06/30 REFLECTION FOR THE DAY
I've learned in The Program that the trick, for me, is not stopping drinking, but staying stopped and learning how not to start again.  It was always relatively easy to stop, if only be sheer incapacity alone;  God knows, I stopped literally thousands of times.  To stay stopped, I've had to develop a positive program of action.  I've had to learn to live sober, cultivating new habit patterns, new interests and new attitudes.  AM I REMAINING FLEXIBLE IN MY NEW LIFE?  AM I EXERCISING MY FREEDOM TO ABANDON LIMITED OBJECTIVES?

TODAY I PRAY
I pray that my new life will be filled with new patterns, new friends, new activities, new ways of looking at things.  I need God's help to overhaul my lifestyle to include all the newness it must hold.  I also need a few ideas of my own.  May my independence from chemicals or compulsive behavior help me make my choices with an open mind and a clear, appraising eye.

TODAY I WILL REMEMBER
Stopping is starting.

I have found that my meds do not work as well as they did pre-op, i knew before surgery that the extended release would not work well, and was changed from effexor XR to just regular effexor... and was doing ok, but then a month or so ago i started to really struggle, having periods of being very depressed or anxious and then ok and it would change moment to moment and something simple would set me off... i went to see my dr the other day and she changed me to cymbalta and although i started at 60 i am now up to 120, i feel sooo horrible.  I was doing some research online about meds with RNY and a lot came up about bipolar etc and reading everything sounds like what i am experiencing... well the hypomanic and bipolar II... i dont hallucinate... although i also found that the hypomanic can be medication induced... i also just had my 6 month lab work and my iron is low (i dont know about anything else, becuase as it was i had to pry that out of the nurse, the dr will call me with the results in a week or two- retarded) so i dont know how much of anything has to do with my lab results being off... i have no idea what my B12 is, i know that effects antidepressives.  so i guess im looking for ideas and thoughts.. anyone been with any of this? any meds that work well with absorbtion that dont have to be taken a few times  aday (i never remember to take them and so then i with draw all thetime)

thanks

06/29 REFLECTION FOR THE DAY
Once we surrendered and came to The Program, many of us wondered what we would do with all that time on our hands.  All the hours we'd previously spent planning, hiding, alibiing, getting loaded, coming down, getting "well", juggling our accounts -- and all the rest -- threatened to turn into empty chunks of time that somehow had to be filled.  We needed new energy previously absorbed by our addictions.  We soon realized that substituting a new and different activity is far easier than just stopping the old activity and putting nothing in its place.  AM I REDIRECTING MY MIND AND ENERGY?

TODAY I PRAY
I pray that, once free of the encumbrance of my addicition, I may turn to my Higher Power to discover for me how to fill my time constructively and creatively.  May that same Power that makes human paths cross and links certain people to specific situations, lead me along good new roads into good new places.

TODAY I WILL REMEMBER
Happenstance may be more than chance.

 

I've been on Welbutrin since Oct 2005 and haven't had problems with weight gain due to the meds.  My problem has always been with eating sugar, white flour, and some junk foods.  I know what I am addicted to and I am clean now. 

I know that, when I was put on Welbutrin, I had to be weaned off my former anti-depressant and slowly put on the Welbutrin.  I wouldn't worry about 7 pounds.  Don't go overboard with a slight weight variation.  It may take you a few weeks to get used to the meds.  Allow them to work and do not go into a panic (no one said that you are).  Changing antidepressants may have to be delayed if that is your only course of action.  Ask your shrink if Welbutrin has weight gain as a side effect.  There are many variable that may contribute to gaining up to around 10 pounds or so.  Since you had a revision, you may think you know all that you need to know about your type of surgery.  I had an open distal RNY on 11-14-2000 and had to have another RNY on 01-21-2005 due to staple line disruption.  Unfortunately, I was depressed by the time I had my revision and didn't lose weight as fast as my surgeon wanted me to do.  I talked to my shrink and he wouldn't change my meds to the Welbutrin until I was 9 mos post-op.  But, then I did start losing some weight.

As to reading posts on this forum, you can quickly just pass by the spiritual and grateful posts.  Most people who do that on a regular basis clearly use a subject line stating what they are writing about.  Many other people try to write a clever line on other forums just so they will get a response. 

You may also want to check out the Hunger and Food Troubles Forum.  I know that using the Min Forum has become almost hopeless because it's just overused--kinda like Yogi Berra saying that that place is too crowded because nobody goes there anymore.  Yeah, you can post and hope to get a response from the peopl who are available within the next hour.  I prefer the slower moving forums. 

I tried OA for 20 years and gained 300 lbs.  My problem is that I had an undiagnosed mental problem.  I am now on medication for manic-depression and I have had talk therapy in the past.  When in OA, I had been a food sponsor and even a step sponsor.  But, I continued to slip.  Although I don't see any sense in going back and working a 12 step program now, I do work steps 1-3, I appreciate the Serenity Prayer, and I now try to live one day at a time.  I've learned from my therapists that 12 step programs are only successful about 33% of the time, but they are the most popular programs.  I've also learned that they are derived from a Rule used in a monastery in the 4th century.  I can see the efficacy of following it in the confines of a monastery.

I'm just a little curious as to using the term sobriety instead of abstinence.  Then, again, I guess more people understand sobriety.

In my case, Abstinence means not eating sugar and white flour.