Good Morning Everybody,
I'm well into my 3rd month, and my weekly units have been all over the place. 27.5, 35, 41, 37, 31, 36, 53, 60, 35. The 53 and 60 were influenced by a break up with a long term girlfriend which was depressing to say the least. On a positive note, just had a complete blood work up and my liver enzymes, triglycerides etc. all perfectly normal. My question is as follows. Is the time taken for extinction to occur proportional to the years of heavy drinking? I was a "weekend warrior" since my teens, and a daily drinker for the last 15 years or so. This is a 40 year span total. Am I expecting too much too quickly? Thanks and best Holiday Wishes,
Retread

There's no way to predict how long it will take, but my subjective observation is that problems of longer standing tend to take longer to be eradicated.

Are you feeling any internal changes, like reduced obsession/craving, not blacking out, stuff like that?

For inspiration, read HeavyFuel's thread. He stuck with TSM, and it took over a year, but he was cured. Seems like lots of people have some frustration around the 2-3 month mark.

Hi Melissa - Yes my cravings are not as strong and I am having AF days every week. I never was a blackout drinker, just fuzzy memory sometimes. So, I'm going to "keep on keeping on" as they say. Thanks, Retread

Retread it's good to see that your numbers came right back down after the spike......but sorry to hear the relationship break-up.

Most important, you checkup was healthy!

retreat...I just like to keep reminding people that "normal liver enzymes" do not mean you don't have ever-increasing fatty liver or even progressing liver disease. Often, the blood levels used to check for liver problems can remain normal during liver disease progression.

Also, regarding your question of time in versus time out, I doubt it's anywhere near a perfect correlation. I would bet that, in the rat studies, the length of addiction didn't matter in terms of the length of cure. As a 30 year drinker myself, I'd say as a human there is much to untangle and unlearn. (For example, I'm about to have my first Christmas Eve and Christmas since high school without alcohol, which will be a bit weird).

I found evidence of new triggers spiking my drinking, and your relationships break-up could be just that.