Hello All.

I started taking naltrexone yesterday, 25mg, an hour before drinking. Everything seemed to go fine. I had a half dozen drinks, felt much clearer mentally than usual. I was extremely tired last night and went to bed but was unable to sleep for most of the night. Today I feel panicky (anxiety), super jittery and was wondering if anyone else had experienced anything like this. I'm hoping that these are temporary symptoms. Any insight would be appreciated.

I started taking naltrexone, this is my third night. I'm feeling the same way. I am on 50 mgs though. I'm a little nervous so I'm hoping someone will respond to us. I have waves of feeling light headed, dizzy, and clammy (sp?). I want this to work.

I had a similar experience. Based on what I've read and the feedback I've received, I decided to go with a lower does for a few days and slowly ramp up. I'm going with 1/4 of a 50MG daily until the side effect disappear then go up to 25MG, wait a few days again, then up to 50MG. Someone else recommended that and said they were able to adjust as they ramped up. Best wishes. I know how "weird" you feel.

Hi Funckle,
Sorry to hear that you're having a bad reaction to the Nal. Lots of people (including myself) get nausea, weird dreams, tiredness and a lightheaded "spacey" feeling but I've not heard of many people feeling jittery, anxious or nervous. There are posts on here from some people who've felt like that, but I think it's a less common reaction. Try and do a search for "anxiety" or "nervousness" and see what comes up.
As CrazyLady says the general advice is to go down to a lower dose (12.5mgs) for a few days/a week and then go back up to 25 for a week and then go to the full 50mgs. This seems to work in the majority of cases...it certainly worked for me!

Good luck to you all. How great that there's a new group all starting at about the same time!

Hi Funkle and all

I started about 6 weeks ago , started on a couple of days at 12.5 then 3 to 4 days on 25 then up up to 50 mg , I remember the first three or 4 days not being able to sleep , I would sleep for 20 minutes or so then wake and continue on like that all night but it passed .(I do remember going from one bottle of wine to 2 maybe that's why I slept better )
best of luck to all

J.

Nal can make a hangover much worse in my experience which could have an effect on worsening your anxiety.

My sleep is terrible on TSM when I drink. The thing with me is though... I've always had to sleep straight after drinking. For example, If I was to start drinking at lunch time, I'd have to keep going until night. This became impossible on TSM as I can't get by 4-5 beer.

I remember once taking a craving one day to get drunk and as hard as I tried I only managed 6 beer. I went to sleep at about 6pm, woke at 9pm and was up all night with real bad insomnia.

I'm now three days with NAL. As I mentioned in my previous post the first night I slept terrible and the next day the nervousness was really overpowering. I ended up taking about .5mg of Ativan which really took the edge off.

The next day I didn't have a desire to drink until quite late in the afternoon which was a switch. I'm thinking part of this was just fear of the side effects the NAL would bring on. Well, I took 12.5g and had 8 drinks. I seemed to sober up before bed but had terrible nausea so I took a gravol. I had a good sleep and was fine the next morning.

Last night, I took my third dose of NAL (12.5g). I only had 4 drinks. I seem to get buzzed up quicker on the NAL and am far more aware that I'm under the influence. Again last night I had the nausea, took a gravol, went to bed. I seemed to wake up every 30 minutes or so and had some crazy dreams! This morning I have the nervous feeling again. Being somewhat of a hangover expert as most on this board are I can not attribute this to a hangover. I have no inclination to drink today at mainly because this nervousness is really debilitating and I don't want to trade my alcohol addiction for an Ativan addiction.

How long should I expect these side effects to last?

Hi everyone,

Depending on how much you were drinking pre-TSM, and how much less you're drinking these first few days/weeks, it could be your body is reacting with garden-variety alcohol withdrawal symptoms - the anxiety and sleeplessness, and if you're a little extra sensitive/easily irritated? That's what Alcohol withdrawal is like for me. And I've had my share, like most here.

I didn't experience that when I started TSM because the first couple of weeks I kept drinking in quantities very close to my pre-TSM treatment. My decline in drinking has not been dramatic, but steady, for the most part. I had a spike the last couple of weeks getting ready for and then being on an extended road trip. (Danger Will Robinson! Danger! - ha ha, that totally dates me.)

In fact, I'm pretty much a textbook example of the process working successfully; to which I credit the drug and my Dr./counselors, not any great willpower or proactive sacrifice on my part.

I did experience the nausea early on, and occasionally it comes back, especially with the first sip of wine, almost as if to choke me into wondering, why am I doing this again? But I tend to persevere.

In the beginning, I took 25mg for a couple of days and then jumped right in to 50. The main lingering side effect for me heading into month three is the unpredictability of the Nal hangover. There have been a few times when I had less than my customary bottle of wine but had a massive, debilitating HO, while other times I overdid it (8-10 units) but felt incredulously good the next day.

Tryptophan and Nightrest (brandname from Source Naturals) help me sleep; during the day I take a smaller dose of tryptophan iF I need to calm/slow down. Theanine is also a great calming agent; it helps you focus. I'm prone to panic attacks and it really helps.

Best of luck to all, and just hang in there. You're not alone! Consider adding your pre-TSM and current alcohol consumption in your signature, like many of us do.

Tracking = Accountability

I read some other posts about the nasty NAL hangover and am wondering if maybe that's what I was experiencing. If the nervousness I was feeling is the result of a hangover that alone would be enough for me to cut down! I ended up taking no NAL and not drinking for three days. Last night I took 12.5mg and had five glasses of red wine. This morning I feel fine. I'm upping the dose to 25mg next and keeping my fingers crossed.

Nalovers are really brutal. One could certainly make you an anxious mess if your that way inclined. 5 cans of light beer would give me one. I couldn't imagine how bad they'd be with a belly full.

I waiting to start back on TSM but lately the anxiety alone I'm starting to get with hangovers is making me have to drink every other day. My days of drinking 3+ days in a row are gone. I used to go for 4 days and have Diazepam on hand for the tail end. I have a dual addiction and really need to stop with the benzos so my fall back is gone.

Alcohol induced anxiety is not fun at all.