New here and starting Topa and with a question

[playland]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Oh Dizz and Space, thank you so much for posting with all the information. I want to respond a long post but it is 1am here and I must get to bed, but I will post tomorrow about you tips and advice. I'm very excited and also want to stay reasonable and safe

Talk tomorrow,
Love play

[Alcoholic]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Play and sun: I am very new at learning these creative ways of taking various ways of taking Antabuse, etc. now, There's sufficient research on off label use of baclofen and topamax out there for alcohol abuse and of there's much on the regular use of Antabuse, campral, etc. but I don't know anything about the way you and sun plan on doing. So just let us know how you are doing. I suppose everyone is different, and it will also depend on the dose of Antabuse, the amount you were drinking prior to stopping. So withdraw sx are possible if you were drinking a bit... Must be careful going on antibuse without first tapering unless you have benzos....

[StuckinLA]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hey there, Play,

Space covered it, but thought I'd chip in with my two pence, or whatever. A couple sleepless nights and some anxiety are going to come with the territory, and maybe some sweating. But that's probably going to be about it. For me, I ended up in the ER for withdrawal once, with elevated B/P and a resting HR around 130. Hard to say how much of the elevated vitals were pure withdrawal and how much was an effect of the crazy anxiety I get, but doesn't really matter since it's all a vicious spiral, right? Anyway, the point here is that you're probably not drinking enough to go through anything too terrible. (I'd been on a morning-to-night bender for a couple weeks.)

And, the good news, they don't hospitalize people for withdrawal anymore anyway, unless you're at risk for seizures. And that doesn't happen unless you're in a really bad way for a long, long time. It really isn't that common at all. The sleepless nights will pass after the first couple--seriously, I know it will seem impossible, but by the third or fourth night you'll be sleeping pretty well.

And, I know this sounds crazy, but check out an AA meeting or two, and ask around. I found it extremely helpful to talk to a couple people when I was newly sober for the first time. Just knowing that other people had been through it, and that they knew what I was going through, and would be going through in the near future, was very supportive. Of course, I never went back to that meeting again, but that's just me... :H

Space suggested cutting back your drinking for a few days before the AB, and that's a great idea. Another thing you might do, when you stop drinking, is just see how you feel before you take the AB. If you're shaking, and your heart's pounding, well you'll probably need to keep slowing down rather than stopping that day. But if you're not shaking or anything when you hold out your arms, then well no one in the hospital will do anything for you anyway, so you may as well just suck it up and know it'll pass soon. Best of luck and HUGE hugs. :l:l:l

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi everyone....... well, home from the salt mines, but as from Monday I am Mon-Frid, 7-3.30. YEAH !!!! I am looking forward to it.

Now - gosh lots of posts. First of all - Play and me doing the AB thing. YES, it is scary - but I know that I do want to do it. I want to get back to some semblance of normality with my drinking. i was at two a night for SO long as you all know, but as also happens it was creeping up. last time that happened, I went AF for 8 months then started again and stayed at two a night for ages and ages but of course it creeps up again.

I know a lot of people will disagree with what we are doing, but we have talked about it and have agreed to try it - it is right for us, right now. I know the first night or two will be sleepless nights and yes, possibly sweats - but I get those some nights anyway I think from the AL. And if I don't have a drink for some hours before i go to bed, I get sweats too.... the other day I hadn't had a drink since 3.30 in the afternoon and that night had bad night sweats!

We are going to take just a half a tab on the Monday and then hope to be able to have a drink on the saturday. I would be well pleased with that situation. I know when I have quit before that once my head accepts that I have quit, I am fine. I am sure we will be chatting on the phone and e-mailing and helping each other through this. it is awesome to have the support.

Stuck - I would never go to an AA meeting - not that I don't agree with them - but I live in a small town and have never been drinking in public - always at home. I work in the public and would never want it known that I am going to AA meetings - it just wouldn't do - anyone living in a small town would understand. I have my support here and although Play isn't face to face she is as good as !! if we skype, she is LOL !!!

We will definitely be in touch with each other - of that you can be sure and of course we have all of you here. Our date to take it is the 11th Feb. We will both have some by then. Right Play - the date is set in black and white now - no backing out for either of us now !!!!

Dizzy - I don't usually get hangovers - can I expect one if I have been taking AB? I will be very careful about the amount that I drink on the saturday - as you say, maybe I won't even want to have much?

