eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

[craving]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

beatle;801371 wrote:
I *think* that Lo0p's post was describing his experience with using baclofen together with Nal (according to TSM). From my understanding (from following Lo0p's progress), he could not have come to the point he has come to without the baclofen. It sounds to me like it is the baclofen working here, not TSM, since he is having a hard time following TSM because he just doesn't want to drink.

On the other hand, Lo0p is one of few who have reported complete disinterest in, in fact distaste for, alcohol when taking baclofen. I certainly have not experienced that (yet, anyway), although baclofen does cut way down on the reward mechanism associated with alcohol (for me), much as Nal is supposed to do in TSM. So, since Al has less allure, I naturally drink less. And when I do drink, it is mostly out of habit.

Interesting enough both lo0p and me are not following the official dose suggesting. I have upped from zero to 250mg within 3 weeks - which is pretty fast I guess.

Normal start 15mg and up by 15mg each 3 days - so according to the official dose suggestion I would have been at 125mg only after 3 weeks - i upped it double as fast.

[eight days a week]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Many thanks for the kind words and encouragement everyone

The day before yesterday:

7mg diazepam again :-)
50mg Bac (oops missed a 5mg dose during the day and didn't want to make it up last thing at night)
19.2 UK units

Yesterday:

7mg diazepam
55mg Bac
18 UK units - it would have been less but I got on the video games and stayed up till 3am, so my average units per hour was pretty good (by my standards at least!)

I've been on 55mg of Baclofen or so for a few days so today I'm going for 60mg. I'm very sensitive to meds and side effects make my anxiety worse, and I usually drink more as a result, so I'm titrating up slowly as I feel comfortable

The last few days I've had to drive out (which has done me a lot of good), so I couldn't take as much Bac as I wanted to early on in the day, because with the diazepam too I would be too woozy to be at the wheel - I wouldn't be safe and, more importantly, nor would others.

Tomorrow will be an interesting experiment, as I don't have to go anywhere, so plan to take up to 20mg of Bac soonish after waking.



Craving - thank you my friend, it's great to see you here today, and your tremendous results Yes, you and Lo0p both titrated extremely quickly. I'm so very glad it's worked out for you both, but I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone else doing the same thing.

Beatle - this thread was my intro, and primarily documents my journey on Nal and Bac, with any discussion that comes up inbetween. I don't think I could have made it any clearer from the thread title, given the character limit.

You are quite right that Lo0p got where he is today through using Baclofen, and I believe (he will correct me if I'm wrong) that he sees TSM using Nal as the long-term 'cure', but is having a hard time even making himself drinking due to the Bac.

It's interesting that Lo0p is one of the few you've come across who have reached that 'switch' of disinterest in drinking due to Baclofen, I'd thought there would have been many more here. I've heard of very many more than him on other sites, and also through my alcohol specialist.

The nutrition and drinking aspect I think is crucial (it certainly is for me!) and thank you for drawing attention to the Holistic Healing forum yet again, I really must pop in there, I think I may gain a lot of insight

Onwards and upwards (hopefully!)

eight smiles an hour

[Lo0p]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

I'm not so sure what is actually going on with me. I know for a fact that I can't drink wine anymore because of TSM. Baclofen certainly put the chokehold on the units. I really think they are working synergistically for me, but it's hard to tell.

It certainly will get interesting when I back off the Baclofen.

[Greg]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

When I was drinking I used to sit up most of the night and surf the net or listen to music on the computer, so staying up late while using the computer became very much a nightly habit while drinking. I would stay up until 2-3 AM regularly.

One of my mates is right into computer games, especially war themed ones, and he sits up most of the night getting drunk while playing his games. Gaming and drinking have both become late night obsessions with him. He admits to being an alcoholic and a lone drinker who fantasises with the help of games and alcohol.

My personal opinion is that triggers for drinking, and activities that are regularly done while drinking, are best avoided by anyone who is trying to quit or cut down. Just doing nothing at all is probably not a good idea, so perhaps one or two replacement activities plus an earlier bedtime could help? I have managed to start going to bed around midnight or even earlier, and hope to get this back to 10-11 PM soon. The earlier times do seem to be helping me have less of an urge to drink. If you still feel the need for games, could you play them a few hours earlier instead? Even if you still drank maybe the earlier times would help you drink less.

[eight days a week]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Yesterday:

7mg diazepam
18 UK units alcohol (that's nine drinks for any non-Ukers at the equivalent strength of 50ml spirits each)
60mg Bac

Lo0P Thanks for clarifying! So, are you still drinking under TSM? It's really confusing to know what exactly's working when we follow different approaches at the same time eh?

Greg;802310 wrote:

My personal opinion is that triggers for drinking, and activities that are regularly done while drinking, are best avoided by anyone who is trying to quit or cut down. Just doing nothing at all is probably not a good idea, so perhaps one or two replacement activities plus an earlier bedtime could help? I have managed to start going to bed around midnight or even earlier, and hope to get this back to 10-11 PM soon. The earlier times do seem to be helping me have less of an urge to drink. If you still feel the need for games, could you play them a few hours earlier instead? Even if you still drank maybe the earlier times would help you drink less.

You are absolutely right Greg, great advice, thanks Of course there's the thing that I'm on TSM and need to extinguish these triggers eventually to be 'cured' under that method, but the short-term aim is to get my drinking down to 12 UK units a day (it's not the amount you drink on TSM so there's no need to be drinking at such high levels!), so I'm doing exactly as you say. Last night, for example, I quite fancied a game at around 10:30, but was pretty tired. If I'd started playing I would have woken up, been up longer, and most probably ended up having three or more extra drinks! But I made the right choice not to play, and I'll have to continue as you say until I'm drinking less.

