New here and starting Topa and with a question

[playland]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

:welcome:Wuthrich8,
May we call you Wuth? Or Rich? Or what do you prefer? In any case, so glad you have joined us. I will research it, but wondering what is Veniax, and it does sound like it might be helping, I'm interested to learn more about. So, welcome again and thanks for sharing with us, I think you will like it here, we have a lot of comfy couches so make yourself right at home:h.

Hey Space, just give the Topa some patience, we know that the tiny dose you were taking was working for you and I am certain that it will start kicking in for you. Please don't worry about SE, they are pretty much very mild. I just met one of my daughters friends who has a 3year old daughter here in Barcelona who is taking it for seizures and has no problems with it all. And YAY Space and WTE, let's plan a get together here next year, it would be so fun and yes Space anytime that I am here you can pop over if we just plan a couple of days for it. In fact I will be coming back first of October for 2 1/2 months, October is a beautiful month here, perhaps we can work out a weekend.

Sun, I'm laughing, I can just see you as a sack of potatoes, all bulgy on the top with a string around the middle and even buggier around the bottom:H:H, and I'll get you to Barcelona one of these days:h

And you too Dizz, BF has to stay home, it is GIRLS ONLY :H

Houtx, what do you do, please find those elusive posts, they must be doozies.

So, it's pretty crazy here now, my Ex Hubs and my son are here to meet the new granddaughter and niece, so it has been non-stop. I have reached my quota of cooking, eating, going to bed late, hecticness, etc.,etc., but I have only one more week here and I'm having that feeling like "OMG, how can I leave", I would live here if I could work here, oh well.

Ok, drinking is partially in check, keeping it together, the great thing is that i dont have the awful cravings, have plenty of Toba, but what did I run out of this time? I have run out of my Gabapenten, OMG, it's either Topa Dopa or Old Age as Sun would say.

Hope you are all well, Dizz take care with the BF, don't over do please, love you, as well as everyone else.

Play

[spacebebe01]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Welcome to MWO wuthrich, tell us what you want to be called, I have just started topa myself so am new to taking it but not new to MWO. I hope you stick around you will get lots of help and support on here.

Play thank you for the invite for October, it sounds wonderful, I will have to see how my money goes tho, maybe if I keep of the drink I could save up some

Bloody weight problems, Im sure Im putting on more weight but I am not going out to but the next size up which for me would be an 18!!!! in my defence it a UK size, I think thats a US 14 but even so

You do sound very busy Play, watch out when you get home that you dont get down after all the activity and family, can you plan something good for when you return.

I am feeling very thirsty for water a lot, I think thats the topa so Im making sure I drink plenty of it apart from that nothing else much, when I woke up this morning tho to go the loo I took another AB just to make sure, I need to get my head together and get back under control, apart from that I know now I cant drink for the rest of this week anyway so will be sober for my sons birthday, last years I was sober but I think I might have been hung over. The weather here is hot at last its been nice for a few days now after something like 97 days of rain, I just dont feel like going out and enjoying it tho, I dont know why I cant bloody motivate myself to do anything.

xx

[baclofan]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

spacebebe01;1353670 wrote: after something like 97 days of rain

...wow, that's brutal...on the other hand I can't stand (seems like) the everlasting heatwave here and often have only vague recollection how rain feels and looks like...

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

baclofan;1353742 wrote: ...wow, that's brutal...on the other hand I can't stand (seems like) the everlasting heatwave here and often have only vague recollection how rain feels and looks like...

Oh Bac - I so agree - I laughed - went out to breakfast with some friends yesterday morning and one of them brought a photograph of some rain - and we all oohed and ahhed over it !!!! I think the last time we had rain was the beginning of June. I am watering my veggies religiously and trying to keep up with the flowers but most of them are dying anyway 'cos of the heat - NO END IN SIGHT. A friend e-mailed me from UK this morning and said the temp was going to get up to 26 (about 79) and I said I wish ours would get down to that!!

