Hi Everyone,

So happy that we have a place to share, talk, and support each other. I must admit that getting used to the new forum has been a bit overwhelming to me. While I haven't been posting, I have been pulling up the site, daily (or more) and figuring it all out. And, of course, I've been following the posts of the people I got to know on MWO with great interest and concern, as well as the posts of those who are even newer to the Sinclair method than myself.

I did post the first day (maybe 2nd).

So, my story...

I have been drinking my entire adult life. It felt pretty managable up until about 3-4 years ago. By manageable, I mean I seemed to be functioning pretty well while drinking 5-6 rum & diets every day. I never began drinking before 5 PM and (besides some sluggishness in the early part of the day) didn't think that boose was affecting my personal or work life.

Four years ago I made some drastic changes in my life. I left my job as a first-grade teacher (By that time I had an M.Ed.) and I had a decent enough income to support myself and my 2 teenage daughters. Well, I left my teaching position in order to pursue my Ph.D. in education. I was involved w/ my significant other (at that point, 6 years) and he SO supported my dream of obtaining my Ph.D. AND we were in such a place in our relationship that he wanted to move in together so I could afford to go from financial independence to sharing finances. We moved in together. BIG move for me. I did NOT like relying on him for supporting myself, and at that point, the support of one daughter (the other daughter had moved out at that point).

At that time, I was still drinking to the point that seemed acceptable to me and my loved ones(albeit daily) , and it wasn't interfering w/ life, in general.

Then, the sh#@ hit the fan. I had a REALLY hard time adjusting to being a Ph.D. student and graduate assistant. Teaching at the college level, compared to teaching first grade, TOTALLY stressed me out. PLUS, I was now financially dependent on my SO, which was really challenging.

Well, within months, I came to realize that my oldest daughter was shooting up heroin. A few short months after that, I found out my mom had in-operable lung cancer. (My mom was my best friend AND a recovering alcoholic - 20+ years sober with AA) Anyway, my daughter's situation went from really bad to worse and my mom seemed better for a while, but less than 2 years ago, died. (THANKFULLY my daughter hasn't used in 1.5 years. However, she still needs to visit a methadone clinic, daily.)

Well, my drinking became my comfort to an increasing degree through all that was happening in my life. I realized it, but couldn't control it. THEN, my significant other broke up with me this past spring, in part due to my drinking. He was the love of my life. It was a downward spiral from there. I have been drinking all day, every day, since mid May. Somehow, I've managed to keep up with my academic pursuits and my teaching without any consequence, but I am devastated emotionally and physically by my alcohol addiction.

A few short weeks ago, I Googled "meds for alcoholism", which led me to MWO, and, THANKFULLY the "Strictly Sinclair" forum. I AM SO GRATEFUL!!!!

I am on day 10 of Naltrexone and drinking. If I had posted 2 days ago, you would have heard from a REALLY discouraged woman. However, the past two days (days 9 and 10) have given me a LOT of hope. I still take my Nal before noon to make sure that I can have a drink when I start going nuts, BUT my drinking is down. I was killing a 5th of rum over two days, and for the past 2 days I haven't even wanted rum. I have had 1.5 bottles of wine both yesterday and today. Baby steps, I know, but progress nonetheless.

BTW, my significant other and me are back together and he is fully aware of my dedication to Nal + alcohol = cure program.

Thanks to all of you.

Lena, you may never know how starting the Strictly Sinclair thread has impacted the lives of those who stumbled upon it!!! Thank you!

Best to all of you!
Vic

Hi again,

As I said in the last post, stumbling upon the Strictly Sinclair Method on MWO was, potentially, a life saver for me.

Is there some way for some of us to continue that forum for the sake of those people mucking about for help in their desperation????

Does this forum have the same exposure when folks are looking for help???

This forum is wonderful for those of us who were invited, but will the general online public conducting a search such as mine find us???

Concerned,
Vic

Vic -

I think a number of us are keeping and eye on the MYO forums. No, as of now this forum doesn't have the same exposure. That should change as the search engines find us (it's been submitted) and we can get some links to us set up on other sites.

For now it's best we continue to help people at MYO and if eventually appropriate, steer them over here.

FWIW, if you Google for Sinclair Method Forums we're #5 in the results without even trying. Not too bad for less than a week in operation!

