I am also taking the time to analyse my triggers- I could not really do that pre-nal, because I just wanted to drink, period.

Because now I am having days where I can take it or leave it and other days where I cannot leave it, it is quite easy to identify the triggers.

Yesterday, I had strong cravings, but it was a 'happy' trigger- a friend is visiting from the UK, and I went to meet her, and just had to drink, even though she wasn't. I am hoping the next time I am in that situation, I may have extinguished that trigger a little, and the craving will be less severe.

As it goes I drank 6 beers fairly slowly and today I feel fine and up for an AF day, so no harm done!

On the subject of smoking, naltrexone's effect on smoking has two separate issues. The first is that alcohol releases endorphins, and naltrexone blocks endorphin receptors, thus extinction occurs. Nicotine interacts with our brain through nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, not endorphin receptors. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter. It allows signals to be sent from one neuron to another.

Here's a way to understand how it works. Carbon monoxide binds to red blood cells more strongly than oxygen. 216 times as strongly, if memory serves. This means that a very small amount of CO can completely block out our ability to uptake oxygen. Naltrexone does the same thing with endorphin receptors, essentially smothering alcoholism. Nicotine binds more strongly to the acetylcholine receptors, but the interaction is a little different. Nicotine actually acts like a weak form of acetylcholine. When you first smoke, nicotine actually supplements the amount of neurotransmitter, acting as a stimulant. At higher doses, it starts to replace the acetylcholine, decreasing the overall effect. At this point it acts as a depressant. At even higher doses, it acts as a narcotic.

Endorphins are part of our learning mechanism. They are why we seek out things like exercise and sex, even though the physical exertion in and of itself isn't of much benefit to us. Blocking endorphins blocks that learning mechanism and will make us loose interest in the group of things that it's normally supposed to reinforce. No afterglow, no runner's high, and (beneficially), no alcoholism. Blocking it only serves to prevent or reverse the learning mechanism.

Acetylcholine is part of our nervous system. If we block it, we die. Curare is a chemical that strongly blocks these receptors and that's what's put on poison darts. Alternatively, we also have to be extremely careful about supplementing the acetylcholine supply. That's what black widow venom does - causes the uncontrolled release of acetylcholine and a couple of other neurotransmitters. This results in spasms and muscle clenching.

The bottom line is that the Sinclair Method won't work on the actual chemical part of nicotine addiction.

This doesn't mean that it can't work on other parts. One of the things that causes smoking to be such a tough nut to crack is that pretty much everything starts to remind us that we want to be smoking. The oral fixation, for instance, that has to be dealt with otherwise. When we change our life habits, a lot of those can be discarded before they are re-learned. It's a small blessing, but one that can be leveraged.

Well you certainly know your stuff and I appreciate and respect your input and knowledge, Robert, but you still pissed me off on the other thread. No lingering hard feelings, you just hit a nerve. What are your credentials &/or experience with this? Did I miss something? Are you Dr. Sinclair or Eskapa's lab assistant or something?? Seriously. Enlightment me if I need it...and I am not challenging you, believe me. Obviously you have a medical background and much smarter than me on the (left?) brain physiology, etc. I can read and mostly understand the science you are talking about, but my brain physiology mostly works on the emotional (right?) side. And I have a hard time accepting hard core "this is the way it is" thoughts on things.

That said, I have given up smoking NO problem. Taken it up again because I just wanted to several years after, and then quit for good. Stopping smoking is supposed to be the hardest addiction to kick, so "they" say. I disagree. For me, it's my beloved wine that I cannot quit. And all I want to do is just loosen the hold and be "normal" - on a level that is right for me.

If this drug is supposed to help & is proven to cure freaking heroine addiction, then...aren't we to hope and believe it will certainly, as we have read, be the CURE for our alcoholism?? Isn't that what we are all hoping for?? Isn't that what many of you are experiencing?? It just takes TIME: 3- 6 months. Whoever gave a smoker that time frame?? My ex-husband quit smoking using Chantix - which works on the same principle as NAl but for smoking. He had to abstain and take it for 3 months & said he still had cravings, but luckily did not suffer the debilitating depression that is common on this drug. My sister had a friend whose son freaked out on it and tried to kill everyone in the house and himself. Lovely.

So far all we've got are nausea, falling asleep & nightmares. We all know not to drive - and I hope if you do you have about $10,000 in the bank and are prepared for the worst nightmare of your life. All we have here is the desire to change and be healthier regarding our alcohol consumption. And the proof of the studies. Oh - and our own personal belief that we can and will be a part of the success group.

