drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

[redcat]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

It may be a good idea to start with 25 mg for a couple of days. The nausea should go away. Drinking on Nal works very well for many people. I am looking for info about Nal implants.

[Lenore]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

Have you tried taking it with food or an antacid tablet?

[happy4once]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

sunny58 - definitely cut the pill in half. You can also cut it into quarters if you are still nauseous.

Eat before you take the pill - even if it's a few saltines, that helps immensely.

The side effects are different for everyone (from none - to mild - to severe) but as far as I've seen over at the sinclair method forum, the side effects disappear after 2 to 4 weeks. My side effects were mild and starting going away after week 2...totally gone and forgotten by week 4.



Re: Implants - here is an FAQ post from thesinclairmethod.com. I believe 'Greg' on this forum did implants (I don't recall his experience just his name, but you can search for it):


Q: I have heard about once-a-month slow-release naltrexone or nalmefene injections such as Vivitrol? or under-the-skin slow-release implants. Are they a good idea?


A: Time-released naltrexone is available and slow-release nalmefene is planned for release. These formulations ensure that naltrexone or nalmefene are released slowly and continuously into the blood-stream, and are always in your body. When this happens the opioid receptors are blocked continually for a month or more. There are some advantages to this procedure over taking pills orally, but there probably are some disadvantages as well. During the first weeks of treatment, most alcoholics are drinking every day, so they are taking naltrexone every day. During this time there is an advantage to the slow-release procedures, at least from the perspective of many clinicians. They can tell the patients not to drink. If the patient is exceptional and actually able to obey the instruction, the alcohol drinking has been stopped. On the other hand, if the patent does relapse, naltrexone administration cannot be stopped at the same time as drinking starts, as happens with pills. Consequently, the patient is drinking while on naltrexone and thus having the craving and drinking extinguished. And indeed there have been very nice positive results obtained with the sustained release monthly naltrexone injection branded Vivitrol? in the US. 21

There also would be advantages in treating patients who are unable or unwilling to take naltrexone pills. This opens the possibility of forcing individuals to have the treatment.

The likely disadvantages come with regards to alternative behaviors and the long term effects that have not yet been examined with the slow-release preparations. It is impossible to use selective extinction together with the slow-release procedures, since it is impossible to stop administration and be free of naltrexone when practicing other opioidergically-reinforced behaviors. You may weaken other behaviors like eating sweets, enjoying sex, or jogging by doing them at the same time naltrexone is in the body, and it is impossible to take advantage of pharmacologically-enhanced learning to restore and strengthen these alternative behaviors.

As the 5 Steps showed, selective extinction involves only deleting unwanted behaviors such as excessive drinking, but not desirable alternative activities. This means that you should be on opioid antagonist medication only during periods when you are drinking but not when you are abstaining. After all, you do not want to reduce positive behaviors. You want them to be more enjoyable than ever and you want them to be strengthened, easing your way back into a life that is no longer dominated by drinking. Selective extinction represents the state-of-the-art in de-addiction.

The other apparent disadvantage of the slow-release preparations is that there is no clear guide for how to use them on a very long term bais. The Sinclair Method has provided a guide for how to use the pills. The patient starts out using a naltrexone pill and drinking nearly every day, but soon has a weekend off when no pill and no alcohol are taken. The periods off of naltrexone and alcohol then become progressively longer. By the three year follow-up, weeks would go by without taking naltrexone and alcohol. With the slow-release preparations, it may be possible for the patients to continue getting naltrexone injections the rest of their lives, but that of course would be expensive. In addition, the side effects from years of continual naltrexone have not yet been established. If instead, the naltrexone injections are stopped after some period of time, e.g., 6 months or a year, it is predictable that nearly all of the patients will eventually start drinking again and then will relearn the behavior, so that within a few months they will be back to drinking at the same high levels they had before treatment.

An obvious solution would seem to be starting on Vivitrol? and then switch after a month or so to oral naltrexone with selective extinction. So far, however, this solution has never been tested.

