Does anyone have any data on the people who have declared themselves cured and whether or not they were binge drinkers or daily drinkers? From what I have read, it seems as though the ones who are binge drinkers and have used a little bit of will power are the ones who are "cured" quicker than the daily drinkers. Am I just seeing what I want to see? Thank you in advance. Keek

In my "non-expert" opinion, I think the daily, heavy drinkers may have the harder time b/c they've gotten into the daily habit. It is extremely hard to face a day w/out alcohol. An AF day presents itself as a huge void. The bingers seem to be able to get thru several days AF but once they have a drink, they can't stop. Both are very difficult problems to address. I'm sure many on this forum will have strong opinions.

It seems that binge drinkers are driven to drink to extremes as a result of elevated opioidergic activity. This may be why the binge drinkers on the site report better outcomes. Daily drinkers may drink to relieve stress, which I've read is related to the GABAergic system.

I'm not close to being an expert on this topic, so take with a grain of salt.

Hmmm. I have switched from a daily somewhat heavy wine drinker to more of a binge drinker. This may be in part to a new mood stabilizing drug that works on the Gaba receptors and in part because I am trying to have AF days. Come to think of it, I wasn't very good at AF days before the new drug. Now I am more of a binge drinker and am strongly interested in extinguishing the "need" for alcohol. Hey Done 121, do you have anymore info you'd like to share?

Hey Keek, don't really have any more info - I don't think medical researchers really know very much about the causes of alcoholism. There are some articles on Google Scholar that may be helpful. Just google Naltrexone, Alcoholism, etc.

Well that's of some hope, as I am decidedly in the binge category. All the best to everyone.

I binge drink daily. I think your sweet tooth has more to do with it than anything else.

The reason I asked this is because I am still looking for an easy cure. Enough said. My psychiatrist said that I gravitate to substances that sooth the GABA receptors - hence the alcohol abuse. I like my doc, but he is suggesting that I at least try sobriety for a couple of months so as to give the gaba support medication some time to work. Boy am I afraid to commit, however it does seem easier for me to just not drink rather than trying to moderate. Here goes,,,

The book said people who have a sweet tooth seem to respond better to the Sinclair Method. I've been on the Method for over a year, but I hadn't quit drinking. Finally, I had to force myself to not drink and accomplished this because I consciously stopped keeping track of how much Nal I had left. Well, I'm out and my next shipment isn't in, so, I'm not drinking. And after only 3 days I can say that it is a very important step in this journey (at least for me): forced abstinence. With Nal, I knew that I could drink, I had no reason to stop even though I sometimes felt tired with drinking, now that I'm forced to be abstinent and have been for 3 days now (the most AF days I've had since I started the Method) I'm beginning to realize that I don't necessarily need to drink.

I don't know how long you've been on the Method, but I kinda agree with your Doc. I don't know yet if I will last a month, however, try not drinking for a few days, force yourself not to drink for a few days every few days and see what happens.