting too!

Edit: I just ordered the L-glut, the Vitamin B multi and a high potency multi-vitamin. Just keep popping stuff til i get the results i'm looking for.

[wanttobesober]

Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

Hi Sprat,

This is a link to a post that NE posted a while ago.

https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...pps-48038.html

Good luck!

Brian

[Sprat]

Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

Thanks Brian. What i want to know is - even if you are having success w/ bac, should you be taking mega vitamins like thiamine, Vit C, Glut, etc, to repair past damage or any other reason?

Ne/Neva Eva;1170761 wrote: hmmm. Lots of issues with using 7 weeks AND bac at the same time, Otter. Lots of those supps are contraindicated.

That was from Bluto's thread. Is it OK to quote it here? I didn't want to hijack it.

The doctoryourself.com site isn't as heavy as 7 weeks, but moving the same way, I think.

:thanks:

[Sprat]

Something has gone completely wrong - please advise

And as for me...

I have 8 days AF and feeling good. No thoughts of drinking.

I was at 280 for a week and went down to 260 last night. Taking 60 mgs around 10, 12, 2, and 4. That knocks out the witching hour. Then rounding up in the evening.

Almost no physical SEs. Just somnolence really. Very tired reading bedtime books at 9pm. When i close my eyes to sleep i see some fireworks. Sleep is so so. Its hot at night, but not enough to use the AC. So we use a fan, but all the fans here have a 3 hour timer. I think i wake up when it goes off. A bit sluggish in the morning, as in now. Yawn, i'll post this and make the coffee. (Should've done that first!)

People have hair issues, i notice a drying of eyelashes and eyebrows. Is that weird?! I need those. Would you be sober if the tradeoff was no eyebrows or lashes. :H

Mentally, I sweat the small things like never before. Insensitive people really piss me off, I still want to key every car parked on the sidewalk. :bang Fighting to get my mojo back. It'll happen.

Well this worked out well. Name a thread Baclofun and go crashing. Name it Something Has Gone Completely Wrong and find some hope. :H After my drunkin July and Aug, to have 8 days and counting is sweet. Its only 8 days, but i only had 2 or 3 days AF in the 6 previous weeks. I'll take it!

Thanks people. Just wanted to give you an update. You've all helped my so much. Sorry i don't post often. But i don't want to write every day, 'got hammered again last night, oh this sucks'. Don't think much can come from that. I continue to draw inspiration here.

That's it, coffee time.