[ilovejafa]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

I tried a 50mg tablet of Nal and are too scared to have another. I felt like I had had a strong smoke of weed and just slept. My limbs went all crazy and I was paranoid.
Is this normal?
How do people go to work while taking Nal?
Many thanks

[oneday@atime]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

Hi everyone,i am a first timer on here,i have found all the posts really awesome and helpful.
not sure if anyone on line at the mo,i sort of wanted advice/opinion from ya all,i have just started taking some of my old supply of naltrexone which expired in OCT 08, i have just taken half a 50mg tab, i hope it wont make me sick,but i cant wait the long process of getting a new supply, i will just end up drinking again ....

[bloggy]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

@ilovejafa Yes it is normal. The side effects wear off after a few days in most cases, but if they continue it might be an idea to stick to 25mgs (or less) and titrate up slowly.

@ Oneday- I don't know about the date thing, I doubt it matters too much, but maybe an idea to get a more concrete plan in place? If you are going to do the Sinclair method correctly (I hope you do because lots of people have had great success) you need to have a sure supply of Naltrexone- it is no good running out, as you will be back at square one- I dont have time to look for posts right now, but you can order online if you don't have a sympathetic doctor, or go to thesinclairmethod.com forum, where you will get lots of support.

[carlin7386]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

good information

[aurora borialis]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

I found that when Naltrexone made me feel sick, I took half a tab and it was better but still effective. Not for everybody but good for me. If that helps then good.

[SpringerRider]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

the side effects of nausea lasted only two days for me. I was droozy for a month and that went away. Push it on.

[hadit]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

Drunknomore,Thanks for you post and Hi to you. I have started Naltrexone 50mg today and am really hoping it helps me. My GP does not want me to stop drinking immediately but to still have 3 to 4 units of AL a day for a week then the drug should start to take effect. Looking forward to a better future.Please keep posting to let me know how the drug is working johno

[crown86]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

Ok I have offcially finished my first week on naltrexone...A freaking miracle for me...my drinking was cut in half or more. Its hard to say because this week with all the triggers would have been a binge from last saturday till sometime tommrrow so I think it has to be more than half. My fiance dumped me last sat over my drinking..love it the day I start TSM..cant blame her for the hundreds of alcohol related incedences. The holiday..damn I had 3 drinks all day and night..unheard of...3 parties with old friends I dont get to see much all very hard drinkers. I had every trigger that usually sends me completely over the edge of sanity into some blacked-out hell. Normally I would be here trying to remember everything fom the this past week or calling people to peice together what happeened and what I did or said...I can remember everything. The most drinks I had was at 2 parties where I had 9 beers and another one 10...but both these parties went from like 7pmish till 2-3am. I had whiskey but didn't want it for some reason..has to be the Nal. These situations I would have been downing drinks like a mad man easily would have been 20+ nights. Funny thing I was not even trying not to drink. No one standing over me saying watch it..wasnt driving. Its bizzare. I usually hate beer. I love the buzz of whiskey it's so much faster and stronger but nal takes all the Bang out of it and the desire to go over the top into a black-out. funny some people get scared by blackouts..me I just stopped caring and figured it comes with the territory. If this is what naltrexone can do for me this week I am loving to see what it can do in a normal week. My sister was in SHOCK i did not touch any whiskey and if I wanted it I had it with me I simply had no desire it's so weird and strange. I went into every one of these drinking situations with the intent to get plowed but when I started drinking on the Nal all desire went away..very strange. The only side effect I have had is some of the worst insomnia I have had in my life, Think some it had to do with not being in my own bed. It doesent matter to me at all though I will take insomnia over hell any day of the week. I know I have a long way to go with my goal which is to have the power of choice over alcohol. Till then i will take my nal one hour prior to drinking.

[dilettante]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

jump starting this post!

