Soma

cramcj01 · Senior Member

Soma

Doll · MIP Old Timer

Soma did nothing for me - was like taking a drink of water.

We've 'altered' our brain receptors with alcohol, therefore it may take some trial and error to find the right medication that works for you. I'm under a pain mgmt specialists and it took 5 months of 'trying' different meds to find one that worked without the HORRIBLE side effects.

Go back to see your doctor and discuss this.

Good luck and don't give up.

Jen

cramcj01 · Senior Member

And that's the truth, because when I had shingles I was prescribed vicodin. Taking 2 tabs, was the same....like drinking a glass of water.

toni baloney · Senior Member

Morning,

I just pulled this up on Medline Plus, through NIH.gov. I have heard of this drug being a major Muscle Tranquiler, hope you dont take any more. Did you tell your Doctor you were in AA??? many other alternative. In my opinion, I agree with the person that told you it is like Solid Alcohol, no wonder you feel "drunk"

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Why is this medication prescribed? Return to top
Carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant, is used with rest, physical therapy, and other measures to relax muscles and relieve pain and discomfort caused by strains, sprains, and other muscle injuries.

This medication is sometimes prescribed for other uses; ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

How should this medicine be used? Return to top
Carisoprodol comes as a tablet to take by mouth. It usually is taken three times daily and at bedtime. It may be taken with or without food. Follow the directions on your prescription label carefully, and ask your doctor or pharmacist to explain any part you do not understand. Take carisoprodol exactly as directed. Do not take more or less of it or take it more often than prescribed by your doctor.

What special precautions should I follow? Return to top
Before taking carisoprodol,

tell your doctor and pharmacist if you are allergic to carisoprodol, meprobamate (Equanil, Meprospan, Miltown, Neuramate), or any other drugs.
tell your doctor and pharmacist what prescription and nonprescription medications you are taking, especially medications for allergies, coughs, or colds; muscle relaxants; sedatives; sleeping pills; tranquilizers; and vitamins.
tell your doctor if you have or have ever had kidney or liver disease.
tell your doctor if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding. If you become pregnant while taking carisoprodol, call your doctor.
you should know that this drug may make you drowsy. Do not drive a car or operate machinery until you know how carisoprodol affects you.
remember that alcohol can add to the drowsiness caused by this drug.
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FYI, the name Soma appears, and the name Carisoprodol is the name it goes by in the Pharmacutical world.

Just my 2 cents, hope you are going to feel better, soon,
Toni

-- Edited by toni baloney on Sunday 31st of May 2009 12:47:38 PM

cramcj01 · Senior Member

All of my Doctor's know that I am an alcoholic.....but my family Doctor (whom I saw), I think forgets to look at my ENTIRE chart when I'm in the office. When I had an anxiety problem, I told him not to prescribe anything addictive because of my situation. He chose an anti-depressant. Since this should (hopefully) be for just a short time, I didn't feel like bringing it up again.......but I should have. I'm a pharmacy technician, so I know all about the 'drug world' but didn't think one would affect me like that. And it wasn't a good feeling at all.....but thankfully, that feeling has passed and I'm feeling back to myself now. That and, being that I have had seizures, I kind of work myself into little 'fits' if I start feeling funny.....just pretty much freaking myself out.

-- Edited by cramcj01 on Sunday 31st of May 2009 01:10:35 PM

MDC · Senior Member

Discuss it with your DR. Ask him if there is something else you could take. The "buzz" you get from them, if you aren't careful may lead to a relapse.

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

I always thought that soma was a narcotic. But like Danielle said, I took them when I was a teenager (trying to get high) and they didn't do much. But if it walks like a duck....

MDC · Senior Member

One thing I had to deal with after my back sugery was the pain meds. I found a doctor who believed in pain management, rather than pain elimination. Often times doctors overperscribe to relieve to person's pain. A certain amount of pain is normal and to be expected in certain circumstances. Nobody likes it...pain hurts. At one point I was on demerol, loritab, and oxy...It killed the pain, but like alcohol, it killed all the good feelings also. I wasn't even close to being sober at the time, so I never really gave it much thought.

