"After years of battling uncontrollable addiction, I have achieved the supposedly impossible: complete freedom from craving." Dr. Olivier Ameisen was a brilliant cardiologist on the staff at one of America’s top teaching hospitals and running his own successful practice when he developed a profound addiction to alcohol. He broke bones with no memory of falling; he nearly lost his kidneys; he almost died from massive seizures during acute withdrawal. He gave up his flourishing 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 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 dosages until he finally reached a level high enough to leave him free of "any "craving for alcohol. That was more than five years ago.  Alcoholism claims three hundred lives per day in the United States alone; one in four U.S. deaths is attributable to alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs. Baclofen, as prescribed under a doctor’s care, could possibly free many addicts from tragic and debilitating illness. But as long as the medical and research establishments continue to ignore a cure for one of the most deadly diseases in the world, we won’t be able to understand baclofen’s full addiction-treatment potential. "The End of My Addiction "is both a memoir of Dr. Ameisen’s own struggle and a groundbreaking call to action—an urgent plea for research that can rescue millions from the scourge of addiction and spare their loved ones the collateral damage of the disease.

"[This book is] the story of the dazzling discovery of a cure that could soon be within reach of all . . . you must read this book." --David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PHD, author of "Healing Without Freud or Prozac" and "Anticancer" When Olivier Ameisen's book was first published, Barbara Fisher noted in "The Boston Globe "that "this is not your usual memoir of addiction, degradation, and redemption." His story is indeed unusual--not because he was a brilliant cardiologist who developed a profound addiction to alcohol, or because he tried numerous treatment options and none helped. His story was the story of millions of alcoholics--until he decided to take his treatment into his own hands. Searching for a cure for his deadly disease, he happened upon baclofen, a safe muscle relaxant that had recently shown promising results in studies with laboratory animals addicted to a wide variety of substances. Ameisen experimented with increasingly higher dosages until he reached a level that left him free of "any" craving for alcohol. That was more than six years ago. "Heal Thyself "(originally published as "The End of My Addiction") is both a memoir of Ameisen's struggle and a call to action. In the past year, a growing number of researchers and doctors have been inspired by Ameisen and begun prescribing baclofen and lobbying for wide-scale studies into how the drug works. Last spring, no less an authority than the leading medical journal "Alcohol" "and Alcoholism "endorsed the book. Hailing Dr. Ameisen as "a remarkable medical researcher," it summed up its assessment strongly and directly: "This book is to be recommended."