I ran out of Nal recently and had difficulties ordering more from India. I thought I would have to go for over a week without it, but the shipment of new Nal came in just five business days! So, it turned out to be only 3 days that I drank without it.

Of course, it is not recommended to break the Golden Rule, but I thought I would share my experiences about what happened.

Basically, nothing happened. I started TSM 7 months ago. I am a regular, daily drinker, about 5-10 light beers a night. All three nights that I drank, I did not get the buzz I used to in my pre-Nal days. And I did not feel like drinking more. In fact, I was able to control the amount I was drinking just as I was with Nal.

Again, this is not recommended, and it surely will vary from person to person, I'm guessing especially for those who are binge drinkers. But luckily I didn't experience any horrors. And, again, it was strangely as if I had indeed taken Nal all those 3 days.

At 7 months, you could well have been into extinction. Did you go for any AF days along the way?

I recall reading an article somewhere on the web that came up on the standard TSM Google search right before I registered here. I don't recall if it was an interview with Dr. Sinclair or Dr. Espaka, but he stated that after a certain point the "cure" is essentially the brain rewiring itself and going back to year 0, or before where one ever drank alcohol. The "addiction pathway" in the brain is either now extinct or extremely dormant.

The recommendation is of course to maintain "The Golden Rule" and only drink on NAL for the rest of one's life. This is because while you have made the alcohol addiction behavior "extinct", and this alcohol addiction took many years to learn, it can now be relearned much faster and one can fall back into whatever the spectrum of your alcohol use disorder was within a matter of months or weeks. After being on here a bit, I see the actual "habit" of drinking dies much slower than the actual cravings for it or dependency on it. I'm certain some return to safe, moderate drinking or maybe slightly above that, without taking NAL and for others this might be very dangerous. I do know if one does go right back to drinking without NAL, there is a danger that the opioid sensors in the brain might be much more sensitive to the endorphins and one could binge even more, so a waiting period is a must...

Thanks for the replies. Wow! I never suspected that that is what might have happened!

I was actually getting a bit concerned about TSM working, because my unit level has not dropped. And, Joe, I have only taken one AF day all this time. But, as NDF says, I can see now that it might have more to do with the habit, than actual cravings. Because I live alone; drinking like that at night has been a thing I've been doing for over 25 years; and there's no big incentives to try taking more AF days, so I just continue. Now that I think about it, though, the first few beers the last couple of months, I reached for just out of habit. They weren't fun or really even desired.

Wow, this makes me feel a lot better about how TSM might be working! Thanks!

That's really interesting. Thank you for posting.
MD

Devo - when you are 7 months in and still drinking 5-10 units a night you should try and ease up - if that is what you want? What were you hoping to get from taking Nal? I forced AF days which we are told we shouldn't do - but I needed to for ME! I also tried to drink more mindfully - and take my time with it. I was lucky in that I never drank as many as you do, but still towards the end, was drinking 4 Guinness a night (pre Nal I was going up to 6 or so a night) - it rarely went below the 4 but I was having AF days by then without forcing them. It all depends what you are wanting to achieve by taking the Nal - what made you start it?

Hugs, Maggie

That's interesting to know and thanks for sharing Devo.

I've always been wondering about this and have even thought about experimenting after one year. I don't think I will and hearing stories like this helps satisfy my curiosity anyway.

It has been reported before too. But there is something else inside our heads that doesn't make the cure permanent. There is some sort of something, lets call it the manual to alcoholism, that is still stored in our brain and when we drink without Naltrexone we consult the manual and take the necessary short cuts to learning how to be an alcoholic all over again. I guess we were born as super learners and that just never goes away even if TSM takes our brains back to when we were 10 years old before our first drink.

Devo,

I can understand your habits/reasons for drinking. My husband travels a lot and I used to drink out of boredom/loneliness, the fact I could not express how much I missed him (it made traveling more difficult on him), and the stress of dealing with teenagers. Those drinking habits were so ingrained that I had to find other things to occupy my thoughts and time (this forum helped a lot).
This has been tossed around this forum a couple of times, and a few have experimented with not taking the nal. thinking "cured" meant just that. I might be remembering wrong, but the conclusion was those that did try drinking without the nal within a couple of months the drinking habits and amounts were back up to pre-nal levels.
I think we need to know ourselves and need to be honest with ourselves. If drinking without the nal causes a downward spiral the nal will be waiting and the process will start again. I think, in my opinion, it is not worth the chance. And great caution should be advised (what Ocean said).
It may be possible that the nal was not completely out of your system. Sinclair did suggested a washout period of three day where the third day to do something to help those good endorphins, but everyones metabolism is different, so maybe it takes 4 days for the nal to be washed out of your system (just a thought).

Keep us posted,

Jaba

Devo -

This would be a good time to use some mindfulness techniques to see if you can find a "soft spot" in your drinking habit. Perhaps try delaying your normal start time, don't keep the drink in your hand, watch during your drinking session to see if you drink more during particular events (having a smoke, talking on the phone, etc.). Drinking water in between drinks, stopping and asking if you really want that next drink, that sort of thing.