I am a binge drinker and have been for the last year or two. I have alcoholics in my family (and I may be one) and realized I needed to get this under control but couldn't manage to do it consistently. Even when I was binge drinking (bottle of wine usually and sometimes closer to 2 but I would generally pass out before I got there), I would do it max 3 times a week so I had at least 4 AF days a week. I would also have periods when I didn't drink. When I was binging I was definitely self medicating. It usually started with me pouring a glass of wine while I made dinner and then filling it up while I cleaned the kitchen and for the rest of the night (stressful time of day for me). I have been unsuccessful in voluntarily cutting back consistently.

I read from a q and a session with Dr. Eskapa if you are a binge drinker you need to have 4 drinking sessions a week (as little as one drink) for the first two weeks and then use it when you are going to drink. I really don't want to do that (forcing a glass of wine down now) but I also want to start the program right and am trying to have an AF weekend next weekend from Friday thru Sunday.

Questions:

1. When I take the nal (25mg) (this is the second night) I feel really strange - almost high? Is this normal and does this go away?

2. Has anyone stayed on 25 mg nal? I had two glasses of wine last night during a football game and honestly only poured the second because my husband (who rarely drinks) did and I wanted to take it out on the screened porch to watch the game. I had no desire for more. I have no real desire to finish this one but I will (however I did have cravings around 4 o'clock related to stress (surprise teen party) and nal took care of them). I can't imagine taking the 50mg.

Thoughts?

Many notice an effect from a half-dose of Nal, but most (per Dr. Sinclair) will need 50mg to block the opioid receptors entirely for 12 hours from the first dose. I suppose the best way to play this is after you get past the initial side effects go with the recommended 50mg. If you can't get used to 50mg, try rolling back to 25 (or whatever your doctor tells you to do). My own TSM doc told me some people do fine with 25, some need 100 or more. 50 is the dose that does the trick for most.

Again, many notice that they want less to drink when starting up TSM, but there's a rebound from that level. Have a look at the graph on this page:

http://www.cthreefoundation.org/options ... self-sober

NB, that's a 4 month graph and most take 6-12 months to get to their goals with TSM. In any case, you can see that TSM is a very up and down affair. You can search for "Honeymoon" on this board for many stories about the initial rebound. It's also described here as the "First-Drink" effect under the heading "What Should You Expect to Happen?" :

https://www.the-sinclair-method.com/the ... -drinking/

In some cases, drinking levels run back up even higher than before TSM, so don't be taken aback if you get a rebound. It won't be the first and it's entirely normal.

During those rebounds, work on keeping the drink away from you while you keep a NA drink close to you, so it's not as easy to habitually grab the drink and take another gulp. Give the conscious part of your brain a little more time to step in and say "Enough for now". You only need one drink per TSM drinking session for TSM to work. The more you can forego as many subsequent drinks as possible without the addicted part of your brain harassing you to feed it more alcohol, the better. If you don't actually crave the next drink, let it slide and see if it works comfortably into going NA for the rest of the night. This can help clip the tops off the rebounds and smooth out the ride.