Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Re: Surprise prescription for topamax

Meant to say "sure is good to wake up NOW without drinking and feeling good". Man, I haven't even started on the Topa yet and am losing my mind. Not good for a 41-year-old!

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Results of TOPAMAX

I am curious as to how you are responding to this drug. How are you doing? I am afraid of all drugs (except wine).

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Dr went well

Just got back from the Dr. My liver enzyme levels have been going down for the last month from a high in the 400's(normal is less than 40). Today my AST level was 53 and ALT 134! I actually have one of them out of the triple digits! The ALT is higher because of the hepatitis. AST is elevated by alcohol(actually both were high because of alcohol), so my test results are proof I haven't drank in 14 days!

Doc said she was proud of me. I am proud of myself as well. Couldn't have done it without you guys. This is just the start of a long road ahead of me, but every day I am more confident I will be sober for at least the next 18 months so my liver can be treated.

Thanks,
Marcie

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Re: Dr went well

That's GREAT news Marcie!! I knew you could do it! I am so proud of you! Your body is responding so well, its thanking you! I hope mine is too!! LOL

You keep up the good work, look at how far you have come! Without meds, I might add!

Janet

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Re: Dr went well

hello all you beautiful people!~

feelin' great here and it's so positive to read all the posts. yippee for all of us powerful people who can kick it can kick that habit that was putting us down way down. wee haaw!

today went well. i noticed a moment when i was with my students and felt happy happy to be with them (it is one great love fest at my school, aren't i lucky?!) ...i noticed that a rush of happiness was immediately followed by an excitement to drink, as if that happiness were to much to bear, must be tempered or lightened up by alcohol. i've seen that reaction before in myself and i wonder, is it true what a therapist once told me? is it true that i'm afraid of my feelings, good ones and bad ones? argh. it's so NOT how i think of myself, yet it also makes perfect sense. so often in the past i have used drinking to numb difficult emotions, and so often i have decided, in a moment of pure joy, that i would go home and drink that evening. i do think much boils down to brain chemistry, but there's force of habit and psychology in there, too. what a sinister condition!

anyway, it is such a joy to talk about drinking in the past tense, to do so and really mean it this time. to feel that joy and not crack a beer.


has anyone, pardon me, been experiencing increased flatulence from the supplements? i wanted privacy to write, and my husband is happy to stay away... pardon my being frank.

again, great to hear good news from all. keep it up. may the force be with us. and heaps of fresh newness.
- onoclea

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Re: Dr went well

Marcie,
I'm so thrilled for you. Its more than a corner that you have turned, its a government u bend!!!!!!! Well well done.

Jane, a week is nothing to be sniffed at.. well done to you also.. fantastic and keep up the good work.

Onoclea
This issue about dampening feelings is a big one as part of this disease. I totally relate to what you are saying about this issue.. its like I cant handle emotions and at the moment a big part of my focus is learning how to respond appropriately to feelings because in large part I havent learnt how to do that.

If you find a magic wand to fix this let me know.
Brigid

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Re: Dr went well

Marcie - That is so incredibly awesome. It's amazing how going two weeks without alcohol can make your liver so much better! You must be thrilled. Congratulations.

Thanks for the kind words, Brigid. I feel pretty good about going one week. It's just those darn weekends. I've got to get out of the mind set that Friday = wine.

Onoclea - Can't speak for the, umm, flatulence as I having started the supps yet. Oh dear, this might not be good for my marital relations, huh? It's hard enough with teenagers in the house. They KNOW what you're doing when the doors are closed.

P.S. My daughter passed her permit test and is now officially able to drive (with her dad or me). Wow. Time flies. All the more reason to STAY SOBER so I can remember things!!

Happy hump day tomorrow.

Jane.:lol

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Re: Dr went well

Onoclea,
"This issue about dampening feelings is a big one as part of this disease. I totally relate to what you are saying about this issue.. its like I cant handle emotions and at the moment a big part of my focus is learning how to respond appropriately to feelings because in large part I havent learnt how to do that."


