I do not know yet. Taking something for the rest of your life should not be that unusual - as it is the same with Nal.
If the negative aspects of drinking can be avoided (especially drinking too much and damaging the body) then why not take it the rest of your life? Baclofen in comparison to Naltrexone is dirty cheap. A package of 30x10mg tablets costs me something around 3-4 EUR (4-6$). Nal costs me over 60 EUR per 28 tablets (over 87$) ...
Of course you use a lot more of Baclofen compared to Nal - still it stays more cheap I think.

I am already used to take Levothyroxin and Cetirizine for the rest of my life. If I have to take something else to deal with another "illness" no problem.
We should not forget the target. The Target is to life long and to enjoy life. - Taking pills will not reduce my life experience.

If I can cure my addiction to alcohol by taking daily whatever amount of pills, I would do it. As taking the pills will have less impact on my life than alcoholismn!

I got the book of olivier ameisen into my hands today - and I am already on page 100 of 300 pages
for now he just talked about his experience, so far he went into 4 rehabs with no success. I hope to get soon to the point where he talks of Baclofen.

Today is again one of these days were it is really easy. Feels like I have the power over alcohol (and not it over me).
I am now at 45mg Baclofen a day.

It is really great to be able to order Baclofen at a local pharmacy. No bad image attached to it.

Olivier Ameisen talks about half of the book about what happend to him, which is really a wake up call for anyone being in early stages of an alcohol addiction.
The real interesting part starts with page 140 - or according to his numberation capter 6.

here the notes I took to summarize it for me :

Baclofen blocks the "high" received from drugs, and reduces the craving.
60-80 mg per day with no significant side effects
panic influences the GABA Transmission in the brain, and Baclofen is a GABA Agonist (An agonist often mimics the action of a naturally occurring substance.)

Olivier Ameisen increased the dose steady (by +15mg every few days) until reaching 180mg per as total daily dose.
His muscles have been totally relaxed, like he has never experienced it before. Everytime when increasing the dose he felt a little sleepy, but it was a very nice feeling and he awoke in the morning without the side-effects of sleeping pills. It reduced his craving for alcohol, and at the same time whenever he drank the highs have been less exciting. He was able to regenerate faster after each drinking. The effects are a lot more positive than Benzodiazepine and at the same time no addiction possibility exists.

the biggest risk he considered with 180mg (a several fold higher amount than suggested safe dose) is that his muscles could be totally relaxed at night, and he could suffocate. (which was also exactly my worry!)

doctors were surprised about the high dose, but said if he is active doing sport, and not having weakness on muscles then probably this could work.

he carried with him a paper saying "muscle disorders taking Baclofen 180mg per day" - in order to have the doctors informed in case he wakes up again in a hospital. As clearly with this high intake you do not want to miss a dose - as the abrupt withdrawal could be fatal.

Baclofen is the standard therapy for muscular cramps.

Even with 180mg he still had problems with drinking episodes, blackouts and accidents. The dose did not make him addicted to Baclofen.

1-3 mg / kg blocked the craving for alcohol. 1-5mg/kg for other substances

As 180mg did not succeed to keep him permanently off alcohol he started a new Protocol :

initially decreased his dose back to 30mg - then increased every 3 days by +20mg (I assume he was taking it 4 times a day and not 3 times!)
with high craving or high stress he added another 20-40mg

Because his craving was a lot higher during afternoons and nights he changed the different doses pieces in inequivalent amounts. Taking less in the morning and more in the afternoon and night.

Whenever craving became too strong, he took 20-40mg and the craving reduced within 1 hour

at 270mg/day his craving was gone (about 4mg/kg) - after 12 days on 270mg he reduced it stepwise to 120mg.
on 120mg he stayed without craving and was able to maintain his results. Once in a while when there was stress he added 20-40mg.

Dr Ameisen found an article of 1991 of C.R. Smith et al. "high dose oral baclofen: experience with patients with Multiple Sclerosis". That suggests that doses up to 270mg oral are without side effects, and that a majority of patients would need more than 100mg to get results (and that doctors are too often underdosing it). (page 179)

A person trying to commit sucide tried taking 2000mg Baclofen, and failed - no permanent damage left.

The absolute limit in dose should be around 300mg/day

I thought to post this quote here from l00p. Thanks for the exciting information!



this confirms the study of 1991 where people took 270mg a day for years and had no side effects. I was worried it could relax the muscles that much that my breathing could stop. Which is according to the information found not the case.

I have started to dose Baclofen more variable, and to split the dose into 4 parts.

10mg (morning) - 10mg (12am/1pm) - 25mg (4pm/5pm) - 15mg (7pm/8pm) ... so a total of 60mg/day for now.

Since I do not have any craving in the morning or lunch time, it appears reasonable to me, to only take a low amount (like also Dr. Ameisen did), and then to combat the craving attacks with higher dose at late afternoon and evening.

No craving today, didn't drink anything, and I am not missing anything. It feels really incredible, like a big stone falling off me, suddenly I see every so clear, how my brain is tricking me into thinking that alcohol is required for me.

Wow - thanks so much for this info! I am leaning more & more into asking for BAC at my next Dr appt. I'm so curious & thrilled about these "new" medications that offer relief from the habit, the cravings, etc., and yet still allow us to have the dignity to feel like if we want a beer/glass of wine, etc, we can. That it's not failure and we are not doomed if we have a drink, like AA believes...but just most of the time, to think & feel ehhhhhhhhhh about drinking, would be nice.

drinking can be useful when you are out with friends and it is socially "required" to drink. I have days on Baclofen where I honestly doubt myself why I would be drinking at all.
Baclofen is given me the relief in my brain, I feel relaxed - like a stone falling off me.

last weeks on TSM : over 35 units, 6-7 units avg. per drinking session, 1-2 AF days
week 39 (in TSM counting) : 13 units, 3.3 units avg. per drinking session, 3 AF days

Especially yesterday and today with the new dose, the craving is gone. Its like alcohol was never a topic to me.
Today I have changed the way to dose again. 10mg (8/9am), 25mg (4/5pm), 25mg (7/8pm)
I am totally skipping lunch Baclofen dose now. The only times when my craving comes and becomes unmanageable is around late afternoon.

The first week is promising, I am getting used to the effects of Baclofen and since yesterday I am dosing Baclofen the way that fits my craving the best.
just 13 units in a week is an AMAZING result - clearly gives me body time to start some repairing

Wow

Costs me about 4 times as much to stay sober @ 200mgs/day...but it's still cheaper than booze!

I keep on changing my dose. Today I skipped morning and lunch dose and just started taking it now 4pm-5pm-6pm always 25mg and then 9:30pm 10mg - so I am at 85mg/day now.
I have absolutely no problem with not taking my dose in the morning and lunch, and I prefer to take the daily dose in fewer intervals in the afternoon, as that is when my craving starts.
It helps me combating my craving attacks effectly. today my 3rd AF day in a row, not looking forward to drink for the moment.

Yesterday I was sleeping incredibly deep. I could not keep my eyes open around 12pm, looking at my pupils it looked quite strange - contracted.
Negative effects of Baclofen so far : I am snoring all night very intensively. I felt dizzy, and when I got up at night I could hardly walk, and the feeling I got before going to bed is like the end of a bing drinking session ("falling asleep hard").

Baclofen seem to have quite similar effects on me like alcohol has. The difference on the big picture seem to be the side effects and the possible damage to the body. If Baclofen can work as a substitute for alcohol, then this would increase my life expectation back to normal (on alcohol I probably have a life expectation of 50s)