Strategies for dealing with side effects

[shushu]

Strategies for dealing with side effects

Topamax SE

Hello All - I am new on here. I just started the regime in the book and am on day 5 of 25 mg topamax. As it says, my pop tastes terrible and even my favourite tea tastes like soap! I go back to work in 10 days and am most afraid of being dopy that I've read about. My cravings are down but not gone and the boredom factor and the fact that other drinks taste bad don't help. I am still waiting for the CDs so hope they help as well. I see most on here are not on topa - is there a reason for that? Thanks! S :new:

[suneelca]

Strategies for dealing with side effects

Shushu -- I too have noticed that most folks around here do Bac (as do I). For me, that was because my MD shrink mentioned and then prescribed Bac for me. Also, I read MWO, but then first did TSM as it seemed easier. Took me a year to figure out that it didn't work! Then remembered what shrink said about bac, and then decided to hop on the train as I came here and it seemed to be the train that most were on. Not to diminish classic Jewell MWO approach, but Bac seems to work without the supplements and hypnosis ... at least for me.

Ne -- in terms of the insomnia. I also stay in bed, but woke up this morning and couldn't go back to sleep so popped open my iPad. As I read your post, reaffirmed what I already suspected -- that was dumb. Although therapist also recommends getting out of bed and reading for 15 to 20 minutes in another room to make it like going to bed again. Ack, am so confused! In any case, don't have racing thoughts, per se. I sit there and do deep breathing exercises to activate parasympathetic system, but drowsiness doesn't come.

Thanks to y'all, am learning to ride it out. I hope it will pass, and otherwise, the gains are just too great!

Now, back to kid, who have been ignoring all morning while I write War and Peace-length posts here!

[suneelca]

Strategies for dealing with side effects

For me, I have been drinking heavily since I was a teenager, and the "side effects" of sobriety are truly the hardest I've had to cope with

Moglor -- in addition to having more time on your hands, what other 'side effects' of sobriety are you struggling with?

[moglor]

Strategies for dealing with side effects

Mainly, as NE says, learning how to fill my time with things that aren't triggers for drinking. You can't really just invent new hobbies and activities for yourself (or at least I can't,) so I struggle a lot with "idle hands."

Another thing that really got me (and continues to trip me up) is managing my emotional state and maintaining appropriate emotional responses to my world. Alcohol is so damaging when it comes to effectively dealing with strong emotion that I'm having to re-learn how to cope with my environment without turning to drink for a quick fix, or just to ignore problems. Some people have commented on having cognitive difficulty with bac, but having gone alcohol-free using both bac and other drugs (naltrexone) or cold turkey, I personally find the cognitive impairment much more strongly related to the loss of alcohol. Brains adapt, and 20 years of being drunk nearly every single day is a lot of adaptation to un-do once the booze goes away.

In terms of bac, I've been on and off it for quite awhile now, and the worst SE for me continues to be extreme tiredness. The only time I've ever experienced insomnia is in the 72-96 hours after stopping drinking. After the initial detox from alcohol, I struggle constantly to stay awake, especially at work (my job is horrifically boring,) while on HDB.

[Greg]

Strategies for dealing with side effects

moglor;1252697 wrote: Mainly, as NE says, learning how to fill my time with things that aren't triggers for drinking. You can't really just invent new hobbies and activities for yourself (or at least I can't,) so I struggle a lot with "idle hands."

Another thing that really got me (and continues to trip me up) is managing my emotional state and maintaining appropriate emotional responses to my world. Alcohol is so damaging when it comes to effectively dealing with strong emotion that I'm having to re-learn how to cope with my environment without turning to drink for a quick fix, or just to ignore problems.

