New here and starting Topa and with a question

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Good to see you back Irish - post when you have time....

Hugs, Sun XX

[hoping4better]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi all,
Long time, no post! It's good to see you all here. Sunshine, I need to step up my game. Stopped taking the nal/topa combo b/c it only worked for like three weeks. So I'm taking nothing right now and it's not a good plan. I haven't increased my drinking, but haven't decreased it either. I started buying this boxed wine (seriously, the reds can be pretty good) and that was a huge fail. I couldn't see how much I was drinking so I drank way too much. (I usually look at the bottle, not the glass, to see how much I'm drinking, b/c glasses vary so much in size.)

It did help to post here. It's my birthday today and I want to give myself the gift of sobriety.

Nice to see you, houtx. We're kind of in the same boat. So many bac success stories here lately, but jeez -- those SE's practically gave me post- traumatic stree disorder!

[irishfairy]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi all,

Up to 250mg of the topa - and up to 300 tomorrow. Does anyone ever go up higher than that? All OK except for the cost, jeez it's expensive when it's this high and you're doing it via the net. Now that I'm back from holiday I'm trying for complete non-drinking - today is day 3. Anxiety is still quite high - I still to get night time panic attacks still, but it's bearable. And hoping4better, I'm the same - so much better than the bac, I didn't get on with that either - I loved it at first, then hated it. Different for everyone I guess. Hating work at the moment, literally can't bear being here. If I could have a couple of months at home I feel like I could get over the worst of it, but mortgages and bills to pay like everyone one else...Might do the lottery tonight

[Ghostwriter]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Topomax worries

Hi, I'm new here.
I haven't actually started yet, though I have almost completely stopped drinking due to having pneumonia last month. Got through the withdrawl distracted by the illness I guess. I'm having one or two glasses of wine in the evening. Have just started ther supplements and am drinking lots of water and herbal tea, but though I have the Topomax I'm afraid to start it. I'm a writer and have a bunch of lectures coming up next month, as well as workng on a tv show I'm hosting, and I'm terrfied that I'm going to draw blank after blank and ruin my career! Any suggestions? I'm worried that, since I've been sick and am just starting to feel strong again and get an appetite back, that the drinking cravings will return again full force. Thanks for your help.

[irishfairy]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hey Ghost,

I've had no worries re the word recall or the topa dopa that other people have reported - I think that if you take supplements and vitamins it helps the side effects - at least that's what other people who know more than me have said. If you take the dosage up slowly then I'm sure you'll be fine. I'm guessing drinking and hangovers can't be too good for the career either, it wasn't for mine at least! Sun will come and post later and she know lots and lots and lots. Hold on in there and good luck.

[Bruunhilde]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi Ghost, I can only speak for up to 50mg/day for me, the side effects went away in a few days. I never went higher because my hair started to fall out in sheaves.

If you're afraid of the dopa, why not wait to start topa and in the meantime focus on making the supplements a routine? Or go low dose and use piracetam with choline to amp up the noggin? It helps me think better but can't say it helps specifically with topa dopa because I never had it long enough.

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hey everyone - hi there - hoping - so good to see you again. Happy Belated birthday!! I can't think of anything better to give yourself than the gift of sobriety! so good to see you again - hope to see more of you.

Irish - no, as far as I know 300 is as high as it gets for the AL. You can go higher - my nephew was on it for seizures but I have never been higher than 300mg and that seems to be the magic number for me. Unfortunately that seems to be where it hits me with deep depression too, so I have to try and get there then immediately pull back. I seem to be able to stop at 2 each night, and if I do pour a third, often end up tipping it out - but really would like to get to AF again, but can not deal with that depression that comes with the 300mg for me. So I play with my dose. And again, you must LISTEN to the Topa!

Ghost - welcome. Had to laugh at Irish saying I know lots and lots! I would suggest starting at 25mg - you take that for a week. It doesn't work immediately anyway for everyone - it took me weeks before i felt any different. You can play with the dose. the Topa Dopa doesn't hit everyone either. As I am of a certain age (ahem!), I have no idea if forgetting the odd word was due to my age or the Topa! I would suggest just starting on it, and staying on the 25mg a week for a few weeks - seeing how it goes, and if you are fine on that then moving up to the 2 doses of 25 - again, taking it slowly and seeing how it goes. It took us all a long time to get where we are so it doesn't matter if it takes a few weeks longer to get to where we want to be. Seeing as the cravings aren't terribly strong anyway right now, you are ahead of the game. Start off with the 25 and watch it carefully - you can always stop if you feel that you are getting the Dopa - it isn't as bad as most make out - or I didn't find it so anyway. we are all different. Good luck with it and keep us posted.

Hi Bruun - how are you doing?? As you see, I am sort of doing well! Just wish I could get over that final hurdle. It will come I am sure. How about you? How are things going?

Hey everyone else? What is going on with you - let us know won't you? Even if it is same old same old!

Take care and hugs to all,

Love, Sun XX

[Bruunhilde]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi Sun,
I'm okay. Not great. I'm having continuous health issues, panic attacks and today I have a bucket by the computer in case I throw up. Again. Yesterday I was en route to mammogram and thought I was having a heart attack - work has been crazy and my memory is absolutely shot. It has been for a long time but sometimes it gets me in trouble, I literally can't remember what I did hours ago, days ago, weeks ago, years ago. Except for specific scenarios I replay in my head in which I recall verbatim words people said and I can quote back to them years later. I don't know what to do about the memory issue. Not drinking hasn't helped, drinking certainly caused it, and piracetam helps me think but not to remember. I had memory issues as a kid too, though. I named myself "the forgetty girl" ... Any advice? Also I'm having constant itchy nipples which sounds like Piagets Disease which is almost always related to breast cancer, and I don't see the gyn til November. I'm often too ill to drink so I'm not drinking much. Sorry to be such a basket case!

