Carlic,

I have been a really heavy, heavy drinker since I was 12 years old. I am the definition of an alcoholic, and a person who knows what hangovers are. I can say that since I have been on NAL I have had a lot less hang overs on a day to day basis. I drink a LOT LESS. BUT there are times that I seem to "OUT DRINK THE NAL" and that is when I do have hangovers that are horrendous!

I have always been a high level achiever even with my alcoholism. I have always drank until the wee hours of the morning, woke up early, and even with the ugly alcohol breath, been able to complete my job at high levels. However, since starting to take NAL -I have to admit - some of the mornings have been unbearable - hard to get up, stomach going crazy, diarrhea, etc. Strangely enough, I have no want for the "hair of the dog" that so often made me feel better in the old days. But thankfully those days are few and far between.

I have to say I feel a hell of a lot better two months in TSM than I did 40 years into the AL! Still struggling into the binge nights and weekends- but have my day to day stuff under control. And as far as I am concerned, the TSM is all about incremental progress. That progress is not without pain! The pain of a stomach cramps, diarrhea, headaches, is minor compared to the embarrassment of doing something stupid while under the influence!

Since I only have a couple of months in - I cannot speak for the long term SE's, but I can say that I am willing to put up with a lot of discomfort to shake that MFing AL problem I have.

Although I was a binge drinker, I did have the morning drink craving and that was eliminated right from the start of TSM.

My hangovers pre-TSM involved vomitting from waking until 4pm in the afternoon, dry heaves, pounding head, diarrhea, fainting. Only twice have I had anything similar with Nalovers, remainder were mild compared to that.

I have woken up during my AF time with ghost hangovers, not many and they are nothing more than a thick head, but they are scary!

I have been doing TSM for a little over a month. I started with 12.5 mg and had side effects (nausea, headache, trouble sleeping.) I noticed three weeks in that the effects were greatly diminished. I have since upped my dose to 25 mg with no more ill effects. Hopefully, this will be your case as well. I still notice that I am irritable when I take it, even the day after. I also have headaches even when I drink around 4-5 drinks which I never used to. I am trying to reduce the drinks to 3 or less a day to see if that will help.

I have had some anxiety and a general feeling of being unwell since I started the Nal. I occasionally have issues with my legs feeling achy and twitchy at night, making it difficult to sleep. I read that most people are deficient in magnesium and started taking http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Calm-original-16-Ounce/dp/B000OQ2DL4 on nights that I felt like that and it has helped tremendously. I feel less anxious and everything relaxes.

My alcohol intake has reduced, but the frequency of my drinking has increased. Yeah, I don't know if its the nal or from my drinking, either way I'm going to deal with it and it seems like I have been feeling a lot better over the past couple days. Thanks so much for your help though!

Everyone else, thanks so much for your responses. I hope everyone in the early phases gets through the early side effects because this is totally worth it!

Just to pipe in about side effects, my SEs were awful and a bit scary at first (I started June 1, 2015). I was anxious, felt twitchy, had trouble falling asleep (I would jerk awake until 2 a.m.), had a slight hand tremor, and definitely stomach upset.

Thanks to the great folks on this site, I did 3 things:

-Lowered my dose to 12.5, and SLOWLY upped it from there. I would up my dose by .25 and take it every other day, then go up from there.
-Hung in there
-Kept taking NAL 1 hour before drinking

I just reached a full dose last week, and all my other side effects have diminished. I only have occasional mild stomach cramps that last just a few minutes.

So take it slow--I suspect your SEs will back off with time.

I LOVE the feeling of waiting to drink 1 hour after NAL. It makes me feel like I am gaining some control over my drinking. I have hope that my interest in AL will really drop off with time. For now, I'm down from 5-6 a day to 4-5.

Good luck and hang in there!