My NAL Trip

[seeking1]

My NAL Trip

Pre-TSM: 50-70 units
Week 1: about 20 units, 2 AF
Week 2: about 30 units, 4 AF
Week 3: 38 units, 2 AF
Week 4: 23 units, 4 AF

Drank only 3 days this past week. 8 units, 8 units, 7 units.

Definite feeling of alcohol tasting bad/having to choke it down this week. Actually forcing down more than I'd like because I'm afraid I won't sleep (old habit). Still on small amounts of sleep meds on AF nights. Food tastes better this week, but appetite still feels off.

Continue to feel "flat" emotionally on Nal. But the other results so clearly are worth it. Still waiting on/wondering about a spike....

[hangingon]

My NAL Trip

hi there,
Brightlite, I am another pino grigio gal, and the same as you after the first bottle if I open the second it is blackout time. I am on week 7 of Nal and have noticed a spike that really bothers me so I started on Bac yesterday. Only 2.5 x3 and the same today. Only had 3/4 glass of wine last night and just poured one tonight and it is late but just got home from sons baseball tournament. feel I need a little to unwind.
hanging

[eight days a week]

My NAL Trip

Wonderful to hear of your progress seeking, and yours too brightlite! Even though you had a spike, Nal already seems to have had a significant effect for you - great news

[seeking1]

My NAL Trip

Hi, 8!

Thanks for sharing -- I have been reading your ideas re: Bac with interest. I'm going to stick with just Nal for now and see how it goes. I'm really sensitive to medications, and if I'm on more than one or two things, it's really difficult to tell what's a SE, what's a benefit, what's attributable to what on top of what or on its own.... I will keep checking out your posts as you try Bac and Nal together. Interested in how it works, curbing craving while still going after extinction. Best wishes to you!

[pompeyman]

My NAL Trip

hi seeking what does TSM mean????

[eight days a week]

My NAL Trip

Oh hanging I missed your post, you're doing fantastically too!

seeking1;817966 wrote: Hi, 8!

Thanks for sharing -- I have been reading your ideas re: Bac with interest. I'm going to stick with just Nal for now and see how it goes. I'm really sensitive to medications, and if I'm on more than one or two things, it's really difficult to tell what's a SE, what's a benefit, what's attributable to what on top of what or on its own.... I will keep checking out your posts as you try Bac and Nal together. Interested in how it works, curbing craving while still going after extinction. Best wishes to you!
I think you're quite right seeking. I would have stayed with Nal alone till about now (seven months on TSM) for exactly those very reasons, but I got desperate enough to try the Bac as well sooner. Thank you for your kind wishes

pompeyman;818247 wrote: hi seeking what does TSM mean????

The Sinclair Method - taking 50mg Naltrexone one hour before you drink, but only before you drink, to extinguish your drinking pleasure and thus behaviour. There's quite a lot on the net about it now, and on here I believe.

[brightlite]

My NAL Trip

Hi all,

I haven't posted in awhile. Feeling a little discouraged with myself. I am doing better during the weekdays, having 2 to 3 AF days, but then the weekend comes and it all goes downhill. In fact, I had my usual bottle of wine with friends on Friday and couldn't remember anything....Is that the NAL? Felt really sick all day Saturday. Somehow still managed to have more wine on Saturday night....

I hope everyone else is doing better than me. I know it takes time and I'll just keep taking the Nal. I've been thinking about taking an antabuse on Mondays and going AF all week or longer. Just really discouraged with myself I guess.

CM and Seeking please fill us in on your progress. We are all similar with our wine and Nal timeframe.

[hangingon]

My NAL Trip

Hi Bright,
You are doing better than me, I had a bottle and a half last night and I feel terrible. I did not even go to work today. I am increasing my bac today. I have been on Nal 8 weeks how long have you been on it. I just want to stop soI hope the bac kicks in

[brightlite]

My NAL Trip

I guess its been 9 weeks. Anyway, hang in there hanginon. I'm trying to let my mind feel the difference and try to register it. I took Bac for a while...got up to 100mg. It did help a little but I couldn't take the side effects because I had to drive a lot. And in general, I felt almost drunk and unbalanced the whole time I took it. I felt much better when I got off....but everyone is different. The Nal has helped, but I'm not cured by any means...I need to relax into my new state of mind of either being AF or very few drinks...and if I try..It really isn't that hard now. Just need to stay away from all the social functions. It is hard, but I just need a few weeks of "nothing"...I mean not seeing anyone or going anywhere, that would be the best for me. I don't know why that interacting with people, means in my mind having drinks..I hate that.

Wishing you well. Keep us posted.

