Hi Everyone,
Back again in the last few days after basically not being on here for a loooong time - not that I didn't love you all (I forgot how great it is to read all these posts!!!) but that having decided to try the Sinclair Method in 2007- drinking while on Naltrexone - I gave it up.
HOWEVER - I am going to try again. Why? Because I think I got the wrong end of the stick last go round. I started, it worked like magic for two weeks, then it began to drop off and not work like magic, even though in my last post on here I mention it still made it less attractive to drink and seemed to prevent crazy behavior and blackouts even when it didn't block my drinking as effectively.
So, it was expensive, I had to order it from India (Nodicts) and I figured either I was getting fakes or the effect was only temporary. Stopped using it and started going to AA. The whole thing depressed me out of my mind. I was so thrilled with the first few weeks of Sinclair and was so disappointed. And I really do find AA meetings so depressing. I mean they can be uplifting sometimes, but generally I really felt terrible attending them. I marginally felt better being able to socialize with my friends and dealing with the hangovers, to be honest (I guess this is what they mean by "you have to hit bottom"- the drinking has to be so unfun that an AA meeting is preferable!). Well, people, you know what happened! Out with friends and "just one" and then: glug, glug, glug. A few AF days here and there but mainly for the last year, come 7 pm, glug glug glug - back to 2 bottles a night, and more, sometimes. DrunkNoMore? to DrunkAlmostEveryNight.
I though occasionally about TSM and thought how nice it would be if it could work, but I had written it off after my last experience, so I never searched the internet for more information about it in all that time - until I found my Nodict while cleaning on Wednesday and thought "I wonder if anyone else has tried this and how it worked for them?"
So I looked it up on here and -
WOW!!!
See, when I first started, I think I was the only one on here who was trying TSM - lots of people were curious, but no one could say what to expect aside from rosy Dr. Sinclair, who in my opinion is doing a great service but needs to be more clear about the element of patience required for this process and the up-and-down quality of its effects.
But NOW- lots of you have been trying it, and what you re reporting back - that there is a short honeymoon period followed by a spike in drinking that can go on for a while, but also then sometimes followed by a sharp reduction (though I know not everyone has got to the final phase yet and that some never do) - totally reflects my experience - at least the first two bits! its just that I wasn't as brave as you guys and didn't pursue it when it began to look less rosy since it never occurred to me to keep going with it when this happened. I simply thought it was failing, and since it was totally new on here, no one was doing it or talking about it at the time, and it obviously sounded too good to be true etc etc, I thought it was a chimera.
WELL- thanks to this site (and the posts over at the sinclairmethod boards) I have been able to see that what I experienced wasn't out of line for people who have had success with this method, its just that I didn't stick with it long enough to find out if it might really help in the long term. From what I'm reading it doesn't work for everyone, but this time I'm willing to stick to it for the long haul to see if it can help me.
So here I go again - Sinclair Method mark 2 - took 25 mg yesterday at 5, first wine at six, and drank two glasses between then and 10:30. Finished the bottle by 1:30 am. So its doing something, since I would have polished off one bottle easily by 10:30 and the next by 1:30.
Today is day two - took my 5 pm dose and will keep everyone updated!
MAJOR congrats to everyone having success with all the different methods on here! And to those not having such an easy time, well I'm right there with you - we trudge on in hope! But also thanks so much for posting your experiences - they have brought me back here willing to give it another shot, and without them and the revelations they have brought to my attention, I would still be struggling on my own- like I have been especially for the last few months. So good luck and promise will update regularly, good bad or ugly -
Godbless!
Back again in the last few days after basically not being on here for a loooong time - not that I didn't love you all (I forgot how great it is to read all these posts!!!) but that having decided to try the Sinclair Method in 2007- drinking while on Naltrexone - I gave it up.
HOWEVER - I am going to try again. Why? Because I think I got the wrong end of the stick last go round. I started, it worked like magic for two weeks, then it began to drop off and not work like magic, even though in my last post on here I mention it still made it less attractive to drink and seemed to prevent crazy behavior and blackouts even when it didn't block my drinking as effectively.
So, it was expensive, I had to order it from India (Nodicts) and I figured either I was getting fakes or the effect was only temporary. Stopped using it and started going to AA. The whole thing depressed me out of my mind. I was so thrilled with the first few weeks of Sinclair and was so disappointed. And I really do find AA meetings so depressing. I mean they can be uplifting sometimes, but generally I really felt terrible attending them. I marginally felt better being able to socialize with my friends and dealing with the hangovers, to be honest (I guess this is what they mean by "you have to hit bottom"- the drinking has to be so unfun that an AA meeting is preferable!). Well, people, you know what happened! Out with friends and "just one" and then: glug, glug, glug. A few AF days here and there but mainly for the last year, come 7 pm, glug glug glug - back to 2 bottles a night, and more, sometimes. DrunkNoMore? to DrunkAlmostEveryNight.
I though occasionally about TSM and thought how nice it would be if it could work, but I had written it off after my last experience, so I never searched the internet for more information about it in all that time - until I found my Nodict while cleaning on Wednesday and thought "I wonder if anyone else has tried this and how it worked for them?"
So I looked it up on here and -
WOW!!!
See, when I first started, I think I was the only one on here who was trying TSM - lots of people were curious, but no one could say what to expect aside from rosy Dr. Sinclair, who in my opinion is doing a great service but needs to be more clear about the element of patience required for this process and the up-and-down quality of its effects.
But NOW- lots of you have been trying it, and what you re reporting back - that there is a short honeymoon period followed by a spike in drinking that can go on for a while, but also then sometimes followed by a sharp reduction (though I know not everyone has got to the final phase yet and that some never do) - totally reflects my experience - at least the first two bits! its just that I wasn't as brave as you guys and didn't pursue it when it began to look less rosy since it never occurred to me to keep going with it when this happened. I simply thought it was failing, and since it was totally new on here, no one was doing it or talking about it at the time, and it obviously sounded too good to be true etc etc, I thought it was a chimera.
WELL- thanks to this site (and the posts over at the sinclairmethod boards) I have been able to see that what I experienced wasn't out of line for people who have had success with this method, its just that I didn't stick with it long enough to find out if it might really help in the long term. From what I'm reading it doesn't work for everyone, but this time I'm willing to stick to it for the long haul to see if it can help me.
So here I go again - Sinclair Method mark 2 - took 25 mg yesterday at 5, first wine at six, and drank two glasses between then and 10:30. Finished the bottle by 1:30 am. So its doing something, since I would have polished off one bottle easily by 10:30 and the next by 1:30.
Today is day two - took my 5 pm dose and will keep everyone updated!
MAJOR congrats to everyone having success with all the different methods on here! And to those not having such an easy time, well I'm right there with you - we trudge on in hope! But also thanks so much for posting your experiences - they have brought me back here willing to give it another shot, and without them and the revelations they have brought to my attention, I would still be struggling on my own- like I have been especially for the last few months. So good luck and promise will update regularly, good bad or ugly -
Godbless!