Week 0: 72 (week before starting TSM)
Week 1: 63
Week 2: 57

Progress.

Went camping this weekend, which was a lot of fun. Drank a lot, but did a good job of not going way overboard. My estimate is 10 on both Friday and Saturday, just based on hangover magnitude, since I didn't do a good job of counting. Probably would've logged closer to 50 for week 2 if it weren't for the camping trip.

Following the 1-hour rule has proved to be easy. I bring a pill to work with me and take it an hour before the earliest time I would be able to head home, so that by the time I have an opportunity to drink, I'm well past an hour. I don't think I have failed to observe the 1-hour wait yet.

Getting to sleep continues to be an issue. I am using my android app daily, and I've observed that I generally need to get my BAC up to 0.08-0.10% before I can get to sleep. I tried adding benadryl into the mix but I couldn't feel anything. Melatonin will usually let me get to sleep at about a 0.06% if it's past midnight. Ugh.

A side effect that I remember from my previous experiences with naltrexone is back. It dulls my sex drive pretty significantly, like by 75% or more. I am fine during the day, but a couple hours after my dose, I'm just really not that interested. Having said that, when I was on baclofen, my sex drive was zero, and one of the most common side effects of that drug is lack of ability to even have an orgasm (SERIOUSLY, and people put up with it!!), I think I can deal with a moderately diminished sex drive on nights when I take naltrexone. All the more motivation to start having AF days...don't have to take naltrexone on AF days...

Hi Ives,

I'm new and just finished my week two as well. I should have ended the week slightly down but I made a stupid mistake I won't repeat.

In order to save a few dollars I bought the large 1.5 litre bottle of wine - twice the size of a normal 750ml. It wasn't bad for a chardonnay, actually. However, predictably, I didn't stop till 80% was gone. So it was a 9 unit day instead of a hoped-for 5. I guess I need that act of opening a second bottle (or not) to keep to 1 bottle a night, which is not where I am yet, but what I'm working toward. On the plus side, I had gone for a bike ride - a major step for me - and didn't start drinking til my home happy hour (5pm).

Oh, as Xanthippe said, try not to be so rough on yourself! My Dr. W. was very careful about cautioning me that it wouldn't be a straight or necessarily quick trajectory to a much reduced level of drinking. You can look at others' progress and see this is true. We're just starting out, and can expect that some days will be better than others; we just have to stay on track, take our medicine, and let it do its job, however long that takes.

Sleep and anti-anxiety. I've done quite a bit of research because I was looking for natural remedies both to use at work to ward off stress and at night to sleep. These are effective for me:

L-Theanine. Provides relaxation, calmness. I used this one more during the day when I was feeling anxious/on the verge of a panic attack at work. 1-2 100mg tablets, as needed, up to 3x/day.

Relora and Rhodiola Supplements highly recommended by Dr. Oz for overall stress reduction and mood elevation. Didn't have a hugely noticeable effect for me but the bonus is that they help to decrease levels of cortisol which can help with weight loss. (Note to self - reorder!)

L-Tryptophan 1 500mg tablet for relaxation during the day; 2-3 an hour before bed and I sleep through the night, without even waking up with that nagging wine dry mouth. I take this regularly with ...

NightRest with Melotonin This is the brand name of a product by Source Naturals; very reputable company. It has all sorts of amino acids, Gaba, herbs, and Melatonin. The combination of NightRest and L-Tryptophan has been a huge help with sleeping for me.

I'm not sure where you are, but I ordered these through Amazon here in the U.S., and you can read tons of reviews. Hope that helps!

Well, this isn't my first attempt at TSM. Between my false start 2nd TSM attempt earlier this year and the 2-3 months afterward that I spent in the haze of high-dose baclofen, I have been trying to do something about my situation actively since February. My goal had been to get my drinking under control before the summer was out, but it's looking like I'll blow the whole summer either drinking or waiting to drink, just as I have for the last 8 years.

I wouldn't say I'm really being hard on myself, more just being blunt about the reality of the situation. I wish I was doing better, but 57 drinks in a week is still pretty good, considering 70 has been the norm for me for many years.

I guess I have gotten caught up in the mindset surrounding the baclofen approach, where you (supposedly) just have to reach a high enough dose and you'll magically no longer care about alcohol at all. I wish it had worked for me, but the price was just too high -- I couldn't stand to live my life under the influence of that stuff. TSM is different, and the fact that it might take 6, 12, or 24 months to work...sucks. I'm so ready for post-alcoholic life. And yet every day I am still compelled to drink myself into a stupor as soon as the sun starts to go down.

I will have to try out some of your supplements. I have tried taking theanine during the daytime in the hopes that it would reduce my urge to drink but have not tried it to help me get to sleep. I already take a lot of supplements and vitamins, so I go to a vitamin store on a regular basis and I am sure I can find all of those things there.

I've not tried the Bac route so would love to hear more about it vs. Nal since it sounds like you've been in the trenches. I've been drinking without an "off" switch for 25+ years, ok, yeah I was sober a 14-yr+ period in there before/after my son was born, but the past 8+ years have been in and out. More out.

You sound a bit cynical. (Aren't we all?) I'm no pollyanna looking for a pony here. I can't function and be of use to anyone much less my own standards if I'm drinking 2+ bottles of wine a night, but that's where I am. Basically Nal or Bac are my last options. So for now I'm betting on Nal and following the protocol 100% in hopes it will have the same magic on me that it seems to have had on others.