RV

Hi Vicki -- Glad to see you here again. Yes, some are continuing to be active on MWO. There was a wee bit of drama by way of pm's and some members were concerned about the fact that we chose to start another site. By far the majority of reaction has been support and warm wishes for our endeavor -- and the clear message that we remain welcome on MWO.

There is a great deal of debate -- by far the most of it healthy -- on the MWO site about various solutions to alcohol issues. Even aspects of the program developed by the site's founder are debated there (i.e. moderation as a viable option). The founder is to be commended for the community she has created. It's a rich source of information and support for those seeking alternatives to AA/type approaches. Still, it's certainly easy to see why a program that not only encourages but requires continued drinking for a few weeks would be alarming to a few folks. The vast majority who questioned the method did so with respect and an open mind. And it's also been gratifying to hear from several members who had not been posting, but were reading and learning from our Sinclair thread on MWO.

MWO is where I got information on the Sinclair Method, and found most of the folks on this site as we banded together on a thread there. Our common purpose was to support one another, and perhaps to educate, but not to "recruit". It has become quite apparent that for many folks visiting MWO, the Sinclair Method just might be the answer. So, especially given the positive posts encouraging us to maintain a presence there, I think we should do just that. SpringerRider is covering that base as I focus on helping to keep this site active. I do plan to do as others here do and pop back over from time to time. To all who still visit MWO, do feel free to post or pm to let folks know about our site and to tell them all thanks for the support. The Sinclair Method is just too valuable to remain the world's best-kept secret.

BTW, I noticed the google bot visiting our site a couple of days ago. That means we are likely to show up on a google search. I'm only half computer literate but I do know this is thanks to the good work of N101CS doing a helluva job w/ meta tags as he set up this site. Thanks again N101CS.

Keep posting! Lena

As with any community there will be people who see things in different ways, but over the time I have been at MWO (18 months) there have been many quite heated, and sometimes downright nasty arguments over mods and abs!

As RJ (the founder of MWO) was looking for a method to moderate when she created MWO it is rather odd that people on that forum can be critical and judgmental of others there who are seeking to moderate.

I think a few of us 'Sinclarists' have communicated we do not care if we are moderate drinkers or abstainers at the end of the day, we just want to be free of this monkey on our backs.

I can understand that some abstinent people maybe a little irked by the Sinclair method- imagine if you had white knuckled for years, often falling of your wagon to involve yourself in more nasty embarrasing incidents, maybe paid a fortune for rehab, or another expensive treatment- spent every single free moment sitting in AA meetings which often made you feel you were no better than the poor little slug in the garden, just to find you were finally managing to get on top of the fight, or at least it felt like you were- (you could never be too sure, you must never ever drop your guard) only to find a new method has been discovered, and all that you have gone through was not necessary- and much worse, (although deep down you know you aren't 'cured', you are just abstinent by pure willpower which could fail at any moment) the cure is not recommended for you because you are abstinent??!!!! Abstinent but never really free- what could you do??? Would you start drinking again and hope it worked for you? What is you were one of the ones for whom it did not work?? So you can only remain abstinent but spend the rest of your days miserable at family parties, Christmas and Thanksgiving are a nightmare for you, as is any birthday celebration for anyone over the age of 18, you are always the bored to tears designated driver, while other addicts are just popping a small pill, and are free to completely get on with their lives and and have a fantastic time at social occasions whether they decide to drink or not, as the fear has gone?!!!
I can understand some people being quite annoyed at this method, although of course they should not be, they should be thankful there is possibly now help that will work for nearly all who try it, not just a tiny percentage, even if they did not use it themselves.

At the end of the day MWO is a business, money is made by the Adverts on the site, Affiliate programs for drug companies, Subscriber fees, Own brand supplements, Hypnosis CDs, A downloadable version of the book and the hardcopy book. If it works for some (which it surely does) that is fantastic, but it made me laugh that people there were talking about the Sinclair method being a 'ripoff'. I am not suggesting for a minute that MWO is a ripoff, far from it, but it is a business, not a site that has time and effort put into it with no hope of return.

As for people seeking help finding their way here, as RV said, with time it will come out higher on the results of the SE but when I was looking to set up a forum, I found that the PHBPP forums were not very search engine friendly as the post thread is given a number instead of the name of the thread. However there are 'mods' which one can use to make it search engine friendly. I am useless at that type of thing, but I think RV is a programmer and should be able to make it work?!! I am also concerned that people who desperately need this information may not be able to find it.

(As my forum is not needed now I am working on a small site describing the method that will be SE friendly and will point folk over here).