16. After years of battling uncontrollable addiction, an alcoholic doctor began experimenting with Baclofen – achieving what could be the medical breakthrough of the 21st Century.
Dr. Olivier Ameisen was an extraordinary cardiologist, working for one of America’s top teaching hospitals and running his own successful practice when he developed a self-destructive addiction to alcohol. He broke bones with no memory of falling, he nearly lost his kidneys, and almost died from massive seizures during acute withdrawal. He gave up his practice and, fearing for his life, immersed himself in Alcoholics Anonymous, rehab, therapy, and a variety of medications. Nothing worked. So he did the only thing he could: he took his treatment into his own hands.
Searching for a cure for his condition, he happened upon baclofen, a muscle relaxant that had been used safely for years as a treatment for various types of muscle spasticity, but had also shown promising results in studies with laboratory animals addicted to a wide variety of substances. Ameisen prescribed himself the drug and experimented with increasingly higher dosages until he finally reached a level high enough to leave him free of any craving for alcohol. In 2008, Ameisen wrote a best-selling book, The End Of My Addiction, describing his experience of curing his alcoholism with baclofen.