I know everyone isn't interested in my life story so here is the short version followed by some questions.

Turning 30 next month, wife and mother to a beautiful child. I am the functional daily wine drinker, seems to be worse after having my daughter. I do not drink during the day- typically an hour before my little one's bed time. Usually 1-2 bottles of wine. I am also on .5 mg of Xanax. The Xanax were prescribed to "calm me down" INSTEAD of alcohol. Well- an alcoholic will still drink and now I'm hooked on the damn things (horrid side effects trying to wean). So- I had to educate the doc on Nal and also my husband who says "if you really wanted to stop drinking you would". So tonight is the first night and I have a couple questions (and baby is napping so not a lot of searching time).

1. Should I start with .25 mg
2. Is the fact that I take Xanax going to hinder an progress
3. I would ultimately like to wein from alcohol and then wein from Xanax in order to survive the side effects of benzo withdrawal

Whoever answers this is an angel- I think anyone who takes time out of their day to help a stranger is selfless. Any help would be great.

By the way- why the heck do they make the letters so hard to read for those trying to register. Was it just me or did it seem like you needed 3D glasses to read the print (and no- it's 2 pm and I have not been drinking yet).

Thanks ahead of time:)

Hi Jellybean,

Im no angel but Ill answer anyway.

Those letters drove me mad as well. It took me half a dozen tries to get them right.

It seems from reading around here that benzos ie xanax can have some effect on nal but I think it just slows down the progress. Someone else might have more info on that. Ive been on them and its a pain getting off the. I started halving the tabs and then halving them agian and eventually I got off them. If you could it would probaly be a good idea to wean off the xanax first as it will take many months for the nal to provide a full cure for alcohol

I stayed on 25mgs of nal for the first few times untill your body gets used to it.

For me nal has been a God send,Its a Saturday night of a long weekend in Ireland and Im going to bed sober. Cant say much more for it than that.

Best of luck and keep posting and above all read around here, there is a wealth of Info.

Def no angel here. I second the suggestion to stick with 25 mg. The side effects were for me like getting run over by a truck when I skipped this step. If you do have s/e's they will pass more quickly if you start with 25.

Don't take anything on this board as a substitute for medical advice; we share our own experiences and, based in part on these, we make our own decisions.

This may surprise you, but .5 xanax* is a HUGE dose of benzodiazpene -- the equivalent to 10 mg valium!! according to Ashton. http://www.benzo.org.uk/bzequiv.htm

Eskapa has suggested that benzos MAY hamper TSM progress. Please read through some posts on this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=439&hilit=benzo+bunch
and decide what's best for you. I weaned without side effects by doing a micro dose each day for months -- and then my TSM progress really took off.

Please post often to let us know how you're doing.
*Edited to correct typo: Changed ".25 mg xanax" to ".5 mg xanax"

I'm definitely no angel,

But I've seen Dr. Eskapa refer to Benzo's as dirty drugs and that they can hamper TSM.

I would either search the board and find his comments as he has spoken loudly on that topic (I don;t know personally as I've never done benzo's).

Regarding 25 mg of NAL to start, I definitely would,....after a couple days then up to 50 mg.

Everyone on this board is an angel, so welcome and you will be an angel here too helping someone else in the future similar to you (or not). This is the nicest group of people in cyberspace you'll ever find. My best to you, Jim

Hi Jellybean,

I just started it today, so we have the same start date I would definitely say 25mg is enough. The side effects are a little weird, but completely worth it.

Best of luck!

Kitty

Shoot! I had a response and then it cleared! AAGH! Anyhow- the short version of what I wanted to say was a big thank you for the responses! I am going to start gradually weaning from the xanax. I can't stand the damn things because I know how physically hard it is to get off of them- the ONLY reason I went back on them is because I thought it would lessen my night time drinking. Just acted as an adjunct:(

Kitty- we need to keep in touch since we are both at the starting gates. I can PM you my email if you are interested.

First night- 25 mg (irritated as all get out towards my poor husband, woke up at 3 am)
Second night- 25 mg (sleepy but may because didn't sleep night before well)

Sometimes I wake up at 3 am anyhow because I fall asleep drunk and wake up with a "what the heck time is it and wow I feel like crap". So I'm not sure if it was the Nal or my intake.

the side effects will go away soon and then the only thing you will need to do is take Nal one hour before drinking.

good luck and keep posting
corkit