New here and starting Topa and with a question

[Alcoholic]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Sunshine:

You don't need a remote starter, you need to move to sunny ca permanently!!! Didn't you just love ca when you visited?

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi Al - meeting was cancelled but no-one told me - so I went to work for nothing!

Opclos - WTE was being funny - I do two shifts sometimes that I call a Clopen - I close at night finishing at 10.30 then go in the next morning at 7.00 - hence it being a Clopen (close/Open) which apparently is an actual word in the urban dictionary, although I did not know that - so, 'cos I was going in this morning just for an hour, then going back this afternoon for the closing shift, WTE was calling it an opclos !!

YES, I loved CA - it isn't the first time I have been there - I went to SF to meet with Play, and then many years ago, went with a boy friend who lives there too. That was when I was living in Germany and he was living in Germany too and we went for a visit. Have to admit, it is lovely out there. I like the different seasons here though too - until it comes to scraping car windscreens - LOL.

You know to stay on each dose for at least a week before going up don't you? With Topa, going up faster is NOT better. For some reason, it works better if you go up slowly...... One time I had messed up and so jumped back in at the dose I had been on - and it did nothing so I ended up having to go back down to the 25mg and titrating back up again. Sounds like you are very lucky with your doc .... unlike some of us!

Have a wonderful day, sun XX

[Alcoholic]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Sunshine:
Wow. Things you learn online chatting... Didn't know about clopen or opclos. I'm Learning so much.

This is also where I learned about glut and kudzu.

This is my third week taking topa so it's time to increase anyway. I just haven't felt that much difference but I guess I need to be patient and not expect much until a higher dosage. I've been taking milk thistle too.

Ya, lucky w my doc after hearing all these horror stories on line about unsympathetic docs and people living in countries w socialized med ESP having trouble getting help. Don't get me wrong, I think in some ways I am for socialized medicine, but that's for another debate.

Wow, you travel everywhere. I have a British friend who is just a darling. She calls everyone darling and I learned a lot from her: like a boot is the trunk of a car, love the way she says garage... Etc. have been distancing myself because she and I were big drinking buddies, I've been just socially isolating myself these 2 weeks, mainly staying online only.

My British friend doesn't like Germans, though. Not sure why, ? Related to history of WW resentment or what or a racial bias.... I am Asian so all white people are the same to me... Lol (hopefully no offense to anyone, my husband is white and my son is a mutt).

I lived in Ohio for awhile so I know about the scraping and cold seasons. Loved the 4 seasons: ESP some of the gardening aspects of it: like the daffodils and tulips needing that cold winter to come back but I digress. I can type forever now I discovered on line chatting. My new obsession and addiction!

Have a good day today opclos (not sure of the grammatically correct way of using this word but maybe one day I'll check that urban dictionary you spoke of).

[Alcoholic]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Space:

Hi! Good to meet you! Another brit! I did a thread on starting out asking where everyone came from but someone for paranoid thought I was doing some research. Actually 2 people got paranoid!!!

I'm in United States. Thinking can be a bad thing sometimes. I have trouble turning off my thoughts. I'm glad you are doing well On topamax.

Is AllOne a brand of glut or milk thistle or something? I've heard of mentioned but not sure what it is.

I'm liking this thread!!!

[Alcoholic]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

NE
Thank you for the welcome. I like MWO a lot. Last night checked out the laughter section, my stomach still hurting from laughing so much!!!

[playland]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Welcome Al

Hi, I'm Play and want to welcome you as well to our thread, the only truly sane thread:H, so as WTE says, make yourself comfortable here and post away, another way to be entertained here is to try to read from the first of the thread there is lots of good information and also a bit of dramedy, but it's longer than a book so be prepared.

I live in California also and am the one that is always going to Spain because one of my daughters lives there with her Spanish husband and my two grandchildren. I'm going to let you read back in the thread as its too much for me to explain all my history, but I joined around Christmas last year and have stuck to this thread. I also posted a couple of times on the newbie thread but found out very quickly that it wasn't the place to be if you want to try to moderate, which is still what I am striving for, my main problem is the cravings. Dear Space recently sent me a big jar of LGlut powder because I couldn't motivate myself to get it, and I'm starting on it and am anxious to see what happens with it. I had great success with Topa my first time around and then ran out while in Spain and the second time it has not been as dramatic as the first but it definitely makes a difference, so just make sure you never run out

By the way, Space, do you need me to bring the All One for you? Or did you find someplace to get it there? Let me know.

