I haven't posted my progress in a while.....looking back at units, I've decreased my units over the months! I am a week into month 6 and religiously taking Nal one hour before drinking. I have been chewing the dose for the past few months after reading some concerns about Rivers Nodict (I seem to feel a difference). I have also been taking 25mg as the 50mg makes me feel a huge sense of melancholy like I've lost pleasure in everything. I really felt I was losing myself. In fact, this past week I dropped to 12.5 and feel WAY better! I may have to go back to he 25 though as my units also seemed to increase. It's been good feeling "normal" and reassuring that it was the medication causing this effect and it does go away on a lower dose. Overall, I feel TSM is working as I broke my units down over the months and can see the average units have dropped each month.

I placed an order for Naltima so I am curious to see if there is a difference between that and the Nodict. I'll share my thoughts on that soon

Thanks for posting your progress. Glad to hear it's going well!!!

I'm doing it..... Decided to go AF tonight! School conference kept me past my usual late afternoon time that I would have started drinking (4pm). I considered taking a Nal before he conference but decided nah, I'll wait until after, and challenge myself to wait the entire hour before drinking. Well, got home at 5:30, popped my Nal, immediately spit it out. Debated with myself for a moment, "should I or shouldn't I, could I or couldn't I make it?" Well it's now 7pm and I am just fine! I can do it, I AM doing it at it feels great! I don't even feel like having and drink and this is unusual for me being the daily drinker that I am. Thank you Chrissie and some of the others that have encouraged getting an Af day in. I know I'm going to wake up feeling great tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it

How did it go? No judgement here, just trying to be supportive. BTW, my doc said the Nal might be what was making me feel so "raw" and teary eyed. He suggested I "choose" to not drink and give my prescribed mood stabilizing meds a chance to work. You may have hit the nail on the head with the Nal making you melancholy. Good Luck! Keek

Hi there. I saw you post about not drinking because you were at school for a teacher conference. I have found that I drink less these days due to the fact that my kids are busy after school with sports and cheerleading. I have to pick them up many times after six in the evening. Drinking and driving is NOT an option when it comes to my kids and the late pick up time has been a great distraction for me. If I can keep busy and make it past seven in the evening I almost always have an AF day. Food for thought. Keep on going. You are doing great.

I DID it!!! It really took very little effort and I'm not sure if that's the Nal having an effect or what? But I remained AF last night and that was even after I mixed a drink for my hubby, briefly considered just a sip then realized, I didn't even want it. Rest of the evening was spent helping my kid with s school project. Woke up this morning feeling great and full of energy
Kekede, thanks for the support, it certainly is the Nal for me that brings on the flat mood, indifference to life, melancholy feeling and I hate it! I've considered stopping TSM because of it but decided to cut my dose. I started the first 3-4 months at 50mg, went down to 25mg and now I generally take 12.5 and maybe a second dose at that if I continue drinking for several hours. It seems to be working for me even at the lower dose. I'm 5'3 and 125 lbs and tend to need less medication in general.
Georgiamom, I have found having to transport kids is helpful to cut back or delay my drinking at times.....unfortunately other times, I didn't do so well, showing up to events or to transport with a glass (or more) of wine in me Not "drunk" but not a proud moment either.....that's why I'm here though and my goal is to be able to be able to do as I did last night and choose to be Af. I could have easily come home and joined my husband in a drink or two or three as we normally do. Hmmm, maybe I could make it two nights in a row Af!?!?

One question; for anyone that has went Af for two days and let the reuptake of endorphins kick in, do you REALLY feel the rush of endorphins while working out etc? I'm wondering if that could jump start me back to working out or other healthy activities to replace drinking every night.
Thanks for the continued support of this forum!

I DID it!!! It really took very little effort and I'm not sure if that's the Nal having an effect or what? But I remained AF last night and that was even after I mixed a drink for my hubby, briefly considered just a sip then realized, I didn't even want it. Rest of the evening was spent helping my kid with s school project. Woke up this morning feeling great and full of energy
Kekede, thanks for the support, it certainly is the Nal for me that brings on the flat mood, indifference to life, melancholy feeling and I hate it! I've considered stopping TSM because of it but decided to cut my dose. I started the first 3-4 months at 50mg, went down to 25mg and now I generally take 12.5 and maybe a second dose at that if I continue drinking for several hours. It seems to be working for me even at the lower dose. I'm 5'3 and 125 lbs and tend to need less medication in general.
Georgiamom, I have found having to transport kids is helpful to cut back or delay my drinking at times.....unfortunately other times, I didn't do so well, showing up to events or to transport with a glass (or more) of wine in me Not "drunk" but not a proud moment either.....that's why I'm here though and my goal is to be able to be able to do as I did last night and choose to be Af. I could have easily come home and joined my husband in a drink or two or three as we normally do. Hmmm, maybe I could make it two nights in a row Af!?!?

One question; for anyone that has went Af for two days and let the reuptake of endorphins kick in, do you REALLY feel the rush of endorphins while working out etc? I'm wondering if that could jump start me back to working out or other healthy activities to replace drinking every night.
Thanks for the continued support of this forum!

Well congratulations LostDuck on your AF day. That is huge!!! To answer your question about exercise, I've found it helpful when trying to get thru the day AF. I will go to the gym at night (6:30-8pm) to get me thru that tough period. Sometimes I'll take a sauna after my workout and I leave feeling great...sort of w/ a renewed inner strength plus happy that I've almost made it thru the evening w/out a drink.

Once again, happy to read about your success.

I have another 4pm commitment his evening that will have me out of the house during my normal witching hour, from about 3:30-5:30. I'm going to try to add another Af day today. If I make it two days in a row, that will be a first in over 10 years!

Way to go, LostDuck!!!!

Maybe the long-term use of the Nal is starting to pay off for you! You certainly have enough time under your belt for the extinction process to have had a significant effect. I had to laugh when you mentioned spitting the Nal out -- I've don't the same thing. Can you see how your attitude towards the booze has suddenly shifted? You are now thinking more about NOT drinking, not even wanting to drink -- that is what the Nal extinction process is all about! It gently brings us to the stage where we naturally lose interest in drinking. I think you may be at that stage right now! This happened to me about two weeks ago as well. One day, I simply didn't WANT to drink -- so didn't! Perhaps we are very close to being finally free!!! Wouldn't that be wonderful!?

Do keep us posted!

KOKO!