After smoking, alcohol kills more people in Britain than any other drug and it is now estimated that one in 13 British adults is hooked on it.
What's more, experts claim thousands of social drinkers are also on the verge of alcohol dependency, while a report by Cancer Research last week showed that even one glass of wine a day can increase the risk of cancer.

But is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Leading US cardiologist Dr Olivier Ameisen spent a decade addicted to alcohol but discovered a pharmaceutical drug commonly used as a muscle relaxant that 'cured' his illness. Here he tells his story.

Blackouts soon became very common during my binges and eventually I started losing whole evenings.

Sometimes I would call a friend at 3am and forget I did it. I would see them a few weeks later and they would tell me about our conversation but I had no recollection of it.

Then the injuries started happening. I have broken my shoulder, wrist and three ribs and, on one occasion, found myself in a taxi with blood streaming down my face.

I had no idea how I did it. I told the cab to take me to the hospital I worked at and one of my ex-medical students treated me.

I not only worked at the hospital but I was clinical professor at its partner institution, the Cornell University Medical College.

This wasn't good. It was embarrassing for both of us. After another blackout, I woke up attached to intravenous tubes and a urinary catheter.

My drinking stemmed from anxiety. I found parties stressful but always found them easier if I had a scotch in my hand. There was no predisposition for alcoholism in my family.

It was when I moved to New York that I started relying on alcohol. At the age of 41, I was living in a state of permanent dysphoria – the opposite of euphoria – but my doctors just told me my anxiety was caused by drinking.

They didn't understand I was drinking to help my anxiety. So I started getting drunk all weekend. I would start on Friday and finish on Sunday.

If I had patients on a Monday, I would stop on Saturday, feel terrible all day Sunday and then go into work.

If I still felt drunk, I would cancel my patients – I never worked drunk. Many doctors have alcohol dependency problems and one report in the British Medical Journal found that liver disease is higher in doctors than in the general population.

I spent the next eight years going to thousands of AA meetings. I went to rehab ten times and tried yoga, hypnotherapy and acupuncture.

Then a friend sent me an article about the effect of a muscle relaxant called baclofen on a drug addict's craving for cocaine.

I was drunk when I received it so discarded it, but a year later, I went back to it. I started self-prescribing, telling colleagues I needed it for calf twitches (which I did suffer from). I started on a low dose and steadily increased to 180mg a day.

Immediately I started sleeping better, something I never did. There are virtually no side effects, although I did worry I may die in my sleep if my respiratory system relaxed too much. I wasn't scared of death but I was scared of living with alcoholism.

I contemplated suicide but was so convinced someone would come up with a cure ten minutes after I finally did it, I never went through with it.

Eventually I went up to 270mg a day. On lower doses, although I was getting better, I was still having blackouts.

I couldn't believe what then happened – the baclofen not only stopped my craving for alcohol, it relieved my anxiety, the thing that makes so many people vulnerable to addiction.

It was like jumping out of a window and starting to fly. I went out with my friends and saw a man drinking a glass of whisky and I felt nothing.

Most alcoholics say the bottles talk to them but I felt totally detached from that drink. It was just an object.

I had a drink in a bar in Paris but didn't go back for a second. That's unheard of for alcoholics but I had no motivation to go back for another.

When I admitted my problems and subsequent findings in a 2004 medical paper, it was terrifying.

I am the first doctor to have come out and admitted their problems but I have since received many e-mails from others telling me they suffer too.

Today, five years on, I am down to 50 mg a day and I still haven't relapsed –trust me, I've tried.

Although there are now trials happening in Glasgow and Switzerland, France and the US, many doctors still refuse to believe baclofen is the cure to addiction. But it saved me and can save others. The End Of My Addiction by Dr Olivier Ameisen (Piatkus Books), £11.99


The Science: How does baclofen work?
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The Science: How does baclofen work?

Experts now acknowledge Dr Ameisen's hypothesis that alcoholism is linked to a deficiency in GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate), which is described as the brain's natural valium. This natural tranquilliser helps us to relax and a deficiency leads to anxiety, muscular tension, insomnia and depression.

To deal with this, people who are deficient in GHB self-medicate with drugs and alcohol and progressively become dependent.

