New here and starting Topa and with a question

[houtx]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

B- me too about the weird weight fluctuations!! Makes me crazy...I can get on the scales and get one reading, step off and wash my face and I've lost a half pound!! LOL I swear I do not sleep in layers of make-up! Or same as you, I'll feel I've really done well & lost weight...then see a weight gain...thinking I've really done poorly & gained weight?....lost.

I'm really sick of it - of course it's the drinking. I've mysteriously gained 5 lbs this year and nothing I do seems to get it off. I have NEVER had a problem losing FIVE lbs...UGH!!!! Age & the way I'm metabolizing the normal calories of my day. PLus I do exercise regulary...wish TOPA offered a certainty of weight loss - it just didn't have that happy side effect with me!

Next week - I'll try harder to cut back on all levels. 40th HS reunion coming up in a couple of months!! Good to be back on here - very therapuetic!

[Girl1973]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

I just suck, no better,,,looking for help, not much available around here

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Girl - we are always here for you.........:l

[Bruunhilde]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Yes Girl, we may not post much but if you need one of us and we're not posting, PM us and someone will be there soon.

I need a good therapist too. My thoughts are all over the map. I envision myself being fit, really strong older woman who is attractive and loveable. And then I get stuck on something like "where will the money come from" and "my hair hasn't grown back" and get side-railed. Ugh. A therapist could maybe help me feel better do so I could take all the info I've gathered in the past twenty years and really put it to use. I feel like I have a box of knowledge waiting to be opened and applied like clothes or makeup. I need help opening the box and putting it on right.

[Illuminae]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hey ladies, moving us up a bit and just a quick post. Houtx so happy to see you contributing and I get you about all of that weight loss crap. I realized that I was doing super well when I was on the Topa but also unhappy in my life. I was feeling so hot and skinny and happy in my new love, off all meds, doing fairly well, but then realized I gained some of my weight back. Crap!!! And I started drinking more again cause I am dealing with the divorce and new relationship and the kids.... I feel the Nal working since I started taking it again but I'm still letting myself override it. I think I'm addicted to the feeling and its hard for me to go to bed without it. Except when I'm with my man who makes me not care about that because he's giving me new awesome feelings that trump the drink. Okay, I'm not being super clear but I know many of you get what I'm saying. Gotta go to bed first day of school for the kids in the morning. They're getting so big it makes me happy and sad at the same time.

Take care all,

Me

[Guest]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Illuminae;1174094 wrote: Hey ladies, moving us up a bit and just a quick post. Houtx so happy to see you contributing and I get you about all of that weight loss crap. I realized that I was doing super well when I was on the Topa but also unhappy in my life. I was feeling so hot and skinny and happy in my new love, off all meds, doing fairly well, but then realized I gained some of my weight back. Crap!!! And I started drinking more again cause I am dealing with the divorce and new relationship and the kids.... I feel the Nal working since I started taking it again but I'm still letting myself override it. I think I'm addicted to the feeling and its hard for me to go to bed without it. Except when I'm with my man who makes me not care about that because he's giving me new awesome feelings that trump the drink. Okay, I'm not being super clear but I know many of you get what I'm saying. Gotta go to bed first day of school for the kids in the morning. They're getting so big it makes me happy and sad at the same time.

Take care all,

Me

Hey sounds like you are having a tough time of it. Regards Nal - yes you can override it if you want to, but you can also acheive a lot by deciding not to too. This is something I really like about Naltrexone, you too have input and feel as if you are doing something rather than sit waiting.

[Bruunhilde]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Illuminae;1174094 wrote: []...I was feeling so hot and skinny and happy in my new love, off all meds, doing fairly well, but then realized I gained some of my weight back. Crap!!! And I started drinking more again cause I am dealing with the divorce and new relationship and the kids.... I feel the Nal working since I started taking it again but I'm still letting myself override it. I think I'm addicted to the feeling and its hard for me to go to bed without it.

Its such a bummer that gaining a little weight can throw us for a loop, and actually derail us women. Why is so much tied to looks for women? Its so NOT fair. I know life isn't fair and most of us are not watching our children die in a war or famine we can't control etc, so have nothing to complain about really. HOWEVER, it sucks and sometimes it helps to just say that! It sucks to be an alcoholic too.

But there are alot of things to be thankful for. The fact that I haven't killed myself or anyone with my disease for one.

And UK I agree, choice is something we HAVE at some point and overriding it is something we have to actively work at NOT doing. I have plenty of reasons for drinking including nostalgia, anger, pain, depression etc. However, I think that same old pathway in our brains singing that song can be retrained and MUST be. Especially because our own lives are not the only ones at stake.

My cat gave me fleas - I put Advantage on her and she came to bed later that night, and they all jumped from her to me. My left arm was numb this AM, not all that unusual, but it reminded me that I'm lucky to be alive and that I don't want my family to find me dead one day.

[ImHereNow]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Topa

I'm VERY new here. Just learning that SE is side effects - the AFs and ALs will probably solve themselves. I know everyone says to work with a physician. I dont want this on my health insurance/health records. I'm considering buying the topa online (dont quite understand how thats a problem?) and dosing myself, starting at 25 mg. Has anyone here done this on their own? (I know, I know, consult a doctor . . . I'm not going to do that . . . ). I dont want to get drunk anymore.

