Dr Olivier Ameisen was a brilliant cardiologist and running his own successful practice when he developed a profound addiction to alcohol. Fearing for his life, he immersed himself in AA, rehab and therapy. Nothing worked. So he did the only thing he could; he took his treatment into his own hands. Searching for a cure for his deadly disease, 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 more recently shown promising results in studies with laboratory animals addicted to a wide variety of substances. Dr Ameisen prescribed himself the drug and experimented with increasingly higher doses until he finally reached a level high enough to leave him free of any craving for alcohol. That was more than five years ago. Baclofen, as prescribed under a doctor's care, could possibly help many addicts. But as long as the medical and research establishments ignore a cure for one of the most deadly diseases in the world, we won't be able to understand baclofen's full potential. This book is a plea for research that can rescue millions from the scourge of addiction.

By:   Olivier Ameisen
Imprint:   Piatkus
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 216mm,  Width: 135mm
ISBN:  

9780749942250

ISBN 10:   0749942258
Pages:   352
Publication Date:   May 2009
Audience:   General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock at Abbey's Bookshop
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Dr Olivier Ameisen inaugurated the position of official physician to the prime minister of France. In 1983 he moved to the United States to join the prestigious cardiology team at New York Hospital and Cornell University Medical Center. He currently devotes his efforts to the treatment of addiction and divides his time between Paris and New York where he is currently a visiting professor of medicine at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center.

'Making headlines around the world' ABC NEWS / GOOD MORNING AMERICA 'Olivier Ameisen has discovered the treatment of addiction.' Jean Dausset, MD, winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Medicine 'Truly fascinating ... I was very moved... It's extraordinary.' Diane Sawyer, GOOD MORNING AMERICA 'The riveting story ... of the dazzling discovery of a cure that could soon be within reach of all. If you or someone close to you suffers from alcoholism or drug dependence, you must read this book.' David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, author of The Instinct to Heal and Anticancer 'I have prescribed baclofen to more than 40 alcoholics who were at the end of their rope, and the results are quite frankly miraculous.' Renaud de Beaurepaire, MD, Chief of Psychiatry and Director of the Psychopharmacology Laboratory, Paul Guiraud Hospital, Villejuif, France 'This is a wonderful book. Ameisen may be responsible for making a signal discovery - much like, but better than, that of George Cotzias in that so many more patients may be involved.' Dr Jerome Posner, George C Cotzias Chair of Neuro-oncology, Dept of Neurology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center 'A French-American cardiologist then affiliated with New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical College descended into years of hellish alcohol addiction that essentially ended his medical practice in 1997. His move back to Paris and self-treatment with the unproven drug baclofen is the subject of this clinical, thoroughgoing memoir. Early on, Ameisen, the child of Holocaust survivors and an accomplished pianist, recognized that deep-seated anxiety was driving him to drink, yet doctors treated the drinking rather than the anxiety. He tried years of AA, rehab and medication, but in time he was binging again?blacking out and ending up in psych wards or the emergency room with broken bones. When he read about the muscle relaxant baclofen in a New York Times article, suggesting that it could repress the craving in addicts as well as control muscular spasm, he seized on the drug as his life line. He researched baclofen, prescribed it to himself (thanks to France's medical identity cards) and essentially used himself as a study over several months, increasing the dosage as necessary. The results were remarkable, and his dogged self-case study published by the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism in 2005 gathered slow but intensive interest. As a trained physician who is evidently well connected, Ameisen is not a typical patient, yet his work is brave, insightful and sure to be significant.' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, November 24th