So, I tried the Nal on a few occasions and have had horrible side effects, so I started drinking without it again. I was able to reduce my units by about 50% by just taking the al out of the house and enlisting my hubby's help. I am still drinking more than I want to and am going to try a 2 month AF period per my psychiatrists suggestion. I'm thinking that a daily 12.5 of Nal might make me used to the drug enough to not get major SE's like I've gotten in the past from a few AF days and then drinking on the Nal. I took 12.5 a couple of days ago and didn't drink. I was a little spacey and had a weird taste in my mouth, but overall not too terribly unpleasant. I am a little worried about how it might affect my cardio levels, but need to not stress on it as the alcoholism is more of a problem than my exercise levels. Priority, priority, priority. My doc has loaded me up with an arsenal of natural calming supps and techniques, so Here we go... Sign me keek, keke, kekede, one more, .....BTW, I was able to change my password and am now back to the user name of kekede. Oxoxox's keek

Sorry to read you've had such a tough time of it. The key is to not give up. I had bad reactions to the Nal too once I stopped drinking daily and so I stopped taking the Nal in December. The good part was that I had at the point been successfully AF quite a bit of the time (got out of the daily drinking habit) and so I've been able to keep the drinking under control. The key for me was to keep at it and try different approaches.

I'm still thinking about introducing Nal again in very small dosages to see if I can get used to it before drinking....but that is something I haven't actually done yet.

Hang in there. I hope this next phase works for you.

Ok, so the 2 months off was a bit of a stretch.....

New plan: I've been reading through the posts and have found that the best way to get over the SE's is to do a full dose right off the bat. That sounds scary, so I'm going to try 25mgs starting on Sunday. I have determined that I can go 3 days AF w/o too many cravings, so my plan is to go AF until the Vicodin has passed through my system.. I took some half way through a race and again yesterday because of pain. I'm through with races until November and can make TSM my priority. I'm even considering taking a full dose for a couple of days next week since I will be on my own without any responsibilities Monday through Wednesday.

I am a little disappointed that I gave up on the 2 months after just 6 days, but there in lies the problem. What bothers me most is that I didn't try any other method of relaxation and went straight for the bottle. What I have learned thus far is that I need to just take the Nal 1 hour before and not worry about the Nal over. Also, wine is the worst as far as the Nal over is concerned, so when I do drink, it needs to be skinny Cosmo or something to that effect. It's interesting how I'm only posting when I'm hung over. I'm going to try and do more posting and to look to this forum for encouragement more often.

Just got thrown off again......so hard to post on members threads if I keep getting logged out!

Hmmm... Just know that I am here..... I don't know what I'd do if this forum didn't exist... I'd probably be bawling my eyes out. Right now, I still feel a little hopeful that I can follow this program to the letter and that maybe, just maybe ill get it right this time around. Here's to success...I'm going to go read all of the stories of success and try and get some encouragement... Oxoxoxo's keek.

I'm with you K.

This forum is awesome.

Hi kekede. I too suffered SEs and it got to the point where even THINKing about nal made me sick to my stomach, so started drinking without nal. Well that was a bad idea and I'm now back on nal. SEs are manageable to nil if I eat a good snack (protein and carbs) with the nal, take an advil, and eat Tums to keep the nausea in check. I'm back to 'in control' at 1-2 drinks per session about once or twice a week. It's not yet 'second nature' in that I have to manage the process (take the nal, advil, tums, wait an hour), I still want those drinks (at least the first one), I still get some SEs, but I stay in control, which is my goal. As someone here has said, it's like managing diabetes or lactose intolerance or an allergy - we have to take our pill, there may be some slight side effects (nausea, headache) but that's SO much better than the path we were on without the nal.

I'm rooting hard for you. Keep nal'ing on!!

Pre nal I'd often wake being sick after a binge, sometimes up to 24 hours later so a bit of sickness/tiredness whatever is nothing. Of course this offset depends on your own individual drinking and how it affected you.

Hey CH, Nit, & UK, Thanks for the comments....It's reassuring to know some on this forum are reading what I have to say and suggesting ways to help with this process. I really appreciate it.

I woke up this a.m. and was about to start my daily chores when I had to tell myself to back up and get on the TSM Forum "meeting". I'm a little teary eyed, but still in good spirits. I had a very serious talk with hubby and told him that I REALLY need to work this program in order to get my drinking and psyche in control. He seems to think It's not all that bad and has a tendency to discount my problem. I can on occasion have 2 drinks and stop, but I still jones for more and tried to explain to him what it was like to white knuckle. I don't expect him to fully understand, but I think I have him convinced as to how important this is to me. He actually suggested low dose Nal every day so that my body is a little used to it when I take a larger dose. I'm planning on taking a bit of everyone's advice after a couple of days AF. I need to get it through my thick skull that in order for this program to work, I'm going to have to fight off the urge to drink w/o the Nal. So, here's to getting back on the horse, reigning it in, training it, and letting it know who's the boss. Love to all, Keek