Ally - if the spider is poisonous - which is possible but mostly unlikely - then you can still remove it safely! you can do one of two things- either cover it with a glass and move it that way or get a hoover nozzle with a pop-sox over the end up suction it to the end and move it outside that way - it isn't good to kill spiders !!!! They didn't do anything to you did they? Poor spider........ they eat other bugs and are good !!

Ally - I do hope that you enjoy your dads visit - how exciting for you. Has he visited you before? How does your hubs get on with him? Are you taking time off while he is here? do you have any plans to do anything or is it just going to be like when my mum visits and just enjoy being with him?

I am going to go and get something to eat. Then going to read for a little while - love and hugs to all,

sun XXX

[Alcoholic]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

sun: I'm sorry, but I must say even though I don't kill those spiders or any insects myself and sometimes I even try to catch them and let them go (only when I am forced to do so because I am alone in the house), I usually scream when I see an insect or spider and let my husband take care of them.....and he usually kills them. sorry,,,, i'm really a very anxious person around critters, worms, mice, even butterflies.... i have issues....

[playland]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Sun and Play's Adventure

Hi Everyone,
My Gosh, I've just been reading back a few pages and I just am blown away by the love and support that you are all sending to me and sun regarding us starting the AB, and even the way we are going to use it, thank you all for being supportive of that, but I would never doubt that our friends here on this thread would think we were doing something wrong:h love you all so much, I am really emotionally overwhelmed right now, thank you guys for being with us on this.

Dear AL, regarding your husband, you are going thru such a trying time right now and your moms' passing even adds more stress to you and your hubby. One of my co-workers who from the Philippines had the same thing happen to her. When her mother passed away in the Phillippines, she went there for the funeral and then brought her elderly father back with her and he was going to live with her and her husband permanently. It turned out that after he was with them for a few months, he started to really miss his own home and in the end he returned to the Philippines and is still now doing well and he is 90 years old now. It was a difficult time for her and her husband to have another family member living with them but in the end it turned out fine.

Space, i'm still looking for my posts from about a year ago regarding feeling like real life was overwhelming me since I had stopped drinking, when I find it I will let you know the page numbers.

Dizz, thank you for explaining about the Metformin being used for your insulin resistance problem, I will have to look into that when I have another visit with my doctor. I am right now finding it almost impossible to keep paying $600 a month for my health insurance and I have applied for a high deductible plan that will not have any real worth except if I had an accident or got really sick and had to be in the hospital, it is $362 a month and I am waiting to see if they approve the application. I think actually that they will turn down the application due to "pre-existing" conditions, asthma, depression, the finger surgery, the skin cancer taken off, and another thing also going on. So, if they turn me down then I am going to cancel the insurance and will pray to be safe for the next year.

And Dear Dizz, how could you ever be afraid to share something with us regarding how you want to use Antabuse for fear that we would be against you, oh I'm sorry that you ever worried about that. Please always remember from now on that you are safely at home here, you are with real friends, not people who will just find fault and judge you according to their own ideas of how things should be done, we have no room for those people here.

And Dizz, thank you so much for your detailed information, I'm reading it over and over to get a feel for how it works. My question so far is, do you take it even if you drank the night before, like if sun and i drink on Sunday night, do we go ahead and take it on Monday morning? Isn't there still AL in our system that will react to it?

Dizz, about the withdrawl symptoms, well, I'm just hoping that I won't have them. Two years ago when I quit for a couple of months with the hypnotherapy, I just stopped one day and had not cut down and I had no symptoms, but I suppose it could always be different the next time. I don't have any way to get Valium, can't order it from River and I don't like beer, and I don't have much will power to cut down before I start the AB, perhaps I will find the strength the two nights before.

Dizz, you are coming up on your brothers party this week, have fun, enjoy your champaign.

Sun and I were thinking of starting a thread about our experience with the AB with the thought that there might be other people who might find it helpful, but have some doubts due to people thinking we are abusing the AB :H:H:H, how funny is that, how can that be abuse if it gives us some AL free days, those people won't bother me a bit, but in the end we are rethinking it just due to the fact that it would be another thread to spread our time around on.

Space, thanks for your thoughts on this and yes, I know that I am going to need to really distract myself in the evenings, that is when it is really bad altho when I am off work and now off the topa, I start by noon and sip my way thru the day and more at night, so I think the Cinema idea is good and I have a nice theatre around the corner, but then of course once I get home and in my PJs, well, I never get out again after that, and I put my PJs on the minute I walk thru the door, just ask Sun, haha. And I'm so happy that you went out with a friend, and by the way how did that go?