I'm very new to this AA stuff, but I'll accept a certain amount of pain, before risking a bad relapse.

Be open with your doctor, see what other options there are. follow the directions, that was the hard part for me, 1 pill numbs the pain, 2 I felt pretty good, 3 or 4 and it's a party.

I know that you are having pain, and I feel for you, just discuss it with your doctor, there are other options...maybe even just a weaker version of what he is already giving. After all, you still want to be able to function through out the day, you just want to do it without the pain, or with less pain.

-- Edited by MDC on Sunday 31st of May 2009 05:52:33 PM

toni baloney · Senior Member

Hi Crystal,

Well think I might have misspoke on my response, did not know that you were in a lot of pain, (per Mark).

Sometimes we give it a try at helping, without all the facts.

Hope today finds you feeling better.

Hugs, Toni

Doll · MIP Old Timer

I would suggest finding a doctor that is well versed in addiction AND pain management. Like I said it took from Oct. to April to find what worked for me without feeling like I was drugged. I went through a lot of meds that did NOTHING at all, I didn't even know I was taking anything!

ALWAYS remind your doctors you're in recovery. Whether it's in your file or not.

Good luck. I've said a prayer your pain eases. I know all too well what pain is like. I live with everyday.

(((hugs)))

Jen

turninggrey · MIP Old Timer

RE: What are your opinions on this?

Just Toni · MIP Old Timer

Hi LoPo,

If you are an Alcoholic, then you are invited here, we really do not have Rules per say.However we do have our Traditions.

We all belong to the Community of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the 12 Step Program that has helped so many, just like myself included, successfully stay sober continuously for almost two decades now.

So I really did not need to read about the Sinclair method. I just would prefer to read more fun stuff when I sit and do some reading.

I have a Program that has successfully help me, with the working of the 12 Steps of Recovery, and thr guidelines as set out in our 12 Traditions.

This is a website for People that are coming in, some brand new, really desperately seeking help with their drinking, and some that have just stumbled on to this site that have been in the AA Program for a long time. This website is used in conjuction with AA Meetings.

So we have our Dean, he is the current Moderator here, so if there is anything I dont know about, with you bringing this other site in here, I am sure he will let you know,... Ok, hope that answers your question.

When I lived in Marin County, it was back in the mid 90's, there was a group, that was actually courting some of our members away, called Rational Recovery. It did charge folk about 300 dollars per person, so they could see if they could adapt their lives and drink "rationally". It always facinating me that a this group that was honing in on "every alcoholic will find at some Point, they do not have a human defense against that first drink"....So I watch some good members pay money to this group, (our organization has always been completely 100%
free) They did all come back, just a little worn out from the attempts they made, but them making it back was all that mattered.

PS, I just read your note back to Turningrey, and I can tell you that we do not get into any controversary here, ok. A Big part of our Traditions.

Perhaps the very best thing that you can do for yourself is write a Private Message to Dean, he is listed as St.Pete Dean, click on his name, and it will guide you to where you can send a Private message to him directly, about Post this stuff on this AA Forum.

-- Edited by Just Toni on Thursday 24th of September 2009 08:57:26 PM

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

There's a lot work being done now in the blocking or neuro-receptors, chantix the drug smokers are taking for one. I don't see any harm in looking or discussing this. I have no opinion about it and wouldn't advise either way. I think that most AAs with some time wouldn't want to drink even if they could. It might be of some use to chronic relapsers. It would be nice to undue the physiological compulsion before getting sober, but would people want to obstain after that? And couldn't these folks just "learn" how to drink compulsively again? We all know that the mood altering substance is just a symptom of deeply rooted pychological problems yet this doctor is treating it like a chemical imbalance, by treating the symptom.

turninggrey · MIP Old Timer

I'm assuming your joking

And if so, no it isn't. This is real. It's healthy to be skeptical, we can all look into it ourselves. The research is real.