No magic wand, but I found many answers to my emotional needs to be answered by a program called CODA and would recommend it to anyone. You can google it and see if it makes sense to you. With it, I drink for relaxation, not because of personal conflicts. My issues from the past have been released and I feel at peace with them most of the time. I still attend meetings and find they help me remember who I was and what triggered me when I joined.

P, who's changed her name in order to try to be registered!

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Dealing with the meds, flatulence and etc.

Hey Eccobella, People have different reactions to the medications (I'm on topa, currently 175mg/day) and you may just have to find out for yourself. If you want to read the book, Roberta lists most of the possible side effects and how to deal with them. I had some tiredness at first, and sometimes I can't think of words quickly, but I'm not tired at all now, except sleeping GREAT at night. Some friends have commented that I seem very mellow these days and very even tempered! I'd say that this is a very good thing! Espec. for some one who is quitting drinking!

I haven't had any problems with flatulence Onoclea....actually, I was having more problems with it when I was drinking too much wine, my digestive system was getting to the point where it was absolutely rebelling. Maybe you can take some beano or something to help out? I hope that it might help.

Congrats, Marcie! I'm glad your doc appointment went well! I haven't had my liver tested yet, I'm a chicken! But I'm going to get it tested in a few weeks and get the results sent back to my psychiatrist in a week or two. He's been a sweetie to me, only been bugging me for the last year to get them done!

I've been noticing that the biggest feeling that my drinking helped me with is lonliness. I divorced in 1995, and my ex has lived overseas all this time. My family lives in another state, so I have very much been a single mother. With my daughter now driving, I now have the opportunity to begin to build a new life, but I don't know how yet. That's something to begin working on. I can generally deal with other feelings pretty well, like anger and sadness, although feeling hurt is a hard one for me. It's admitting and dealing with lonliness that the wine has eased for me....

We should start a new thread about what feelings alcohol has taken care of for us..

Love to all!
Kathy

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Re: Dealing with the meds, flatulence and etc.

No flatulence here.

Marcie the news about your liver enzymes going down is fabulous. It is proof that you can heal yourself. Keep it going!! I wanted to tell you that one of my relatives with Hepatitis C used alot of alternative medicine to help heal it, (as well as western medicine because it was advanced by the time they caught it), but anyway milk thistle was an important part of her program. Are you still taking it?

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Re: Dr went well

Wow Marcie,

It must be so gratifying to see such great results so quickly - a real validation of all the hard work you're doing, and a great incentive for tough times. You should really be proud - YOU did it.
Best,
Kate

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Re: Dr went well

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I am proud of how far I've come in only 2 weeks! The results motivate me to keep up what I've been doing and stay away from the "drink"!

Marcie

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Re: Dr went well

Hi Marcie;

I've been away from the board for a few days, but I read the postings, Good Job! Keep up the wonderful job.

Brandy

Oh by the way, B'day was Monday...big 44 for me.

I brought a bottle of Nando, drank 3 glasses and dumped the rest..21 days not counting the 3 classes of champange...I'm still stronger.

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

'Grats' to Brandy and Marcie

Congrats on Having Three and dumping the rest Brandy, happy 44th!

And Marcie, do use the Milk Thistle is you're not already. Just as I used to wake up and fastasize alcohol shriveling up my liver, I now fantasize the milk thistle making it healthy and pink (or whatever color it is supposed to be :lol !)

You're both doing great!

One thing I notice on the topa is that my typing is completely bozo! I have to go back and retype all the time. My fingers aren't obeying my brain! :rolleyes

Kathy

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Who's just started or really starting in the New Year?

Re: 'Grats' to Brandy and Marcie

Add another congrats here from me and Happy birthday Brandy...may this be the best ever!! Kathy I have liver fantasies too! Are we weird or what! Have a great day everyone! Gina