I drove drunk this week for the first time since starting TSM. In fact, it was the first time I drove drunk in nearly three years, since getting my one and only DWI. It was stupid and I'm ashamed of it and it won't happen again. Setting aside the unusual circumstances that led to this stupid act, I have to say that driving drunk on naltrexone is nothing like driving drunk without it. I was fully aware of the fact that I was over the limit and was completely horrified that I would be pulled over. I clutched the wheel with both hands and drove more carefully than I've ever driven in my life. Of course, a cop pulled up right behind me but since I was not speeding or driving erratically, I didn't get stopped. Contrast this to pre-naltrexone Nick, back in his younger, more foolish days and before the DWI. I used to drink and drive over the limit virtually every weekend. I had absolutely no fear of being pulled over and the thought of an accident never even entered my mind.* Often times I'd be leaving downtown Minneapolis at 3 AM and I'd be the only car on the street. Cop cars would regularly pull right up next to me, clearly suspicious that someone out at this hour was probably under the influence. And I actually used to look them straight in the face and smile, showing them that I had absolutely nothing to hide from them, even though I was tanked. Now when I drink on naltrexone, I keep a chart which shows my alcohol level, based upon my size, amount consumed and elapsed time. And the one time I got caught out and was driving over the limit, I couldn't have been more conscious of not making a mistake or getting into an accident. In other words, I maintained my conscience and my "right state of mind" while drinking on naltrexone, even though I was over the limit. I think it's safe to say that some day, when naltrexone is accepted as standard treatment for alcoholism, that the epidemic of drunk driving accidents and resulting injuries and deaths will be tremendously reduced. This is yet ANOTHER MAJOR reason that it clearly is in society's best interests to accept TSM, sooner rather than later. It really is a life and death issue on so many levels.

*Interestingly, throughout college and the years shortly thereafter, I NEVER drove drunk and was keenly aware of the hazards of drinking and driving. At some point later in my life I no longer feared it. I highly suspect that this was the time I was crossing the line from from weekend partier to problem drinker.

Nick
Do you think driving under the influence with nal makes a person more "sober?" In other words, if you WERE pulled over, would you pass the breathalyzer? Or is it that you just feel more conscious of drinking and driving? Especially since you've already had a DUI?

I was unfortunate enough to incur one of those myself about 4 yrs ago. Rainy night, driving out of a popular local nightclub by myself at 1 am, despite friend's offer to drive me home...police cars were just hanging out on the street by the bar, waiting for an idiot like me to think she could drive after 4 too many drinks. The rain was falling so hard that I literally waterplaned into a ditch. And the bummer was that it was right at the entrance to my subdivision!!!! (The bar was about 3/4 mile away). I have been extremely conscious about drinking/driving since then. I NEVER want to go through that hell again.

Anyway, I do feel somewhat more sober on nal, but am I really? I still exhibit the drinking behaviors I had prior to nal.

Very interesting post.

I'm glad you brought this up.

Naltrexone actually aggravates the motor impairment caused by alcohol. Espapa at 117.

Lena
That is interesting. Even more reason to be vigilent while drinking and driving. But I always have to laugh when researchers talk about a "motor impairment" in rats! What are they doing, tripping on their exercise wheel?

Actually, they very well may have been!! Sinclair first noticed impairment in his rats, which prompted him to study it in humans. The impairment specific to nal/drinking involves divided attention. I had a scary experience driving after "just one" on nal and I nearly ran a red light while checking for merging traffic in the rear-view mirror. I think that's what he's talking about. Sort of like walking and chewing gum.

To answer the first question, no, having naltrexone in your system does not make you less drunk. My definition of "drunk" is the amount of alcohol in your system -- I'm sure one's blood alcohol level is no different when on or off naltrexone. The book makes the claim that naltrexone causes enhanced loss of motor skills while drinking. I'm certainly not CONDONING driving while drinking in general, or while on naltrexone in particular, and want to make it clear that doing either is a terrible mistake with life-threatening consequences. But that being said, I have not experienced any loss of motor coordination while drinking on naltrexone. My heaviest consumption has occurred while playing hours and hours of pool and I can say without hesitation, my motor skills were not affected one bit by the naltrexone. In fact, before naltrexone, after hours of drinking my pool game sharply deteriorated when I reached a certain level of drunkenness. That has not happened to me on naltrexone.

I just had dinner and kept thinking about my posts here. Let me make one thing clear:

DRINKING AND DRIVING IS THE STUPIDEST THING WE DRUNKS CAN DO. IF YOU DO IT, YOU'RE AN IDIOT AND A HORRIFIC ACCIDENT JUST WAITING TO HAPPEN.

Ok, now I can go back to my Friday night activities and not feel guilty.

Interesting thread.

