Me, myself and getting sober

[spacebebe01]

Me, myself and getting sober

Hi all, Im off to the docs soon to find out what came up on the blood tests. Am feeling a bit better today, my tums isnt a bad, I wished i could have seen doc yesterday when it was so bad, I thind he doesnt beieve how bad it gets. I managed to have a nights sleep last night with the aid of a zopiclone, I have a small stash which I used for emergencies only, I dont want cronic insomnia to become a problem but also dont want to end up dependent on zopiclone either also its another thing my doc wont prescribe me so doesnt know about.

[Doggygirl]

Me, myself and getting sober

Hi spacebebe. Sorry to read that you were sick yesterday, but hopefully it's a good sign that you are feeling better today. Hope the doctor appointment is going well and nothing too bad turned up in your bloodwork. :l Thinking of you!

DG

[bobsd]

Me, myself and getting sober

Hey Spacebebe,

Hang in there... This will not happen overnight and there will be some horrible nights! But it is worth it...

Here is Dr. L's most recent titration schedule. My only regret is not following it completely. I encourage you follow it:

1st 4 days-5 mg/day in morning
Next 3 days- 10 mg/day (morning and night)
Week 2- 20 mg/day Morning and night
Week 3- 30 mg/day (3 times a day)
Week 4- 40 mg/day (3-4 times/day depending on your experimentation)
After that, titrate up 10 mg/day every week.

It looks to me like you are at 50 mg/day right now. Do not go down and start over! Just follow the schedule from now on.

L-Tyrosine (500 mg 2X/day on an empty stomach) has seemed to help the insomnia a bit and has given me more energy in the morning.

I hope this helps. We are here for you...

[bobsd]

Me, myself and getting sober

To avoid any confusion, from week 5-on increase the dose by 10 mg/day only once a week (not every day).

[spacebebe01]

Me, myself and getting sober

Hi bob I dont know if ive typed wrong or youve misunderstood but i am still only on 10mg a day, 5mg morning 5mg night so I think I will try Dr L's schedule, it also depends on what im doing each day as to when i go up, as im not drinking i dont feel in any big rush and would rather take it easy with managable side effects than end up stopping all together like i did last time though fear of not being able to function. Good news is my blood work wasnt too bad, just hormones, I had early menopause in my 30's but it turns out 12 years later Im still not through with it so he give me chlonodine for hot sweats, to try and see if that helps me, also I have raised cholesterol and have made an appointment to see a nurse about that. Had a sleep this afternoon and have been out for a meal tonight for my daughters 25th birthday and I enjoyed that so today was a good day. Oh I nearly forgot, when I was getting ready to go out tonight I couldnt find my make up brush and mascara, then couldnt find other things, I am really disorganised in the house and it is a mess, has been a big problem for me for years, anyway I ended up having a full blown panic attack, I couldnt breath, felt near to passing out, was in tears ect I have some beta blockers here and took one of them and a cup of tea. its 1.20am here so have to try to get to bed soon, hope to get some sleep. Will take 1/2 zopiclone

[spacebebe01]

Me, myself and getting sober

On sencond thoughts i am not going to take zopiclone tonight, i forgot to say after going to my doctors today and asking about my staying off antidepressant he said he would be very worrined about my not taking antid's for any length of time considering my history of depression and anxiety and drinking so I agreed to start taking effexor at the lowest dose from today which I have done, i do worry about taking so many meds especially as the bac and antabuse are both taken without a doctors advice but need to take respronsibility for myself as well.

[RudyB]

Me, myself and getting sober

hi there bebe! sounds like you've got your head well-on-straight. fun about your birthday dinner! nice to eat, isn't it?

holy shit! as i'm typing, there's a whole herd -i mean pack- of coyotes right across the road, barking yipping screaming so loudly in a frenzy! i just went and turned on the front light, stupidly thinking maybe i could see them. the second i did, they went silent. i hope they tore apart their prey just the same. (i think they go nuts like that when they kill something - if i'm wrong, mom, will you please come along to explain?)

so, bebe, i guess the coyotes were agreeing with me: it's nice to eat!

keep up the good work, dear! as you can see, we're pulling for you.

xo rudy

[spacebebe01]

Me, myself and getting sober

heehee it is nice to eat where do you live, I think from your own thread it is, oh no I cant remember the name of the country but you have the turtles on the beach there, and I think it begins with C, thats it Costa Rica? it sounds very exciting having coyotes in the road, I love to hear about the places other people live, but then I end up thinking its even more boring where I am in the UK. Its great to have people pulling for me, I really like to come on here now and see someone has posted on my thread, now that is exciting for me

xox

[spacebebe01]

