I started Nal on 3 March 2011 tomorrow is week 27 and I still drink about 13 drinks a night or 19oz of bourbon. I have had a few AF days but few. I'm starting to wonder if i'm in the 15% instead of the 85%. Thanks for any advice.

If you have noticed no obvious change in your drinking pattern, you may indeed be part of the minority. There are other pharmacological programs you might look into: baclofen, acamprosate (campral). Consult MWO (my way out website). Other here might also have other ideas.

Hello! I, too, am in my 27th week. We started TSM at the very same time. TSM is working for me but it took up until now to see the changes. So I have some questions for you.

How old are you? How long have you been drinking alcoholically? Do you think that you might be drinking out of sheer habit or are you still experiencing a strong craving for alcohol? Have you tried switching things up, for instance, I started with wine and now I drink beer. That might be worth a shot, pardon the pun, if you are stuck on bourbon try a six pack of strong microbrew and allow yourself a couple of shots of bourbon. Just a thought. To switch up the patten.

Have you been tracking your unit intake? Do you see any improvements whatsoever? Are you taking a 50 mg. dose of Nal one hour before you drink? Maybe you could try to up the dosage to 75 mg.?
How are your hangovers?

I wouldn't give up!!!

I am looking forward to reading your answers,

Ketchikan1

I, too, have experienced the lack of success with Nal. I have done everything right... taking my Nal at least 1 hour before drinking every day and still don't see a difference. I see small changes that I'm not always "wasted" but I felt that I could be like that before Nal. I had an AF day yesterday but tonight I am total "can't get enough". I drank a bottle of wine in the last 4 hours and thought "what the heck?" I started about the same time as you. I keep reading all the posts about this is normal but it scares me that I am just fooling myself. I want to have control over my drinking but right now it isn't happening. I am going on blind faith at this point because of all the others that have experienced this phase before me but it is very discouraging at this point in time. Hang in there and maybe we both can look back on this together and say "Wow" it really worked! And then we can give someone else hope.

Just curious - did you get sick when you started Nal? I didn't and wonder if that means it won't work for me?????

I'm 47 have been drinking most of my life off and on. Never addicted until the last few years. NAL made me a little nauseated when I started. I don't really crave alcohol just habit I guess I need to try harder. I'm sticking with it. Thanks everyone for the advice, i'll keep you posted.

I'm 47 have been drinking most of my life off and on. Never addicted until the last few years. NAL made me a little nauseated when I started. I don't really crave alcohol just habit I guess I need to try harder. I'm sticking with it. Thanks everyone for the advice, i'll keep you posted.

Beam: I'm relatively new here but maybe one of the vets can post about the need to push yourself at some point to go to the next level. I've read it in many threads. The pill, alone over time, may not do all the work that needs to be done.

Best of luck. Hang in there at least 9 months before even thinking of giving up.

Hi INTHEBEAM, most members had not regained control by wk 27. Most also had some doubts at your point. I my opinion we can become too focused on figures especially later on in the program, whereas the changes TSM make are more broad based than that. I have the same questions as Ketchickan- has your behaviour improved? Have you been tracking your figures? Have you noticed any changes in relation to how you feel about alcohol? At about the same point as you, I devised a list of what has changed for me since starting TSM and what hadn't and found this useful to resolve any doubt I had about TSM working for me. After doing this list I committed myself to following TSM for at least a year thinking that it took 18 years (of drinking) to get to where I was at, so what were a few more months if thats what it took. Anyway, I hope this helps, good luck, Warrenjames (regained control wk 42)

tiller- Thanks for your encouragment.
warrenjames- i've kept up with the amounts and followed the TSM read the book take the pill faithfully. Your right it took a long time to get to this point so it won't go away overnight. Thanks for your advice, i'm sticking to it there is no other choice.

Hi beam, I agree with the others - TSM takes a long time, especially if you have been drinking for a long time, and for a lot of people a little effort is required in addition to simply taking the pill. Perhaps trying have a few more AF days or simply cutting down by one drink a week?