I drank today with 25mg of nal and pretty buzzed, but I felt like I needed to drink some water with my wine. I think I drank right through the 25mg of nal. I started on 50mg of nal it just made me so tired and would drink 150ml of wine the 3 weeks on nal and had 5 AF days. My struggle is I really want to be sober, but I still want to have my wine. Idk I want my cake and I want to eat it to. I'm just skeptical about TSM and scared cuz I not only need to change how much I drink, but the self destructive behaviors that accompany booze over load.

I read Dr.Sinclair's book and have seen every You Tube and internet interview with Claudia Christian discussing TSM and very inspiring...I have been so interested in her journey with TSM and her success. I guess essentially it's a trial by error like anything else in life...

SO, you DO want to change the drinking behaviour or you don't? I wanted to be able to drink like a normal person when I started Nal - but after I was cured, the decision to drink 'normally' was taken from me - I just do not want to drink AT ALL! Which is fine...... but you are such early days yet - I would stop worrying about what will be and just take the nal at least an hour before you drink. That is all you need to do. Worry about everything else later on in the journey! And why are you sceptical? And if you really are, then why are you doing it? You do need to be committed and consistent. Otherwise you are wasting your money .... it can and does work - I am living proof! So, as long as you do want to get the demon AL off your back, then settle in for a stormy ride!

Hugs, maggie

Thank you, Maggie I appreciate your advice. I look up to you and joesixpack on this forum. You both seem to really be passionate about TSM, care about people and give great advice. Apparently the nal worked because otherwise I would of never had AF days or just drinking 150ml a day of wine. In reality I know that's just the" honeymoon" period and I probably need to take the 50mg of nal 1 hour prior to drinking and be mindful of my drinking and the rest will be in due time. I would love to be on the cured list one day.

Ah, well... the Nal won't stop you from getting drunk on the same amount of wine, it will only stop your brain from connecting the pleasure with the alcohol. You may not even feel that happening. Drinking never really felt any different to me after starting TSM, except it became easier to start later and on occasion end earlier. Still get the same buzzy/fuzzy feeling from it. It wasn't too long before I couldn't conceive of drinking at pre-TSM levels though.

It's hard to say whether you'll choose to drink or not once you have your choice back. Many do. About 40% decide alch really doesn't have any appeal to them anymore and they abstain. In the end, you'll do what feels right to you, what feels good. It will feel alright.

Sounds like you know about the honeymoon already, so you know not to worry if you start drinking more for a bit. Good job on focusing on the mindfulness, because I think that will serve you well beyond your journey to normal drinking.

Don't push the AF days, as you don't want to waste an extinction opportunity. One person recently tried to string too many together and crashed into a binge without Nal, so beware of that. You don't have to have any more than one drink after following the Golden Rule to move a step forward with the process (unless you really crave another), so don't feel like you have to polish off the bottle or anything.

Welcome and congratulations on your launch, Steph! Thanks for sharing your journey with us and I'll look forward to your updates!

Thank you JoeSixPack for your advice. I'm just happy I found TSM as I was running out of options and it really was depressing to think I would never have control over this disease. I seen Claudia Christian doing a interview on Larry King discussing naltrexone about a year ago and researched it a bit at that time, but I didn't think my doctor would be willing to give me a script and I was honestly nervous to discuss my drinking problem with him. Recently when I got to the point I was sick of the grips of alcohol on my life I went to see my doc and had to be honest and he gave 3 month supply of nal. Implementing TSM has been a god send. Thank you all for your encouragement and support.

Steph - I am so glad that your doc is on board - does he think you are doing it re TSM or is he thinking you are taking it and abstaining? Hopefully he will refill the RX in three months .....

Hugs, Maggie

When I went to see him my intentions were to abstain and use the nal to diminish cravings, but 3 days sober I was miserable so I decided to try TSM. I think he will be supportive of TSM he is pretty open minded...