GABA works through two receptors, GABA A and GABA B. When a person drinks alcohol it will occupy the GABA A receptor, mimicking the GABA's relaxant effect. When they stop drinking, they will feel anxious again.

When you take baclofen it stimulates the GABA B receptor, something only GHB does. Other medications will act only on the GABA A system but it seems the way to stop alcohol dependency lies with the receptor B.


London Metro Monday, March 2, 2009

Jesus Christ!!!...How do you take that much baclofen orally without killing yourself? I know of people who take a third that much who have a baclofen pump installed in their stomach, not to mention have to go in every other month for bloodwork to make sure their liver is alright with it. I take 30mg a day, I can't imagine how cracked out 270 would make me!

Santa, you'd feel ten feet tall and bullet proof.
Or at least spasm proof.

Trinity, great post.
Maybe it'll help someone.
Cause if you are an ADDICT, and you continue to use your drug of choice you WILL DIE either directly or indirectly as a result of your drug use.

Forgive me if I sound like I'm preaching but at the rather young age of 52 I've outlived a whole lot of my friends.
Every single one of them dead because of their addictions.

E

Agreed, E Dog, fully agreed.

I know of so many people who have tried to quit smoking using Zyban. They become totally cracked out on the stuff but hell, THEY HAVE QUIT SMOKING!!! Using one drug to substitute for another is probably eventually going to backfire. 99% of the people I know who 'quit' smoking using the Zyban were smoking again within a week or two of not taking it anymore. And then they start saying they need to get back on the Zyban. The only thing that is tried and true for kicking any habit is plain old willpower, and the desire to be rid of the addiction mixed with the readiness to get sober, I suppose.

When I was taking baclofen, I think the highest dose I ever had was 80 mg and boy, did I ever feel like a zombie. I can't imagine 270.

I agree Dog Ive lost allot of friends over the yrs. ANY thing that could help should be explored

I took baclophen for a while, and it made me feel like hell. I think this gentleman is probably deluded, but who knows? The fact that he was self-medicating makes it sound kindof fishy, like he just switched dependencies. This happens a lot. Time will tell.

Greetings All
I an 66 and have never smoked,drunk much alcochol or been whith many women,
where have I gone wrong.

I have looked through several articles on the web and it seems that baclofen has been successful, I was shocked at the dosages too, 270mg seems ridiculous! However other drugs, such as amitriptyline have very different dosages depending on what it is being taken for, for example for nerve pain you may take 25-50mg / day, for depression you can take up to 300mg / day. If I took this dose I would go to sleep and never wake up I am sure!

Maybe the alcohol has something to do with it, the articles all said how well high dose baclofen was tolerated with little side effects, like Twisted Ophelia, I would be in a serious zombie state!

Plus I guess if it work at a reasonable dose there would be very few sci alcoholics, I am thinking that this is not the case.

Baclofen has been used for years to treat addictions.

Baclofen has a low oral absorption rate, so even at high oral dosages the amount that reaches your nervous system is very different.

Interesting article.

The sceptic is here again,,,,,,

Having known,,, and been friends with, both alcoholics and drunks,,,,, Olivier sounds more like the second than the first,,,,, needing escape more than a "fix".

And he's selling a book,,,,,, who'ld a believed it?????

My experience with Baclofen is limited to reading,,, mostly here,,,, It might even work for yo if you don't waste your liver first,,,, your absorbtion rate may be low,, but that's just a matter of percentages,,,, if you absorb something from a 30mg dose,, you are probably gonna absorb 9 times as much from 270 mg,,,,,

As Moms Mably used to say, when asked why she was still chain smoking at 80,,," Wa diffence it gonna make??? You gonna die of a spasm or a fit, anyhow..."


Words to live by!!!!!??????
ed

I've heard of 180-200 mg doses prescribed by doctors commonly with a maximum of 800mg a day, with no signs of hepatic issues. Long term who knows but I wouldn't , in my opinion of course, think that a non-maintenance high dosage therapy for a shortwhile to alleviate addiction and prevent the future symptoms of alcoholism is a far greater benefit than the cons the high dosages of baclofen show.

MMM mmm mm.. too bad baclofen doesnt taste like a big frosty ass beer!

