Hey guys, I thought I'd just start another thread because my last one was so full of failures and drama that I'm starting clean again. Hello, my name is "Barry," I have a history of getting addicted to alcohol, and my last drink was 60 days ago. I live in Florida and currently work as an emergency room RN. I'm coming up on my 25th wedding anniversary and have four kids, two of which have flown the coop.

Anyway, I don't want to totally rehash my "story," as it is readily available in my previous threads. Suffice it to say, before moving to Florida I was 100% alcohol free for 16 months before starting small (two shots) and going right back to my very troubling drinking in a few short months. I began to suffer worse-than-ever memory lapses, GI problems, ED, marriage problems, and wasted evenings.

At some point in late December, I took 1/2 a Naltrexone pill, drank a beer an hour later, and that was that. My life has definitely improved, but my lackluster marital life hasn't (my wife is basically a 70 year old woman in a 45 year old body). I'm not obsessing about divorce at the time, but do plan on dealing with the divorce question, if necessary, in about 1-2 years due to the age of the youngest (14).

Some of you may think it's cheating, but I have really found kava to be a much improved way to live alcohol free. It gives you a short-lived clear-minded buzz (about an hour) followed by several hours of clear-minded calmness. Put it this way, I can have my 5:00 drinks and still converse with my family, do chores, drive safely, and still lift weight at 8:00PM. I take a meditative walk at night (my area is beautiful) and then read and fall asleep or have sex normally and fall asleep. None of this is possible (for me) with alcohol. So, I'm a big fan so far -- your mileage may vary.

Kava is very self-limiting, in that drinking, say, twice as much doesn't make you feel twice as good (unlike alcohol), and it's "heavy" enough that I really don't want to drink more than my 2T micronized Kava because it makes you feel "full" like food does.

Still, I still need self-control because alcohol is definitely WAAAAY more pleasurable and thrilling for me than kava. I'm still having occasional thoughts of going to one of the many local bars, secret drinking, etc...

The last time I was drunk was at our neighbor Christmas party (no one else even drank!), whereby I was completely zombie man with watery red eyes and nearly unable to speak. My wife was very embarrassed (as was I) and this was my "final straw" to get back to abstinence. As a comparison, last night we had a Mardi Gras party and I was a perfect host and witty conversationalist (and had drank my normal kava 1-2 hours before).

That's great, Barry! I know that taking Naltrexone was a problem for you and I'm glad you've found an alternate.

Did you ever try a reduced dose of Naltrexone (say 12.5 mg)?