I'm really interested in hearing how you're doing.

TSM can be a long process. I gave up too soon and am back at it, as well. Nal + patience = control. That's the mantra. Easy to say, harder to do. But others have genuinely succeeded so it's worth the struggle. good luck!

Baclofen works great for some people. Success mainly has to do with the side effects. The side effects of naltrexone can hardly be called side effects compared to what being on baclofen is like. Some people experience little or no SEs, but most experience very strong ones that significantly impact their lives all day, every day. I think I got them worse than about 75% of people. Although they generally diminish with time, they are usually a big deal. If you can tolerate them, and take a high enough dose, legend has it that you will "hit the switch" and one day you'll realize you do not care about drinking AT ALL, and can immediately go AF for as long as you choose with no effort whatsoever. After that, you can reduce to a much lower "maintenance dose" and retain that magical state.

Negative side effects: intense sleepiness during the day, inability to sleep at night, dizzy spells, mild visual hallucinations, sensitivity to sound and/or light, headaches, confusion, inability to have an orgasm (anorgasmia), suppression of feelings of happiness or enjoyment across the board
Positive side effects: ability to function on very little sleep, increased focus and willpower while working, increased endurance when exercising, very effective suppression of anxiety

I never reached the "switch," but I did reach a high enough dose (275 mg/day) to turn me into a complete robot. I was more functional than ever before at work, working long hours easily, getting by on less sleep, feeling more confident with myself than ever...but I experienced no joy, no happiness, no pleasure, no emotions of any kind at any point during any time of the day. I went out on dates with girls that in retrospect I ought to have been very attracted to and felt nothing. I lost interest in doing anything and everything I am normally interested in doing. I kept going through all the motions, but I was getting no chemical reward in my brain. Baclofen for me was like TSM to the extreme, where it didn't just sap away the high I got from drinking, but any kind of high that my brain was able to experience at all. I wasn't willing to tolerate living my life like that, and the other negative SEs had gotten so intense that I wasn't willing to push higher in search of the "switch," so I called it off.

The main thing I would caution you on if you choose to try baclofen, is that you develop a very strong physical dependence on it after a couple of months, and having your supply cut off suddenly is a very bad thing. If you are planning to order it from a foreign pharmacy, always make sure you have at least a months' supply of pills on hand at all times. TSM is a very low-risk experiment compared to baclofen...if you decide to stop, you can just stop taking the naltrexone and you'll be fine.

Thank you for the response, Ives. Sounds like a major mixed bag. I think I'll stay with the Nal for now... I already have plenty of "... no joy, no happiness, no pleasure, no emotions of any kind at any point during any time of the day."

Again, thanks and keep posting on your progress with Nal, please.

Week 0: 72 (week before starting TSM)
Week 1: 63
Week 2: 57
Week 3: 69

Well, back to business as usual for the most part. Double digits all but two days. Made the mistake of buying a bottle of vodka early in the week...whenever liquor is on hand, it's a bad thing. I don't drink it instead of the beer I'd normally be drinking, I drink it in addition to the beer. A bottle of 40 proof liquor is 17 standard drinks, so if I hadn't done that, this week's count would probably have been a bit lower than last week's.

I am noticing that (when there is no liquor around) I pace myself quite well now. I went on a picnic and then bar-hopped a bit yesterday, started drinking at 1 PM and didn't stop until midnight, but only had 10 total drinks when all was said and done. By the end of the evening, I opted for a bowl of ice cream and a glass of water rather than another beer.

3 weeks in, and I think I'm going to try for an AF night tonight, which would be the first I've had since February. I'm driving to an event in a few hours where alcohol won't be served, and probably won't be home from that until at least 9 PM. I expect that by the time I get home I'm going to be craving a drink pretty badly, but I'm gonna give it a try and see what happens.

Exercise really is a wonderful thing when it's actually fun! I played volleyball with friends for a couple of hours tonight, right during the timeframe where I normally would be drinking. Had a great time and wasn't thinking about drinking in the least bit. Afterwards, everyone wanted to go out for a beer (not my suggestion!) and I just had one, like everyone else, and that felt like it was plenty. Now I'm home, and tired, and will probably have one or maybe two more beers before bedtime.

As for last night, AF was a bridge too far, but I only had four in total by the time I got to sleep. It had been over a month since I'd had 4 or fewer drinks in a night. Waking up feeling totally fine without the slightest hint of hangover is such a foreign thing to me.

What I'm discovering is that a major key to making this work is getting myself out of my apartment to actually DO something during those hours where I normally say, "Well, guess I haven't got anything going on tonight, better start drinking." Last night it was the little event thing I went to, tonight was volleyball. Once I get home from an activity, it's late enough that I just don't have enough time left to drink heavily. And now the difference is that I don't enter the panicked "need to drink as much as possible with what little time I have left before I have to get to sleep" mode that usually strikes me when I end up getting home very late and very sober.

Things are definitely changing for the better in my brain. I'm doing it right this time and I think it's working.

My experience with baclofen was pretty much the same except I didn't even get the increased confidence stage. I was completely zombified on it and suffered from horrendous depression and 'wierd' thoughts.

People talk about feeling dizzy, spacey, tired with Naltrexone but let me tell you this, baclofen is 10-100 times that effect.