Time for another shot at the champ (with the help of Campral)

[Samandkatharine]

Time for another shot at the champ (with the help of Campral)

Greg;1688191 wrote: Depression due to withdrawal and abstinence does go away if a person can stay sober long enough. I have become free of depression now that I have been away from alcohol for several months, and in fact my depression almost went away even with a few weeks of abstinence.

Some get PAWS... Others don't. Lucky them. Most aren't as lucky as you Greg. I'm glad you had it easy.

Sam

[Greg]

Time for another shot at the champ (with the help of Campral)

Samandkatharine;1688225 wrote: Some get PAWS... Others don't. Lucky them. Most aren't as lucky as you Greg. I'm glad you had it easy.

Sam

I have had huge problems with depression most of my adult life, so I am very grateful that it has abated recently. I can only imagine how difficult it would be to remain abstinent if depression were still on my back. Thankfully I haven't had serious PAWS. I have been taking a combination of mirtazepine and low-dose amisulpride, so this may be the reason my mood has not plunged to low levels while not drinking.

[_EndOfTheLine_]

Time for another shot at the champ (with the help of Campral)

Campral works perfectly for me, I'm pleased to report No thoughts of drinking and have been abstinent since I started taking it again regularly. It does have side effects, sure, but its worth minor problems.

[paulywogg]

Time for another shot at the champ (with the help of Campral)

Hi End,what kind of s.e's have you had?my doc gave me campral but i've yet to take it,i'm glad it's working for you

[StuckinLA]

Time for another shot at the champ (with the help of Campral)

I guess I'll weigh in because I'm feeling chatty this afternoon. The longest I've been sober is 7 months, or just over that, like 7 1/2. I found that there's a real good reason they give you chips in AA at 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 6 months - because right around then is exactly when PAWS kicked in. The same kind of panic attacks that acute, day-after-drinking withdrawal gave me. I was not going to AA, by the way, but I've been to enough meetings to kind of know the routine.

[_EndOfTheLine_]

Time for another shot at the champ (with the help of Campral)

Pauly Wogg, the side effects initially are just gassy stomach but I haven't noticed that too bad. The two main side effects that I could complain about is loss of libido, not completely but definitely noticeable and the other is slight impairment in recall memory (for example, naming things). Both are very subtle, but then this drug is quite subtle in its action. It needs to be taken very consistently. I take it first thing in the morning at around 730-8 am, again at ~3pm and again at 11pm. I think it should be first line for treating alcoholism, but then I would say that because it works so well for me. It doesn't completely remove the urge but it makes it easily manageable. Oddly though, when I first took it a few years ago I had been taking it for around a month and a half with little effect. But at that stage I had no life structure and had probably was skipping doses, and I was drinking on top of it. My psychiatrist told me you have to take it for 3 months before declaring it a failure, and to continue taking it through relapses- both of these things were good pieces of advice.

So in summary, I'd recommended taking it as prescribed by your doctor. Be prepared for some stomach disturbance for the few days and perservere with it consistently. It doesn't take long to get used to taking it routinely.

Well done StuckinLA on sobriety for 7 months. Was it a comfortable 7 months or was it difficult some of the time? I'm not sure I get PAWS symptoms except for the depression associated with being gasping for a drink and trying not to drink it (usually unsuccessfully)