I don't consider myself an alcoholic, I probably drink once a week, but lately I've been getting black out drunk, and don't remember doing anything. I'm sad to say I guess I even did cocaine this weekend without even remembering because I was so drunk. This weekend will be my last time drinking, not sure for how long but I figured if I keep going the way I am I am eventually going to harm myself. I mean I've already have had ER visits due to drunken night, and now realize it's just not worth it.And after this weekend, I am so ashamed of myself, what I did has been eating me up inside and just really making me depressed. Thank God my two friends came to get me or who knows where I would be right now. The reason I am writing on this topic is because I take 80mg of baclofen a day and I still drink and blackout, I don't think it stops cravings or addictions. I've stopped drinking before without any help, it's just that since this weekend what I heard that I did and not remembering it is pretty pathetic, and not to mention dangerous. I mean, I could have died, who know what that that alcohol, drugs, and prescriptions I'm taking due to my injury could have done to me. Anyways, I've been rambling, thanks for letting me vent, I really needed it

Fascinating subject being an alcohol aict myself I rea with great interest the effects on Baclofen & addictions & managed to get my doctor to prescribe it to me. I am now up to 100mg a day & have noticed a great improvement in the ammount I drink. Before I would get through a bottle of vodka & a bottle of wine a day. I am now on half a bottle of wine a day & after having it, don't wish for anymore. I plan to try & get up to 200mg a day for a week & then slowly taper down to about 40mg. All I can say is, this is working for me & would sooner take the risk of Baclofen than the risk of alcohol. I have also found if you raise your dose by 5mg every 5 days & not three you don't feel zombied out. I'cannot recommened this drug highly enough & to all the sceptics out there, it's not a cure it just maintains sobriety like insolin keeps diabetes at bay. Good luck to all who try it..

Baclofen pump is a different kettle of fish to the tablets. Tablets are tolerated very well & would be nigh impossible to kill your yourself with them. I did hear of a women who tried to kill herself on Baclofen & took 1000mg in one dose!! She went unconsious but thankfully survived.

Let me chime in on this. I have had incredible success with baclofen for alcohol dependency. Rather than rewriting it all over again, I will just paste a comment I made on another forum earlier today:

"I have been taking baclofen since early January for alcohol dependence, and it has been pretty miraculous. I have gone from drinking 6-12 drinks daily to having a single glass of wine 2-3 times a week.

I have absolutely no desire to drink anymore, and I will happily have a single drink during social situations without fear that it will trigger a craving. I simply have no desire to drink a second glass.

Anxiety management seems to be crucial for how this drug works. I would previously start to feel anxious and jittery every afternoon, and if I couldn't get hold of a drink by 5 or 6 o'clock, I would feel exceedingly ill at ease. All of that is now simply gone.

In addition, I feel absolutely no craving for baclofen itself - I have to consciously remind myself to take the drug, since I am prone to forgetting about it.

I started at 20mg daily of Baclofen, steadily increasing the dosage every three days, and I found my therapeutic dose at 150mg. Sleepiness and slight cognitive fuzziness was a problem at that high of a dose, but after one or two days at 150mg I felt something "click," and I simply had no desire to drink (my alcohol craving was slowly lessening with every increase in baclofen dosage, but it wasn't until the 150mg level that I suddenly felt a total absence of craving).

After maintaining the 150mg dose for several weeks (side effects got better but were still somewhat of a problem), I began to reduce the dosage in order to find the optimal maintenance dose. With a reduction in dosage (I'm now at 75mg daily, with an additional 25mg as needed), the side effects became negligible - the only remaining side effect is grogginess in the morning, and a simple cup of coffee takes care of that nicely.

The dosage regimen is the same one as described by Ameisen in his book and journal article on the subject, and as followed by Buckman in his related article (searching on pubmed brings up both these articles - I think they were both published in Alcohol and Alcoholism).

Ameisen reported having to go all the way up to 270mg before being able to reduce dosage, but it seems to vary from person to person.

Unfortunately the drug is out of patent, so clinical studies will be difficult to fund, but hopefully Ameisen's book will get something going. I've heard rumors that the French government is going to fund a study, but I haven't seen anything concrete about that. "