Campral fans - can you share your experience?

[MonaCat]

Campral fans - can you share your experience?

I take Campral, as follows: 2 (333 mg) pills three times a day. One thing to note in the instructions is not to take the pills and lay down.

[Guest]

Campral fans - can you share your experience?

Campral saved my life.

I've been on Campral for almost a year. I love the stuff. It doesn't eliminate the cravings, but it reduces them to an amazing degree. There are actually entire days that I don't even think about booze. I guess the best part for me is how much it seems to dull my triggers. I've never drank since starting it so I don't know how that affects it. I was also really ready to stop drinking. I take six pills a day with no noticeable side effects. I'd been through rehab twice before the doctor suggested it, sort of a last hope deal. If you're nervous about going to the doctor, please don't be, they want to help you, and in my case were very compassionate. It is an expensive drug, but I figured my life is probably worth it. Worked for me in a big way!!

Paige

[Paddy]

Campral fans - can you share your experience?

G'day Paige,

Well the first time I took Campral, it worked for nearly 6 months. But I guess there was the psychological effect of the medication. I actually thought that my body would experience toxic reactions if I drank while taking Campral (similar to what happens when one takes antabuse). When I finally did drink and nothing happened, I guess that's when Campral stopped working for me.

Anyway, different people different reactions, ey.

[Guest]

Campral fans - can you share your experience?

campral

Hey Paddy,

May I ask if you're still drinking and how long you've been drinking? It's pretty personal , no offense intended.

[Paddy]

Campral fans - can you share your experience?

No worries, Paige.

That's what this forum is all about. Exchange of views and lessons learned. Well, unfortunately I'm in and out of drinking. I don't get to the point of getting drunk, but my booze intake comes to a bottle of wine or so a day. When I started taking Campral, I had made a conscious decision to get off the booze. So that why it did work for several months. (Aside from the psychological aspect of not knowing whether Campral was going to cause havoc if I did take a drink).

Currently, I'm in a new job situtation, as well as emotionally a bit down. So, though I'm really determined to give up drinking, I seem to relapse after a couple of days. That's why I decided to start taking Topa in a week or so - despite being scared of its side effects ... (though, I have to say Kathie gave me some great input on that too).

Currently, I still have a large supply of Campral, though I'm not taking it at the moment. Fortunately, my health insurance covers Campral ...

[Paddy]

Campral fans - can you share your experience?

And Kate, you're too right. You have to be in the right mindset to stop boozing. Unfortunately, the odds are that your are so busy with work that it's hard to find time to sit yourself down and talk yourself into the right mindset. I'm really determined to give up the booze, but the fact that I'm really with work and emotionally a bit on a roller coaster - well, that does not make for good supporters ...

But, you're definitely right on the button.

[Starbuck]

Campral fans - can you share your experience?

Aggravated my depression

The title says it all. I really didn't want to drink either, so I didn't, but BOY did I have a bunch of suicidal thoughts. I'm on my third attempt with 100mg of Topa and this time it's working well.:new:

[Guest]

Campral fans - can you share your experience?

Paddy,

I only drank for three years and I've managed to do a number on my liver, I'm praying for a transplant, or I'll be dead this time next year. I've developed a condition called ascites. Please get to a place in your mind that helps you stop drinking. I know how hard it is, I really do, even facing death I still have alcoholic thoughts that the Campral can't quite control. It's just not worth it to be in the place I am with my health.

Paige

[Paddy]

Campral fans - can you share your experience?

G'day Paige,

What can I say? It must be pretty horrific to go through what your are facing now. Stay strong and keep posting. Your experience should be an warning example to all of us. But at the same time, I hope that this marvelous organ, the liver that is, will regenerate itself. Have you been able to get a second opinion from another doctor on your case?

Best,

[Guest]

Campral fans - can you share your experience?

Paddy,

I've had three second opinions, every one of them has told me I have less than a year to live without transplant.

Please Paddy, find the place inside you that wants to quit. You can live without alcohol. I didn't think I could, I didn't think there would be much purpose of living without a constant buzz. I really enjoyed being high all the time, it was great, I admit it. I was in the hospital for 26 days with alcoholic hepatitis, and I was still drinking in the hospital! I was Vodka's bitch. They finally just gave up on me and sent me home to die. The Hepatoligist (liver doctor) gave me two days to live. I was willing to die for booze.

If you feel like being scared, go google these words: alcoholic hepatitis, ascites, MELD score, cirrhosis, cirrhosis prognosis, end stage liver disease. The liver is an incredibly strong organ, so strong in fact, by the time you have any kind of symptoms, the damage is already done. If you get symptoms, you're screwed. The liver can regenerate, but only up to 30%, and that regeneration can take years. I really had no ideae how dangerous the ethanol in all alcohol is to your body, nobody ever told me and I never bothered to find out. That being said, none of that would have made a difference to me when I was drinking. I know that for a fact, someone tried to scare me sober too, didn't take. I did rehab twice.

After I quit, it took probably three months for life to start coming into focus again, but I slowly began to remember what life was like without the fog. I'd forgotten what it was like to be free. I may die, but I'll die without a bottle in control of my life. I run the show now.

You are strong enough to do this, look inside, you are strong enough. I'm the weakest person that ever lived and the most hard-headed too, and if I can stop you can too. I'm NOT a big fan of Alcoholics Anonymous, but I do go to meetings for the support of other people who understand my addiction. It's obvious from your posts that you want to quit, but only YOU can stop you.

This is not a dress rehearsal, this is your life!

Please Paddy, live.

Paige

[YoungAtHeart]

Campral fans - can you share your experience?

Hi Paige!

Hi Paige,

Just wanted to pop on and offer my two cents' worth! I'm so sorry about your prognosis, but I will say that we can be an awfully tough crew, we drinkers, and we have often beaten the odds. I don't say that to be arrogant, but to try to offer some hope. Are you taking milk thistle and SAMe? If you aren't, please get some now! They have been demonstrated to be very helpful in rebuilding the liver to whatever extent it can be restored.

You are very courageous, and I say well done to how you are facing this. Please read up on this if you wish, or send a private message to RJ. There is more and more research on the benefits of SAMe on the liver, and milk thistle's usefulness has been documented for a long time now.

All the best, love!
Kathy:l

[Paddy]

Campral fans - can you share your experience?

Dear Paige,

Thanks so much for your honest posting. It gave me a real kick up the @ss (sorry the language). But that's exactly needed sometimes. As alcoholics, we often have this feeling of being invincible. But when reality finally hits home, it's often at a very late stage.

However, I will also add to Kathy's advice that it might be good to search out a natropath. I had a friend who was in the very same situation as you. And he made it through (mind you, he was Swedish and also hoooked on Vodka). So really, sometimes where conventional doctors give up, natropaths come in.

All the best, and thanks again for this post. It was a real eye-opener.

:h