Guys,

I started TSM about 3 months ago and ended up having to quit due to depression and suicidal thoughts. I found out about baclofen in the 'Alternative Treatment's' thread here and did some in-depth research on it. This is sort of a rehash of a thread I started last week, but a few people wanted me to keep a progress thread so, here it is.

My background is heavy drinker for 30 years and having more occurrences of multi-day benders. I really don't know if nal would have helped that type of drinker anyway, but I was definitely interested in trying it. Unfortunately the depression thing caused a change of plans. I was almost despondent when I realized I would have to quit nal, but discovering baclofen gave me renewed hope.

I gave my psychiatrist a lot of documentation on baclofen and I think it's relative safety is what swayed her. Funny thing is I have found myself educating many addiction counselors on TSM and baclofen. It seems like they continue to push the same old, ineffective treatments and never research any new methods. Thankfully, she was willing to take a chance one me and, after having me sign a consent form, agreed to prescribe baclofen.

So I started taking 10mg on Thursday, Oct 1st and just upped the amount to 20 mg. This is broken out over 4 doses of 5 mg. The protocol I am following is based upon European guidelines and involves titrating your dose over 4 to 6 weeks (I will find the PDF and post it). My doctor gave me even slower dosing instructions, increasing the amount by 10 mgs every 3 to 5 days. So far I have not really noticed any side effects except for a little spacey feeling which might even be my imagination.

Eventually you might end up with 300 mg a day or more as your effective dose, the point at which you have no more cravings. Then you continue that for a few weeks to a month and slowly start going down to a maintenance dose.

So that's where I'm at now. Week 1 and things seem to be going good. Hopefully, in 6 to 8 weeks, I will be a cured man. I'll post updates here weekly.

Thank so much Konger, for I do believe it will give people hope if TSM doesn't work for them.

Keep on posting for we do care,

Jaba

If you're not experiencing significant side effects, you can safely increase your dose more rapidly. When I tried baclofen, at first, even 5 mg caused very strong side effects. I did eventually get up to the ~300 mg/day level, but at that point the side effects were too overwhelming to go on, and they weren't getting any better with time. Not to mention it wasn't doing a thing to help with my alcohol intake, other than making hangovers less severe. But a lot of people do have great luck with it and don't react as negatively to it as I did, so as long as you can tolerate the side effects, and you feel like it is helping, then keep at it.

End of week 1 and I am tolerating baclofen very well. I am up to 40 mg a day, which is above my guidelines. No reduction in alcohol craving... maybe. I was bad before baclofen; having a mini-bender almost weekly and functionally drinking many other days. I have been drinking a lot less so far. I haven't left work early to drink and have reduced the amount I drink at a sitting. The baclofen or my imagination? Probably my imagination as my research has shown I can't expect any behavioral results from baclofen this quickly.

Thanks for the info Ives, I appreciate any insight. What side effects were you experiencing?

Konger,

I would like to believe that it is the baclofen that is helping you drink less, even if it is the placebo effect. Maybe the side effects of the baclofen is what is causing you to drink less.

I am glad to see that it is working for you and the side effects are not that bad.

Keep posting,

Jaba

Oh, god. The side effects.

Extreme somnolence, needing to take naps in the middle of the day, barely able to stay awake during daylight hours
Inability to stay asleep at night, frequently getting only 4-5 hours
Lack of inhibitions, sending emails that made me sound like an idiot or a jerk
Extreme difficulty or outright inability to have an orgasm (at first I had the opposite problem, but as the dose increased this got very bad)
Strange perceptual effects -- flashes in my vision, lightning bolt sensations inside my head, very hard to describe
At very high doses, complete lack of emotions, could not feel happiness, sadness, anger, anything -- this was the last straw that caused me to throw in the towel

There were some positive side effects. It made me feel very confident, it gave me great motivation at work -- I stopped drinking coffee because I didn't need it anymore. It helped with hangovers. And it gave me incredible athletic endurance. I had multiple instances where on one day I drank 14 units, and the next morning got on my bike and rode 50 miles, no problem. I am in better shape now than I was then, and I don't think I can do more than about 20.

It's my understanding that I was on one extreme of the side effects spectrum. Most people tolerate it better.

I know baclofen works for some. It did for me to some extent. I got 8AF days, then 15AF, then 12AF before I threw in the towel and started TSM. The AL cravings really did go at around 120-150mg

I can relate to all those SEs though Ives and more.
My memory just went. I had to really struggle to remember what I was doing or what on earth I had done the day before. I felt like I'd lost who I was. It also made me pretty anxious, manic, irritable and completely monged. In short, I could not function properly at work on it.
And the libido thing... It went through the roof to start with (just like GBL) but as the dosage got higher, there was a complete inability to orgasm or even get an erection in the end. I had NEVER had this issue before. Now I am alomost off baclofen (40mg) that issue is clearing.
The great thing in the early stages was the increased libido and euphoria. Sadly both reversed as I moved up in dosage.

I don't want to paint too negative a picture though. It works for some, not others.
Now I'm down to 40mg it really helps with anxiety. 'May' be helping with AL cravings and is a winner for AL withdrawal / hangovers.
Just NEVER taper down too fast!

Guys, I'm back again. My situation is I ended up going into a 28 day inpatient treatment program and am now just going day by day. I can't say the baclofen works or doesn't work, but the problem was I just wasn't staying sober long enough to give it, or anything, a try. After being on baclofen for 10 days I was sober for maybe 2 of those days. And I was drinking large amounts each day, 750 ml to 1.25 liters a day. I figured that was a recipe for failure and just told my wife it was time to try inpatient - at least so I could get sober for a few weeks.

And so I've been sober for 63 days as of today. To be honest, I am actually very good because I think I finally understand step one of the AA 12-step program - truly recognizing I am powerless over alcohol. I guess before I just never really mulled over that concept, because in the back of my mind I always thought I would find a secret way to control my drinking. I would quit for awhile and get it under control and then maybe I could drink in a year. Or maybe I would attend meetings to keep things in perspective and switch to beer only. My sneaky little mind was always thinking there was a new plan to control my drinking that I hadn't tried yet.

I always believed I, myself, could control things. The problem is, once I have that first drink, I am no longer myself. I become someone else who has a little less control; someone who thinks another little drink will be okay too. And a few hours later, I am several versions removed from myself and there's an empty bottle of vodka in front of me. So that's what it means to me to be powerless over alcohol, and now I know I can never ever touch alcohol again. And so far the cravings haven't been an issue. Previously I would debate with myself over why i shouldn't drink or when I could. Now I just shut the internal conversation down right away because I know I can never touch it again.

But I don't want to discourage anyone from trying nal or baclofen and I'm certainly not an AA cheerleader. And in reality, I am agnostic so many parts of AA don't jive with me. But understanding what that first step really means has been a little epiphany to me.

Anyway, there are many different things we can try and I urge each person to keep trying until you find something that works. There are a lot of options, just never give up. I hope I can stay this positive, but for now it's one day at a time.

Thanks all.

konger, my extreme success with TSM can be solely credited to my 15 month stint with AA and ultimate 11 month continuous sobriety in the program. I believe there are individuals such as myself who simply need to put some solid distance between themselves and the bottle for a significant duration of time. Therein we learn to actually sit with ourselves and our emotions, clear-headed. Typically for the first time in a long while. AA was good to me and will provide you with a beneficial support system. I threw myself into it. I've left the door open as I embarked on this experiment. Thanks to Naltrexone I am no longer powerless over a drink. Unmedicated, though it would be a disaster. Keep the door open here, but for the foreseeable future work your program. Well wishes.