Hi All ,

Here goes , I will keep it short for now .

10 years of heavy binge drinking 3 or 4 nights drinking day and night then 3 to 4 days recuperation then repeat the cycle

Moved home had nearly 3 years AF other than about 2- 3 short binges .

year ago my best friend who I lived with died started to drink everynight 2bottle of wine after 10 pm at night , also had a couple of bad binges socially , hence why I rarely go out . Recently I have changed that to 1 bottle of wine and 4 500 ml bottles of beer so not much of a change .

I am on nal for nearly 11 weeks now , other than the wine tasting awful for a while and getting tired no change .

This weekend gone by , I had a family event which I organized everybody was delighted with the event , Friday night no blackout good control more so because all the bars had closed . Sunday I had 2 drinks relised , I had not taken my nal 1st and only time that happened , so I went home got my nal then went to the party which went on until about 2 am , I cant remember the last three hours of the event , I have been in bits all week with depression , anxiety etc . This was my first social event since taken Nal . I know it can take months and I am her for the long haul . Feeling fine now beer in hand just felt it was time to add my story as I have been around for a while now . All the best to everybody . J

Hiya. Nice to meet you.

It can indeed take months, over a year for some, but I'd normally think you'd see some change after 11 weeks. Are you keeping a journal?

Wine drinkers seem to have the hardest time for some reason. I don't think anyone's done an actual study, or even a survey, but that's the impression I get just from noodling around the forums.

I'm sorry about your friend jokerman. I think my drinking increased several years ago when my husband was diagnosed with a rare eye cancer. It really rocked my world, and alcohol was the best coping mechanism I had going on at the time. (He's fine now, at the moment.)

How did you manage 3 years AF?

I would start keeping exact track of your progress so you can see if there are any changes at all.

Good luck!

Thanks for the replies folks

Yes Melissa I am going to start a journal of my drinking from now on , I am slowly changing over from wine to beer as that is what I would drink socially , I have seen wine drinkers who have had slower results but others with very quick response but who knows . Maggiemay thanks my friend was my mother who died after 18 months battling cancer , I was her carer and did not cope well after her death , she was my best friend and EXACTLY that type of friend who was open minded and would have worked with me and helped me through Tsm . As regards 3 years Af mostly , I suppose I can attribute a lot of that to my mother , changing habits , training hard etc . Since I moved back home I don't really crave anymore it the bingeing that gets me and hurts me the hardest . I am delighted your husband is better now its not a nice process to go through . xx All the best . j.

Hi Jokerman

Good to hear how you're getting on *(and thanks again)* I'm sorry for your loss ... that must have been a very difficult time

I think the above comment is a really good idea about keeping a journal ... you may be reducing slowly and not even aware

Interesting about the wine thoughts too .. I;m a bit of a wine head ... I'm sure there's a lot of sugar/carbohydrate thing going on too

How's your appetite Jokerman .?? Do you find if you eat more .. especially more carbohydrate ... that you drink less? Might be worth a try and I know a couple of the old timers (and success stories) recommend eating

good luck Joker .... keep posting Lorraine

Just to update everyone , I am just over 24 weeks in and 50 mg has no effect on my drinking , I have been very careful with the golden rule but still no progress . I think I saw in dr eskapas book that there is some evidence that people without any family history may not have great results but I have a huge family history of problem drinkers from both sides of my family . Last week I increased the dose to 75 mg and I noticed I had to stop after 2 beers but then I had a bottle of wine which tasted awful but I still managed to drink it , habit I guess , So I am going to try and get a bigger supply of nal so I can use 75 mg every night . I am also going to try to force some af days so the tablets will last . Will update soon again I hope everyone is doing well on TSM all the best . J.

Yep, if it didnt taste awful before and now does, looks like you found the right dose.

Glad to hear that the increased doseage is helping. Just remind me...are you in Ireland? Is that why you have trouble getting a supply of Nal?

Hi Ruthy

Yes I am from Ireland but I can still get them from abroad and I have no problem when I use 50 mg but if I up it to 75 then I think I will need to force some af days which will probably help me anyway . This is my 4 day in a row af and I started back in the gym today , as with others I think (I hope ) nal will be an important tool in my recovery but I will need to work on other areas of my life too .(as well as tsm helping me , I should help tsm also ) All the best J.

Good to hear how well you're doing.

Many of us have underlying life issues which should be addressed. Often it's a lot easier to address them once we're off the sauce. Go figure.