Since I have been on TSM for 25 weeks my wife has seen many positive results in me and decided to give it a try. She works as a restaurant manager in a high pressure environment so when she gets home after a crazy day she loves nothing more then having her wine. The problem is she wired and NEVER seems to want to go to bed and will easily stay up until 6-7am ( drinking/watching her shows ) where she is a wreck the whole next day. She has been on this work/sleep/drink cycle for decades and it only seems to have gotten worse.

So, after passing her blood tests her Doctor gave her a script for Nal. Her Doctor thought this approach was unconventional but decided it was worth a try and gave her a script. Funny, I had to move "heaven and earth" to get my script but I digress.

I had her try .25 two days ago to start her off slowly to ease her in. This is where it gets interesting. The Nal worked too well! She had two drinks, told me she couldn't feel any buzz ( no nausea, just seemed a little forgetful at first), was tired and decided to go to bed. Not before, I got that look ( you know the one married guys ) "You ruined my good time". I knew she had a history of responding extraordinarily well to medication but even I was taken back. Last night, she had one drink of red wine with her pasta ( she loves the combo ) didn't feel like having anymore and told me she thought the Nal was still working from the previous night since she had no cravings for any more wine -eh? I thought .25 would have been out of her system in less then 12 hours?

Now, she is asking me ( here we go ) if she has to take Nal every-time, one hour, before she drinks? I told her that's not how it works. SHE THINKS, she can WAIT until she has a few drinks in her before she pops Nal so she can still enjoy alcohol BUT now not stay up late as she used to.

"Unlike me" she has no history of alcoholism in her family or anyone in her family that drinks for that matter. But, her working in the restaurant business for over twenty five years has lent itself to being around many people who drink and party heavily.

I can't tell if she is a super responder or just fell into some bad habits from working in that industry or both.

Do you think it is even possible for someone who has responded so quickly to bend the one hour rule?

Hi David45

It's so good to have you & your wife on the forum. Maybe I should be letting the guys respond to you since I just posted on your wife's introduction, but I beat them to it..

Your wife may be a super responder but she is also experiencing the honeymoon phase which you may or may not have experienced as I have not read your other posts (yet).

You are right in that she "shouldn't" really drink first then take nal, but on the other hand you can't control what she does. And we are all far from perfect. It's awesome that you are doing this together with her following in your footsteps. I suggest that you give her suggestions but try not to be too critical if she doesn't do everything by the book. When she sees further down the track how this is working for you ( I hope) she will be only to happy to do what you do. My husband said the other day that TSM has saved our marriage even though we had some good times in my many periods of sobriety. Now his social life is a lot better because i am drinking and he doesn't have to worry about hiding his alcohol from me. (Which he was very slack at!!) But I have still had bouts of unreliable behaviour which is a worry and I've been at this for a year. My hubby struggles with cigarettes even though he smokes once a week with drinking. He "shouldn't" smoke as he has had a heart attack. So while he is not an alcoholic, he has some understanding of addiction and is generally very supportive.

All the best to the both of you for your journey with TSM together.

Cheers
Sticky

Hey sticky thanks for your thoughtful reply!

The great experiment is over. Don't worry I won't tell her " I told you so". But, I am smiling inside. Last night at dinner I could see "lift off" in her big brown beautiful eyes ( think Natalie Wood ) as she had her first drink without Nal. At home she popped a .25 and continued to drink but she only "slightly" slowed down. Instead of having 12-14 she had nine. Instead of staying up until 9am she was up until 4am posting on this board. She didn't do a 2am to-go wine run at our local biker/meth/coke-head bar ( Think Jodi Foster's movie Accused ) while I was sleeping to find her vehicle parked half on the driveway and halfway on the grass in the morning which leaves me the whole next day in a fit of horror.

She went to work today feeling fairly good. There have been times she looked like she was hit by a Mack truck ( AND OF COURSE I KEEP THAT COMMENT TO MYSELF ) wondering how she is going to pull another 10 hour shift.

I have twenty years of "marriage training" sticky so I know NEVER ( pay attention single men ) to tell a woman EVER what to do. I will only encourage and motivate. She vowed today to always wait an hour before drinking. It seems you are right. She is a super responder. This will help me because when she has a bad night at work I get the call around 12am she wants wine and for me to stay up with her which I can't seem to resist.

I am happy to hear TSM saved your marriage! I have a strong feeling there are many other couples out there that struggle with the same problem so I figured we need to come "out of the closet/bottle".

Sorry to hear about your husband's heart attack. Smoking is also on my to-do list. Some people swear by Allen Carr's "Easy Way To Quit Smoking Program". I didn't have much luck but his book is on Amazon for a few pounds. Others have sworn by champix/chantix or wellbutrin and the patch at the same time. Then again you guys may know all this.

Sticky, expect more posts from night-owl to you in the future.

Take care

David

Hi there David. I think I also posted on your wife's introduction I am glad to hear she has decided that not waiting the hour is a bad idea. To be honest - it IS. It might work a few times here and there, but it's not really giving TSM a chance to work fully. But you're right, it's best to be encouraging and motivating rather than critical. She'll see your progress and realize she needs to do the same if she also wants to control her drinking.
I would also add that I have no history of alcoholism or drinking abuse in my family, and I still have a problem with drinking. It's not a response to some deepseated trauma or anything, my brain is just wired to like alcohol too much and not have an off switch. I add this just because some people seem to think that you can ONLY be an alcoholic if it's some longstanding genetic thing. I disagree

Thanks for the reply ElectraLou. You may be right about it not always being genetic since I have three brothers and non of them have a drinking problem. One brother used to play in a hard rock band for many years and used to party heavily 3-4 days a week then one day just stopped. I think now he only drinks on special occasions and even then very little. Funny how life works out?