Over 100,000 people have been treated successfully to date.

-- Edited by Lo0p on Thursday 24th of September 2009 08:50:52 PM

Oh, but I guess you can make fun of the Minnesota Spankological Protocol! It has helped many people including big name tv stars like Ned Flanders for one!

http://flanders2.tripod.com/bio.html

wink Of course I am kidding you. I will tell you that many alcohol cures have been tried with varying success. The AA success rate is not 100%. I do not know what the AA position is on discussing outside programs, but I can tell you that I would find it distracting to me because this program works well FOR me. We are trying to focus on this program which requires some commitment and personel fortitude. I hope the Sinclair method is 100% because I wish this disease on no one. I have just witnessed too many people chasing down other Larry Lightbulb ideas and losing many years of sobriety as a result.

-- Edited by turninggrey on Thursday 24th of September 2009 09:41:12 PM

Jerry F · MIP Old Timer

Aloha LoPo...after reading thru the post and reply to your last reply I question
if the whole intro wasn't spamming. If you had been honest from the start I
would have seen the "this is working for me and..." I've met a person or two
who have used other treatment modalities and I have worked as a Behavioral
Health Counselor in a alcohol and substance abuse program for a large central
valley (CA) hospital. I have networked with "white knucklers" and met the
last survivor of the AirForce drug substitute recovery program. The rest of the
group 25 men in all, succumbed to LSD. I still reasearch what is out there and
the result they are reporting. I also look for what it is that they are not reporting.
What I know is that many clinical (not all because of success) shun a spiritual
model solution. Many do not accept that alcohol is mind, mood and behaviorally
altering chemical that results in life time addiction. They do believe that there
is a need for a Higher Power for which they are that. Without their help,
research, chemicals (still mind and mood altering) clinical test and followup an
alcoholic doesn't have a lot of alternatives.   Consider one thing that they do
know that isn't mentioned...The human body is not created, constructed, or
evolved to consume the chemical alcohol.   The consequences even under a
short load presents too much stress on the drinker and...those connected in
anyway with the drinker.   Alcoholism is not a one person disease and distilled
alcohol has been around over 5000 years.    Alcoholics are altered peoples.
Alcohol is a mind, mood, behavioral altering substance.

Everyone here has made a choice regarding their recovery journey and are
openly honest about that choice. From the start we talk about what has
worked for us, sharing it with others who come here looking for a solution
that works without the continued use of alcohol. We come to not need it at
all and do not become remorseful for our change of mind, body, spirit and
emotions. Everyone I have read here knows that there are and we have
alternatives for others and stay with what works for us.

You most likely have, I hope you have researched this membership to become
aware that we don't use Naltrexone as a higher power although I am sure that
many who faint at the thought of never ever having a bout with alcohol do. The
substitute for alcohol for me is a power greater than alcohol and a program that
redesigned me to be a benefit to society without the warning.

So in the short I see it as spamming.

smile

soccermomusa34 · Member

My personal opinion about any sort of "pill" taking for something like Alcoholism is scary and seemingly giving up one addiction for another possibly. In AA, you are sober and start from scratch, but with others just like yourself...doctors do not care about actual people...it is the science of curing the people which doctors are fascinated by when it comes to addiction. Just my opinion though. The medication must have side effects, etc....so why poison the body with a drug to "cure" alcohol addiction when you can be completely sober with NO foreign substance in your system?

turninggrey · MIP Old Timer

Hey Loop. Its not for me. This looks like another excuse generator for alcoholics. Since you are an alcoholic, and not a salesman for this program confuse , you know that alcoholics are always looking for an excuse to continue drinking. This forum is for alcoholics who are concentrating on the "AA" program. Nowhere in the 12 steps does it recommend branching out and doing anything "dumb, different or dangerous"

If this program ends up being a winner over time, we will hear about it. Its not my forum board, but I really do not want to break my concentration or peace by engaging in another program that simply does not have legs yet. There may be some here who would benifit from the program, but I would hate to see them pulled away, spend years of their life drinking and open to the risks involved with drinking, and in the meantime hurting themselves or others. Again, I am just one voice and I have been wrong before, but the history of these programs is that the inventor or director of the programs usually end up in the news for drunk driving after hitting a schoolbus. If you are into this program, I really think you need to do more research into the University of Minnesota Spankological Protocals.