So, I feel that this thread has been a blessing to me, I have made more real friends here than in my everyday life, it's been very awesome. I've met Sun and will be spending time with Space in Spain in December ( look for a PM space), I also plan to visit WTE sometime early next year, she may not know that yet, and we are also planning a camping/RV "Great American Roadtrip Adventure" with Space coming to America, as the American Roadtrip has been her dream for some time:h

We have such a wonderful group here, I'm looking forward to getting to know you better.

Dizz and Wu, where are you? We miss you.

And there are others that come and go here, so hey you guys, please stop by, it's kind of quiet here.

Better go for now,
Love and Peace,
Play

[Alcoholic]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi, play!

What a great name. I saw your name and your pic around but there are so many members, initially it's hard to keep all the stories straight. So I find it helpful to learn one at a time. So space is in Spain and your daughter is in Spain as well?

I think I'm being stalked a little on MWO site w all the controversy stirred up in NN lately. So excuse me for not revealing much about myself anymore publicly but I'll be happy to answer any PM's. btw, Techie is starting a poll in the section in the general discussion site about maybe getting a moderator to avoid some of the negative posts lately we see around here. If anyon has a chance, please go vote! (Not just for this but for the presidential election as well, I guess, since its kind of important if you live in US....)

Thank you for the welcome and I'm glad to hear topa working for you too. What dose works for you? Did you lose weight? Running out of topa probably was not fun for you.

Wow, people visit each other a lot in this forum and I noticed people travel a lot. I'm more of a sitting duck. Partly because I have an 11 yo son. And a job that is pretty demanding of my time. But I really love to get o know you guys too. Just more intimate details I'd rather reveal thru pms from now on as I learned my lesson from the hard way!!

Thank you for the welcome, play and I know I like this site already!

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi everyone - home from the salt mines. Play - nice to see you - I know you have a lot going on right now.... I will e-mail you.

Al - yes, it is difficult to sort us all out initially - but let me try and clarify - Play lives in CA and has the daughter in Spain. Space lives in UK but is going to visit Play when she is in Spain. I am a Brit but live in USA. WTE lives in CA and I just visited her. Strangely enough I never used to travel - I am a real homebody really but have made some really good friends here and wanted to meet up with them. And they totally lived up to their expectations. I also met Mama bear from another thread who is also really nice - I have travelled more from folk on this site than I have ever travelled! I used to go to UK once a year and that was it !

I understand you isolating yourself because of not drinking. Hubs and myself both work shifts so don't tend to socialise at all. So we don't have any problem that way. It must be hard for you if you do. Does your hubs drink? I think I already asked you that. I saw on another thread that you are 10 (I think) days AF? That is AWESOME !!!! Why on earth haven't you told us that - that is wonderful! I know when I take them, the l-glut and the kudzu really work well for me.

Anyway - feel free to PM me any time or to e-mail me - if you click on my name you can do either. I am sorry you felt that you stirred things up but these things do blow over. I just keep out of stuff these days. Stay in my comfy home here - LOL.

I had to laugh at Play saying this is the only sane thread - I am the only sane one here !!!

And on that note, I am going to go and pour me a well earned guinness!

Love, sun XX

[NoraC]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Me again....

Al - seriously, I'm not stalking you! :H:H Just kidding. Anyway, congrats on your 10 days AF.

Play - I wanted to say thanks for checking on me the other day about the reaction to the vaccine. :l You were right. I just stayed in bed for 24 hours. Temp finally went down & I started feeling better.

Sunni - is your arm better? I know they were glad to have you back at work. :l

Oh - I'm only taking 25 mg of the Topa now cause I'm back on the antabuse. I can't remember who else on here is taking antabuse. Wasn't there someone on this thread taking it? My memory is so bad. Anyway, I'm going to talk to my Dr about what I should do about dosage. I want to be sure to have it in my system when I do stop taking antabuse.

Hope everyone is doing well. Have a goodnight. Catch you all tomorrow.

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi Nora - yes thanks my arm is better - still a tad swollen - not sure why - it should be back to usual size by now, but whatever !! It still is itchy and hurts too but I just keep taking the horse pills.

Are you going to keep taking the topa? Why did you stop it when you took it before? I think it was Space that took Antabuse but she isn't any more. How awful, the reaction that you had to that vaccine - have you had the vaccine before? I also read about your sleep apnea - have you started using the mask yet? I really hope it helps........

Well, I need to get to bed. It is midnight here and I am really tired. The trouble with closing, is that is always takes so long to unwind! but I am now suitably unwound and ready for bed - will go and get my hot water bottle ready, take the dogs out and hit the hay!

