Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

[wxyz]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

Are you in direct contact with Dr. Eskapa?? I really feel like there's a HUGE part missing out of his book. Would you please ask something for me??? I'm really not sure if the book suggests that we take Nal and proceed to drink as we normally would (a HUGE amount)- or if we should take Nal and drink moderately. Dr. Sinclair's studies said that rats had a "happy hour" where they were given a controlled amount of alcohol and at a certain time. I'm desperate to stop drinking and I could use all the help I can get-- I thing the Sinclair Method could be amazing but I don't think it's very clear exactly how to use it. Please help if you can!

[Wolfboh]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

I have read the book and for a week have been trying to find a doctor who will prescribe Naltrexone. I'm getting discouraged! Does anyone know of a physician in eastern Pennsylvania, Lehigh Valley area who I can turn to???
Hopeful for finding a new life of controlled drinking.

[bloggy]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

Wolfboh :welcome:

Lots of us told the doctor we wanted it for abstinence- I went to a doctor with the full intention of telling him what I wanted it for, but got a feeling I would not get it if I told him I planned on drinking with it, so I said it was for abstinence and he gave me it.

Have you tried the Sinclair board- thesinclairmethod.com • Index page ?

There may be someone there who knows a doctor in your area- otherwise pretend you want it for abstinence, or buy it online- most people who have strarted the Sinclair Method unfortunately have to do it without the support of their doctor.

[SpringerRider]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

Wolfboh;626687 wrote: I have read the book and for a week have been trying to find a doctor who will prescribe Naltrexone. I'm getting discouraged! Does anyone know of a physician in eastern Pennsylvania, Lehigh Valley area who I can turn to???
Hopeful for finding a new life of controlled drinking.

If you check over at TSM (see Marbella's link) I know there is at least one lady from Pa. It sucks that you have to play games to get this wonderful drug.

I have been using Nal since Jan 16th. I proclaimed myself cured of the disease.

I was straigh up with my MD and just told him to tell me, "take Nal if I feel the desire to drink". It costs me $3 /month and my last prescription has lasted me three months since I barely drink.

[hoping4better]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

SpringRider, we have communicated before but I need some encouragement. At Week 6 I'm not seeing any change in drinking patterns, except that the craving has gone down. But I still drink as much as before, maybe out of habit? Stupidity? My husband wants me to just quit cold turkey (would if I could!) and even my psychiatrist, who prescribes the nal, wants me to just quit and go to AA. She had never heard of TSM and was really interested but only had time to read the short synposis I gave her. My husband has never read the book, despite my urgings. With all this against me, and me not seeing progress myself, I'm ready to quit! Your story compelled me to follow TSM so I guess I'm looking for some light at the end of the tunnel. I thank you on behalf ofeveryone who has been following your story and been inspired by it! I'm glad you have found your peace with AL.

[pisco]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

For all of you out there who doubt that this will ever work. TAKE HEART!

I was at my wits end with TSM after seeing no reduction in drinking after 3 MONTHS, while following it to the letter. I was frustrated out of my mind and frankly most of all just scared.
I had started at 70+ drinks a week and I was still there after 3 months.

Finally, on my fourth month I started to notice I was leaving my wine bottles with some left in them. By the fifth month I realized I hadn't had a hangover in the last 2 weeks.

Tallying up my drinking, I was thrilled to see I was down to 35-40 drinks a week, (I never kept a drinking log).

It's now been 7 months and I'm at 15-20 drinks a week.


Don't lose heart! I thought I would be cured after 3, max 4, months, and not achieving that was very disappointing. Yet, I am so thankful that I just kept popping those pills and waiting that hour.



Don't give up. What do you really have to lose? Nothing.

[Pete1]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

Thanks Pisco. Please tell us more. That was your first post here- where did you learn about TSM? Do you know others who benifited from it?

[hoping4better]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

Pisco, thanks. I admire you for sticking with it after 3-4 months. I am only at 6 weeks and getting discouraged -- mostly b/c my husband, our marriage counselor and my pyschiatrist (who originally prescribed nal, but not as part of TSM) want me to just "quit" drinking. Yesterday. Ha. I just don't understand these highly regarded mental health professionals can think an alcoholic can just QUIT. I wouldn't be needing pharmacological intervention if I could do so! Anyway, Pisco, thanks for sharing your success. I can't wait to be where you are, whenever that may happen.

[tommy47]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

Hi hoping4better.

Just stick at it. I am at 3 months now and what a difference. No breakfast or daytime drinking, and now I tend to have several days off at a time with ease. After having a few drinks with friends in the evening I now go home and dont even look at the whisky. I love red wine but seldom bother now. My last bottle is still unfinished after a week.

You cannot expect much help from the professionals who have to repeat the AA mantra. When you consider AA have a "success" rate of about 5-10% they are welcome to it. The problem for professionals is the generally held and accepted view of abstinence. If the professionals step outside the mainstream they can be in serious trouble. I feel certain that this will change. Fortunately the Sinclair method does not depend on counselling.
For the first time in many years I feel that I am on the brink of having control and choice of what, how much and when I drink. Just take the Nal and wait for the results.
From what I have read 3 months is about average but it may take longer.
I am nearly there. I just carry the Nal in case I feel the need.

