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11 years and counting

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2024-10-31 6:49 AM

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Feels like hell week all over!!

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Roller Coaster Withdrawal

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Smile....and don't shoot the messenger

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Medication...


16 years ago 0 2101 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hey guys,
 
Thank you to you all. Thank you for being so understanding.
 
DM I want to say thank you for sharing that with me. It comforted me a lot and made me feel very much understood.
 
Thank you to you too Joe, I appreciate your understanding.
 
Thank you Faryal. and you are right knowledge is important and so are our choices.
 
Finally Gene, thank you for reminding me that this forum is a safe place to share :)
 
16 years ago 0 187 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hi Diva
 
Think I was typing my post while you posted and I missed it. Sorry to hear about your difficult experiences but I am glad that you have opened up here. Like I said somewhere else- we will not judge you. We have all done our fair share of things we regret and I know that there are things that I have done that I cannot even mention on a forum like this. So well done for opening up.
 
 
 
 
16 years ago 0 823 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Thank you for sharing your experiences and difficult memories of past situations and actions. It is great that we can all share and support each other without judgement.   The key is in knowledge and awareness that certain choices are unhealthy ones and learning from those bad experiences helps us to make better choices in the future.     Faryal, Health Educator
16 years ago 0 466 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hey Diva,
Don't fear judgment from us, shooooot...I did the same thing just with drugs.  (I'll leave that story for another time.)  Needless to say it involves a lot of regretful actions and despicable things.  But hey, I won't be doing none of that no more!  And if I didn't know who loved me before, I sure do now.
16 years ago 0 313 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Diva...
 
Don't be ashamed of your actions or choices. You learned from them.  I too was a binge drinker.  My story could almost mirror yours.  I've had alcohol poisoning, blacked out, passed out and behaved inappropriately.. more than once I might add.  Those days are in the past though and I now know that the alcohol was a coping mechanism .. a crutch for me as I had no idea what was happening.  My hubby (he wasn't yet at the time) threatened to leave me if I didnt' quit etc.   I did quit though and like yourself don't really touch  alcohol anymore.  We all make dumb choices but usually from inexperience... or lack of knowledge or if like myself mostly from fear.  Be grateful you were able to move past the alcohol and it not be an addiction.  I'm so grateful for that...
 
You were barely out of childhood Diva...cut yourself some slack. Those experiences are not a reflection of who you are or what you stand for.  Just a moment in time... that you learned from.
 
Take care
 
DM
16 years ago 0 187 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Hi Dazed
 
I just began a course of paxil or it's local generic version (active compound is peroxetine hydrochloride). The doc began me on 25mg, which is more than the recommended dose for panic due to the initial side-effects that resemble "panic symptomology". But I have been fine. The drunken feeling is almost gone now and I didn't mind it too much. I kind of tried to imagine that it was like benzo's or something that was just calming me down. So I am glad I have handled that well.
 
Now one week later on the meds I have this excited feeling. Something that has been missing for me for quite some time now. Perhaps it is just hope. When I read you saying something like "my OCD thoughts go away" I get this rush of joy. My own OCD thoughts have been plagueing me for so long now that the idea of them going away or being reduced thanks to meds makes me want to cry for joy. I find that I am laughing and smilling more. 
 
I am glad that I have read your posts where you have written of your positive experiences with medication. My wife has also had fantastic results thanks to them. She first began on an SSRI which made her far worse. Then the doc changed her to an alternative medication that has been amazing. So I think anti-d's can be very personal and they might require some trial and error. But in the end I believe that I have made the right choice by using them and I would recommend them to anybody suffering from panic. After all if I had diabetes I would be taking meds, right? I take meds for hypertension. Why not use them for mental illness. There are real anatomical changes that occur in the brain during depression and I think that PD has a similar effect. Scientists has identified various changes in gene expression in the hypothalmus of people with major depression. If real physiological changes are happening- where you can think all the happy thoughts you want to no avail- then why not use meds?    
 
Anyway- just my 2 cents worth.
 
BTW- Diva, this was your post. Never apologize for posting! We want to hear :) Hope the omegas help. Apparently they do help allot for depression.     
16 years ago 0 2101 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Just read more of this thread and sw the alcohol discuassion...
 
I used to drink. I used to binge drink. I did not necessarely drink regularly, but when I drank I drank a lot! I did a lot of stupid things when drinking. I have passed out from drinking. Blacked out...
 
