Hi, Maggie and hugs to you! I'm in Orange County, Calif. I'm new, about 9 days in, lucky to be apparently an early responder. From 30-40 units/wk to 14 immediately. I lurked awhile and researched after reading some articles, self diagnosed and talked MD into prescribing NAL. First 50mg hit worked as advertised and I have had 2 beers with NAL for 9 days. Getting used to lack of craving and figure next step AF but not rushing. Very happy to be where I'm at. Sorry if I am suddenly here and overly familiar but I have been lurking and feel I know you all somewhat. What a group of brave and beautiful people. Had to jump in. Intro'd in "tell us your story."
Steve

LOL - I am fine with you lurking and feeling that you know us ! No worries ! I am glad that Nal is working so well for you, but please be aware that there is often a 'honeymoon' period where ones intake goes down - then slowly goes back up again, albeit not to Pre Nal levels but it does happen - so please do not worry if that happens with you. Welcome anyway - I am usually around here more but stuff is going on in my life and I have not been around .... others before us say that if one has the 'honeymoon period' then the Nal is more likely to 'work' for you. I do not know - I am about 13 or 15 weeks in (I get confused) and am still way under pre Nal levels but not going down any more!! All I know is that I am in this for the long haul - I will continue taking the Nal as supposed to and have faith that it WILL work eventually !

hugs, Maggie x

Thanks all for the kind words. I appreciate it so much. Maggie, you and I should get together sometime since we are practically neighbors... let me know next time you cross the river and we can meet for coffee or lunch.

Having this community is a big deal to me too, as Steve said, and I do check in every day, because there is no one else i can talk to that can has any ability to understand what is going on in my life.

Hello everyone. Haven't been here in a while. Thought I would read some posts to get caught up.

Started April 3rd and I wasn't tracking because I didn't think I had the discipline. Then my wife suggested and talked me into it. So my weeks will be Mon to Sun and I started this past Monday. I drink liquor on the rocks... usually whisky or bourbon. I used a particular glass, put in ice, filled it with water, and then poured it into a measuring cup. 6 oz. So that's 2 3/4 units. I've been going by how many of those I have. Monday 5, Wed 4, Thu 4. I was a 100+ a week drinker. Lots of hard liquor. What's so liberating is that at least now I CAN STOP without the overwhelming urge to have another. I figure even if I end up at 50 by the end of the week it's still an improvement. I'm rarely stumbling drunk (only once or twice this month) and no more blackouts. AF days are no big deal. But usually after a day or 2 I feel like I want to have a drink. Still trying to practice moderation.

I was reading some of you saying about not enjoying drinking anymore. I think I'm a little different. Drinking with Nal DOES feel different... but I still like the buzz for the most part. I do notice feeling crappy after having Nal+drinking a lot, then waking up after sleeping. It's a totally different kind of hangover. I was drinking so much before TSM that I wasn't even getting hangovers anymore. I think it was partly because I was often waking up still drunk. Anyway, I'm totally fine with the crappy feeling. It's just another thing to think about while I'm drinking and helps me to say "enough - I don't want to feel like crap later."

Overall I feel better than I have in years. I'm so grateful I found TSM. I'm grateful for this site to just read how everyone is coming along and to get out how I'm doing - even if nobody reads it. LOL. I'm glad to see you are all coming along so well!

Sorry this was so long. I will stop now before I bore someone to death. Below is a copy of part of my Excel spreadsheet for this week. Obviously the formatting didn't transfer.. the total adds up automatically at the right. I will make a signature eventually.

Happy TSMing everyone!!!


4/27/2015 13.4 AF 10.7 10.7 ? ? ? 34.7

McDad - sounds like you are doing amazing. Yes I would say that 50 is a huge improvement over 100 - drinking cut in half? In a month. Good on you!!! You are so lucky to have the support of your wife, too. Keep on posting because those of us on here really do care. Have a good weekend and NAL ON!! Newlife

Nice work McDad. you have to feel a lot better already!

I'm pretty new to TSM. I started on March 25, joined the Options Saves Lives forum about that time and found this forum yesterday. It is so nice to read about the experiences of others as I go through this.

As many of you have also done, I tried many things before reading about TSM. A lot of goofy things that of course, did nothing about my drinking, but did lead me down the path to this method.

I am not an early responder. I am on my 38th day and even though I am not good at documenting, I don't think anything has changed much yet. I am always compliant however. It helped to read some of your thoughts about habit...and I think drinking for me, is a habit. Four o'clock is wine o'clock.

I am optimistic and thankful that this option exists. And I am sad that more people don't know about it.

Welcome othila! You have our support and best wishes...

Mcdad that is great news! thanks for sharing your success! I too have found that the hangovers are much worse, and that it is motivating me to be a more thoughtful drinker. I do still enjoy the buzz as well, but it is a far cry from the euphoria I used to have before. Now it's just a generally warm, woozy, pleasant feeling. I wonder if the new feeling is how non alcoholics feel when they drink?

and I agree with you that the ability to stop is brand new to me! I can actually get the check after two drinks. last night I had guests over to my house, and served wine and snacks. I didn't feel compelled to drink at all! I had one drink before bed after they left, but I was able to sit and socialize and watch other people drink without feeling interested in it myself! Brand new.

Maybe I should start tracking my units. I have a rough idea, because many days I am down to one drink a night, but I should indeed count on the days that I am drinking more. This weekend is a big Cinco de Mayo celebration in my town, which I expect will lead to increased drinking

Last week, Monday through Sunday, I had 20.5 units. that is down by about half from what I used to drink. Possibly more than half. Bear in mind that I am a 125 pound female, so 20.5 is probably more than it sounds like. I want to do even better this week. but Cinco DeMayo might prove a challenge.

Yes this is one of the things I didn't elaborate on my last post. I don't get a RUSH anymore when I drink, so-to-speak. I work the night shift and would come home tired. But when I drank it would wake me up and I could stay up for hours drinking until I was trashed or even blacked out (periodically). I'm sure it was from the rush of endorphins. Now I just fall asleep (or pass-out, whatever you want to call it) before I black out - if that makes any sense. This is all okay with me. Better than the way things used to be.

Hope everyone is doing well. Still happy to be on TSM.

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