Love and hugs to all,

love, Sun XX

[Alcoholic]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi, Nora:
seen you around different threads too! Good to meet you. The avatar idea is great because its easier to associate an username w a picture, otherwise my brain which contains most deceased brain cells killed by alcohol would have more trouble remember everyone. Hope to get to know you better too. So far all know is you had a bad reaction to a vaccine and is on topa and is trying Antabuse. I think it takes so much courage and commitment to take Antabuse so my hats to you.

And in my humble opinion, if you have sleep apnea, use the mask because oxygen has almost no side effects! You get extra oxygen in your lungs, heart, brain, and I would want a machine if I could have one!!! You'd feel so much better if you could stand the mask, though....

Sunshine: my husband drinks. We have bottles of wine at home which he bought 2 weeks ago that I'm not even been tempted to touch. I'm not sure why. After I found this site, I got the supplements, some meds namely topamax, baclofen, and klonopin to prevent withdrawals (which I have taken very little) and just obsessively stay on the site. That's why I feel loyal to this site because other than breastfeeding and pregnancy, this has been my longest AF time ever and 2 weeks ago, I'd never have imagined it possible!!!!

Good night to you and I hope you won't have to either do clopen (my phone doesn't recognize that word! I'm now officially smarter than my phone!) or opclos. And hopefully no scraping.

[spacebebe01]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

With all this business on here Im finding it hard to keep up, hope your settled back at home Sun and back in work, all unwoulnd and stuff.

Hi Nora, Im not sure what your doing, did you go off the topa and then go back on it or just stay on a low dose, I thought youd been on it longer than me, it was me who has taken antabuse in the past but I dont anymore tho, I started craving when taking it, I mean craving more because I know I cant drink, all that wanting what I cant have stuff so I dont bother with it now, but I did get 6 months AF on it the first time I took it. I stick with topa now, I now take 125mg a day and my drinking has been back down to 1 - 2 cans of beer a night so that suits me right now.

My depression seems to be rearing its ugly head once again so I am trying to stamp on it with my big boot, dont know how successfull Im being tho but I will see. It is gettering to be really wintery weather here now, there is frost around and yes, some car scraping going on already, the clocks went back on Sunday so the nights are even longer and its all just so miserable weather which doesnt help matters but is not the course. it just means its harder to go out and do anything about it. Dog walking is now pretty much just around the streets where I live, its too remote and cold by the river and too dark to try and even bribe my son to come with me even if I could after school. I may well get back to the river soon, in fact I will have to its too resctrictive for the dogs to be on short leads on the streets they need to wonder round and have a good look around and a smell and run in the mud and jump in the water so I will have to go back to the river. Sun says I will be ok with them that if anything happened they would surprise me and protect me, I know if they did go for anyone they would know about it, they are so strong. Ok my mind is made up we will go back to the river, I have my two dogs and my mobile phone and I will be ok, I never used to worry, I dont know why I started. Another problem is that someone has gone and blocked off the car park down there. There is no reason for this except I think to try and stop the truck drivers from using is to have a sleep in, but now the truck drivers use all the other available spaces up anyway, they still need a place to get a rest before driving back to wherever they are going to it is insane, it isnt like there are many of them, at any one time there are only about 4 trucks there but not many car spaces so the trucks fill them. Oh well I will just find a space for my little acr somwhere along the road, the rest of the raod is covered in double yellow lines, its a weird place, its got one side with industrial units, most of which are empty but some full, hence to truck drivers, then the other side is all overgrown, boggy type land and the river, no one would nornally call it a beauty spot I dont think but to me it is because it is close to my home and I love that river I have lived close by it all my life. I is a shipping type river not a swimming type river so you wouldnt go for a paddle in ther, especially not where I go it is all mud banks but the dogs love to jump in them and them they come out covered in mud and have to have a good shake and walk back through the long grasses to rub it all off.

[spacebebe01]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Than was my daughter on the phone, its not 9 am yet and Im not in the mood for her today, well not for her telling me about her hubby accountacy course, Im not interested to tell you the truth, I was a bookeeper and Im not interested in being told stuff I already know but being told I wrong about it especially when I dont care either way, Ive just been asked and algebra question that they both insisted the question was out of the book, I told them they had the question wrong and to shut up I couldnt be arsed with correct algebra anymore and eventually she read the book again and admitted they got it wrong. They are both bloody thick at times and it does my head in the way he is so arrogant as to think he is more intellegant than me because I am a bit dizzy.

