Finished the trial yesterday. No real noticeable difference in my drinking. The craving was probably slightly reduced, but not enough to overcome the mental addiction. I can't find out what dosage I was on (placebo, 30mg or 75mg) for another 12 months. I now have a script for 30mg a day, and will titrate up slowly. The doctor wants me to stay on 30 for 2 weeks and wrote on the script "to be dispensed fortnightly" so if I titrate up before that I will run out. Can anyone point me to a thread that has the recommended titration schedule?
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Finished baclofen trial
Hi, Hopeful. Such a bummer! The good news is that the doctor is going to prescribe, and so there is still reason to remain hopeful. There's more good news, too. The people who enroll in studies have much more success than the people who do it on their own. And the people who have a doctor's guidance also do much better! So you've got two things working for you.
Rather than bump the threads, I'll just give the short version: Generally it's an increase of 10 mg every 3 or 4 days, or 20 mg/week. I would bet that your physician is going to go a bit more slowly than that. BUT see above and there is still reason to be positive! Not to mention the fact that it's very likely that you'll find indifference at a lower dose. (I don't know why this happens, but it does.)
It may be the difference between 4 months and 6 months, but what's two months for a life of freedom of craving for alcohol? Seriously.
Will be doing counseling? And will you fill us/me in on what it was like to be in the study? What did they do after the initial test you had?
Glad you checked back in, I was wondering what happened!
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Finished baclofen trial
It was interesting.
I found out on Monday that there are about 35 people on the trial at the moment, but they are about to advertise so will get a lot more. Of those 35 people, 30 have liver disease to a degree, ranging from fatty liver to late stage cirrhosis. The trial was actually predominantly for alcoholics with liver disease, but they needed some who are not at that stage yet (like me) for comparative purposes.
They're also testing all our blood samples to look at why genetics mean that some people get cirrhosis early (one man on the trial with cirrhosis is only 35) and other people can drink heavily their whole lives and not get liver damage.
I was told that some people have stopped drinking altogether on the trial, some have reduced their consumption and others have not changed their consumption.
After that initial testing, the rest of the trial consisted of blood tests every 3 weeks and filling out questionnaire after questionnaire about craving and depression etc etc etc.
I'm going back to my old counsellor next week.Comment
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Finished baclofen trial
Thanks for filling us in, hopeful. I think there's still a great chance for you (actually an enormous chance). The study only used low dose regimens. I hope you find relief, as you continue to work with your doctor. Let us know how things go for you.
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Finished baclofen trial
Hi Hopeful-
I just wanted to say thank you for keeping us up to date on the results of the baclofen trial. That's too bad that you didn't get the results you're looking for during the trial... but I hope you will continue to look for a solution and I wish you the best of luck. And truly, thank you again, and please do post here about your continued progress. Best, SkullComment
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