Hello all,

I've been lurking here for a few days, reading up a storm, and thank you all for being here. I'm an alcohol abuser who quit drinking at 33, had 17 years of sobriety, and took it up again at 50. I'm now 62. At 60, I noticed changes in my gait and balance, went to a neurologist, and was diagnosed with ataxia. The Dr asked about drinking, and I lied about my heavy consumption. It's not unusual for me to polish off most of a 1.75 liter of pinot grigio almost every night. He sent me for labs, to rule out heavy metals, lymes, etc. He also suggested I have our well water tested, and it's high in manganese, so I switched to drinking bottled water. I've done everything but cut back on my drinking!

Finally, last week, I found a therapist who has her LACD, accepted by my insurance company. I e-mailed her, said I didn't want to identify as alcoholic and have it follow my record forever. She agreed and said she'd just list my diagnosis as depression. In the meantime, I discovered TSM, found this board, and read the book.Today I placed an order for a 3 mo supply of Nal from All-Day-Chemists. I'm ready to try this method. My goal is to be mostly AF, and perhaps abstinent, given my condition. Perhaps the damage is already done, but I hope to at least arrest it.

Thanks for listening and any advice is appreciated. By the way, I live not far from Yale, where one of the studies took place. It seems like they only discovered that Nal + drinking worked only because some patients were non-compliant. Sounds like me. I'll be checking into the board, and will let you know when my Nal arrives. Let the adventure begin.

Rebecca

Welcome Rebecca,

Game on. Lets do this.

I wish I had 17 years of sobriety. I couldn't make it the first 14 years of my life. First binges were freshman year of high school, and I have been snowballing for the last 28 years.

However, the last 7 weeks doing TSM are showing me that I have promise.

Keep me posted.

Good Luck,

Christopher