Stuck, I am really touched that you stopped in to help me and sun, perhaps you could go this way also? any thought about that? and hey, we are definately coming to visit you.

So, Sun and I are ready to go on this, Feb 11th, I'm sure that I will be on the phone to her all day long, or texting, or something, guess I need to see if I am working and it will be ever so much better if I am working, that's the only time I don't think about the drink.

Sun, I have a really good feeling about this, could turn out to be easier than any of the other meds, what a shock that would be right? and wouldn't take any of the time for going up or tapering down:H Thanking God for you and I doing this together, otherwise I would just never take the pill.

So, if anyone else wants to join in just let us know, even PM if you would rather do it that way.

Ally, I have a feeling that perhaps you started being afraid of spiders when you were very young, perhaps a family member told you they were awful or scary. My grandson spends alot of time with his grandparents in spain, :H of course thats where he lives, but the point is, his grandparents have a swimming pool and hate the pigeons that come and drink out of it and chase them away and my grandson thinks that birds are bad because of that. Of course he doesn't understand that besides pigeons, there are parrots and sparrows that also come to drink, and he just thinks all birds are bad. When I am there I tell him that the birds need a place to get a drink and that they are not bad, but he will probably grow up with this feeling of hating birds and what a shame that is. Even tho pigeons can be messy, they are not inherently bad, and other birds are not either, I think it is sad that he will miss out on the beauty of the birds because someone has taught him to dislike them.

Ok All, Thank You Dear Ones, you give me such a warm wonderful feeling, the feeling that I am not alone in the world, that I have friends who accept me for who I am.

Play

[spacebebe01]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

playland;1454756 wrote:

Ok All, Thank You Dear Ones, you give me such a warm wonderful feeling, the feeling that I am not alone in the world, that I have friends who accept me for who I am.

Play

What a beautiful thing to say Play, your saying that makes me feel wanted and less alone. Thank you xx

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Space - I know how you feel - Play's post really touched me too....... but I agree with her - you all are just so supportive here of all of us. I feel I could come to any of you and be listened to, be heard, not be judged. I think there are very few people that can say that in this world. I do feel safe here on this thread - Dizzy, like Play - I am surprised that you didn't feel you couldn't talk about your use of AB and feel that we would not condone it. You know that all of us here are your friends..... I think it is a great idea - obviously !!! LOL One that has never dawned on me before until now. I have to do something. I was fine with my two a night. But it has gone up. I think the idea of using AB the way that you are is a really good idea - although I am sure MANY would disagree.

As Play said - she was thinking of starting a thread about the way we are going to use it - I am very wary of dong that. I have been slapped on the wrist here already, but as I told Play if she wants to do it, I will do it with her. For those that want to moderate, it might be a good idea. As long as they know they cannot drink for a good few days after taking the AB. I think Play and I know what we are in for and know what we are doing. We have support and back up. I don't have any way of getting valium but plan on goihng from my usual amount of Guinness to some Guinness plus some Kahlua and Milk - what I used to do before I quit. I will be very aware of what I am doing. i also plan on taking my AB mid Monday - not in the AM on Monday.

Play - yes, we will do this. And yes, we will be on the phone a LOT !!!! LOL. But that is what support is about. We CAN do this and it will get easier. That first week will be hard for the both of us - neither of us have been AF for a long time.

Change of subject - Ally I used to be terrified of any sort of bug. But as I started changing my outlook, my attitude to bugs started changing. can't say I like them too much - but I find I see them differently these days. Just a thought....

Got to go and open and some cards and stuff - LOL

Love and hugs to all, sun XXX

[NoraC]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Quick check in.

Happy, Happy Birthday to my very dear Sun. :l:l

I take AB the next day after drinking. (Sometimes, it's been after a very heavy drinking day) I have heard to wait 12 hours. So, I usually take it about noon or 2:00 pm. I have never had a problem.

[StuckinLA]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hey there peeps. Sun: sorry if what I said about AA came across as preachy or whatever. Yours is a case where anonymity wouldn't be so anonymous, and I totally get that. Just in general, though, I'm not advocating AA, other than to say that in my experience it can be a pretty cool community. Sort of. I don't buy into dogma very easily, and I'm fairly certain that most of the sober people in AA could/would have gotten sober on their own, with whatever genetic resources allow like 1/3 of alkies to get sober, but most of the people I ran into there were fairly good-hearted.