Anyway Ive got a busy day ahaead I going with my mum to visit and elderly uncle and then some other family and then Ive got slimming club tonight so I will be back tonight

Hope you all have a good Tuesday xx

[Alcoholic]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi, space:

Maybe you could buy those orange traffic cones (do they have those in uk?) and block off a little nice parking spot for yourself and then discreetly come home and remove them and park? I hate not being able to find parking spaces.

Sounds like you also need to move to sunny CA where some of the toper/dopers live since sunshine helps depression. Both real sunshine and sunshinedaisies help depression, now that I think about it...

Hope you feel better today, space.

[WaitingToExhale]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi All!

Well darn it – I am back to that place of being really pissed off at myself and drinking. UGH. My busy season is right around the corner and I am already behind on bids and things. I’ve been a total slug for the most part the last two days. Feeling overwhelmed with my TO DO list and I’m waking up in the mornings with the head races and full of anxiety. I HATE that! Where does this stop???

I know I am much better when I get my butt into the shop every day. That WILL happen today! SO much to do and I am feeling out of touch with my staff and clients a touch. And no AL in the house – so that is a good thing.

Yesterday I spent HOURS sorting out all these medical bills and things. What a nightmare trying to figure out what the insurance has paid and WHY they have not paid other things. I was on hold for over a half hour with Blue Cross and finally just gave up! Sadly it was just easier to pour some wine and go watch the news ….

So in catching up here …

Space: I sure don’t understand why you think you don’t write well! Love your posts and miss you when you have been so quiet. Post away! HA!

The kittens ARE darling and I found out yesterday I take them back in a week for their surgery – next Tuesday. I then bring them home for 2 days and then they will be off for adoption. Charlie IS wonderful with them and they are becoming more and more brave and last evening, I suppose when they were getting hungry after playing in the living room, Jenny actually tried to find a spot to nurse on Charlie! It was TOO cute and wished I had my camera at hand!

It’s too bad about having to lease your pups. I am pretty lucky where I live and also have an off lead dog park close to me to take Charlie to socialize with other dogs.

Space, I hope Play can bring you some All One! I’ve been bad about taking mine as I get into a bit of a funk and everything falls by the wayside.

Al – CONGRATS on your run off AF days! That is FANTASTIC! I remember the feeling when we surprise ourselves like that. I too had gone many years without ever being AF until I started the Topa. So frustrating not being able to take it anymore *sigh*.

I think I need to work again on setting back my “start time” each day. That helps when I can pull it off. Fewer hours and I simply drink so much less. I wish I could buy half bottles of wine! HA! I guess actually I could with those tiny bottles, but even if I could start getting back down to 3-4 glasses I know I would feel better about everything. This roll started again with the company I had and buying too much to have in the house. If it’s here – I drink it. Thankfully that is all gone now and I am going to try and be much smarter (and try harder) starting TODAY!

Oh and Al – All One is a vitamin powder that you mix with juice. It’s easier that taking a boatload of pills throughout the day and they also say the absorption rate is much better. I need to get back to taking mine on a more regular basis!

Eva – Yes, fostering is a bit of work isn’t it? But I love the kitten energy and when it is time to return them I always feel good about it. Well, except with my last one who I REALLY wanted to keep. But Charlie (my dog) really does want to be my only baby even if he does love other dogs.

Hey Play! Hope things are settling in for you a bit. And yes! Come for a visit in January! I will have a few weeks before Valentine’s Day hits! HA!

And I hear you on the cravings. Awful. I am back to waking up thinking about AL again since I have stopped the Topa for some time. Watching the clock and counting hours is an awful thing. I need to also put my L-Glut back out on the counter to remind myself to take it. For me, it seemed to work the best with Topa – but I need to try SOMETHING!

Yes – Where Are Dizz and Wu?? And Houtx! And a few others ….

AL – That is so sad that there are some meanies hereon this site. Years ago it was not like that. Now there seems to be a couple of different “camps” and people not accepting one another’s choices. I am also in the group that wishes I could mod – there are times I think that may not be possible. Then that scares the hoot of me!

Years ago there WERE mods here. I’m not sure when that stopped nor am I sure it will happen again as Roberta is not really active here anymore. It’s best to just find a thread (or two or three) that suits you and ignore the negativity. =) It does all pass in a short time …

Hi Nora! What kind of vaccine did you get for such a reaction? I must have missed that thread. Happy to hear that AB is helping and I hope the Topa kicks in as well.

Sun! I am also surprised your arm swelling has not gone away by now! How can such a tiny creature wreak such havoc??? Nothing like almost killing my friend visiting with a sting! LOL Miss you!

With that … I must get on with my day and into the shower!

Love & Hugs to all!