Today I'll play late afternoon, so it's the best of all worlds

[eight days a week]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Not so good yesterday on the AL:

Bac 60mg
Diazepam 7mg
AL 23 UK units

I did exactly what Greg recommended not to, I got carried away with the games, and was up till 4am. So, that makes one drink an hour (almost) for twelve hours - 23 UK units. Yesterday was a sad anniversary for me, so I almost felt like getting drunk for once. I don't have that feeling much anymore since starting TSM six months ago - rather I have fond memories of enjoying getting blasted, and sometimes feel like trying to do the same thing, even though the endorphin 'rush' is now gone, and I jut don't enjoy getting into that state. I used to love it, so TSM has worked me for me in that sense, I just have to work out the other stuff (particularly the anxiety).

The other thing TSM has done for me, which is a bit worrying, is make alcoholic drinks seem almost like soft drinks*. They hold no more attraction than that, almost all of the time. In fact I'd rather have a soft and healthy drink, it's only the attraction of relieving anxiety that makes me reach for the booze rather than anything else.

Once I can solve this anxiety issue I'm sure everything else will fall into place

8

* I should have explained my worry. The danger here is that once I start drinking I tend not to stop until I go bed. Being very much like soft drinks now, and also without the endorphin 'rush' which is kind of a sign that the drink's having an effect, I find I can drink beers far quicker than I used to, given the right circumstances.

[eight days a week]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Back on track yesterday

AL 17.8 UK units
Bac 60mg
Diazepam 7mg

(Of course 50mg Nal at least an hour before my first drink, as always.)

Today I will be very pleased if I can reduce my AL just a little bit. Tomorrow I will increase the Bac to either 65mg or 70mg, seeing how I feel on it.

Wishing everyone a good day

8

[hangingon]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Hi there,
Yesterday was a bad AL day for me too. Took the Nal but ended up drinking 1 1/2 bottles of white wine. Not s ogood nor do I feel so good this morning. I am at work and going to tyr to make it a good day and hope and pray I don't have any tonight. I did not sleep well because of the wine...Sure wish I didn't like AL...
Hanging

[Virgil]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

eight days a week;803219 wrote: Once I can solve this anxiety issue I'm sure everything else will fall into place

As you know, 8 - my sentiments entirely. I've been working at this anxiety thing for more years than I care to remember. I know what causes the anxiety but that's only half the battle.

Best wishes,

V.

[eight days a week]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Thank you V for your kind thoughts

It hasn't been a very good couple of days, my drinking went up to 22-24 units. The first night I can blame this on hitting the neat vodkas. I wasn't tired, and without the endorphin rush of alcohol because of the Nal drinking is less noticeable, and I was able to knock back three double vodkas (50ml each, 1.8 UK units) without really noticing. Yesterday I drank all day again

Today I'm already doing a lot better, hopefully my AL total will be much reduced.

Apart from that the last two days have seen 60mg Bac again, and 7mg and then 8mg diazepam. I just felt like I needed some extra yesterday.

Oh well, chin up eh?

Best wishes to all

eight

[eight days a week]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

hangingon, I'm sorry I missed your post, I hope you are feeling much much better by now

Yesterday was much better here. I took more of my Baclofen dose during the day, before I'd had many drinks, and ended up drinking much less. Could they be related? I don't know, as I'm only up to 70mg of Bac, but I hope to try the same thing today.

70mg Bac
8mg diazepam
15.5 UK units

I'm happy to stick with the slightly increased diazepam if it helps me keep my drinking down for the time being. I've already come down from 12mg daily. Here's hoping today is another better day.

On a completely different note, I'm shocked by how many views this thread has had, my goodness, you poor folk!!

Best wishes to all

eight (thousand views and I will hang my head in shame at my own self-indulgent ramblings :H)

[eight days a week]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Yesterday was a good day - no a great one! I met a dear friend from Oz and laughed and laughed so much as I haven't in so very long. I'm usually very isolated, and emotionally almost completely - I've drifted away from friends due to being locked away at home as a carer, and family are either unable or unwilling to offer any support - so it was a great tonic for me. It also forced me to wait for my first drink until 5pm. If I can have something to occupy me other than the usual stuff it helps so much. I'm alone today, and had a terrible dream about the recent breakdown of the relationship with my sister, my only sibling, (which is booze-related right now, but at its core the issues aren't, if that makes sense?) It woke me up far too early and crying my eyes out. An early drink soon followed So, today is not going so well, so far. I'll focus on yesterday, and try to start recording stuff myself so I don't need to post every day. Though I do find it so helpful, I feel I'm being very selfish by posting daily numbers and reports somehow, like I'm clogging up the board:

8mg diazepam
14.6 UK units
65mg Bac

Best wishes to all, as ever

eight (kisses to all the singlies like me tomorrow, for Valentine's Day :h)

[craving]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

8 - although I am not posting here a lot I keep on reading your posts every day.

All the best - stick in there, I am sure it will work for you!

[startingover]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Hi there eight,
I am sorry to hear you had a rough one today. Posting about it is a good thing, please NEVER feel you are clogging up the boards. This is helpful to everyone even if they dont comment, it might just be a turning point for them. It was lovely to hear about your friend from Oz, it shows you have the capacity for fun and thats so important. Oh and your writing is very entertaining too!
Keep posting its great to hear from you.

[drink2much]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

I'm listening here too - keep posting your progress,

D2M