I am in my 15th week and I had great success with NAL and thought this was going to be a life changer for me, but around my 12th week, I felt everything sort of shift back in my head to the way it used to be. I'm still 100% compliant, and I don't see that ever changing because I do not want to give up on this, but when I start drinking, I don't want to stop like I did in the earlier weeks with NAL. It feels different in my brain. I don't want to NOT drink, so I DO drink, but then I'm ending up drinking more than I want to, just like before NAL. (not as much as my pre TSM days, but I'm afraid I might creep back up there if the trend continues) Just as an aside, for the last 15 years or so, I have been taking 200 mgs of Bupropion HCL SR daily and 100 mg of Topamax 3 x/day. I have been taking this medication, however, the entire time during my TSM journey, so I'm not sure why it would be effecting things differently now, but could it be the interaction with the meds? Thanks - any input is appreciated.

Pre TSM 42
week 1 - 13
week 2 - 19.5
week 3 - 16.5
week 4 - 17. 5
week 5 - 20
week 6 - 18
week 7 - 18
week 8 - 16.5 AF 1
week 9 - 14 AF 2
week 10 - 13.5 AF 3
week 11 - 12 AF 3
week 12 - 19 AF 2
week 13 - 20 AF 1
week 14 - 22

Hi, Maribet!

Wellbutrin is more considered to be anti-alch and moreso Topamax. Did you have a new low in your graph just before this rebound? If your progesterone levels are falling, that can hamper the effect of Nal too, so you might need to increase your dose for a bit.

Hi Joe,
My weeks were going down - 14, 13.5 12, and now have spiked to 19, 20 and 22, so yes, I would definitely say there was a new low before the rebound. Are you saying this is normal - ish?

And, you are saying that neither wellbutrin or topamax are known to have a negative effect on NAL's progress?

I have no idea what my progesterone levels are - I guess I'll have to check that out at my upcoming physical.

Thanks for the input - I am so fearful that this might stop working for me...I don't know what I would do

Looks like you're still at about 50% of your Pre-TSM levels, so I'd say see what you can do with mindful/conscious drinking techniques (like leaving your drink in another room) and start thinking about what your evenings would look like if most of your days were dry. I think this is just a normal rebound and you really don't have anything to worry about here, but the 3 areas you can affect are your start time, the rate of drinking and your stop time. See which one "gives" the easiest when you try to push it around.

Progesterone levels can drop during "that" time of the month, so you might need to bump your dose a bit to compensate.

Wellbutrin or Topamax would tend to help you drink less. Topamax is used off label as an AUD medication.

Okay, Thanks Joe. I've been on Wellbutrin and Topamax (for OCD) for so long now, that if they were going to do anything for my drinking, they would have a long time ago, I would imagine.... and, I haven't had my period for at least 3 or 4 years now, so I'm not sure the progesterone thing is a factor. Anyway - I think I probably have been 'coasting' a bit with the 'magic of the pill' rather than working on my part of the journey, so maybe this is where I need to kick it up a notch. Thanks again.