My introductory post and first experiences are documented here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3344

Nal has had a dramatic effect on me. Specifically, I've been taking Nodict (ordered from united pharmacies), cut into 4 pieces or bitten into 2 pieces and quickly swallowed if a knife is unavailable. I've taken the full 50mg from day 1. (Saw enough info here about Nodict being a time-release 'dud' so have split the pill before swallowing, just in case).

Other than an initial small reduction in coordination, and a tendency toward sleepiness when drinking at a slightly earlier stage than usual, i've had no ill side-effects whatsoever on Nal. I've also had less severe hangovers given the amount of alcohol i've been taking on Nal vs the same amount of alcohol without Nal.

Another major factor on Nal, is that when drinking, I can actually trust myself. I do not do/say silly things, I have my wits about me, and i'm regaining my self-respect and confidence at an unbelievable rate while on Nal. I no longer fear myself when drinking.

The pharmaceutical extinction rate seems to be outpacing my learned behaviours. Just before a session, I can be paranoid about only having 4 beers in the fridge, so much so that i'll rush off to buy at least 4 more to ensure i'll not face a crisis point later. Within 2 weeks, I was struggling to finish that first batch, now i'm struggling to finish the 2nd beer of that first batch.

In general life, things have been improving over the last few weeks immensely. I'm regaining a taste for hard exercise, done spontaneously with little cajoling, something I'd long forgotten. I'm starting to enjoy sober relationships, my memory is improving, i'm becoming more likeable, more of a free personality in all I do.

Doing things like turning up at work with a hangover are things that now strike me utterly and completely on some deep level as "that was horribly unpleasant, im not doing that again!" as opposed to the old "It's a fact of life, deal with it, get away with it, and look forward to that next drink this weekday evening - cuz a proper session is 100% needed!"

I could almost say alcohol had become 'smack-a-hol' pre-Nal. The effect of alcohol made me 'smacked out of my brain' these days, like I imagine a heroin user would be, as opposed to the "life-of-the-party" super-social witty night-out guy I used to be during the old days on alcohol.

Nal has instantly and dramatically reversed all this for me. Looks like its completely hit the nail on the head. Alcohol produced an exaggerated swamping of endorphins on my brain, and Nal has blocked this, seemingly turning me into a regular joe on alcohol, who is now free to pursue a real life.

Many of the units i've been consuming as reported in my signature, most of them are me forcing them down my gullet through learned behaviour rather than any real need to, and the units are still falling dramatically. Could well be at the weekly government guideline this week (4). AF days are appearing more frequenty too, inbetween lighter and lighter sessions.

Info on me:
- Male, Caucasian, Late 20's.
- Alcholic for approximately 10 years, with early evidence of exaggerated response to alcohol.
- Ex-AA attendee.
- Ex-Antabuse taker.
- No official family history of alcohol abuse, except one parent who had trouble with alcohol bingeing for one year but 'snapped out of it' as a teen when life threatened to go downhill, barely drank alcohol since.

Just got to keep to the golden rule it seems

Excellent news, I'm so glad for you.

Two warnings for you;

I didn't experience my first bad hangover on relatively few units until 3-6 months in. I also had the odd 6 weekly spike from around 3 months in, however this didn't involve a return of the old crazy behaviour, so was bearable. If any of these things happen to you, please do not stop taking the nal, or think it's stopped working - it's all part of the process and does settle down.

Hi again Deus

This is brilliant news! Well done you .. glad its going so well for you

I'm interested to hear you are regaining your taste for exercise .. I'm on Revia from gold pharma... getting good results as far as my units are reducing .... but unfortunately so is my energy.

I've not had any bad SEs ... but I do think I'm generally more tired and have less energy. I see the list of side effects for Nodict says increase or decrease in energy ... do you think you have MORE energy on Nodict ? or is it just the lack of hangovers??

Thanks for posting your progress - makes such encouraging reading for all of us ...

isn't it a shame TSM not more widely known about here in the UK

Lorraine