Hi I started TSM back in January. All was well, I went from 156units down to 10units a week by August, I figured I was "cured". The AF days felt so great and I felt like it was the nal making me feel shitty on the few days that I did want to drink (so why bother even drinking). Then I took a new job, no time for the pill, blah blah blah... ended up having a couple drinks after work... BAM, 3 weeks later, lost my job, back to the old ways and my family wants rehab or the streets for me. I heard alot of "I knew that drinking to cure alcohol was a croc of ****" (direct quote from my mother, who in her own "functional" way is a hidden alcoholic). It sucks. I knew to follow the "golden rule" but I thought just one time would be okay...I can't do rehab again, it never helped me (3 months sober and when you relapse, you find yourself in the hospital). Has anyone else here had the same experience? I want to go back to TSM and still have 25 nals but my family is pretty much done with the idea, they were very skeptical from the get go.

Thanks for listening,
Caleb

Caleb, sounds like you didn't get quite all the way to "Pharmacological Extinction". Did you keep a log of your drinking? That may be your best weapon now. Going from 150+ units per week to around 10 ought to speak for itself. You're spot on about rehab, the "detox and immediate abstinence" approach has a 90% failure rate in the first 4 years and only 20% make it through the first year. Functionally, what that means is that detox and abstinence is largely a prescription for uncontrolled drinking, you just don't know how much you will drink and when. It's kind of like binge drinking with a long dry cycle. That's not to knock it for those that it works for, 10% are able to get the job done that way and that's really the only approach we had for decades.

More than a few have tried drinking without the Nal and indeed they go right back to the "same old used to be". I suppose it comes down to how much time you can buy while you get back on TSM. I would expect progress to go rather quickly. Were you working with a doctor?

I agree with Joe going from 156 down to 10 units a week speaks volumes of how well TSM works. BUt still the stigma of AA is so powerful that even in the face of overwhelming data people will still not believe it. My only advice is that you need to do what works for yourself. Period. Alcoholism is a selfish sickness and so is the road to recovery and or cure.

I had been doing TSM for about a year when I found myself at an event and forgot my Naltrexone. I decided to drink anyway and I didn't notice a difference. It could be that the Naltrexone was still lingering in my system from using it the night before but that was the one and only time I ever drank without it. I only had 3 drinks and that was it. But it works different for everyone.

Obviously TSM works very well for you based on those numbers.

Ocean is correct and that everyone's experience on/off Nal can be quite different. frankly, you seem like someone TSM was really working for and should try it again. forget the naysayers and give it a try for now. but this time DON'T CHEAT dammit! prove them wrong. I suspect you can. good luck to you!

Thanks guys for the feedback. Joe, I did have a psychiatrist who specializes in addiction whom I used the first 3 months. Unforgenately, we couldn't afford to keep doing the visits and honestly CBT doesn't have much affect on me (basically 350 an hour to talk about the same issue I've talked about with a hand full of other docs /therapist/ counselors, kind of alot of money to get a script). Thankfully, he understood that I was a more "experienced" alcoholic when it comes to therapy and gave me a good amount of refills on my last visit. I'm not going to give up on TSM, its just really hard to explain to those closest to you... (not having to drink in the morning was a huge victory for me, but its not exactly something you want to pin up on the refrigerator door (likewise with my TSM drinking log))... it can be a tough sell. Nonetheless, there's no giving up. Again, thanks for the feedback

Cool, well stick with us and let us know how you're doing, Caleb. BTW, The Interior Chemical Dependency Office in BC is offers TSM all across Canada via Telehealth, so you can toss that fact back at the naysayers. Contral (the folks that run the TSM clinics in Finland and elsewhere) have opened a clinic in Canda and one in Massachusetts

http://contralnewengland.com/

I don't know if you're going out of pocket for the Nal, but if so, there's a site called GoodRx.com that has an electronic coupon you can use at local pharmacies. Nal is $40 or under for 30 pills that way.