I just got my script. I usually drink around a 12 pack a day sometimes a few more sometimes a bit less and after working and feeling like crap I try to do 1 or 2 days off a week to recover. Nite one usually involves sweating and some sleepy time tea with melatonin to sleep and by day two I feel fine but wind up drinking after work monday. Used to drink a lot more when I was younger. Been drinking heavy since I was 17, ever since my mid 20's tried to stay around 10 a day so I could hold a job and not get in trouble but it always swings a bit. Anyway I'm 33, I take .5 mg in the morning of Klonapin for anxiety. Ive tried aa etc etc over the years but always wind up back to the same old same old. So I just started I took 1 50mg naltrexone a little over an hour before I drank. I set out to drink 10 beers, it was different that's for sure. after 5 beers I started throwing up and by the 9nth beer I said the heck with throwing up and went to bed. Got sick in the morning before work. Went to work took half a pill an hour before just to see if I would be less sick. Drank 9 beers and then got sick. Woke up the next day got sick twice and stayed home from work. Just really tired. All that getting sick wore me out. Tonite im not drinking or taking the Naltrexone just to give my stomach a break. Gonna start back on the plan over the weekend. Just hoping the throwing up gets better, planning to push though it but working in the heat all day after tossing my cookies a number of times isn't easy. Anyway just wanted to introduce myself, get any good advice I can. Also if anyone is in the central Florida area and wants to meetup or whatever im available. Thanks Dusty

Hey Dusty,

I am a newbie like you and just started Nal yesterday as well. Sick as He** today, barely made it to work.......I feel your pain. From what I've read here you might try lowering the dose to 1/2 for a few days to let your body adjust. I took only 25mg and I was still sick, so I think I will lower it to 1/4 pill a day until the weekend and will bump up to 25mg again on Friday. Gotta keep my job!!

Anyway, a nice welcome to you from another new TSMer. I used to live in St Petersburg......we could have gotten together for support if we'd started several years ago I live in Washington state now. Hang in there.....I'm planning to.

Cindy

Thanks Cindy! I hadn't thought of cutting the pill into quarters. I think ill give that a go till the weekend and then bump it up. At least that way I'm still working at it instead of trying to sweat it out for a few days. I almost took the ferry from fort Desoto to Egmont key the other weekend till a few friends canceled. I have some friends in St Pete im usually over that way every few months or so.

How are you doing Dustman? Just checking in. I cut my nal dose way down to less than 12.5mg and am tolerating it much better. Still a slight headache, but nothing major. I am already noticing a big change with nal. Drinking just does not give me the same pleasure that it used to. No buzz and I'm really just drinking out of habit. For instance, I had a big fight with my 19 year old son today and the first thing I thought of after he left was "wow, I need a drink". I took my (small dose) nal right then and waited an hour. I am on my third (large) glass of wine and I have to say that it is really doing nothing for me except for giving me a headache. I can't believe how this stuff is working for me. I can't really see any reduction in units yet but I definitely see it coming. There is just no real reason to drink anymore.

I hope you are doing well,
Cindy

I'm rooting for you Dusty. Thank you for sharing about your fight w/ your 19-year-old miss cindy. I had a fight w/ mine yesterday. It was awful and lead to wine drinking on my part. I was SO tired today. Ugh. Waiting for the RX to come in the mail....I KNOW I can handle drama without alcohol I just choose to use alcohol 'cause I crave it.....

Heck yeah Maggie, alcohol is the only way we know how to deal with things. This is a huge process. Not just extinguishing the desire to drink, but learning how to handle life and its issues without alcohol. Lets all hang in there no matter what problems arise. We are stronger than we think and we CAN do this.

Cindy

Cindy,

I've been doing the wine thing since starting TSM and have been forcing myself to finish glass/bottle (which is just stupid). However I'm really starting to dislike the effects of being drunk without the rush and the taste/smell is starting to turn me off also. I think I'm going to concentrate on that aspect every time I decide to drink and keep in mind "that alcohol is actually a poison created from the by-product of decaying vegetable matter." - Craig Beck

Rich

Rich,

It sounds like you are having the same kind of reaction that I am (smell, taste, ick!). However, someone warned me that that is aversion therapy and not actually the way Nal is supposed to work i.e. extinction. However, I am happy with my results so far, so no complaints. Well, maybe one complaint....I really feel so crappy every day.....but I have cut my Nal dose way down and am hoping my body will adjust. And you are so right about alcohol being poison. When I was in college (studied Psychology) I learned that alcohol is absolutely the worst drug we can put in our bodies. It changes your whole system on the cellular level. E-gads, scary to think what 20 years of heavy drinking has done to me.

Personally, I think Nal does have some "aversion therapy" effects for some. Personally, I often get nauseous when I think about drinking alcohol (though I still drink moderately) because of some intensely negative experiences of alcohol + Nal. It definitely makes not drinking easier when the thought of alcohol makes you queasy.

Barry,

I agree, aversion seems to be a “weak force” for me at the moment and it’s something completely new since starting TSM. As teeny as it is it still reminds me I have an opportunity to change current direction no matter how far I walked down the path (going to need that today! - Ha)

Rich