Hi everyone,

I tried this on and off for the last few months however it makes me very irritable, to the point of becoming outright hostile. (Not violent, but just VERY cranky, so to say)

Anyone had that and found a way to coop? I have 50mg pills, tried splitting them. This was somewhat better but the side effects didn't go away enough for me to coop. Would quartering the things help, to ramp up from there?

Cheers and thanks!

Edit: Going to take 12.5mg (any tips on splitting them?) for a week and then start again with 25mg. Let's see how that goes. Again any input still very much appreciated.

The pills I have received in the past are easily split by hand into quarters. You might not be able to get 4 equal 12.5 quarters, but close enough.

Irritability is an unpleasant side-effect for sure. Having suffered from it due to some 1700 night shifts with minimal sleep during the next day, I have largely overcome it through practice. In fact, irritability was probably the #1 reason I started to drink so heavily when I started night shift work -- alcohol works wonders on irritability for me.

The way I see it is that "irritability" is mostly the way that we react to the sensations we are feeling from fatigue or, in your case, drugs. So, I would "feel" the tired feeling, the desire for sleep, the muscle stretchiness, I would interpret this as "I'm irritable," and I would then act irritable or have some drinks. I set out to achieve what I would call "emotional mastery," whereby I concentrate or sit calmly for awhile and just own the fatigue and then would act very deliberately throughout the day. Kids are screaming? Deep breath, stay quiet, wait before reacting. Every once in awhile I lose my cool, but not very often.

Irritability's a bitch, though. Everyone around you hates it, too.

Please don't try it on and off. That's worse than not doing it at all.

Are you sure the irritability isn't the result of drinking less? Alcohol is a sedative, after all. I have no idea what your consumption is like on or off nal, so it's hard to say.

Yes I am aware about the on and off part. At least that's what I figured. And I really think it's from the drug itself. It kicks in way too soon and way to hard. It's really different feeling.

But I will keep that in mind, thanks!

I hear you on the emotional mastery part. I really believe it's from the drugs though. This feels very different than I normally would under the same circumstances. I get angry/annoyed at people for being on the side walk half a block down because eventually I will have to walk there. That's something I usually don't have.

And yes, knowing that I am also affecting others really doesn't help.

But thanks for the input! Great pointer with the cooping skills. I know I could be doing more on that front too.

Hunh. Do you usually drink in the company of others? Irritability wouldn't matter much when drinking alone at home, so I suppose you must be out somewhere.

Maybe you could warn your drinking buddies that you're taking a medicine which makes you very irritable? You don't have to say what it's for.

I like the thought and helping me tell the difference between the different moving parts. I really feel it's the meds though.
It starts about 1-2 hours after taking it, no matter what time I take it and with or without drinking. (Drinking actually makes this better. But then drinking to help coop with the meds that should help me with the drinking just seems... well... )

Yeah, that does seem goofy.

I guess the upside is that you wouldn't enjoy the experience and would probably extinguish the alcohol-seeking pretty quickly. The downside is that you would enjoy the experience so little that you'd be tempted to ditch the meds. Only you know how committed you are.

I noticed this too. No idea whether it's a direct effect of the nal, or because nal blocks some or all of the sedative effects of alcohol.

I'm guessing it's the latter. In the past I've certainly drunk more when under stress. I'm a little over a week into TSM, and am probably suffering the complete or near-complete failure of my attempts to self-medicate, while being served a heapin' helpin' of extra stress at the same time. Suddenly I'm fully aware of a lot of crap that I've more or less effectively blocked for quite awhile. Perhaps I'll more fully experience the good things along with the bad.

Well, managing good feelings isn't the problem, is it? Managing bad feelings is. It makes sense that those who are out of practice, or who never really learned how to do it, might benefit from counseling, at least when first starting TSM.

Just in case anyone is ever going to search for a similar issue with side effects. What worked for me in the end was ramping up even slower.

I started with 12.5mg (a quarter pill) for a week, then half, 3/4 and and last 1. I always took as much time until the side effects were gone again and the steps were definitely ok like that.