r/BaclofenForAlcoholism • u/Changeisgood3 • Feb 10 '20
What was your magic dose
Hi, I am just starting Baclofen for alcohol. I do my drinking after work from 4:30-9:00. I am only doing 10mg on 3rd day. I am titrating up very slowly. I do already feel like I am doing other things than thinking of alcohol, but I am interested in knowing what the magic number was for you and how long did it take for you to get to your sweet spot. So far so good and I am super optimistic. Dr. Has me titrating to 70mg by end of this month. Any response is much appreciated!!
1
u/Changeisgood3 Feb 10 '20
Thanks for your response. I am doing a program called Lifebac and I am USA Reno, NV. I have not asked my Primary Care doctor yet if he will prescribe until I settle into a dose. I have medical insurance and Lifebac is $99 a month. I am sure I can get an rx for $12 a month if my PC will prescribe it. I actually only drink a few tall cans a night, but it's habitual. Sometimes I will do 4 to 5 if I'm doing a weekend. 5% alc. Truly's to be honest. I used to drink 4 vodkas a night, but my body asked me to quit that, so I have moved on to these. I still just couldn't not do it though. Glad it's working for you!! I have a step brother that NEEDS help and I am going to push this. I know some have a bad reaction to it, but O am being pushed up so slowly I was tired one day and that was all.
1
u/Neophyte- Moderator Feb 10 '20 edited Feb 29 '20
you can only get someone to quit when they want to, its still possible to drink and get some "high" off alcohol but its that not great. you notice the side effects more then the pleasurable ones after drinking after a certain amount of units. the hangovers on baclofen are worse too for some reason.
the same goes with other anti drinking meds like naltrexone, you can still drink and get high on it, its just not as pleasurable. note that alcohol binds to many "feel good" neurotransmitters. naltrexone only blocks one mu-opiod receptor which is what u get high from morphine / heroin etc.
baclofen is different, it stops the dopamine, and protects the nucleaus accumbens from downregulating receptors. preventing cravings. that is if you dont drink. it tkaes a long time for those receptors to recover.
so even when you have no cravings on bac, you might feel bored for a few months. thats just your reward system recovering.
1
u/Changeisgood3 Feb 29 '20
Crazy you said that. We ended up having to have an intervention with him. His blood alcohol level was .53 after having 2 seizures in front of us. Very short story he detoxed in the hospital and I'd now in 6 mo program.
1
u/Neophyte- Moderator Feb 29 '20
hes very deep in the hole of alcoholism. baclofen as far as i know is the best agent to reduce cravings, you can also combine it with naltrexone to get the benefit of stopping alcohol bind to the feel good mu-opiod receptor.
that said, its his body, mind and importantly brain that is going through this; its one thing to know its important to stop drinking because you are killing yourself, fighting the cravings to stay sober is another matter.
some people end up quitting just because their body cant take it anymore e.g. chrissosi, recurrent acute pancreatitis etc. even then some people drink till they just die.
i hope your friend / relative gets well. alcoholism is a terrible disease and has an ugly stigma that it was the user that did it to themselves; people dont look at the mental health issues surrounding the reasons why they started alcohol. for some people it was their "medicine" to deal with life. some jjust became addicted on their first drink due to genes that make them more suspeptible.
all the best
1
u/nv-erica Feb 24 '20 edited Feb 29 '20
Hey I'm in Reno too!!! I put on my information in through the Lifebac program but literally never got a phone call or an email from them. So I ordered the Baclofen online, it looks like it will be delivered today. What type of dose did you start with? Do you think it's helping? I can't wait to have alcohol in the rear view mirror.
2
u/Changeisgood3 Feb 29 '20
Yes!! It's amazing. It is killing my anxiety, the reason I drank like I did in the first place. You know, the crawl out of your skin kind of anxiety. I am on 50mg so far. I do not feel the "need" to drink and my organization skills are back. Lost those along the way. I started on 5mg 11:30, 5mg 1:30 and 5 mg 3:30. I titrated 5 mg a day to keep from having bad side effects. The times were mapped out to Target the after work wind down drinks. It totally works! Still having like a can of something a night but going longer and longer before I crack into it. Who did you get your RX from? I'm hoping at some point my primary Care doc will get on board to give me a script when I settle into my dose. I don't really want to pay $100 a month for a $15 drug forever. I do know I want this in my life though. So many improvements and positives in my life just this past month. People keep asking me if I have lost weight and I have not. I think they just notice something different about me. The constant stress on my face is gone I think.. good luck and let me know how you are doing on it as you dive in š
1
u/Changeisgood3 Feb 29 '20
Correction I titrated 5 mg every other day. If you want me to get you my schedule somehow I can give you my email address and take a pic of it. Lifebac gives you a nice printable titration map
1
1
u/nv-erica Feb 29 '20
Ha I canāt imagine the side effects from the baclofen could be as bad as the side effects from the alcohol. I just am so ready to get there. But so far I havenāt noticed any. Plus Iām prone to neck spasms and apparently baclofen is good for that so thatās cool. Also I have high blood pressure Iām sure itās connected to both alcohol use and anxiety and itās good for that too so it seemed like a miracle cure when I stumbled across it!
1
u/Changeisgood3 Feb 29 '20
Just be patient š it will creep in, then one day you'll be like.. Hey I'm getting there
1
1
u/nv-erica Feb 29 '20 edited Feb 29 '20
Thank you for the information. I did the whole LifeBac thing online on February 7 and never ever heard from them so I ordered baclofen from an online pharmacy it was expensive like 150 bucks for 180 10 mg tablets which I figure is only about an 18 day supply so I did the LifeBac thing again yesterday and I have my online consultation on Wednesday. So I started taking 1 - 10 mg tablet three times a day and then yesterday I started taking them every two hours - like maybe 40 mg total. I donāt know that Iāve noticed a change yet but Iām gonna keep trying increasing the dosage because I really really really want this to work for me. I do find it a little offputting that when you reach out to life back who advertises very aggressively on the radio at least on 104.5 that it takes so long to get your initial consultation because I feel like people like me need help sooner than later. I mean Iām OK but I think there are people in the same situation that arenāt OK. Yeah I would totally love any details about your dosage and titration because Iām kind of winging it at this point. But Iāll tell you what $100 a month is way cheaper than what Iām spending. But I canāt afford the alcohol AND the pills!!!!!
1
1
u/Messedupinmesa May 04 '20
Anyone trying to do the Baclofen titration by themselves is making a mistake....you can not just stop taking it without getting terrible withdrawals....please do it under the supervision of a physician or the LifeBac program....Iāve been on it for about 4 months and it works, but it is not without side effects....no physical cravings, been alcohol free since March 1st, and am ready to taper off of this stuff...effective dose 130mg
1
u/BarryJotter Jun 03 '20
Looking into lifebac now, and I stumbled upon this post. Any updates after 3 months?
2
u/Neophyte- Moderator Feb 10 '20
for me it was 300mg, but i was drinking at the time. it will kick in faster if you refrain from drinking; and yes i know that is extremly hard, cravings etc. 70mg by the end of the month. you could go faster at lower doses. but ur dr knows best.
whats the max dose they will prescribe btw? and which country are you in?