Hi Space - I am not sure if the Topa makes me thirsty or not - I drink a ton of water and seem to have done so for a long time but it could be the topa - it is good for you though - so go with it. Sorry about your weight gain - as we have said before, it is such a shame we can't just spread it around and share it out !! LOL

Welcome Wuthrich - what are we to call you?? I Googled Venelax and it is our effexor - an AD. That isn't at all anything like Topamax!! Why wouldn't your doc put you on it? Do you know to follow the schedule in the book? I love the All-One - which one did you get? I have it with a banana, some fruit juice , a drop of milk and then blend it - you have to blend it. I get the green one. try it with different things and eventually you will find one that you like I hope. I really like it......

Keep posting with your experience with the Topa and please ask if you have any questions - there is such a wealth of experience here with all of us. The Topa works so differently for everyone. And has different SE's for everyone too. I had very few until I got to a really high dose, which I needed to do for it to have any effect. Others have found it works for them at low doses - I envy them!!

Anyway - welcome to the thread - and I hope to hear more from you.

Hi there Play - Yes, my nephew also takes topa - but he had a brain tumour many years ago which just disappeared (??) but left him with bad seizures and has been on a very high dose of Topa plus numerous other drugs - his seizures are so bad he has to wear a helmet most of the time, although now he is a grown man he refuses it most of the time and often ends up in the ER needing stitches AGAIN. I think he has gone down on the topa but know he took it for a long time.

I would love to come to barcelona but until the year I don't go to UK, it probably won't happen - I use half my leave each year going home to see my family. And the other half just using odd days here and there. But would love to come one day. Can't believe you are coming back in a week! You have been so busy over there haven't you? Although you knew it wasn't a holiday going in -:H

Glad that you had plenty of Topa - but laughed at you running out of gaba - yep - old age or topa dopa :h good job you don't get withdrawals on it.

WTE - where are you these days? I KNOW I owe you an e-mail - I said I would get on that and I really will - but where are you? How are things going?

dizzy - same with you - we need to hear from you too or are you too busy trying out the new bed to post - LOL

Well, I am doing the closing shift tonight and am trying to decide whether to have a nap or to do my ironing. I know which one I want to do and which I ought to do......

love and hugs to all,

love, sun XX

[playland]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi again,
I forgot to tell you all something really important, I don't know if I told you the last update on the hip surgery for my daughter or not, so much is going on I can't remember from one day to the next. So, my daughters surgery got cancelled by the hospital which is in the public system and due to the economic cuts they have fewer surgery rooms than before, we found out that was the reason. So in the meantime my daughter learned that in addition to the standard method of hip surgery that has been don for eons, there is now the old/new method that is now starting to be done again. I knew about it but did not think that she would be able to find a surgeon in Spain who is doing the anterior approach so I didn't tell her to pursue it. So now she has found a surgeon here that does it in the private system and she will be scheduled in probably October. It means a much shorter rehab time and less complications like dislocation, things are turning out well, and that is why I will be back in October.

So, that's it for the update, see you later.

Love, Play

[spacebebe01]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Thats good news for your daughter and all the family play, especially the less complications and shorter rehab. Its great when things just seem to work out well

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi there - Play, that sounds really good - I so hope it all works out for your daughter. It is great that she has found someone that can do the surgery with less down time and less complications!

When are you coming back from spain? Let us know - okay?

Must get to bed - worked the closing shift tonight and it is late. Have my docs appt tomorrow and am dreading it.

love and hugs,

sun XX

[wuthrich8]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

My topa made it!!! Yeah! The 100 mg got here first. I was depressed about it for a moment, but decided to go ahead and cut it...... so here is to day 1 on topa. My heart practically skipped a beat this morning when the postman rang my buzzer and very unusualy asked me to come down. I thought, ok, hopefully I am not going to get arrested......i just had to sign for it.. sigh..... thankful thankful thankful.....hopefully my 25s make it soon........

you can call me Wu i guess...... i wish i would have been a little more creative when creating my name..any whoo....