Me, myself and getting sober

since i am not sleeping i have just been looking into this cholidine the doc gave me, I have found some sites that say not to take it with lots of the supps i take, fish oil, manesium, calcium, vit d and also not to take it with gabapentin and a whole list of other things, so I think I will look for other relief from the hot sweats and give it a miss

[spacebebe01]

Me, myself and getting sober

Hi all, its Sunday morning and it has been a strange couple of days. Im not sure where I posted the results of my boods but it was ok, just that Im still perimenopausal after 12 years! and raised cholestrol, I have to see the nurse about the cholestrol, but Im glad nothing seriously wrong with me. Im feeling a lot better than I did and the doc said he thought I had a stomach bug, my son had his friends stay over last night, so that was good, I baked them choc chip cookies which Ive never made before and they where good until Joe dropped the box on the floor so the dogs enjoyed them
Am now taking 5mle4times day bac, only side effect Im aware of is sleepiness durring the day and feeling kind of spaced out, Im not getting the enjo yable stoned feeling that I got last time. Im still taking antabuse and campral, Im hoping that by taking campral as well I wont need to go as high on bac, but cant find anyone else who has tried this but also cant find anywhere it says not to take these together. My family still dont know about the bac but I have told them that for the next six months my priority is staying sober and that may mean my having to nap during the day and sometimes not being able to do other things, I a taking it slowely this time, I am not in a race to get anywhere, but want this to be my final recovery. My mood yesterday afternoon was awful, I was shouting at my son and totally impatient with him, it took quite a while to wind down.
I

[spacebebe01]

Me, myself and getting sober

I want to post a list of my meds and supps here as a reminder for me and also to see what anyone thinks of it, as today I am taking :-
bac 5mgx4day
campral 333mgx2 3xday
antabuse 100mg day
gabapentin 200mg alternate days (dont want dependence to build up)
effexor xl 75mg day
zopiclone 10mg alternate nights (dont what dependance to build up)
co-codamol 30/500mgx2 as and when needed

Supps.
1 L-tyrosine am
vit b6
vit b complex
multivit
omega 3 fish oil 1000mg x 3 day
evening primrose oil
ginko biloba
q10
calcium &vit d
magnesium
quite life herbal as and when needed

Thats it I think, am I missing anything or anyone got any ideas for me on this, not Ive written it down it looks like a lot

Thats it I think. Im I missing anything?

[Doggygirl]

Me, myself and getting sober

Hi space. I can't comment on your meds/supps but I wanted to applaud you for putting your sobriety first, and letting your family know what to expect. I think that is an important step and sometimes a difficult one for us to take! I love the way you are attacking this problem on all fronts. I believe you will win the battle!

DG

[spacebebe01]

Me, myself and getting sober

thanks for the support doggy, coming on here and talking and getting to know you folks is as big a part of this as the meds and supps, over the next few weeks I intend to start looking at my diet, excercise also.

[Doggygirl]

Me, myself and getting sober

Boy I hear you on the multi-faceted approach! Having support here really helps me too. And as much as I like to procrastinate exercise, it really really lifts my mood and helps me feel good physically and mentally. I was just telling Mr. Doggy that I need to get off my a$$ here in front of the computer and get out for a walk. Beautiful crisp fall day here!!! Working out regularly really helped me get going on the sober path.

I also did a good thing when I first got going following the diet suggestions in the My Way Out book - basically low carb and IIRC, warnings about the sugar cravings and avoiding them. I did really well with that too until a year or so ago (maybe longer??) when I made the mistake of letting SUGAR back into my life - and boy what a mistake that was!!! Once I get it back out again, I'm not going to make the mistake of letting it back in again!!!

Anyway...sorry to go on and on! Mainly just wanted to say that I'm with ya on all the various ways we can help ourselves.

You sound like you are doing well and I'm so happy for you!! How are your cravings since you started bac? Is it helping yet?

DG

[spacebebe01]

Me, myself and getting sober

My cravings are nothing like they were the other week when I felt like I was under attack from all sides, I have hadsome cravings over the past few days and some drinking thoughts but it is getting a lot better already. Pyschologically the antabuse is great because I know I just cannot drink the fact that my relapses where never planned but always spur of the moment things makes that not a thing of the past, I hope. How didi you go about stopping sugar and eating low carbs? I cant imagine being able to do that! I seem to have lost a few books including my way out and also easy way to stop drinking and smoling, I have been looking for them lately and am cursing that I cant find them. I dont ever remember reading any diet advice in the my was out book! I just look at the end of your post WOW girl you are great 2008! Well done xx