I seem to be very sensitive to Nal. I am comfortable after a week of 12.5mg daily, but am having bad headaches which last all day with 25mg. Is this typical? What is the lowest does I can use and still get benefits from this method?

Hi Mack3,

Nal is a wierd drug; side effects vary greatly. The good news is that they tend to subside after a week or so. Hang in there.

50mg seems to be sufficient for 100% blocking in most cases, although some try 100mg. 25% is probably OK too. 12.5 mg might be pushing it, but whatever you can tolerate is fine in the short term. I'm guessing you will be OK with 50mg before long.

Best of luck,
-wort

Mack,

My boyfriend was horribly sensitive to naltrexone at first. What we ended up doing was crushing up a 50 mg tab and dissolving it into 50 ml of water. I got a syringe thing so we could measure out an exact amount, and we upped his dose 1 mg at a time that way. That might be a little extreme but it worked. You will get over the side effects soon. Maybe try taking 12.5 mg twice per day until you can handle 25 mg at once, and work from there? Good luck!

The good news is the side effects do go away after a week or so. I was blown away at first and then after a week felt fine. Same with others here. Hang in there.

Thanks for the words of encouragement everyone! I had started the program in January with 25mg every evening, but I was so sick for a week! Horrible hangovers and vomiting with only 3 glasses of wine! I took a break for a couple of weeks and started again in Feb with 12.5mg. After a week I'm starting to feel like myself again. I appreciate the support and will increase to 25mg this week. My goal is to make it to 50mg, but I'll see how it goes. Thanks again!

Hi,

I feel nothing with Naltrexone. Not trying to brag, but feel absolutely no different than usual. And drinking seems to feel the same. I've been pretty good with the 50mg - not perfect - and am in my 8th week. Drink about 12 beers or 2 bottles of wine a night (don;t have the unit conversion down yet).

2 questions:
- If it doesn't make me feel ANY different at all - is it still working?
- More importantly, and something I've yet to see answered ANYWHERE is this: If I'm drinking for a long period of time, when do I need to take another Naltrexone? My doc said 4 or 5 or 6 hour lifespan for the effect. He's very vague which drives me crazy. So if I go watch football/bball at a bar with my friend s and start drinking at 1pm and keep drinking through dinner and then later at bars and pass out say at 12pm. How many Naltrexone should I be taking?? With my doc's advice, I'd be taking one 50MG at noon (hour before drinking at 1pm), then one 50MG at say 5pm, and one 50 MG at 10pm. Is this crazy??? (As I've said, I've done this and had no effect at all, but are there adverse - long term - effects to taking 150 in a day?) Am I misunderstanding the rules here? Don't know what to do. My doctor changes his advice everytime I talk to him.

Thanks all,

K

K,

For me the effect is very subtile, but unmistakible. If you feel absolutely no effect, then 50 mg twice a day might help. For most folks, 50mg one hour before drinking gives 100% blocking for 12hrs or more. A booster cant hurt; but 100% is all there is.

Keep in mind that you will stiil feel intoxicated - its just that some of the glow will go. The most noticable effect is on the first drink. Try taking nal on an empty stomach, wait an hour, then focus on that first sip. After 12 brews, you will be looped and wont notice as much difference

Time will tell, and it usually takes 4-9 months, so be patient. Chances are that it is working just fine.

-wort

Thanks for the quick reply!
But honestly, I've been doing this for 8 weeks and I've done it on an empty stomach several times. No effect at all. I feel NOTHING. Nothing at all. First drink tastes same as it always has. Does this mean that I'm one of those that it won't work for? Am I one of the 20%? So sad if that's true.

K

Unfortunately, there have been very few medical studies done regarding who naltrexone works for and who it doesn't. Sorry to sound like a broken record but you are asking questions that only MDs are really qualified to answer.

I am jealous of anyone who says the effects go away after a week. I am about a month in, and I still feel awful. I don't know if I can do this for 6-9 months. I still can't get above 25mg. I'm drinking less than I did before Nal because the hangover is terrible. I'm sick of feeling so sick.