We extinguish behaviors ("learning"), not receptors. The receptors are physical things in our brains. Our brains want to "regulate" the amount of opioid we receive, keeping it more or less consistent. They get worried when there's way too much or way too little opioid/endorphin reward kicking around.
The receptors can "downregulate" (become fewer in number) after we drink alcohol or otherwise flood them, as the brain tries to maintain equilibrium. They can "upregulate" (increase in number) after we take naltrexone, because they are blocked by the nal and the brain makes more to try to get them to work.
It all wears off, though, and our brains lazily ooze back to the way they were originally.
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Does this mean if you are a binge drinker once every couple of weeks and take the Nal, then you are not extinguishing any opioid receptors?
I'd think you'd be okay with doing that once every few weeks. No guarantees, of course. A more practical objection is to wonder how many alcohol addicts can resist the Alcohol Deprivation Effect, for weeks at a time, on a regular basis.
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If you do the The Sinclair Method and deem yourself cured then want a drink, are there extra sensitive opioid receptors left in your brain?
Unlikely. Your brain will be back to its own normal by the time it would be reasonable to call it.
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I am one who tends to over- think things, but want to be reassured that I am squelching those little buggers every time I take the Nal as opposed to making them even more sensitive.
You don't want to eliminate your opioid receptors. You need them to enjoy your life. You will have more sensitive receptors on no-nal days, and if you want you can leverage that to get a little extra enjoyment out of pleasures like food and sex and exercise. You don't have to, though. All this stuff is sort of "advanced TSM." All you really need to do is follow the Golden Rule, and the behavior will gradually be extinguished.