Not meaning to butt in here, but I just wanted to say that this is exactly what I also face. I'm only on Antabuse and low-dose baclofen at present, but am finding these life issues to be real challenges. I am having to drive 2 hours at night in order to go to events in a larger city than where I live, as a way of having new things to do during my old drinking time. I was AF for about 1.5 years a while back, and believe that not having enough new ways of living life tripped me up in the end.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Strategies for dealing with side effects

shushu;1252552 wrote: I see most on here are not on topa - is there a reason for that? Thanks! S :new:Hey, S. There is actually a topa thread. https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...ion-44427.html There are several reasons that I chose baclofen. The bottom line is that it's an individual choice and I'm glad you are doing something to help!

suneelca;1252558 wrote:

...so popped open my iPad. As I read your post, reaffirmed what I already suspected -- that was dumb. Although therapist also recommends getting out of bed and reading for 15 to 20 minutes in another room to make it like going to bed again.
:H yeah. I get it. Truth is I did any and everything and not much worked all that well until after I stopped titrating up and found a comfortable level. I did not use meds and supps though. I wish I had. And also, at some point, you can embrace the lack of sleepiness. I didn't find that it had an impact on somnolence. I got tired regardless.

moglor;1252697 wrote: ... learning how to fill my time with things that aren't triggers for drinking. You can't really just invent new hobbies and activities for yourself (or at least I can't,) so I struggle a lot with "idle hands."

Another thing that really got me (and continues to trip me up) is managing my emotional state and maintaining appropriate emotional responses to my world.

I think this is a very important thing that we don't talk nearly enough about here. My opinion, of course, but I haven't met anyone that didn't have some of this going on. And in fact, I think some (just some) of our SEs are related to drinking significantly less. Anyway. There are in fact some tools for this stuff. Tried and true. The things that don't get us sober, or keep us sober, but help with the transition. We all know what they are. It takes work to be content. I know a lot of people without the disease that are friggin' miserable. I know one who is indifferent and is hopeless and seemingly helpless. What do they all have in common that I've learned from? Being content takes work. And hope. A plan of action. Doggygirl had a plan that kept her sober for a good long while without meds. She finally joined AA and is now working on becoming certified to help others.

My point is that nature abhors a vacuum. Careful what you fill up the missing space with. If you don't have something to fill it, you'll drink again. If you fill it with negative crap, you'll drink again and be happy about the escape. Them's the rules. I didn't make 'em and I'm not always happy about 'em, but I am desperately trying to follow them.

Greg;1252701 wrote: Not meaning to butt in here, but I just wanted to say that this is exactly what I also face. I'm only on Antabuse and low-dose baclofen at present, but am finding these life issues to be real challenges. I am having to drive 2 hours at night in order to go to events in a larger city than where I live, as a way of having new things to do during my old drinking time. I was AF for about 1.5 years a while back, and believe that not having enough new ways of living life tripped me up in the end.

I have found that some of the things I tried on simply don't work. Zumba? Not going to work. Going to do stuff at night? Doesn't work. TV doesn't work for me. You have to find something that fits. If it seems insurmountable, then you're likely needing a change in perspective and not a change in geography. (Again, not my rules or my words. I'm just passing them on.) But maybe relocation is the key, for some. Therapy helps me with this, and support from friends and loved ones. Basically anyone who is going to call me on my bull shit helps me with this. And the more angry it makes me, the more resistant I am to it, the more likely I am to need to actually listen to it.

Support. Intellectual stimulation. Exercise for some good brain chemicals. Ditto the food. Meditation (or something) to keep the howling wolves of the mind at bay. (Some sort of connection to others is what I'm after.) And helping others. It's in every single program for well being there is. From the oldest to the newest.
It's expensive. And it takes a ton of time. Somehow, someway, so far, I'm able to do some of it, some times. And not incidentally, none of it has anything to do with "alcoholism" or the fact that I was alcohol-dependent for 25 years. It's moot at the moment. Baclofen comes up quite a bit, though.

And still sometimes I feel like crap and act out and my emotional responses are not in line with the matter at hand. Then I have a pity party of some sort and call it a day. So there.

[suneelca]

Strategies for dealing with side effects

Ne -- I think you said on one thread that the insomnia may be less a function of the bac than of reducing / quitting alcohol use. I'd buy that. In my case, also dramatically decreasing pot use, plus jettisoning ativan, gabapentin, and now Seroquel.

No wonder am having even mixed success trying to transition off Seroquel with temporary Lunesta and Ambien. Considering that I used to take enough stuff each night to put an entire first grade class to sleep for a month.

So, as I recall, the strategy is to wait? What's the alternative? Nothing else -- prescription or natural sleep aids -- seems to be working very well ...