It was legal for years to drink and drive in Florida as long as you weren't over the limit, which was a lot higher in those days. I did a lot of drinking and driving, but always stayed below the limit years ago, before I had an alcohol problem. In fact, for a while I only drank coming home from work and stopped when I got home. When they changed the law, I started drinking at home, which eventually and after many more years became uncontrolled drinking. After the drinking became uncontrolled, I started drinking on the way home again, even though it was illegal. On many occasions I can't believe I made it home, especially on one occasion where the car seemed to be spinning and I had to close one eye to see just one line on the road. I also used to drink after AA meetings and occasionally before and during. It's amazing I never got a DUI!

Now I am on TSM. Since I deliberately keep my Naltrexone at home, I can't drink on the way home any longer, which is a solid plus for this treatment for me. I'm never inebriated on the road any longer.

Bob

When I was a kid in Montana (22 or so) drinking and driving used to be a regular pastime for me and my friends. I'd gas up my Olds Delta 88, grab a 12'er of animal beer, and head for the back roads of Blue Mountain to see if I could get myself lost. We all drove drunk all the time back then. DUI laws were a pesky nuisance, both for us drunks, and seemingly for the cops who "enforced" them. It was just not a big deal. I remember getting pulled over for running red lights, or swerving erratically, and telling the cop some story about how I had to get home to the party before my girlfriend went home with some other dude - and it actually flew! Drunk driving was just part of the culture in that place and time.

I had a couple of minor accidents - the kind that would happen to anybody after 10 or 12 beers. One night I hit some ice and put a big dent into someone's Subaru. Hey **** happens, right? I'd spin out on the highway, or even almost crash into a cop car on the way home from the bar. Ha Ha, we'd all laugh about it at the party, and think nothing of it. Even stories about friends who had been killed drinking and driving didn't really phase me - that's just the kind of **** that happens when you live the partying lifestyle. Nothing you can do about it.

I remember one night talking to my friend Bones about starting a band, and maybe playing some gigs around town. He was stoked about the idea, and I remember his girlfriend was really excited about it too. We got our drinks "to go" from the bar (common in Montana in the '80s) and agreed to call each other next week to make some plans. I remember waking up, totally hungover at my girlfriend's house, and getting a phone call from my best friend. "Hey, you know that "Bones" dude that plays drums? He f***ing died last night driving up to the reservation. I guess he wrecked his truck. I just talked to his girlfriend's mom . . . there's a party tomorrow night to remember him". I drove drunk to the party. It was a bummer, but death was just one of the hard facts of life, and Bones would be remembered.

DUI enforcement really started to go up in the late '80s in Montana. We all griped that it was killing the music business around town. "What's next", we'd ask over shots, "getting a permit to take a f***ing dump?" I'd leave the party, driving in braille, and laugh about it when I saw my car parked up on the lawn the next day. One time I ran my dad's Plymouth into a brick wall, and when I got home I scattered parts all around to make it look like someone had run into me while I was parked. "That brick wall must have hit the corner pretty hard to git you like that," said my dad. We both laughed. What the hell are you gonna do? Accidents happen.

The final straw for me was one night when I drove my mom's T-bird to my girlfriend's house after having at least 7 shots of Yukon Jack hanging with my friends after hours. I clearly remember punching the gas as I made my way up the curves leading to her apartment complex. I don't remember how I lost it, but I do remember coming to and seeing fence posts bouncing off of the windshield. I recall hitting the gas, doing a burnout in someone's yard, screaming up to my girlfriend's apartment and parking the car stealthily in the guest parking of her building.

I remember her waking me up about fifteen minutes later saying, "Honey, you asshole - what are all those f***ing cops doing outside around your car?" I remember going out there, shirtless, and trying to explain how I had fallen asleep at the wheel, it being so late and all, and I didn't want to bother the homeowners so late at night, and I was going to fix it all tomorrow.

A lawyer friend of mine told me they couldn't give me a DUI because they couldn't prove I had been drunk at the time of the "accident". (I could have had 7 shots of Yukon Jack afterwards at home out of remorse). I skated legally, but I really learned from that experience. I don't drink and drive now. Ever. I'm a shitty drunk driver. Everybody is. You may do OK 99 times in a row, but it is that one time where someone dies that counts.

Incidentally, afther that was my first attempt at quitting drinking. Near death scared me, and I was never going to drink again. That lasted all of 6 days, and then I was laughing about it at the bar. I slipped a couple of times over the next few years, but I eventually learned that I can not drive after more than two beers. Ever. Period. No question.

Now TSM is rescuing me from drinking in general, and I am incredibly grateful that within the next few months I will likely be cured. I'm also grateful that I made that hard and fast rule for myself a while back - no driving after more than two beers. Without that rule I might never have lived to discover TSM.

By the way, I don't like driving on naltrexone even without drinking. I just feel too spacey.

I am a little concerned about this thread.

It could appear that some people are looking too much on the lighter side of drink driving.

IF YOU DRINK AND DRIVE YOU ARE A BLOODY IRRESPONSIBLE IDIOT PERIOD

I have personally witnessed a horrific car accident caused by a drunk driver.

Believe me, the whole experience is one I wish I could forget.

As for the original author of this thread ... I think you are a "brave" person to admit that you drunk drove in this day and age.

Consequently ... my opinion of you is now different from that before.