Just Toni · MIP Old Timer

Morning,

Just a few thoughts on a few things you wrote last night, I will just quote them, ok"

"I feel bad about "courting members"

Interesting response, is not that your primary goal to Recuit others here????

"10,000 YEARS. YES AN ALCOHOLIC AFFECTS HEALTH AND LIVES OF THOSE AROUND THEM. THIS TREATMENT ACTUALLY REVERTS THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF AN ALCOHOLIC BACK TO THE POINT AT WHICH THEY WERE AT BEFORE THEY WERE AN ALCOHOLIC."

This one took the doorprize, collect at the door, you are stating here that the Alcoholics can indeed go back to just normal drinking.

One of our favorite sayings here, that WE ALL UNDERSTAND LIKE THE BACK OF OUR OWN HANDS.....IS,
"once a Pickle, you can never be a Cucumber again". And coming into this Dedicated AA 12 Step Forum and telling us, what we think with our hearts is NOT the truth.....
very interersting, indeed.......that We can INDEED return to the Cucumber status.......

You insist on referring to us a people that are abstinent, WE ARE SOBER ALCOHOLICS, and are always vigilent against the Disease of Alcoholism, that is the secondary reason from not veering too far away from this AA Program, OUR PRIMARY PURPOSE IS TO HELP ANOTHER ALCOHOLIC, STILL SUFFERING WITH THIS LIFE TREATENING DISEASE, TO LEND A HAND AND OFFER OUR EXPERIENCE, STRENTH AND HOPE TO ANY THAT COME HERE, SEEKING OUR HELP.

My very real concern is that there are many, many practicing alcoholics that are suffering today, and will be suffering tomorrow that are looking into this site, and trying to see if that is a chance for them possibly to overcome all the horrible
incomprehensible demoralization of being in a Black out, or living in very painful isolation, we want those people to raise their hands and sign in, and come in so we can maybe help them, answer any questions, and give 100% support to the suffering Alcoholic.

And I just do not see where all the 10 different websites you presented would assist them, they are not scientific experiments, they are flesh and blood human beings, that are in some cases, hanging onto life by only their fingernails.

So in reading all that has been contributed to you in the responses by our participants here, I ask you to step back, take a deep breath, and just look at this entire thread, if this is not a "HEAD" and word controversary, what is???

I was going to make some more comments on the Tip of the Iceberg theory, but am going to stop now, and go to a more peaceful place......

One last little comment about the Minnesota Spankological Protocol! and Ned Flounders, I did indeed go there, and think you might enjoy that site, it seems to add up with your Sinclair method, for Ned Flounders, ONCE WAS an ALCOHOLIC.

The difference here in this DEDICATED AA 12 Step MIP Forum IS simply, WE became Alcoholics and will be alcoholics til we meet our maker. And with the Grace of God, let it please be A SOBER meeting with our HP, that I choose personally to call GOD.

GOD BLESS LoPo, wishing you the best in your adventures in life.

Toni

PS. Had to come back and ask you, do you really... really... really not understand the SPAM Statement by Jerry, that I also agree
with 100% and then some.........

-- Edited by Just Toni on Friday 25th of September 2009 01:03:55 PM

Jerry F · MIP Old Timer

LoPo...I've responsed to you by PM...c u there.