My doc here is one of the most progressive in the area. They dont really give out good scripts here. As an example, my daughter who was in the clinic for five weeks for having a nervous breakdown, is also bi polar with an anxiety dissorder recieved pills to help her sleep and pills to help her wake up in the morning.... all homeopathic. I sent her to my doc, and he put her on an AD. Getting a script for antibiotics here is mission impossible, even though I have a chronic sinus infection when I am here. My doc does however give me lorazapam freely. I just almost never take them.....too scared to with a four year old at home. Even before i started drinking they gave me lorazapams, and i quickly realized that a little glass of wine was better.... i guess that how this whole mess started.....now if i have a bad anxiety attack it takes a whole bottle before i can breathe again......

Some days its so easy to limit my drinking, and really just sip a little, and stop. then after five days of being good, last night I once again had waaaaayyyyy too much. I went to the store after drinking my cooking wine and bought......10 bottles of wine. What was I thinking? well, ok, i didnt really buy 10 bottles of wine. one was to replace the cooking wine, then i bought 2 bottles of red cooking wine, plus a six pack of the cans of prosecco (italian champage like) which is almost 2 bottles worth, and of course the white wine half case (6 bottles) that was on sale for 50 percent off. I guess i thought topa is coming soon. GGGRRRRRRR.... When I made this decision a little more than three weeks ago to mediate, or stop drinking, my husband began to hide things from me, like my wine that i really only use for cooking... such as marsala, madiera, sherry... like i would drink that. Then he hid my prosecco bottles somewhere..... so i keep buying more. So what did I do with the 6 bottles of white wine? I hid them!! How did this come to this? He has always been very patient with me, even enabled me by buying for me. I gues its his way of trying to help me, without to truly understand how a problem drinker thinks, and of course he cant read the book, as its in English...... so he says. So he doesnt understand the program that I am starting. My 25 year old daughter thinks i should just not drink anymore at home, and that thats possible. Just dont do it. Aha!! when it would only be that easy. My family is full of raging alcoholics. My great grandfather once owned half of what is now a city in Arizona, and the first cab company there, but he also drank like a fish and slept in the streets sometimes. I have seen 3 of my aunts and uncles almost kill themselves with alcohol, one was successful. Its a miracle that I only drink wine, actually. So i guess its a bit genetic.

I am just hoping and praying that this will work for me. Thanks so much sunshine daisies for the all one recipe... i was thinking of trying to make a smoothie with it, as this way its hard to stomach..... now i have the excuse to get a blender! yeah!!!!

[mama bear]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

good luck with the doctor today Sun......hope they do what YOU want

[meggie]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

3rd time around, I need to quit. I am on topa and also a seizure med, there are not suppose to cause any interaction. I did it before on topa, taking 25 in morning and at night. I wake up so tired, also taking pm medication. I could sleep all morning and the bags under my eyes. I have no energy. I stopped for 2 days and my energy returned, any suggestions.

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Meggie - welcome back - so good to see you again - well, not GOOD 'cos of why you are here, but you understand i know - LOL. I remember that you were on Topa before and you had SE's? did you stop it? have you started it again? Is it the Topa that you stopped and your energy returned? if, so, what dose are you on? You could try going back down a notch and staying on that dose until you have no SE's and then going back up - often the SE's go away after a while. Feeling tired and no energy is no fun at all..... are you drinking with it too? 'Cos if you drink too much that always makes me really tired the next day too. Even though I don't drink enough to be hung over, still feel really tired. So good to see you here - hang in there.

Wu - happpy that you got your Topa. you are welcome for the recipe for the smoothie - I can't believe that you were trying to take the All-One without blending it - no wonder you were having trouble with it. OMG !!! It HAS to be blended - I use a Magic Bullet and that way just take it to work with me in the same container. You can make all sorts of lovely concoctions with it.

Thanks for all the sharing you did with us - I really did smile at your shopping !! I also feel for you with your 25 year old daughter saying 'just don't drink at home'. Yes - like it is that easy. They just don't understand. My family, like yours, is littered with raging alkies, and my mum and I who talked about my dads problem years ago said she couldn't understand why he just didn't stop. Mum doesn't drink - but has a problem with sweets and sugar - which to me is the other side of the same coin.

