I just upped myself from 25 mg to 50 mg Naltrexone. I am wondering how long it takes for the drinking to diminish. I may be drinking slightly less but am still drinking 3/4 of a bottle of wine every night. Should I be making more of a concerted effort to cut down on my intake? Thank you.

It is different for everyone. There is usually a sudden drop, then it creeps back up and then slowly diminishes over time. Dr. Eskapa's book says 3 months is the standard time period to be cured. My experience is that it takes much longer than that. I'm in about 9 months. For the past 5 months or so I've been averaging about 20 drinks a week with 2-3 alcohol free days. A couple of weeks ago I got the flu and had a week or so alcohol free. Ever since my consumption is down to about 10 drinks a week. So there might be something to be said for pushing yourself to have alcohol free days. Although, if you read Dr. Eskapa's book he shows a lot of data to support the fact that any drinking while on Naltrexone works to de-addict you. This happens on a subconscious level so don't expect to feel it as it happens.

Brass tax - just stick with it and don't think too much about it. It will eventually work for you.

randompost, IMO this is all a combo of the subconscious work of Naltrexone, and the conscious effort of your "self." I've been on and off this website for four years now and it's common for people to go on and on about how "hmm, my numbers are not decreasing" as though they were speaking of something out of their control (e.g. "I'm taking this cholesterol pill, but my numbers are not decreasing."). Each "number" you add is a conscious choice -- I get that, at some level, it's not a "choice" because of the addiction, but still.

Naltrexone is a powerful tool to help YOU quit drinking, or dramatically decrease your drinking. It dramatically decreases the power of "the Beast" (that inner power that seems to control you vis-à-vis alcohol or drugs): http://www.rationalrecovery.org

To answer your question from my experience, my normal number of drinks prior to TSM was about 7-12 beers or shots. I never one time drank more than 3 drinks on Naltrexone.

RE: "concerted effort" That's a personal decision. I've known people who do the opposite, that is, make a concerted effort to drink more units on Naltrexone with the idea being that each drink will provide that much more "extinction." One guy would force himself to drink his favorite drink each night, even when he didn't want to. Others, like myself, required little effort because the drug was so powerful on my mind. My goal was always 100% abstinence.

Random, it's always a good practice to keep on looking for indifference to the next drink with TSM. That's eventually what you're going to feel towards alcohol in general as TSM slowly erases the bias that comes from the Lizard Brain's love affair with alcohol. Keep breaking up the habit and try inserting pauses in between drinks or even in between sips. Take a look at when your consumption tends to rise during the evening and switch to a soft drink or water (like when you're talking on the phone, smoking or watching TV). Give the conscious part of your brain a chance to surface and say "Enough for tonight". So, yes. Find some way to bear down on the quantity per drinking session. You may even (assuming you're drinking red wine) have a wine/cola mix after the first glass, as you really don't need more than one drink per session to get a step closer to your goal.