I guess I was just trying to say that, if taken on your own terms, AA has enough to offer that we shouldn't forget about it... or something. Hope you're doing well, Sun!

And Play, AB is the one thing that's not for me. I simply cannot feel trapped, or I go nuts (nutsier than I am already?). So that's a no-go. But things aren't that bad here. Sober for some days, drinking for some days, sober, etc. Better than I was doing before, anyway. Thanks for watching out for me--and I'll be watching out for all of you ladies on your road trip... Hearts n' :l:l

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

OH Stuck - I am fine with what you said - trust me - it takes a lot to offend me - LOL !!!! I went to AA many years ago with my dad - not as an AA member but simply as support for him - I wasn't drinking then - and they were great - but where I live, it just would not work. You did not come across as preachy - please do not worry!!! :l

As for feeling trapped - I think AB is going to make me feel free to be honest. I know that from experience, once I get over that first AF day I will be okay with being AF. Plus - I will be able to have a drink at the weekend. So I am feeling good about this.

And as for being nuts - I laughed at that too - you are not nuts - you are like me - you are special!

I am off to bed - my first day in my new section at work was very tiring and I am wiped.

love and hugs to all,

love, Sun XXX

[playland]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear Sun, Happy Birthday

Hello Everyone, what an exciting time, that's how I am feeling right now, thanks for being here everyone. and

Happy Birthday Dear Jean Jelly Bean, when you come to visit we will celebrate you b-day in style, hmm, I will have to find something appropriate for us to attend

Space, better believe that you are not alone, we are all here, and "YOU OWE ME A DATE",
I'm going to meet up with you sooner or later, Spain is always there!!!

Stuck, I get it about you not wanting to feel trapped re: the AB, and also even the BAC had you trapped in a sense, leg pain, falling asleep at school but not sleeping at night, quite a right bit of entrapment all the way around. And you will be trapped when us girls come avisting:H

And for me the AA meetings are not a "no-no", I'm very sure I would connect with lots of the people there, it is rather the "rigid doctrine, you are an alcoholic and will always be an alcoholic no matter how many years you have been AF", that is the doctrine that puts me off, not the people, they are just like us, just the "indoctrination bull-shit" that I can't stand, but I might go to one to keep you company:h

Nora, thanks for the info on length of time drinking before taking the AB, that gives me a little peace of mind and I will be sure to hold off for 12 hours or a bit more.

Well, all, I'm tired, ready for bed, working the weekend, so early days, talk tomorrow night, love to you all.

Sun, congratulations on your new gig, how did the box lugging go? and your hands are hurting? will it just be a situation of getting used to it?

love,
play

[Alcoholic]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Sunny: you, wiped?! This new job must be tough... Don't over exert yourself, please.... Becareful.... And seriously, they made you work that hard on your birthday?!

Play: do you know about PCIP? It's not very expensive, let me know if you want to know about it.

I spent all day cleaning to get ready for my dad so I only glanced briefly at the posts....but wish you guys luck w Antabuse and will check back later to see how you guys r doing....

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Ally - yes, I was wiped but feel fine after a good nights sleep - although my hands still hurt. Play - it is something I will get used to - but it will take a while. I have some ibuprofen cream that I am using and will use for the first week and hope that helps.

Ally - I am the same - my house gets a good cleaning when I have a guest coming - you are not alone there - I think most of us are the same. I am sure that your dad wouldn't even have noticed it anyway - he is coming to see you not your house !!

You must be excited about seeing him - I hope he arrives safely and has a good trip in. Has he been to visit you before? Will you be taking time off work?

Play - hope work goes okay - I work today but am off tomorrow. Am meeting hubs and daughter after work and we are going out for dinner. then I am meeting two friends tomorrow morning for breakfast!

Well, I need to get ready for work - back to old job for the day though.... LOL

Hugs to all,

love, sun XX

[spacebebe01]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Sun I hope your new job works out and you start to enjoy it. It sounds as though youve already got a fun weekend planned tho, good for you, have a lovely time.

Im finding it a real struggle to get up today, its 1.15pm and Im still in bed, Im so tired after yesterday not being a good day, I do need to go to the shop tho and want to get some more stuff sorted in the loft, whether I can get to doing tho is another thing. Sorry its such a short post but will be back later.

xx