[Henrietta]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

New to Sinclair, but not Nal

Been reading these pages for the last few weeks. I thought I might share a cautionary tale about a very frustrating previous experience I had with Nal. Last year I was prescribed Nal at an addiction clinic outside of Baltimore-- about 60 miles away from where I live. Since the doctor insisted on seeing me each & every month for another prescription, it was not the most convenient arrangement to begin with! He also strongly encouraged me in my plan abstinence and told me that some people do continue to drink while using Nal, but he warned me that doing so for a prolonged period would cause the Nal "to stop working."
Abst worked for a while as the Nal really seemed to help with the initial cravings, then I slipped. I remember being a little surprised by how little I actually wanted the alcohol once it started to flow. I was obviously in that first wonderful stages that I?ve read so much about, but I attributed it all to the drug?s normal effectiveness. At the same time I was panicking that every time I slipped up I was chipping away at the drug?s efficacy. Why am I blowing such a promising start!! I started to become disgusted with myself and just got more desperate & scrambled from there. For about two months I did everything I should NOT have been doing on Nal. I was taking it on my sober days, and eliminating it on the days I did drink in the hope that the Nal & alcohol wouldn?t intereact, thereby diminishing it?s effectiveness. Brilliant, right?
I didn?t have a clear understanding of how Nal works ? and what?s more I?m convinced the doctor didn?t either. He didn?t explain the mechanics of the drug and it?s interaction in the endorphin process, let alone about the up-regulation effect. He was just this guy who spent our 10 minute appointment staring indifferently into his computer screen, then making a big deal of writing out his 30 day prescription. Add to this the long drive just to go through this silly routine, and I was beginning to get the impression it was kind of a racket. After a few of months I just gave it up. Luckily, I didn?t throw the Nal away.
Later in the year I discovered the MWO program and tried the topamax approach. The side effects were pretty daunting, but even more importantly, it just never seemed to kick in. Just made me a zombie. Then I started reading this thread and everything else I could about Sinclair. For the first time Nal made sense. I think someone has mentioned that it?s odd to have a thread on an entirely different method on a specific method?s website. I disagree! I may not have come across information on the Sinclair Method otherwise. I take whatever hope I can find these days in what is becoming an increasingly desperate situation. I?m a 49 year old female, highly functioning and in good shape (otherwise!) but I know I?m running low on chances.
So thank you to all the people who have posted here, especially SR, Marbella, ev9, lenaleed and so many others. It helps to finally understand why my previous experience on Nal was the perfect recipe for failure. I used it in precisely the opposite way it should be used. My goal this time is just to follow the golden rule: only take Nalt an hour before drinking, each and every time. I?m also employing other things from MWO that did seem to really help: exercise, supplements, and even throwing in some Campral this time.
So here?s my question to all of your collective experience & wisdom on this thread. Last year I was convinced that I had somehow managed to drink through Nal?s ability to work again for me, so to try it again, even correctly on the SM, was pointless. What gave me hope was the realization that reading through all these pages (and others) I didn?t see much actual evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, that the drug just stops working for people. So I took Nal for the first time again 4 nights ago and drank. Same amount as usual (about 1 litre wine), but with little real interest. 3 nights ago, I just didn?t feel like it (!) so no Nalt. Last night I took a pill, but drank a couple units less than normal. Tonight, not sure yet.
Am I fooling myself that this could be a blank slate with Nal? Could it be that what may have happened in my previous try on Nal was that I just drank my way through it, but did nothing to permanently re-wire my brain against the drug?s efficacy --and maybe it will just take longer to undo the monkey puzzle that I created by going the wrong way in the extinction process? Does anyone have any experience with this? Nalt certainly feels as potent to me now as it did when I attempted recovery the first time.
Sorry, this is way longer than I intended. Please let me know if you have any information or experience with second chances on Nal.

[louise]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

No experience here, but I have been reading the baclofen and this thread with interest. It certainly seems like it couldn't hurt to try again and do it correctly. Hope it works for you.

I do not think RJ has any problem at all with people posting about other medications than topomax or she wouldn't have this section of the forum. Also, if you go to the home page, she has much info posted in her blog and under research and medications on other meds than topomax. When she wrote the book in 2005, topomax was just what worked for her (she had tried naltrexone, but in the manner you used it so it didn't work.) I think the main focus of her method is to attack with nutrition, hypnosis, exercise, support of some kind and medication if needed.

[Guest]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

HELP!

Morning! Is anyone having problem accessing thesinclairmethod site? I was wondering if it is down. Have not been able to pull it up for 14 hours.:thanks:

[Firebird]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

Yeah, I can't access it either, just a blank page. I'm going to try PMing RV9.

[Guest]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

:happyheart::happyheart::happyheart::happyheart:Th anks now I know it's not me!

[cessation]

Strictly Sinclair Method Weekly Thread

www.TheSinclairMethod.com

It's not just you - it's been down for a while now for me as well. Hopefully the issue can be resolved soon and the site can get back up and running...!