In support smile

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Hey Lo0p, one other thing that came to mind today as I was considering this thread. What happens when these folks, who finish this treatment switch addictions (gambling, sex, relationships, video gaming, spending money, overeating...). They aren't going to be taking this medication for those activities (which will also release opiates in the brain) because the treatment was geared toward alcoholism. With that said, how is this a long term solution and why are they using the term "Cured"? If you're "cured" why would you have to take medication for the rest of your life to continue drinking? By the way Lo0p I'm glad to hear the you're planning on obtaining after the treatment is finished.

turninggrey · MIP Old Timer

Excellent Just Toni! Release the hounds! Heres more on Ned Flanders. At the end, he is going in for the "Sinclair Method"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAst7K0D3FM

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Lo0p I guessed that the drug could be taken for any kind of behavior, I was just questioning the patients resolve to take it for other compulsive addictions that they were still in denial about them. If a person has three or four addictive behaviors and you take away the "drug of choice", the remaining addictions will grow larger. I mean, how many years could go by and how much damage could be done if the person's codependency flared up or they began gambling or other addictions. sure one at a time, these could be treated, but you're still missing the point about treating the symptoms vs. the problem. Don't get me wrong, I'm interested in this type of treatment (not personally) but think that (in true medical fashion) the researchers are missing the spiritual element to recovery. This is more of the same for the medical association, take a pill and be well.

By the way, chantex has had some really bad side effects like depression and people committing suicide because of the endophines being blocked. I believe that there are some class action law suits now. Does naltrexin have these issues?

-- Edited by StPeteDean on Saturday 26th of September 2009 05:24:16 AM

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Lo0p wrote:

This is what Bill Wilson thought about the idea of a medical treatment for alcoholism:

The following quote is from a speech give by By Bill W. (Co-founder of AA) " ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS IN ITS THIRD DECADE" . Presented to the New York City Medical Society on Alcoholism April 28, 1958:
" We also realize that the discoveries of the psychiatrists and the biochemists have vast implications for us alcoholics. Indeed, these discoveries are today far more than implications. Your President and other pioneers in and outside your Society have been achieving notable results for a long time, many of their patients having made good recoveries without any A.A. at all. It should here be noted that some of the recovery methods employed outside A.A. are quite in contradiction to AA principles and practice. Nevertheless, we of AA ought to applaud the fact that certain of these efforts are meeting with increasing success. We know, too, that psychiatry can often release the big neurotic overhang from which many of us suffer after A.A. has sobered us. We know that psychiatrists have sent us innumerable alcoholics who would have never otherwise approached AA, and many clinics have done likewise. We clearly see that by pooling our resources we can do together what could never be accomplished in separation; or in short-sighted criticism and in competition. Therefore I would like to make a pledge to the whole medical fraternity that AA will always stand ready to cooperate, that A.A. will never trespass upon medicine, that our members who feel the call will increasingly help in those great enterprises of education, rehabilitation and research which are now going forward with such promise. So menacing is the growing spectacle of alcoholism that nothing short of the total resources of society can hope to vanquish or much lessen the strength of our very dangerous adversary, John Barleycorn. The subtlety and power of the alcoholics malady is revealed on every page of mankinds history - and never so starkly and so destructive as in this century. When our combined understanding and knowledge have been fully massed and applied, we of AA know that we shall find our friends of medicine in the very front rank - just where so many of you are already standing today. When such an array of benign and cooperative action is in full readiness, it can, and will surely be, a great tomorrow for that vast host of men who suffer from alcoholism, and from all its dark and baleful consequences."

The landscape has been so hopeless for so long that all of us thought that this day would never come. Now that it has, some of us refuse to see it.

Oh I'm fully aware that our founders sought every avenue outside of AA, it's written several places. They had a "be all you can be" attitude and they themselves tried a lot of things including Bill Wilson taking LSD. The guy suffered from clinical depression and was seeking relief, apparently, by altering his brain chemistry. I didn't work but I give the guy credit for trying even risking his sobriety at the chance of having a better life. I probably didn't say that very well.