[Chocolate Mousse]

My NAL Trip

Hi Britelite

Sorry you are down in spirits. Yes as you know I am now in the same timeframe as you and just commencing my 8th week on Nal. this is my first week where I have been AF for 4 days since last November!. My units are still high and I am still having blackouts on the Nal as I was before. I am determined not to drink for 4 days during the week and try to keep the weekends for the drinking. I am back exercising and want to get this done during the week where there is little Nal and AL in my system. Well here's hoping!! I know I am in this for long term so I try not to get too disheartened by not seeing quick results. One thing that i have noticed is that commencing my 6th week was that I was drinking more out of habit than craving. My cravings have really gone down, for now at least, and I intend to try not to drink out of habit anymore or at least not drink too much! Keeping an eye on you britelite and wishing you well :l

[hangingon]

My NAL Trip

YEAH CM,
YOu are doing great. This is my 8th week on Nal and 7th day on Bac. I too blacked out the other night so yesterday was day one AL free and I intend on making it through today too! I am tired of feeling terrible. There is too much life out there to be feeling pooping and blacking out in front of my kids. Keep up the good work. I wish wine was illegal...
hanging

[brightlite]

My NAL Trip

Thanks for all your encouragement. Hanginon...sounds like a plan to give yourself a break from the cycle. Take a hot bath, go for a walk, deep breaths. Do you have any meditation CD's or that relaxing music with the waves and whales or the japanese flutes....see we are relaxed already..

CM that is a good plan. Glad to hear that you are doing good at least during the week and that you don't beat yourself up over the weekend. Keep up the good work.

I was AF last night. I have had two glasses of red wine tonight. Usually don't drink red, but I'm heading to bed soon, so won't have much more.

Keep posting.

[brightlite]

My NAL Trip

Weekend update.

I had a company function on Friday night. Two glasses of pinot at the dinner event and one glass at home.

Sat., took a nap...and AF at night.

Sun. I plan to be AF tonight.

I'm feeling better and stronger for some reason. Well, I guess I know why I'm feeling better. Just taking care of myself...I felt like a nap, so I took one. I'm not waking up sick and tired every day, all day long. CM, Hanginon, Seeking....we are all about the same so check back in. Congrats to Hanginon for your 4 day stretch...hope to hear it was more. Hang in there guys and be kind to yourselves.

[Chocolate Mousse]

My NAL Trip

hI Britelite

Glad you seem more positive. as im now on my 8th week and on Nal and seeing advantages! my blackouts are worse! has anyone else had similar experiences?

[DisEase]

My NAL Trip

Hi Friends, I started Nal at about the same time you all did. For me, I have had many more AF days with Nal. I think it is because it is not as much fun to drink (no huge high/all night rush/compulsion to keep drinking until I am shi* faced drunk). The other reason is that I have not been not spending hour after hour each day obsessing about whether I am going to drink, or not drink, whether I should, or shouldn't, if I can get away with being hungover the next day or not. Since my routine is Nal 1 hr before, the option to drink is always there, so I don't find my days occupied with thoughts of AL.

I also wonder if I have reactivated that part of my brain that actually realizes that when you do something that has more negative consequences that positive ones, that you avoid it. My sober mornings are so nice. My body feels SO MUCH better than my mornings after drinking. The difference is so significance, it is almost like I subconsciously dread the first drink (dread may be too strong of a word, maybe not excited as I was a couple months ago to pour and slam my wine!). I am drinking more now than in the first few weeks for sure but honestly, I think it is my old habits pouring that next glass of wine, it is not at all an obsessive craving that I almost can't control.

And stopping is easier. With Nal I am conscious of each glass. Stopping when the bottle is empty, or the clock says midnight, is actually an option available to me now. Where before an empty bottle meant PANIC, where am I going to get more, because I was not passed out drunk yet and need MORE (which I never did!). Before Nal, I would seriously go to the fridge, find my wine almost gone and wonder how that happened!!!! I was so unaware of my consumption until I was close to being out wine. And then I'd start wondering, with a full glass of wine in hand, what I was going to drink after that. I think that is crazy drinking now. With a still full glass of wine in hand I was not thinking, "I will wait and see if I feel like any more after this or better yet, I guess that is the end of drinking for tonight". Instead, before I was even done with that last glass I started trying to figure out where I was going to get more wine. I am definitely not threatened by the bottom of the bottle now. I no longer feel like a drug addict who has run out of her supply.

I have always felt that my problem was that I did not know when to stop. Before I was not able to stop like my non-alcoholic friend. I had to keep going and going and going. I don't feel that way anymore. The Nal has given me control back. It has freed me from my compulsive thoughts on drinking and it has given me many AF days which serve as a wonderful comparison to days when I drank the night before and just feel kind of crappy. I think I felt crappy so much of the time before because my drinking nights would run into each other over and over that "drinking" felt better than "the morning after" so my body preferred the "drinking" state . Now that I have added the "sober" state to my repertoire, my body sees that the sober state is much much better than either the "drinking" or the "morning after state". I hope this makes sense. Otherwise sorry for wasting your time reading this long ramble!