Fascinating and encouraging post. Thanks. And thanks to everyone who's posted feedback over the past few years as this is helpful also. I currently have a 4 month supply and this is getting me off my a** to be sure I have more on hand before I run out since I'm only in week 3!
Here's a link about "extinguishing negative behavior" that some may find helpful. I did. It's a bit of a hard read but if you're a bio geek like me, you may be willing to slough through it. I'm sure all the vets and old-timers on this board already know all this. But for new strugglers, perhaps it will be of some assistance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_(psychology)
I'll summarize two pertinent points if you're not in the mood for a long read.
One applies to people who start on nal and then find themselves drinking even more for a certain amount of time before they begin to regain control. This, in behavioral science terms, is known as an "extinction burst" and it sometimes occurs when the subject is first denied reinforcement (read: reward) for a behavior.
Let's take an animal study example first. A pigeon has been trained to press a lever because she'll get a treat if she does. If suddenly the treats stop coming when the pigeon pushes the lever, she may react by trying any other behavior she can think of to bring that treat on. And the first one to try is pushing and pushing and pushing that lever hoping that, finally it will work again and she'll get the treat. That's the "burst". The pigeon doesn't understand why there is no treat. And she WANTS it badly enough to try whatever she can think of to get the reward going again.
In our cases, the example would be: after starting to take the nal, a drinker suddenly is no longer getting the reward -- that euphoric feeling associated with dopamine release that comes with alcohol consumption. So they just keep drinking and drinking and drinking -- even more than usual sometimes -- hoping, on an unconscious level, that at some point that reward will return. That's the 'burst' that sometimes happens. Until, finally, the brain figures out this ain't gonna work. No reward is coming. And, slowly, things start to calm down.
So 'extinction bursts' are a normal part of the re learning process for some people. And it's good to know that, if you're one of these, you just have to hang in there and don't worry about this too much. Keep taking the nal and after a time -- which varies by subject, of course--the brain begins to understand that drinking even more just isn't going to work, reward-wise.
And, over time, provided the subject continues to, in this case, take the nal, the 'burst' will subside and a more orderly schedule of behavior extinction will begin to take place.
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The other point mentioned in this and other behavioral science articles concerns what is known as "intermittent reinforcement".
As newer readers will have noticed already from so many other postings here, it is CRITICAL to never lapse with the nal. And, again, there is a scientifically proven reason why: If you start and stop, you're creating a pattern called "intermittent reinforcement".
Meaning sometimes you are rewarded for a behavior and other times not. And it has been totally proven that this type of sometimes rewarded and sometimes not behavior takes even longer to unlearn. And you can see why, right?
To again refer to the old pigeon here, suddenly she's not getting a treat every time she pushes the peddle. Only every 3rd time or every fourth time. So she's become accustomed to being patient knowing that, sooner or later, that treat is going to come down the chute. And that's why it takes longer to eliminate the behavior. And this is the reason everyone rants so much about being very consistent in taking your nal.
If you lapse occasionally and have a drink without it, you'll get the euphoria award again. And, on an unconscious level, this will lead you to expect to get it again at some point. And it slows down the whole unlearning/'extinction of behavior' process tremendously.
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