je3625's progress

jaba · **Joined:** Wed Jul 15, 2015 9:35 pm **Posts:** 1426

Je,

je3625 wrote:

This past week I experienced some cravings for the first time since late November. I'm pretty sure it had to do with traveling, being in my old home city, the holidays, etc... But the nice thing was that even though some old thought patterns and cravings came up, I was able to get rid of them by allowing myself to have one drink with Naltrexone, which of course wasn't pleasurable or fun. In fact it only took doing that for one day out of the week to get rid of the cravings.

It sounds like you had a trigger and then an extinction all in one swoop...amazing!

Be proud of the fact you stuck to the golden rule and your one glass limit, for it is truly remarkable! I would have to say that switch has been flipped for you.

Keep up the good work and keep us informed,

Jaba

je3625 · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:15 am **Posts:** 97

Update time! It's actually been a month since I last posted here. I just finished week 42, meaning I'm only 10 weeks away from the 1 year mark. Hard to believe. The last 4 weeks my weekly totals have been 1, 5, 8, 4. You might recall that about 10 weeks ago I set out to impose a rule of no more than one drink a day for myself, which was following an unfortunate heavy episode of drinking. Since that time my weekly numbers have remained in the single digits, which is fantastic. I have slightly violated the rule a handful of times and had 2 or 3 drinks on a few occasions. These were situations where I was with another person and we wanted to have a little more, so I don't feel bad about that. Binge drinking by myself is my dangerous habit and I haven't done that at all. It feels great that alcohol has felt just so uninteresting to me for the last 10 weeks. I'm really noticing some psychological changes in how I view it. I just don't seem to enjoy or obsess about it the way I used to. I guess these are the slow changes that come about with doing TSM for a long period of time.

Maggie1929 · **Joined:** Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:27 pm **Posts:** 1691

All good stuff je! I do understand about your saying about your view of, and thoughts about AL are changing - and I do think it is when we have been on TSM for some time. I know it took me a long time for my views to change - and the mere thought of not ever drinking again was just out of sight! BUT, since the switch was flipped it has been really easy - and the thought does not bother me. I did have a drink this week but only 2 and poured some of the second out (glasses of wine). And also understand about the not obsessing or enjoying AL the way you used to - sounds as if things are really going well for you! SO happy !!!

Hugs, Maggie x

JoeSixPack · **Joined:** Sun Dec 06, 2015 11:28 pm **Posts:** 1646

That's great news, je!

Good job on setting the limits! Mindfulness really seems to help a lot of people accelerate the process.

newlife · **Joined:** Thu Feb 26, 2015 12:54 pm **Posts:** 1204

Good for you je3625!! I am SOOOO happy to hear of your continued success. Keep on posting, as you are inspiring those of us who are slightly just behind you (in terms of "cure", not time in the process). xoxo Newlife

reboot · **Joined:** Wed Jun 24, 2015 12:22 pm **Posts:** 336

JE,

Very great job! Another success story of slow and steady wins the race.

Maggie1929 · **Joined:** Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:27 pm **Posts:** 1691

reboot wrote:

JE,

Very great job! Another success story of slow and steady wins the race.

Doesn't it just, Reboot!!

Hugs, Maggie x

je3625 · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:15 am **Posts:** 97

Hello forum!
Well, after a long period away I have decided to return to tracking and updating my TSM progress here. I think my last update was in mid-February.

Just a little catch-up backstory: I started TSM in April 2015 and did it pretty regularly until February 2016. During that time I had some periods of great progress and success with very low drinking numbers, as well as a few occasions where the drinking numbers would spike back up to high amounts for a relatively short time. At one point in Feb I was feeling a little frustrated and decided I wanted to give sobriety another shot (I have a long AA history). So I went back to AA and stopped drinking for about 5 months. Everything was going fine until July when a strong urge to drink came back. Now, if I had been in a good TSM mindset that would have been perfectly fine and I would have gone ahead and drank on the Nal, no big deal. But because I was in more of a sobriety mindset, where drinking is the worst thing you can do, when I did finally give in and drink I made no attempt to do it in a controlled manner and things got a little out of hand. I did take the Nal a few times during the couple of weeks that I was drinking in August, but I wasn't totally compliant with the golden rule and so there were only partial effects from it. Also I was just psychologically screwed up about what I should be doing, being kind of caught halfway between TSM and AA. There's nothing worse than trying to go back to AA after a relapse, so a few weeks ago I decided it would be a much better idea to go back to doing TSM 100%, so here I am.

Last night was my first night back of proper drinking with Naltrexone. I went to a bar with a friend and had every intention of allowing myself to drink as much as I wanted, but the magic of Naltrexone kicked in and I could only finish 2.5 drinks and I just had to stop, even though part of me wanted to drink more. This stuff really does work when used properly, and that was a good reminder.

I know that there are ups and downs on the TSM path, but I do believe in the long term success of this method and I am happy to be back to doing it again.

Maggie1929 · **Joined:** Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:27 pm **Posts:** 1691

Welcome back Je although I am sorry that you had your problems....hopefully now you are back on track!

Hugs, Maggie

JoeSixPack · **Joined:** Sun Dec 06, 2015 11:28 pm **Posts:** 1646

Welcome back, Je!

Glad to hear you're back in the saddle!

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