[Dr Phill]

Hi everyone.

I have been a long-term sufferer from GAD and it eventually lead to an alcohol dependence and then frank alcoholism. Two and a half years ago, I started high-dose Baclofen with miraculous effects. My anxiety, alcohol cravings and often severe limb spasticity have gone.

My interest here is to promote the concept that many 'behavioural' problems (such as GAD, OCD and other conditions) are in fact genuine 'proper' physical medical diseases which require genuine pharmaceutical and allied therapies.

There is a developing sea change in the understanding of these copnditions; which one day will not be considered 'psychiatric' but 'psychoneurological'. Our abnormal neurology (neurotransmitter problems in the Amygdala amongst other areas) causes us to seek a readily available, cheap, legal anxiolytic - ie alcohol. Our abnormal neurology manifests as abnormal behaviour, rather than the physical manifestations associated with most other abnormal neurological states.

[MelodyL]

Originally Posted by Dr Phill

Hi everyone.

I have been a long-term sufferer from GAD and it eventually lead to an alcohol dependence and then frank alcoholism. Two and a half years ago, I started high-dose Baclofen with miraculous effects. My anxiety, alcohol cravings and often severe limb spasticity have gone.

My interest here is to promote the concept that many 'behavioural' problems (such as GAD, OCD and other conditions) are in fact genuine 'proper' physical medical diseases which require genuine pharmaceutical and allied therapies.

There is a developing sea change in the understanding of these copnditions; which one day will not be considered 'psychiatric' but 'psychoneurological'. Our abnormal neurology (neurotransmitter problems in the Amygdala amongst other areas) causes us to seek a readily available, cheap, legal anxiolytic - ie alcohol. Our abnormal neurology manifests as abnormal behaviour, rather than the physical manifestations associated with most other abnormal neurological states.

Wow, what an interesting post you wrote. I just wanted to welcome you to Neurotalk. You have certainly educated me tonight.

Hope you are having a good day. Take care

Melody

[Darlene]

Hello and welcome to NeuroTalk. Happy to see you have come to be with us. Just let us know if we can be of any help.

There are great number and caring fellow members here to assist you. Our shoulders are here for support in many ways.

Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Darlene

[Dr Phill]

Hi Melody and Darlene

Thank you so much for your welcome. I really appreciate it. I'm totally new to this forum thing (*admin edit*), but it is quite clear that NeuroTalk is an amazing place. When I am able, I hope to start a thread about "the death of psychiatry and mental illness and their rebirth as psychoneurology".

Neurotransmitter problems in the Amygdala have now been found to be associated with GAD, OCD, addictions (including alcoholism), Endogenous Depression, Schizophrenia, Autism and many other "psychiatric illnesses" and behavioural abnormalities. Once there is recognition through validated scientific research that most "psychiatric disorders" and mental illness have a genuine neurological basis, the world will change for people like me, as drug companies will seek remedies for the root cause(s), rather than for the symptoms.

In my case (as with perhaps 25 to 40% of 'later-onset' alcoholics), I didn't need counselling to help my alcoholism, I needed proper medical treatment of my GAD.

High-dose Baclofen has 2 effects. It eliminates the cravings of coming off alcohol, and it simultaneously calms my Amygdala down by replacing my deficient GABAB (a neurotansmitter), so significantly helping my GAD with OCD elements. The ultimate double-whammy for people such as me!!

I now run a dedicated Baclofen / Alcoholism / Anxiety practice based in the UK where I treat people such as me. They are almost aged 35 to 50, highly intelligent, and successful. But they have a proper, physical, progressive, potentially fatal medical disease. And no amount of counselling, AA or anything else had made the remotest bit of difference. Just like counselling an MS sufferer would not relieve their symptoms and signs.

I have great success with this cohort of alcoholism sufferers, with most significantly improved within the first 6 weeks of my 12-week Programme.

Interesting stuff!!!

[Dr Phill]

Hi again

I should add that, such is the disinterest in the medical profession at large in alcoholism and other ''behavioural' problems that I get patients from all over the world. Just this wekend, I took on a new patient from Mexico. Many thousands of sufferers are self-medicating with Baclofen that they obtain over the internet, because their physicians or General Practitioners wont help them. They almost inevitable run into significant problems, and ultimately fail when they could be marvellous success stories. It is a scandal.
*admin edit*