(i had posted this on 23rd march. but i posted it in a different place, where i think it was not relevant. I am adding it here to help restart this post which i read everyday to reassure me.)
Hello ALL!
I'm not one of those guys who writes in posts like this (to think, im a writer by profession). I usually take the good info, and run. But i owe it to this site and the other members, so i think i too must share my experiences on NAL.
As it goes, we writers seem to think its ok to drink. its necessary even. Remember Hemingway!
well, hemingway apart, its not a very good way to write.
I drank way more than i wrote and the good ideas were 'wasted', as i couldn't even finish the articles.
Incidentally, i studied medicine for a few years. Well, i chanced upon an old colleague, who was quite fetching, but i really didnt have the guts to take the thing further. We caught up after 20 years, shes a GP working in another country.
From our brief chat on facebook, she was able to identify me as an alcoholic. I was a bit irked, but remember, i had that fondness for her. So i listened.
Of course she was right, but what alcoholic will admit it.
She just asked me, do you take a couple of days break, that is drink free days. And if i cross 15 unit per week.
I accepted but said, come on.. i keep a tab on my liver enzymes, and work out.. .
She was persistent, "have you tried Naltrexone?"
i didnt even know about it. It wasnt in the curriculum when i was studying. (although, Nal had been know to help Heroine addiction since the late 70's. But its utility in other addictions is a more recent phenomenon.)
Cut a long story short, i used my influence with a local pharmacist to get the stuff. No actually, here in India, its not to difficult to get prescription medicines. i was refused in 2 pharmacies, the 3rd one obliged.

Then read up on SInclair, Took 25 mg. Pfffft. Couldnt finish my drink
Kept trying. on day 3-4 .. realised i could drink 2-3 pegs again.

then found of this post, realised the dose was to be upped to 50 mg.
Then strangely, for a week , i kept taking 3 or more drinks.
my supply ran out.
I stopped takking the Nal for 2 days. and i drank the same, or actually less.
Started again when i got another stash.
Yes , it worked like a charm, i just cant drink as much.
also i am calorie conscious.. and trying to lose weight, so i enjoy that im drinking less.
then i took it for 3 days. but stopped again.. cause i wanted to enjoy an evening with my wife. and to watch some cricket games.
I strangely didnt drink as much, even though i wasnt on the med.
Today i started Nal again.
I just cant get past 2 drinks.
i hear that podcast that i wrote about in the beginning. I heard all 55 mins. on one small 25 ml. drink.
Its 6 hours since i took my nal. I forced myself to take another drink. It wasnt a good feeling.
But after writing it down, i feel good again.
My wife is a bit miffed about the whole Nal thing though. She cant get enough to drink, now that im sober and keeping an eye on the level of the bottle!
Just kidding. She is seeing me through.
Im just rambling now, not even re- reading or editing. im just excited i could put the genie back into the bottle. And want to let you know, its actually easier than it sounds.
Cheers. (for a change, no glass in my hand)

all the best to you all.
Very good site.
keep in touch and thanks again :thanks:

[joe12pack]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

Nice! I am on week 5 of TSM and already am seeing a 30% reduction in my intake. last night for instance, I drank 2 beers. that NEVER happened before TSM. NEVER!!! unless I was hungover to the point of vomiting blood, and I usually found a way to eat and drink more than that anyway. It's still early in the process, and I understand my intake may spike at some point before TSM cures me, so I will stay the course. I would suggest buying the book by Eskapa and following it to a T. I always take NAL an hour before drinking. why wouldn't I when it beats the hell out of all the other methods I've tried already. If I get cured I will have my friends and family on NAL. AA just doesn't work for everybody. and the best thing about TSM is, if it doesnt work for me, nobody is going to tell me it's because I'm a dishonest person. no guilt trip or self loathing!!!! Whooohooo!

[sylvia1]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

Im a great believer in TSM. I was sober for 2.5 years but relapsed in early Feb when I went headlong into a full blown binge.It was scary to say the least. I went on the TSM about a week later. Its been fantastic. I think Im having an easier time and am on a shorter route to safe drinking limits than somone who has been activly drinking. I now drink just three days a week normall and in total about 16-18 uk units. My cravings are non existant on the days I dont drink and I drink no more than 4 glasses of wine on any occasion, usually less. I thank God and Sinclair for TSM. Its truly a miricle. I post over in the TSM site under the name Mario if anyone wants a read there.

[tm1210]

drinking on Naltrexone (sinclair method)

Good to see people having some joy with TSM. I'm not scientific in any way but when I read about how it works it just makes sense. I have posted over on TSM forum before but it seems to be quite at the moment.