I cannot comprehend all the scientific jargon. I'm not stupid (I hope that's obvious) and I will read thru it with interest...but what I hang my hat on is the personal accounts of all those people out there and on here. I have never once read where Dr. Eskapa said, "Perhaps you are one of the unlucky ones for which this program won't work"...

I refuse to believe I am one of the unlucky ones...certainly before I reach the big red circle on my calender. This sort-of digressed away from the nicotine talk you started, but I had just left the post I wrote you before this and...hello! Seriously - no hard feelings. You bring so much to this forum, I ust have to sound off when I feel strongly about something :-)

Yes, you're missing something, but that's ok, I'm used to it. I'm a professional researcher. I research answers to complex questions that largely involve collecting the existing information into a single location. I'm currently employed doing so for a software development company, but it's really a technique that I've been practicing my entire life. My fields of research have involved pharmacology, social psychology, software engineering, politics, and a scattering of other things, and when I dig up something interesting I occasionally embody the topic into a podcast entitled Intellectual Icebergs.

I've been researching pharmacological extinction since mid 2005. I've published a few articles on the topic. Dr. Sinclair tells me that one of his younger relatives used one of them as a basis for a school research paper. Although I've never actually met the man, I was probably one of Dr. Sinclair's more common correspondents through 2006 while I learned everything I could from him. If you look at the Wikipedia page on alcoholism, you'll see my work all over it.

I'm sorry that I can't present a happy picture filled with guaranteed rose gardens. It's important that you give the Sinclair Method a chance, but it isn't a faith based solution. To paraphrase Dr. Sinclair, the rats never believed it would work, but it worked for them anyway. If you've tried it and it just plain doesn't work, then all I can say is that your journey hasn't ended yet.

Nonetheless, I applaud and provide heartfelt encouragement to your desire to stick with it. You may need more time, you may need to supplement the medicine with some form of therapy. Alcoholism isn't a condition, it's a symptom of many conditions that look the same from the outside. I hope that you can find treatment for whichever of them plagues you.

houtx, what am I missing here? I, for one, appreciate Robert's insights on this Board. Thanks Robert for not taking offense and doing a hair flip! We need ya. . .

By the way, have you read The End of My Addiction by Dr.Olivier Ameisen, a prominent cardiologist from France? I just got the book, and he describes how he cured his Alcoholism via the use of high doses of baclofen. Sounds like a promising backup plan for those who don't succed with TSM.

Thoughts?

There will be some folk who sign up here n the board who eventually when we get to our red cirdle will have to say- "well, my drinking is still out of control- it did not work"


BUT...


While we are here and posting we are learning! Ocean is not following Sinclair to the letter- she is also talking Baclofen, and I believe is using some willpower and only drinking when the cravings are BIG, but she is having some terrific results!

There is always hope- probably other people will come on board soon- also maybe using a slightly different variation that will work for people who haven't had good results with the naltrexone alone- nobody needs to give up hope- we are not at the red circles yet and even when we are there will be other routes to try if the method has not worked.

Thank you Robert for responding. I appreciate the knowledge you bring to this and apologize for any offense. Thanks for understanding where I am coming from too. Like I say, 2 months in and I have been very dissappointed not to be where you suggest we "should" be at this point and where others say they are.

Maybe I am ignoring the clues. Maybe I am one of the unlucky ones. It's not exactly lifting my spirits. I got angry and now I am just sad. But I will press on and read all I can and just try to be strong. I can do anything I put my mind to, this I know.

Hmmmmm....now where did I put my mind?? :-)

houtx, I agree with Marbella - if this method doesn't work, there are now other remedies out there. Baclofen enabled a prominent physician to go from being a raving, out-of-control alcoholic - he even had to close his practice - to being totally free of the desire to drink. Now, if he wants a glass of wine, he has ONE, and has no trouble stopping. There is always 'Plan B.'

However, I believe you're going to be fully successful with Plan A.

Ditto what Goin4 says Houtx- in the meantime to lift your spirits you could have a read through Ocean's posts.

When I first read her 'method' I had already decided if plan A does not work for me it will be my Plan B.

This is well documented by Sinclair and he addresses it in his pos cast. I guess there would be some secondary benefits of Nal in that the smoker perceived that drinking was a trigger to smoking. I.e. less drinking therefore less smoking.