[Midnight]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Amn - can you fake migraines to your dr.? First time round I had a friend dr give me topa for real reason and second time around I was able (at first) to say it was for migraines. You might just have to say you had another dr before give it to you and you had to play with dose a bit.

[Bruunhilde]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

IHN, AL=Alcohol and AF=Alcohol Free

Ordering overseas is circumventing the medical establishment that is ostensibly here to protect us from missuse and other complications, and that's why people say go first to your doctor. Everyone has their own path - if your doctor won't rx you, then you'll find another 'way out' ...

Also, you should make sure you read the good and bad about any drug before taking it. I'm not on it but have used it with some success in the past but didn't go past 50mg so my SEs were minimal.

Let us know what you do - others here have more info on Topa than I do but they check in here every week or two so post if you have questions.

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Sorry no replies - MUST reply soon to everyone - just off to work - love and hugs,

sun XXX

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Okay - I am back! I am off today 'cos I had to work the Holiday - so today is my Holiday! LOL Now, to try and catch up.....

IHN - I take Topa but have always had a doc prescibe it for me - I can understand why you don't want to do that, but yes, you start off at 25mg a week for one week, in the am, then go up - I can send you the titration schedule if you want - it is somewhere here in this thread and I was going to write down the post # but forgot !! Have you read the book? The titration schedule is in it too. The Topa does work foe me- IF I let it. I was 8 months AF last year - and then stopped taking it and started again - am now trying again - started at 25 mg again and have gone up. Am struggling with the last bit now - some nights do well, others not so well. Just ask here and someone can help.....

Midnight - I am on Topirimate and have never had anything else. I am though, down to 2 or 3 Guinness a night - last night I poured my 3rd and tipped it out!! I like to have a guinness when I garden - hard if I go out at 1.00 in the afternoon! But I will still try to just have the 2 or 3 - I really have to listen to my body though - the Topa isn't a miracle! I also play mind games - if I only have three in the fridge I won't buy more on the way home - and I also won't drive after three! Your therapist sounds as if she is trying to help....as you are now trying to analyze everything. Try just having four one night?

Bruun - so nice to see you, I am glad that you pop in! SO sorry about your cat giving you fleas - oh dear!!!! I read somewhere that cat fleas bite women and dog fleas bite men - I have no idea how true it is!! How are you doing my dear? On the weight and the AL? What is your latest plan of action??

Illum - LOL - umm yes, I think we got it !!!!!:H It is easy to override any of these meds - as I said to Midnight, I have to listen to the Topa and actually HEAR it!!! so - you need toi do the same with the Nal - I am so pleased things are going so well for you my friend!

Houtx - great to have you here again - Yes, it is odd the way Topa has the SE's for some and not others - I am down to the weight I was when i got married 30 years ago!! But I don't eat a lot. I eat well when I do eat - no junk, very little sweet stuff - but the Topa def had that SE for me. I have always been slim so have to watch it. but I feel good and don't look gaunt which used to be a problem if I lost weight. I do have the All-One every day which helps as it has all the vits and stuff I need, so am getting all the nutrients and feel much better when I am taking it. How are you doing with the AL? Are you just trying to stop with sheer willpower? have you read the alan Carr book? i am rereading it as I find it really good for me. It is changing your mindset. I need to read it again......and am about half way through - I am hoping it will help me get over the final hurdle of those last few drinks.

Irish - where are you and how are you doing?? We haven't heard from you in a while - drop in and let us know what is going on with you?? It would be nice to know what is going on with you.... are you still on the Topa? What are you up to? How are you doing on it?

That is it for now people - love and hugs to all,

Sun XX

[Bruunhilde]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Sun, you're at the weight you were thirty years ago, congrats! I guess that means I have 40 to go! Yes, that would be good although I think women look better with a little fat in their faces, so long as their faces don't fall into their necks. I talk to my cheeks daily because they are trying to make the passage south to join my neck. Maybe because its shady down there?

[sunshinedaisies]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

LOL Bruun !!!! I had to go and get a new ID card today - and am 20 lbs lighter than it says on the old one!!!! I didn't correct them. Gives me some leeway - LOL. Usually when I lose weight I lose it in my face - hence the gaunt look - but when my mum was visiting, she said I looked good. she is the first to tell me I look gaunt or skinny etc, and she said I looked fine. Used to lose it in my boobs too but seeing as I don't have any now (LOL), can't lose it there!!! I feel really good and have lots of energy so am not worrying about it. as long as I don't lose any more!! Have to admit, when they took my pic, I did sort of tilt my head up a tad so my neck wouldn't look saggy!!! Oh the things we women do for vanity!!

Hugs to you :l

sun XX

[irishfairy]

New here and starting Topa and with a question

Hi everyone - sorry, was on holiday! Which did mean lots of drinking, but I wasn't so bad. Will read all posts and do a proper post myself later, but all is OK, hope you all are good xx