I am now going into week six using Naltrexone. As a backdrop, I was finding myself basically binging uncontrollably every two weeks or so and in between I was able to control my intake. For example, inbetween and on weekends I could stop at 5 drinks on a Friday night and have less on Saturday night. Howevever, about 2weeks or less from the last binge I would find myself forgetting the last bad binge drinking experience after my first drink and it would go down hill in a hurry from there. I would then gulp drinks, sneak shots etc until I was basically blackout. From there anything would happen and there is a long and sordid list of accidents, misphaps, the legend grew. Invariably, I would awake the next morning to the same questions, what did I do, where did I do it? I would then hear about it from all sorts of people for days or weeks (I am still hearing about things I did years ago, when the story is retold with relish by my friends). I also seemed to find myself losing my tolereance more quickly. So this situation would present itself even when I did not want to overdrink and swore to myself it would not happen. I had been able to quit drinking cold turkey for 13 months, 3 months, 2 months. But a trigger event would occur and I would restart the whole episodic routine all over again but with a passion since I had not drank for so long, i felt like I had a clean slate and so making up to do. I would of course quickly find myself in the same unenviable and miserable place, hung over for days, afraid of what I did and may do in the future, embarrassed, remorseful in trouble with the familiy etc etc etc....

I started taking Nal 6 weeks ago and now am engaged in what is described as pharmacological extinction where the brain is being rewired to have less of a reaction to alcohol since the brain reacts differently to alcohol while taking Nal. I do find that after taking the Nal that my reaction to alcohol is much less dramatic. I do not feel that big rush from the first drink that led to the innate need to quickly take another drink/shot to increase the rush of the alcohol. After taking Nal its almost like drinking water where the effects are much reduced and the feeling is more ho-hum. Big yawn,,so what...

I also feel that my cravings after taking the first drink are much less. I would get pretty severe cravings after the first drink but now very little or none at all. Went to a sporting event last week, took a 25mg Nal since I knew that I would not feel the need to drink much and drank one beer and then did not feel the need to drink another one and then I stopped. Before I definitly would have had two or three more. I also find that I do not feel drunk after drinking. Last weekend had 6 on Friday night and only 2 on saturday night, both in situations where I have been known to pound and get hammered. However, the weekend before on Friday night which would have been a sure binge drinking event since I had not gotten drunk in a month, I did drink about 10 drinks over about 4 hours but did not feel like I was real drunk. I did feel it the next day, but again after drinking that much I would nornmally have felt very drunk and blacked out. So it seemed as if I had gotten some tolerance back but also not the feeling of intoxication that I otherwise would have felt.

During the week I noramlly would have to fight the urge to drink and would count the days since I last had a drink (like its been 1, 2, 3, 4 days since my last drink) and then on the day that I felt like enough is enough already I would start to hit it again and the downhil cycle would begin........

So as I said in the re line above, I have tried other methods of quitting without success and am keeping my fingers crossed that this works but I think that so far it has and I am caustiously optimistic recognizing that other things that I have tried in the past just did not work....We will see and only time will tell.

However, I did read the book by Alan Carr "The Easy Way" and he said that one the alcoholic stops drinking then his/her problems seem to disappear, in that the problems were caused by alcohol. I know that I have problems caused by alcohol, but these issues are seeming to become less apparent. The problems would present after a bad night where we would back to square one (the problems would dissipate somewhat in the 2 week interval of no binges) and most ofter worse than before. But with out the uncontrollable drinking and the associated side effects then some of the issues have started to go away..

Hey D.

Thanks for checking in. Yeah, you have a long road ahead so buckle up! There are many twists and turns on this journey. Just follow the golden rule, track your intake and be patient.

Right now, in the beginning, you probably won't be able to control your drinking anyway. Drink as you (ab)normally would and you will see changes occur in their own sweet time.

Keep us posted,

Ketchikan1

Welcome! It sounds like you're having a honeymoon experience, which is great because it gives you an idea of what controlled, moderate drinking will look like. Do not be alarmed if and when your drinking starts creeping back up, both in cravings and in amount drank. It happens to almost all of us. Also, although I and other people do experiment with 25mg in low risk situations, if you are starting out on TSM you really should give yourself the chance to maximize recovery by taking the full 50mg. Once you feel like you have regained more control you can always experiment with lower doses. You didn't mention any horrible side effects so that's a good incentive to take the full 50mg as well!!
But welcome and know that you're in the right place

Thanks for replies,

Have not really had horrible side effects, but do feel now like I almost do not really need the full 50 mg because my head feels full? Not sure how to really describe it, but before taking Nal and after not drinking for a few days I would have this feeling like my head was empty or like I was feeling low, no gas in the tank, nervous, edgy etc. So now I have no cravings but feel like I used to feel after a binge and was not craving alcohol even though I only drank 6 beers three days ago and 2 two days ago so not hung over. So this is a difficult to explain, but I have not had real bad side effects.

But, yes I realize that I am in the honeymoon period and not looking forward to the end of the honeymoon, hopefully it won't be too bad.........

Who knows, D? Maybe you'll be one of the super-responders and your numbers will just keep sloping down. I'm glad you've had early success.

If the honeymoon does end, consider cranking up to 50. I even went to 75mg at one point in my post-honeymoon slump. Like most drugs, nal effects each of us differently.

Just keep with the program, keep track of your intake, keep the golden rule, and keep checking in.

best wishes!