I had so much trouble dealing with all this. This started in my early teens and I did not know how to handle myself. So once in a blue moon, even as a teenager, I managed to binge drink myself into oblivion...It lasted till my early to mid twenties.
 
Worse part is that sobering up is so bad...Why did I do that to myself. And I always felt bad for days after...I agree with DM that it is a depressant and I avoid it completely now. I just aplin do not drink. It makes me feel bad.
 
One day in my early to mid twenties, I went out. It was my friends birthday. I went out and I drank. I was having a horrible day. Had been fighting with the hubby and I felt depressed and anxious. I had had PAs that day and felt just plain aweful. Decided to drink to "feel better". I drank so much ! I lost count after the tenth tequila shot. Yes it was bad. I did so many stupid horrible things that night. I don<t remember most of them. And yet I have such regret about what I do remember...I feel so ashamed and guilty. Many years later those memories still haunt me. I remember flirting with this guy...in front of my husband...I even got his number...He was a high school friend of my husbands...I have done many bad things in my life but that is by far one of my most shameful memories. Oh man, I am crying now. Except for the people who were there that night, no one till today knew this about me. I have never told this to anyone. Please do not judge me too harshly.
 
I came home with my husband that night and I could feel something was wrong. I had drank so much...so much. And all of a suddent I realized although I had drank so much I was not throwing up or about to throw up I was beyong nauseua. It dawned on me that if I fell asleep like that I would not wake up...ever.
 
My husband was so angry with me. But i begged for his help. I told him I needed to get some out and stay wake till I was sober. I promised that would be last binge. So he stayed up with me and he actually had to help me throw up some cause I was near passing out. He held me and fed me food and stayed up and I ended up being ok thanks to him. I realize he most likely saved my life. I could have died.
 
The next day he took me to an AA meeting. I might have had a few glasses since. As I said, I am not a regular drinker. My problem was binging. I might have drank maybe only once every two to three months but I drank way too much. So that day I went to my first and only AA meeting. I needed to admit that even though I was not a regular drinking I had a bad relationship with alcohol, I had a problem. I almost died. I haven<t binge since. A few glasses but no binging. Then I realized that at this moment in my life even one glass makes me feel bad physically. So I don't drink at all.
 
I think alcohol and meds is bad. And I think alohol is bad for me. I am not trying to preach. I know many moderate drinkers and it is fine for them. My body just doesn't tolerate it anymore. And I wanted to put this out there. That alcohol is dangerous. It can kill you whether it is slowly in the long run or alcohol poisonning. Moderation is key as with all things.
 
I am afraid to post this. Afraid to be judged. And yet this is one of my most shameful memories and secrets. It is kind of liberating... So here goes the post button...
16 years ago 0 313 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Ok... I'm jumping in too.
 
I am on medication.  Paxil 20mg daily.  The highest I've ever been and I'm going to go back down again now that my OCD thinking has stopped..lol.. I'm gaining weight too which I dislike but accept as a few extra pounds is a small price to pay for my well being.  I can get my figure back but not the time I'd spend fighting a losing battle.
 
As for drinking - I rarely drink.  I drank far too much in my early days long before I was officially diagnosed as a coping mechanism but my hangovers are very dark, depressing and last for days...   I find the older I get it agrees even less with me plus with the meds it's probably just great that I avoid it ... lol... The fact that is a depressant is probably a sure sign most of us on here should avoid it... not that I'm dishing advice out...lol...We just tend to be affected more by these substances.
 
Take care everyone..
 
dm
 
 
 
 
16 years ago 0 2101 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Ok, sorry to just jump in here without warning. I haven<t been able to read all this. I am so tired and my head hurts. I am officially on the depressed list. I am not sleeping well.
 
The sleeping tablets helpo but I am reluctant to take them too regularly...
 
I have been prescribed Omega-3 for the depression as I am allergic to SSRI's and do not like the side effects of other anti-depressants.
 
I also have an anxiety med which I do not take often and the famous sleeping tablets lol.
 
Still not sure what to think of all this.
 
Anyway, not sure why I am writting this out so much as I am trying to figure this all out. Sorry...
16 years ago 0 187 logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo logo 0
Nice to see somebody else with SA contacts. Are you from SA?

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