Oh - change of subject - have you tried a neti pot for your sinus problem - it works wonders - I have an electric one as it is better than just doing it yourself with the little neti pot - and gosh, does that electric one clear out the sinuses! :H Just a thought for you.

I also laughed at your hubs hiding the wine from you and you hiding the wine from him - you two are funny!

The Topa can work - it works so differently for everyone. It took ages for it to work for me but worked really quickly for others here so don't expect anything in particular - I do stress to follow the titration schedule though. Keep in touch with us and let us know how you are doing - usually someone comes on here every day so someone can answer any questions or feel free to PM me.

Hi to everyone else and much love and hugs,

love, sun XX

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

mama bear;1354125 wrote: good luck with the doctor today Sun......hope they do what YOU want

Hi there jan - thanks for the kind words - I am really nervous about the appt though and not looking forward to it at all!!

hugs, Sun XX

[wuthrich8]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Ok, so i think i know now what you guys mean by feeling spacey..... um really?
Good luck on your appointment today Sun!!! Keeping my fingers crossed for you!!
I may make you laugh again now, as in my drunken stupor a week ago after a couple of really good days, i bought some prosecco. After calling my husband and daughter dickheads for them telling me i had enough, i thought that they had hid the rest of the prosecco. I found it today in another closet!! Unbelievable! I hid my prosecco from myself!!! Really???? I have been laughing about it most of the afternoon....... hope you all are doing well.... i myself am being very good today. Took all of my supps, and have been doing alot of inner reflection. BTW my oops yesterday was because of my post. that why i drank the cooking wine...... good thing i replaced it as i need it for the mussels i am steaming soon....... Have a wonderful day all!!!!!

[houtx]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi all -
Welcome "Wu" and Meggie! Love the posts since last I was on here. We all struggle with our own stuff...so different yet so much alike. I feel grateful to have this support group. I put ordering TOPA aside for awhile b/c of the mixed responses and successes or lack of. I'm starting to again reconsider and going down that road. I am tired of waking up feeling foggy and then going through the day thinking about what a horrible person I am. Then I get busy and do stuff, and when 5 or 6 rolls around, I'm pouring. My daughter is here for the summer and while I'm careful not to get drunk, I am drinking daily. Sometimes I stay up way too late and then definitely am going to bed way too intoxicated. Loosing posts here, posting shit on FB I wish I wouldn't...sleeping like a (drunk) rock but waking up way too late because I can, and repeating it all the next day.

Talking to my EX about money & college this morning didn't help either. He makes me feel like shit, talking to me like I don't deserve to know what's going on with my own children. UGH - I've been steaming and feeling guilty the last 2 hours, worried again about $$$$$$ or lack thereof. Hating my life and everything negative...what I can do to snap myself out of this temporary funk. I teach school and tutor during the year for extra $$, teach summer school for the extra $$, used to work a weekend job at a country club, but stopped this year, and now thinking I need to find another part-time job. My mother left my kids $$ when she died 10 yrs ago (instead of to my sister and me), but they've pretty much gone through that. I have felt like that was my contribution to their life & living expenses all these years (my sister agrees) but my EX doesn't see it that way. My stomach is just in a knot 2 hrs later after talking to his asshole self.

Anyway - WU, the prosecco is a lovely sparkling wine, I can see how you're addicted to it! lol I drink chardonnay but love sparkling too, just don't indulge in it much. Space, I hope you are feeling better soon. I sure understand your depression. I understand everyone's! It's tough trying to deal with everything. I don't have a history of alkies in my family going too far back, but just general craziness and self-medicating with either food or AL.

Hope all goes well for everyone: Sunny, keep us posted, PLay hope your daughter & family are well. Interesting about the public medical system. We are grappling with the new "Obamacare" stuff here. We'll see.

XO

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

I GOT THE CELEXA

more later - hugs, Sun XXX