Something I noticed on this board was posters seem to pop up, last about six months and then fade away. Some stay longer. Some post for a month or two and are gone. If one looks around on SoberRecovery.com and other AA sites, there posters who have posted for years, some posting every day. This is true on other sites. Not here. Something is different. Other than, for something as simple as TSM is, finding people who understand it is hard. But once they are here, they last a finite period and fade away.

I think I know why we don’t have long term posters on TSM as SoberRecovery.com and other AA sites: those who successfully use the Sinclair Method move on with their lives. I think they no longer fixate on alcohol and no longer need the support of the board. Moreover, over time they have friends and interests outside of alcohol. They spend the excess time with friends and family. In short, I suspect they are living their lives, without craving or fixating on alcohol. And once other interests and habits are in place, they fade away back into normal life. I was reading "Chance's" thread when I started thinking about this.

That's cool to think about: one day soon, I'll be free.

Bingo HF! I believe you have hit the nail on it's proverbial head. People come here looking for a way out, they get well and move on...it's a natural progression.

I have been a member of MWO for five years and have seen the same in those who have managed to get control (by whatever means) and get their life back...they quietly disappear. Most of those who continue to struggle battling the demon, stay..they may drop out for a period of time, but generally end up coming back looking for support in fighting this disease.

I am ever so grateful for those who have become well on TSM that post here, even those who only post once in a blue moon. I find those posts motivating and they encourage me to keep the faith in a little white pill.

I hope this is the case that people are cured and simply have moved on. I was starting too worrying that maybe this was a fad like the low/carb Atkins's diet ( which I did lose 50lbs but didn't keep it off ) I was on years ago where I stayed on it long after it was no longer in vogue.

I myself am at the beginning of week 12 and was going to wait until I have seen dramatic progress before I posted again. As I have learned now this may take some more time so I figure it would be nice to drop in once in awhile.

Since 100% of Doctors, Psychiatrists and alcohol counselors I talked to don't know about this method it may be a while if this TSM goes mainstream and there are thousands of posts daily. It seems to me there is a huge resistance to this program and many people just don't know about it.

David, thanks for posting. I am lurking more than I would like because for right now, I am nervous. No one knows what I am doing. I recently moved, so, I am spending more time on this than I probably should.

Something I would like to ask everyone is: does anyone think it helpful to post links to the studies etc for people to take to doctors? Some studies are better than others. I think a list and instructions for how to prepare the documents for new people would outlast us, and maybe do some good. Maybe a thread detailing the information to take to a doctor, with the necessary documents to spruce it up.

I visited the forum daily during my first few months of TSM and stopped once I felt, if not "cured," at least pretty close.

I've been using Nal for a long time now, and I can't imagine life without it. It's changed my life completely.

I only stop by the forum every couple months now. So I think it's natural that people fade away.

Thanks for replying heavy-fuel. In order to get my Nal from my shrink I had to agree to see an alcoholic treatment counselor in his office. I figured it was a small price to pay and wouldn't hurt. I went for four visits to both the shrink and the counselor. Neither seemed to know about the TSM but the Doc was willing to prescribe me Nal which I have enough now for 10 more months.

Anyway, my last visit to my counselor kind of deflated me and I didn't want to post it on the board which may have discouraged others. She called this method malarkey and dangerous. She laughed it off. Her arrogance grated on me. I figured I would never see her again so I said to myself to heck with arguing with her.

Her belief was that intensive outpatient therapy was the best answer and should the best success even over a 30 day rehab. I think she said we would meet 3-4 times a week from 6-9pm. I asked what we would discuss but she didn't say. She would also make me quit smoking at the same time as quitting drinking. Even the shrink told me just to work on one at a time and she is wrong. Maybe that works with some or a few but I don't see it working on me. Does anyone know what this therapy consists of? Is this AA -101?

I want to see where I am at month 6 then post more if I see more success. At the end of week eleven I now drink three days a week instead of four or five. Going down to three days happened immediately on the TSM. I seem to have only had a two stupid days in this time period. My wife said, I would be at 11 stupid days now. One day consisted of cooking ( where the dish took much longer then expected ) with wine on a empty stomach where more wine went into me then the dish. The other stupid day started with two margaritas ( damn were they strong! ) which I normally don't drink while waiting 45 minutes for my meal and being dog tired. The night ended with me drinking 2.5 more bottles of wine and my wife reminding me the next day off how sloppy I was.

For now, I am stuck at 8-10 drinks three days a week. The trend seems to have gone down a little over the last 11 weeks. The week before I started the TSM I had a 48 + drink week. I was counting before TSM a 750ml of wine as 4 drinks. Which now I count as 5 drinks. I have seen others count a bottle of wine as 6 or more so my count may be higher. With wine I focus on taste and not proof ( usually ) but watching more carefully now they range from 11%-12.5% so my wine counting may be skewed .

I used to pass out if I started early only to wake up to have a few more to help me go back to sleep. This has not happened again the last 11 weeks. My wife says she seems more clarity in me which I feel now most of the time. So far, no more piecing the last few hours of the night back together and apologizing to my wife for telling her American Idol ( her favorite show ) is the end of civilization and good taste.

