Hello all,

I have been following this board for quite some time now. After a couple attempts at getting NAL from a doctor, I finally decided to order from River.

Its been a very long wait, although, it only took 8 days to get it! So here I am with my NAL and all these different emotions and concerns running through me.

I guess you could consider me a binge drinker. Its like hurricane watch when I do drink, will it just be a minor depression passing through, a tropical storm or a full blown hurricane? I can go for days without drinking, or even weeks. (Mainly due to the memory of the last binge) Every time it follows the same plot, drink too much, wake up thinking ok what did I do last night? who did I piss off? in what form did I make a fool of myself? then the normal physical hangover, the anxiety, the guilt the shame....

I started out young as a binger, did a stint in rehab, stayed sober for roughly over 11 years....but all that time I was sober, yes life was much better than drinking but.....it was like alot of my decisions were based on some sort of fear, fear of alcohol. To me not much good comes out of basing decisions or living in even the smallest amounts of fear. The after business meeting socials that I didnt attend, what relationships were formed there that I was not a part of? Other social events that I had no interest in attending, people I didnt meet, places I didnt go... (not to bash any group that tries to help people with AL, but I think AA planted that fear in my head too)

Im not looking for an excuse to drink (maybe I am in the short term) but utlimately I would really like to just not have that fear there, the addiction. I dont want to live with it any more.

I found this board through a brief pass through at MWO. But was initially told about SM from a person who had been sober for over 3 years (at lifering online chat), he claimed to be a 24x7 fall down pass out drinker...he used SM, and now claims he could care less about alcohol. I believe him.

After reading about SM, I couldnt believe it. It seems to be the answer. I read about a person who used SM over 10 years ago, and today has a normal happy life, with his NAL.

So here I am pills in hand....I am afraid of drinking right now to tell you the truth. Ofcourse, if I do Ill take my NAL, but what Im wondering is, how many more hangover shame guilt spirals will I have to go through to see any type of positive affects? At this point I would consider just not having those day after shame and guilt mental olympics a huge success. They really interupt daily life, and seems like Im just starting over until the binge.

Can anyone tell me if in the early times if (even if over endulging) if they got those horrible hangovers mental or physical? (I know each person is unique)

Its hard to imagine, but just reading everyones progress whether great or small, SM truely seems to be a miracle find.

Anway, Im grateful to find this place, and am ever so hopeful that if I stick to SM it will work for me.

Thanks to all those here who set this place up, and who continued to post to help others....

(Its funny but after reading many of your posts, I almost have mental pictures of each you and come here to see what happend next among other things , not to make light or trivia of any of your lives.)

Hi Hap,

While I can't answer your question, I just wanted to say hi, let you know that I had the same, "pills in hand" experience last night. I've been white-knuckling for months now and I was worried that taking the nal and giving myself permission to drink was going to be very disruptive.

Thanks to my side effects, I had 3oz of wine and I fell asleep within an hour. So, tonight, terrified of the side effects, I stared at the pill again. Stared at it wondering if it was really going to ... y'know.

I also wanted to write because I saw that you're online, I'm online, and for the moment, we're very literally in it together

cheers,
Alifetime

Hi to both of you and welcome...

Actually my first post (or one of my first posts) on this board was something about I have the pills in hand - do I take the plunge. SR told me to jump in the water is fine - I will pass that along to both of you...it was by far one of the best decisions I have made in my life.

I hope you both have the same awesome experience that I have had with this method, but as you know if you have read the posts, the frustrations are abundant for the first few months. You may have more hangovers before this is done but I think you will have less - so cling to that.

I just posted on my weekly thread a Before & After snapshot that tells a good story - I wish more of us would do that for the newcomers (take the timeline out so you can see how dramatic the change is).~Q also posted an encouraging 'CURED' thread this week...

I can tell you this works. I can tell you it's different for everyone. Nearly everyone has made progress - so you are doing the right thing.

If you have nausea - make sure you eat something before taking it and cut that pill up -- even down to 1/4 of a pill will help you. Cutting the pill does not decrease it's effectiveness it just decreases the number of hours you are covered. (50 mg = 24 hours, 25 mg = 12 hours, etc.).

Best of luck to you both

Hi Hapful and welcome.

I can completely relate to your experience -- check out my progress reports. I still have horrific hangovers on nal and in fact, I think they are worse on nal. BUT, I have had far fewer of them since starting TSM. I started TSM about two months ago because I was sick and tired of feeling paralyzed by depression, guilt, and remorse virtually every Sunday after three days of bingeing. After starting TSM I had the "honeymoon period" and went several weeks without getting drunk and was hangover free. Then, for whatever reason, including a number of larger stressors in my life, I drank a ton two weekends in a row. Long story short -- and you can read my progress report thread if you want details -- I still have had hangovers since starting TSM, but they are far less common than they were before starting the method.

Also, when I drink under TSM now I experience much more control and clarity and have had far fewer embarrassing drinking episodes. Until I went to a wedding two weeks ago, I had not blacked out any conversations on nal for over six weeks, and I had been experiencing weekly blackouts before starting TSM.

Tonight I'm not drinking and have zero craving. GF offered me a glass of wine and I had NO INTEREST. This would NEVER have happened pre-TSM. It's working for me, as it is for virtually everyone else here.

Welcome! I think you are in for a life-altering positive experience. Watch out for side-effects when you start, including nausea and sleep disruption, which usually go away very quickly, maybe a week or so. If you have really bad symptoms, start with 25 mg until your body adapts.

Good luck.

Nick

Hi hapful,

I just simply want to welcome you to The Sinclair Method (TSM) community.

As you've been following this board for some time now, you will have got a good feel for what is going on here including individuals' experiences. That's good.

Regarding hangovers, I do not get them. I think this is, in part, because I rarely drink red wine, which I found did give me hangovers. I stick with white wine and beer (mostly lager).

So, welcome aboard and good luck on your TSM journey!

V.

Welcome aboard, hapful. I think you're making a wise choice for your life, and wish you all the best. Please try to overcome the fear of taking Nal. Many of us here, including myself, quickly discovered that drinking while on Nal is an entirely different and better experience. Even before our consumption is dramatically decreased, we find that we are far more lucid when drinking, and most of the erratic, foolish behavior simply disappears. Nick is the exception to this rule - maybe because he's always erratic and foolish, drinking or no. (*wide grin*)

While I'm on a tight work deadline and can't participate here as much as I'd like of late, know that you have the understanding and support of a group of truly amazing souls.

Hi, and welcome to the board. I am excited to hear first had about someone who had a cure with this method
that you know first hand. If you are comfortable more details about this person would be very interesting. In fact it would be wonderful if they would post their experience on the board, which is annomyous.

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

I am trying to post more on my progress thread rather than posting here, because it seems to be the newbie introduction section.

LaBear, I have emailed the person that originally told me about SM and asked that they could provide testimony that I could cut and paste here, or come and join the board.

hapful

Hello there hapful & welcome aboard. Hang on tight - :-)