I'm very encouraged by this work with Naltrexone and can see that this (and future drugs of this type) will be dramatically increase the recovery rate of addicts, which is presently at a dismal 5% roughly. Lo0p, you've certainly done your homework on this subject and I thank you for bringing to my attention. I figured that this was on the way after hearing about how chantix worked and knowing that the mood altering substances and events that addicts are addicted to release opiates in the brain. I talked to a psychiatrist last year that said had taken some advanced courses on alcoholism and substance abuse. They reviewed an autopsy of an severe alcoholics brain and after some test they found quatities of opiates and figured that he was also a opiate addict but that was not the case. This lead the researchers to conclude that the opiates where internal and released when the alcoholic drank. This, obviously, is happening no matter what the substance or event the addict is involved in. Addicted Video gamers are probably experiencing the same thing.

So Lo0p let us know how it's going for you over the next year or so. I would helpful to hear first hand the long term results from a treatment like this. Who knows, maybe it'll help me with my internet addiction lol.

One thing that I'd like to ad is that, if it were me, I'd refrain from using the words "cured" or "former alcoholics" around AA members as it flies in the face of everything that they've known and believe. Plus, with any primary disease, that's treated, a period of 5 years clear without relapse, is required before pronouncing that someone is "cured". Take cancer for instance.

Dean

-- Edited by StPeteDean on Saturday 26th of September 2009 12:23:34 PM

turninggrey · MIP Old Timer

Hey Loop,
Thanks for bringing this up, and I hope it works for you, but I hope you do not flood this site with constant updates. Its cool you are into the Sinclair method. Its just that this is an AA site. We have a pattern and normalacy. I have no idea who you are, and I am suspect that you may be more involved in this program than you let on and I hate to admit I am suspect that there is a cost to the Sinclair method and you may need recruits. You have made a thread, and it has been looked at, and I would like to hear of your progress in the future, and I would like to hear of your progress as far as AA goes, but if you are going to try and make this website into "Miracles in Sinclair Method" I think you would be hurting many members here who have found peace and advice dealing with an already complex method (AA) that has a long track record, where yours does not. Many of these programs end up with lots of data and media attention, and then fade when actual long term scientific data is applied to the test group. There have been many of the directors of past programs end up in jail on alcohol related charges. I am just taking the long view of this so that our newer members do not run over to the Sinclair Method and end up losing years of sobriety after your program ends up a failure, and then they end up back in AA and wish they had stuck to AA.
I used the "University of Minnesota Spankological Protocals" as an example of another "Larry Lightbulb" "method". That is a military pilot term for something that sounds great and then does not work. The University of Minnesota Spank Method was applied to Ned Flanders from "The Simpsons" as a child. He was the son of "beatniks" (think early hippies) who gave him no discipline growing up. He got so out of hand, their doctor recommended the "UofM spank method" where he was spanked for 8 months straight. This seemed to work, but had long lasting effects and caused many other issues for poor Ned. I think it is a great example in your case. Do not get me wrong, I hope the best for you, but part of the honesty of AA is not running from the truth. This is only the truth as I know it and I do not claim to have all the answers.

-- Edited by turninggrey on Saturday 26th of September 2009 08:35:48 PM

-- Edited by turninggrey on Saturday 26th of September 2009 08:36:17 PM

-- Edited by turninggrey on Saturday 26th of September 2009 08:42:48 PM

jonijoni1 · MIP Old Timer

My opinion? This is ONLY for AA, and kindly take the Sinclair stuff and start a Sinclair Method forum. This here is all 12Step based; all the "forums" on the MIP site are related to the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. We here choose to work one and only one program and support eachother in it. That is what makes this site so special. We have made a choice to use AA as our source of recovery, so please let us continue on our journey of helping one another to live the 12 Steps of AA, and please save your discussion of alternative therapies for another forum. . We in AA are entitled to seek therapy or medical treatments, and we do so on our own. Please understand that this site, as shown on the Home Page for MIP, is for AA specifically.

Thank you for allowing me to voice my opinion here.

-- Edited by jonijoni1 on Saturday 26th of September 2009 08:05:58 PM

jonijoni1 · MIP Old Timer

Soma