The goal is when I feel the drinking urge to wane even more and it has been waning to go down to once a week and hopefully then 30 + days off. If this happens I will set my quit smoking date which I dread.

Hi, David! I hope this post finds you well. I have thought about your experience with the alcohol treatment counselor and her “malarkey” comment. It doesn’t discourage me. It actually saddens me to learn a psychiatrist, someone who was trained in medicine, would keep someone like her in his office. She has an agenda, based on her preset notions of what works without any scientific evidence.

First, 30 days of “intensive outpatient therapy,” but she won’t say what you will talk about? What is her plan of “treatment?” Examining your character flaws? Just how would she explain Dr. Sinclair’s rats? Rats aren’t exactly moral: they are animals. But rats can be bred to show the same traits as human alcoholics, so this isn’t a moral problem. It’s a genetic one. Without hours of embarrassing confessions and mind games, the rats quit drinking in the similar percentages as later humans who took naltexone. So, there is a chemical treatment to end this.

Second, what are her qualifications to make these assertions? Is she like the person who posted the following:

“I have been certified in Understanding Medications used to treat Alcoholism, and I went to the Sinclair Method page and read about it. While I know of nobody who has utilized this method, their claim of an 80% success rate seems far fetched. I guess it all depends on what they consider success, I would be interested in hearing from someone who has done this also.”

[url] http://www.addictionsurvivors.org/vbull ... hp?t=23406
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The person who posted that post, without even reading anything, is supposedly“certified in understanding medications used to treat alcoholism.” Therefore, she is asserting she is some kind of expert, or at least more capable than a layman. Yet, she believes anecdotal statements are somehow scientific evidence. Without reading the COMBINE study, which is hardly anecdotal, she is interested in “hearing from someone who has done this also.” I guess if she went to a meeting and someone stood up and said, “in this alcoholic’s opinion” she would be convinced, never mind 80+ studies reaching similar or supporting conclusions. I searched for the terms quoted in the first sentence, no direct match. I have no idea what “certified in Understanding Medications used to treat Alcoholism” means, but, after some dissection, it doesn’ t appear to mean much.

What is defined as success? Read the study and it describes the outcome. TSM describes success as control of drinking to safe usage. AA defines success as abstinence. I define success as not having negative outcomes from alcohol. AA wants to give it’s followers a new belief system. TSM doesn’t. The hours on end in “the Rooms,” aren’t about alcoholism as much as reinforcing that belief system. I define success as when I can go through a whole day and never once think of alcohol. That precludes AA, because they build their lives around avoiding alcohol. I simply wish to be indifferent.

Look at your empirical evidence, what does it tell you? The nal is working! Your wife has told you the progress. However small that progress may seem, she sees it, and so do you. I am so happy for you!

By the way, quitting smoking is so much easier than quitting drinking, or it was for me. And I didn’t do that by myself, I used wellbutrin and patches.

I do hope you will continue to post, and share as much of your experiences as you are comfortable with. Those of us who have found TSM must share it, as there are so many misconceptions for such a simple system!

Nal on!!!!

Thanks for the tip on wellbutrin and patches! Wish I thought of combining the two. My psychiatrist started me on wellbutrin two months ago but so far I just feel my mood stabilizing but my desire to smoke is still strong as ever. Honestly, don't know if it is the wellbutrin or not. But, I will know soon enough once I set my quit date. I for now just want to get my drinking down. The two have have a powerful hold on me. Thx Heavyfuel

The wellbutrin + patch was another study I found when I tried to quit smoking. Doctors were prescribing wellbutrin alone to quit smoking, which gave one a 20% chance of a 90 day treatment leading to them being a non smoker at one year. BUT if one adds the full regimen of patches appropriate for the level of smoking, there is a 45-50% chance of success at one year. The study used to be on the zyban webpage, but they took that down when they started marketing chantix....

Good luck!

Funny how none of the Doctors I have seen haven't given me any other ideas to try. I seen a special on TV that Doctors get very little to no training on addictions! One day the medical profession will look back at this time as the stone-age. Right up there with using leeches.

Chantix made me feel like my brain was in a vise grip and actually hurt. My temper was always very short. My psychiatrist didn't like this drug unlike my regular Doctor who thought it was God's gift to mankind. Interesting how the medical/addiction industry are on different pages.

Nal seems to stop me more and more from thinking about drinking. My carvings seem remarkably down in in the last 11 weeks. I used to plan my whole week around drinking. If I didn't drink on the weekends it seemed unnatural to me. I asked my psychiatrist if this is a placebo effect and he told me - no. I also seem to get more sleepy and have stopped myself many times from slipping into the 14 + drink realm.

My wife is a restaurant manager and works long, late night hours. Many times she isn't home until 1am and comes home stressed out wanting a few glasses of wine. When dating and newly married a I used to wait for her to come home then have some wine with her with us staying up until 4-5am. I am getting to the point where I just stay up with her for 30-60 minutes with many times just wanting to go to sleep before she comes home. I know she would like me to stay up longer and talk but knowing myself that includes more drinks. It seems like I am finally becoming a boring middle-age man. About time!

So, how have you been progressing?