OK, first a little info. High tolerance, large dosage, near daily drinking eventually resulting in functional alcoholism seems to run in the family. Same as strong addiction to smoking. Became bona fide alcoholic about 10 years ago. 5 years ago finally realized it, tried moderating. Was able to go AF for 30 days, then resumed moderate drinking at ~15 US units/day on average. That only lasted few months - gradually, slipped into MUCH harder drinking, minimum two bottles of wine every day for the past year with few exceptions. Keep lying to doctors that I drink moderately - afraid of having alcoholism in my medical history (potential problems with future employers and medical insurances). Being a functional alcoholic, this lie was (and maybe still is) believable. But at this point I feel that I am starting to show physical and mental signs. Definitely some cognitive decay - I am a scientist and to myself I admit that I am no longer a very imaginative scientist; also, an obvious increase in forgetfulness. With sudden beer belly and occasional sweating, I am also afraid that my liver is going... (got to check it; maybe can convince my GP to include liver enzymes in my next physical).

Anyhow, time to do something about it! Next week, I will be in a job-related situation where I absolutely cannot drink for >48 hours. Trying to go abstinent for a few days in advance to at least diminish cravings and depression. Over the past 5 years, I've done a lot of primary literature reading and I am convinced that long-term total abstinence is not realistic for a majority of alcoholics. Alas, essentially all treatments are ineffective/barely effective long-term. The idea of extinguishing conditional responses came to me - during my last attempt to go sane I had high hopes for a cue-exposure therapy. Still think that it's ought to be helpful. Googling for "+alcoholism +conditioning" to find out today's status of cue-exposure therapy, I came across TSM. Its appeal to me is not so much that it allows drinking but that it makes obvious biological sense (although I do have some reservations). Thinking about trying it, haven't yet decided if I am going to fess up to doctors (very cheap IF they go along!) or bite the bullet and spend on Naltrexone a little less than I am already spending on wine.

Welcome! We all share the concern about alcoholism in our medical file. I already got burned on it once when I changed insurers years ago and was denied a new policy for "continued drinking while discussing the possibility of treatment", despite never being tested for addiction, never admitting the addiction and never following up on treatment. I told my current physician about TSM, not admitting to alcoholism, but telling her I wanted to cut down on my drinking. And since Naltrexone is still incorrectly prescribed as an anti-craving drug, you might be able to get it from your doctor in this manner, but it still involves risk as my earlier denial indicates. If you do try to get it from your doctor, our collective experience here says you'll have a much greater chance if you say you want to use it as an anti-craving medication and don't intend to continue drinking on it. Which is not an outright lie, as you won't continue drinking on it after your addiction is extinguished.

You may have your doubts about the method, but it works and I would urge you to give it a shot. We now have over 200 members, several are cured and the vast majority report a major life change in terms of reduced cravings and consumption. Only a handful state that it's not working for them (yet). The Finnish studies show at least a 78% success rate as I'm sure you know. Good luck and keep us posted.