Thanks happy4. My thought processes - spurred on by the input from fellow members here - have taken me to the same conclusion. I was feeling so BLAH this morning, thanks for the pep talk! I'll also give it six months before considering any alternative treatments.

Jake golfs 2nite and 2morrow. My usual M.O. is to go down to a little local bar late afternoon and schmooze with some GF's who congregate there on Wednesday afternoons. (Just a tradition, don't know the source. . .) Was thinking earlier it would do me good to get out - writing is a solitary and sometimes lonely vocation, and especially so on days when you don't talk to or see another living soul until late evening. I took my naltrexone in anticipation of that. . .but at this moment the whole idea just doesn't appeal to me. Seems like too much work.

I am feeling on the verge of depressed today, and wonder how much of it has to do with the last several weeks - having to face long-buried issues without as much alcohol in my system? Might be another reason why I suddenly experienced that spike, and was evidently in denial last night. Or, it just might be that the naltrexone is flattening things out a bit. I'm having a terrible time being creatively productive. . .and meeting that damn deadline. . .I tend to fixate on this forum!

You all know I love Marbella dearly, but she posted at MWO that after awhile on 50mg she went back down to 25 mg at some point. Then she hit a plateau[??].

G4M -- baclofen not addictive, yet horrible withdrawal symptoms??? At my benzo website, the refer to benzos as causing physical dependence as opposed to addiction, in order to distinguish benzos from drugs of abuse like alcohol. If you can't just quit when you want to, that's a distinction without a difference to me.

These are facts to be weighed in making the decision.

Thanks so much to everyone and their comments on this topic! This is a very difficult decision to make. I know I am just a newbie, but reading the posts gives so much more hope.

HOWEVER, it has been such a trying time to rid myself of the alcohol demons, I really don't need to get myself hooked on something else.

I will wait, give myself some time, and go from there. I was re-reading the Sinclair book today and reassuring myself. Not that I am down about progress, but I read of plateaus, etc., and I am fearful that I will be one that the method won't work for or will seem to take FOREVER! But after re-reading it, it keeps my hope steady.....I cannot WAIT to be the one who can go from drinking 70-80 units per week, to 10 units per week!!!!

So, thanks again to everyone for their posts! I am learning SO much!

Christy

Yes, thanks for this, Lena. I have decided to give this six solid months. If I haven't cut down to a couple dozen drinks per week by that time (and I'll give it more time to be fully successful), then I'm going to go with baclofen/naltrexone.

Onward, and downward!

Sounds sensible.

Meanwhile, as you share this option with others here, please reconsider whether you call baclofen "non-addictive." Free online dictionary def. of addict: "To cause to become physiologically or psychologically dependent on a habit-forming substance." If you have withdrawal symptoms when you stop it, then you are addicted. True, many may be willing to take baclofen knowing this. But it is misleading IMO to describe it this way, especially since baclofen is an every-day-for-life treatment.

Lena, thanks for posting all of this, it would be so nice for the benzo users to be able to switch over and find success with naltrexone and baclofen. After reading all the literature and going to benzodetox I feel the pull but know better than to jump into another fire that may be even worse than this benzo thing is for me.