I can't believe that the AA meetings and Smart Recovery meetings and rehab centers never discussed this with me. I am 51 years old and have suffered so much over the last 15 years, as my drinking has grown exponentially. I am genuinely angry.

I pick up my Naltrexone tomorrow morning...

Branca (not my real name)

Welcome Branca! Have you read Eskapa's book? If not, let us know and we can PM or e-mail you a pdf copy - it is really good to read as it explains the logistics which you really need to know. Are you getting the Nal through your doctor or did you order it on-line? Are you doing it TSM or is your doc saying to take it daily and to abstain? If you have any questions feel free to post and ask away! lots of good advice and support here!

hugs, Maggie

Welcome and congratulations, Branca!

How did you find out about TSM?

Have a look at C3's suggestions for getting started, etc:

http://optionssavelives.freeforums.net/ ... hints-tips

Pay special attention to the section about starting on 25mg, eating beforehand, water, etc.

Like Maggie says, just ask if you have any questions!

Welcome, Branca. Yep. I can't believe nobody in the recovery 'industry' mentioned this to me either. Alas, onward and upward! This will surely help you. Stay compliant, 50mg NAL, one hour before you consume for life.

Here's the free download of the text:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/60fs7gmvbyzs1 ... m.pdf?dl=0

Cheers.

Hello Branca,

Here I am sober on a Thursday night thanks to TSM. It has been a miracle. It took me an entire year - so don't be discouraged. Best of luck!

Good luck!!!! It's amazing!

Thanks all!

I read the book over the past 4 weeks, after watching the documentary. I am quite good at collecting data about myself, being part of the quantified self community. I am very science and math based, and I just knew that it was a pharmacological / neurochemical issue that I had no control over. I never felt shame and that I am a bad person.

I came across it on a reddit board and from there I dove into the deep end of research. It has been 5 full days taking naltrexone to start the retraining. I took saturday night off from the pill, cooked a nice dinner and watched 8 hours of Mr Robot. Good endorphins.

I anticipate that I will max out at 30 drinks this week from 70-90 a week a two weeks ago...

I cannot believe the feeling of control I have. I know, the "Honeymoon" phase. I've been lurking here for a month.

Thank you all so much for this community!

Sounds like you've done your due diligence. Excited to hear you ran across this on Reddit. Some of us spend time over there spreading awareness. Often it seems fruitless so we love to hear we made an impact!

Due diligence indeed.

I am treating this process like a pregnancy, keeping the news close to me and a few until I get past the first trimester. I have failed too many times in the past to go out evangelizing. I was active on /r/stopdrinking /r/alcoholism and, unfortunately, /r/cripplingalcoholism.

Sounds like you've gotten a good confirmation from the Nal, Branca! Stick with the One Hour Rule and you'll have it nailed.

You might want to check out "The Upward Spiral" by Alex Korb. No matter what the cover says, it's mostly about how anxiety and stress get handed over to the automatic part of the brain, the same part where addictions come from. He talks about the different parts of the prefrontal cortex and what those parts specialize in. The premise is that a small change can telescope out to a big depressive result (a downward spiral), but you can use the same mechanism to plant your own little change in the right place and let the brain automatically turn that into an "Upward Spiral". Kind of like how just making the one little change of taking the Nal an hour before you drink can create huge results. You can find previews of it on Google Books and Amazon.

Nal on, Branca!