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Bruun - are you alright?? You sound quite bad - did you get your Mammo? Gosh - you have me worried about you.....please post and let me know you are okay... hugs to you my friend :l:l

Love, Sun XX

[Bruunhilde]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi Sun,
I'm trying to manage the anxiety down, I've had this horrible anxiety my whole post-puberty life. I was a happy kid but all hell broke lose when I hit adolescence. Ugh. I'm managing it right now with gabapentin. I was using baclofen but I'm about out, and it has been losing its efficacy so it's a choice of going up or ? I hate to be stuck taking a drug for this ... but as the bac folks say, at least bac addiction isn't causing you to die young, have a heart attack, ruin your relationships, lose your job.... so maybe I'll just go up (I have to watch my BP on bac) and see if that helps enough.

Thanks for your support, I'm sorry to worry you. I do feel its important to be very honest in this forum to keep it real -so I hope you don't mind. I'm sure there are people out there like me, in fact, I know alot of them are on the meds threads here!

[Ghostwriter]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

topamax

I started taking topamax two days ago (25 mg in the afternoon) and though there are no other SEs, I'm soooooo sleepy! It seems most sensible to take it mid to late afternoon, but does anyone take a single daily dose late in the evening with success? I have kids and homework to tend to in the late afternoons and evenings as well as lectures in the evenings and wonder if I can find succcess sort of "sleeping on" a single dose? Other than this, I'm drinking a vitamin packed protein drink for breakfast and taking kudzu. Still drinking about two glasses of wine a day; no real desire for the bottle of vodka I was drinking every day. Thanks for your help!

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi there everyone - Bruun - Of course you can vent/chat/do whatever - and I will still worry!! And, no of course I don't mind... that is what we are all here for - to support each other - you have helped me before - it is nice to be able to help you - not that I do much!! LOL But I am always here for you!!!

Ghost - the Topa made me sleep to begin with and yes, I used to take it at night, but that wore off quite quickly - I can now take it any time of day and it doesn't have that effect - hopefully it will wear off on you too. The drink crabing bit, it had no effect on me for initially, in fact I started to worry that it wasn't ever going to work, but it did finally one day!! Maybe take it at bedtime, or early/mid evening? It has been so long since I started it that I forget but I DO remember it having that effect a LONG time ago. take it slowly - do you have the titration schedule? See how you go with the 25mg for a week and if you feel okay, then go up another 25, but if you still feel the sleepy effect, give the 25mg another week - or that is what I would do anyway. feel free to PM me if you want to - not that I can say much more - but anything I can help with - I am here.

Hope everyone else is doing well. I am feeling good and still sticking with my two most nights. YEAH.

hugs to all,

Sun XX

[Bruunhilde]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Well thanks, Sun. I'm doing much better now so you better turn off that worry watch you've got on me. Yes, you do help, and I thank you!

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

LOL Bruun - I always worry about my friends on here!! Wonder how they are doing, and then when we hear nothing wonder if that means they are doing so well, they don't need to be here - or, the exact opposite!!

I have to take my Maggie to the vet this morning so need to get going - just wanted to bump us up a bit - have a wonderful day everyone,

love, Sun XX

[Ghostwriter]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

progress after one week of Topamax

I just thought I'd report on my progress after a week of taking Topomax. I have to say I'm still not "really" on the program. I had sort of a weird "start" to begin with because I was forced to stop drinking when I got pneumonia in late August. So I went from drinking a fifth of vodka a day to absolutely nothing. I was so sick I guess I didn't notice the withdrawls, or maybe the misery WAS the withdrawls, but I had a high fever so . . . .

At any rate, I obtained Topomax online and started taking it a week ago (25 mg) once a day, in the afternoon, drinking a protein/vitamin drink in the morning, and taking kudzu. I have the hypnotherapy ,CDs but honestly have not listened to them yet.

I do feel very sleepy but am able to do a lot of work. I have no problem with concentration or recall. I have no appetite, however--happily, as I gained about twenty pounds on my vodka diet over the past ten years. I feel quite calm. I do wake up at around three o clock in the morning most nights and have trouble getting back to sleep, probably because I nod off so early. I have settled on a single dose at 8am of 50mg.

Strangely, I feel most sleepy mid afternoon, not right after i take it. I work at home, and it's almost as if I'm back at the office again as a young girl, with that mid-afternoon slump. It's strange to be making coffee instead of cocktails at 2pm.

I intend to: start taking a multivitamin and the amino acids and listening to the CDs at least once a day, maybe during my afternoon slump. I've been lying down anyway during that time. I have to buy a CD player and headphones.

I have to say that this whole thing is really quite remarkable. I was drinking a good eight to ten or more hard drinks a day for a good ten years. Honestly, I don't know how I was even still alive, and I don't know how this is happening now.

I sit down to help my daughters with their homework after dinner now, and I look at the cup of tea in my hand and I just stare at it. I don't even know what to think.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well. I'll come back on here after I get the other supplements and incorporate them. Good luck to you all!