Greetings all!

I'm on day 72 of TSM and I'd like to know about how others who have been there can relate to my current situation. To be honest, I take my meds daily according to the golden rule, but I can't say that my habits have changed all that much. My habit is roughly 7 plus or minus a beers or two each night. I'm not receiving any auxilliary therapy, just the naltrexone each day one hour before drinking.

I was hoping that by now I'd just lose interest in drinking, but it's not happening that way. I'm still drinking heavily.

Anyone else been in my situation?

My goal is vague. I thought I'd just take the naltrexone and see what happens, but I'm not convinced anything really is happening.

Any suggestions or encouragement is really REALLY appreciated.

If you've been reading, you know there are 10% of people who just aren't helped by blocking the opioid receptors. Their addiction works by some other means. It's possible that you're in the 10%.

Are you sure your consumption hasn't decreased? Some people think they're making no progress until they start tracking, at which point they realize they actually are.

Day 72 . . . let's see here. The average person sees some improvement by that time, but not all. For some people it takes longer than average. Some people have seen cures around the 15-month mark, and for those folks we wouldn't expect a large decrease at the 2.5 month mark.

Thanks for the response. I guess I'll just keep at it and see what happens. I've got a good Doc that is working with me and is supportive. I should mention that if I plot the number of drinks I consume per day, there is a slight negative trend. If it continues in this linear fashion I'll be down to zero drinks in 4 years! So maybe the future looks bright right?

Ok, so zero drinks in four years may not be what you'd hoped for when starting out but if you don't do anything then you'll still be having 7 beers a night (maybe more) in four years time. The time will pass anyway, and at least with TSM you're doing something about it.

Although you're still drinking the same amount, has the intensity of the craving changed at all? Does the alcohol taste any different? Do you feel less drunk when on the Nal and drinking? Sometimes, these more subtle changes occur first before the units decrease. I'm sure I've read that some people don't have that initial honeymoon period and just see a slow, gradual decrease in consumption...a bit like our slow, gradual increase in drinking over the years but in reverse.

It's good that you've got a doctor on board and it might help to talk this over with him. Maybe at some point he might suggest that you increase your doseage.It might be helpful to read through some of the cured posts and see if there's anyone there who responded like you and from whom you can take some hope/inspiration. Hang in there!

Ruth.

I must say that as of lately, I've felt a bit, shall I say, disgusted at the taste that beer is leaving in my mouth about 3/4 of the way through my regular drinking scheme. It's difficult to say as to whether this is due to naltrexone, given that during this same time I've suffered from a stomach flu of sorts. Either way, I cut my drinking at that and woke up soaking with the night sweats. Not fun.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I plan to stick through this and update my journey in due time.

Feel free to stop drinking if the alcohol disgusts you. If you force yourself to drink it anyway, well i doubt thats helpful.

GoatBeard Just to reiterate the obvious by way of encouragement...Naltrexone is just a tool (sometimes a "big" tool, sometimes "small"), that helps YOU and YOUR WILL have an easier time reducing consumption. It's probably time in your journey that you start trying to actively drink less and see what happens. Maybe try drinking five beers a day for a week. If you're disciplined enough to take the pill one hour before drinking for 72 days, surely you can pull of drinking five beers a day for a week. Then try four, etc.... Or, see if you can string together two AF days. At your levels, though, you might have some withdrawals (sweats, shakes).

Anyway, you can do it. You're a man not a boy.

Lets hope that it's the Nal affecting how the beer is tasting and the flu that's causing the night sweats. Time will tell.

Following on from what barry has said, I too think you may be reaching the time when you'll have to start putting a bit of effort into reducing your intake. Some extinction will have happened...hopefully enough to allow you to cut back a bit here and there. I too started out thinking that the naltrexone would just take away the desire to drink and that I would magically reach the holy grail of indifference. Along the way, I've realised that I have to do some work too. At the beginning, I really had to have that drink each day. As TSM took effect this changed...I didn't have to have it, but I wanted to have it. The need to drink had gone, but the habits were still there. I have slowly but surely been working my way through breaking those habits and associations. I've done it baby steps at a time. I switched to lower alcohol wine and started using a smaller glass. I then cut out the lunchtime drink and then weeks later the one when I got home which was my "relaxing time " drink before starting dinner. Instead of two drinks with dinner I'd have one, then a month or two later I'd force an AF day. I'm a lot further on than you and I couldn't have made these changes without the Naltrexone (I'd tried often enough in the past), but with Nal each small change was possible and each one has added up to something much bigger.

The whole point of all my waffling is...can you look at your drinking and ask yourself how much of it is still need and how much is want? Are you drinking out of habit and if so, can you change some of those habits?

If it's still a need, then start tracking your units, keep up with the Nal and grab those opportunities when the beer taste yuk with both hands.

Yeah, I agree with the others. Tracking is good, and you can/should stop drinking when the beer tastes bad.

At this point, you would normally have seen a lot of extinction. If you haven't, your dose of naltrexone may not be high enough. We've discovered here on TheSinclairMethod.com that the standard dose of 50mg isn't enough for a fair number of people -- you need 100% blockage of your opioid receptors.

It's also possible that you're no longer addicted and don't even realize it. Some people just continue out of habit, after the addiction itself is extinguished. If that's the case, cutting down should be fairly easy once you make up your mind to do it.

Why are you drinking it when you don't want it and it doesn't taste good?