End of week 9 update!
Total number of drinks - 4. AF days - 4. Average # drinks / session - 1.3. Daily numbers were 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 2, 0.

Similar and equally encouraging results to last week. Again well within the safe drinking range.

The main thing to report from this past week is that although I've been successful at drinking small amounts for two and a half weeks now, I still get some crazy thoughts about drinking. For example, last weekend I found myself fantasizing about some of my old triggers that would have historically caused me to go on a huge binge. I seriously thought about going out to the bars and getting drunk or staying in a hotel room where I can escape from everyone and just get hammered without any interruptions. Those aren't normal thoughts. The good thing is that once I thought it through it didn't seem worth the cost and inconvenience and the hangover so I didn't end up doing it. Then on Sunday I was going to "allow" myself to get drunk and break the 2 drink rule, but then once I started drinking the pleasure and interest just weren't there and I no longer even wanted to drink anymore and poured out the last part of my second drink. I feel like I can really see firsthand how the reinforcement idea works. I currently still sometimes get the thought in my head that drinking will be really fun. But every time I do it, I am reminded that it just doesn't excite or interest me anymore because the behavior is so dramatically changed. With enough time I suspect those thoughts will eventually become more and more fleeting.

They will !!

UKB had this to say " I had also seen through alcohol a long time before TSM, I knew it was a con and I knew it wasn't essential in anyone's life."

Imagine you had gotten wasted, and compare that to how you feel not having gotten wasted. What would the point have been?

Your perspective has changed !

It comes as a surprise , but it's a great place to be.

Fantastic !

Good for you je3625. Funny to be in a place where you can realize just how screwed up some of our thinking has been, isn't it?

Your success is wonderful and inspiring. Doesn't mean that you may not hit any more bumps in the road, but you have really shown yourself that you can do it. Good for you!!

Nal on!! Hugs and congrats from Newlife

Wow, yes, unfortunately this is definite side effect of TSM - alcohol loses it's sparkle. Those ingrained thoughts are still there but I can confirm that certainly for me they get less and less with time.

je3625 your story is very encouraging. I kind of drink like you do as well. Off for a week or even a month and then Bam! Have one drink and the next thing you know there are vodka bottles hidden around the house and off the handle I go. I never did drink all day but when it came time I'd be putting them down. I have read other accounts too that there is some ideas out there that fast responders could be the ones who binge rather then the ones who sip all night. In either case each type of drinker ultimately ends up wasted at the end of the night but the bingers seem to want to get there real fast and then maintain the levels. That to me seems like an indication of a very responsive opioidergic system and may have something to do with the length of treatment in my unscientific opinion. Also I see a lot of people struggle to have AF days and for drinkers like us we have had many AF days, but then of course we make up for that real fast don't we? That's the alcohol deprivation effect kicking in.

Having read many of the stories here really all one can say is the journey is different for everyone.

I start TSM tomorrow so I'm a total newb. Right now it's about 4 O'clock where I live and I'm very very much looking forward to meeting my drinkin' buddies at the Pup in a couple hours and having my first one of the night. I can't wait till I no longer care about that.

Well Ocean, I have to shoot your theory down. I always thought the opposite: that binge drinkers would have a harder time because there is no normal routine. Me, I drank everyday like clockwork, and I was a (relatively) fast responder.

So who knows?!

Ocean, thanks for the comments and best of luck as you begin the journey!


There may be some statistical validity to the idea that bingers respond more quickly than day drinkers. Statistical meaning response times for each group are averaged over a large number of samples. That doesn't mean there can't be individual cases where a non-binger does respond quickly or where a binger responds slowly or even not at all.

End of week 10 update!
Total number of drinks - 13. AF days - 4. Average # drinks / session - 4.3. Daily numbers were 0, 0, 1, 0, 4.5, 7.5, 0.

Had a little bit of a hiccup or minor setback in my results for this week. Still extremely pleased with my overall results. In my post for last week I mentioned having thoughts around the weekend of wanting to go "out" drinking, as opposed to drinking in my bedroom in front of the computer, which is my normal pattern and what I've been doing throughout the TSM process. Well this week the same thoughts came up and I decided to act on them. I don't completely regret it because it was a learning experience and I think acting on our desires or cravings around drinking is part of the process. The first night (when I had 4.5) I did enjoy myself somewhat, but not so much because of the alcohol but more because of what I was doing. And really 4-5 drinks for a night out on occasion isn't terrible anyways, especially in comparison to my past usage. The second night (when I had 7.5) wasn't fun at all and I felt like I was just doing it out of habit and it was a total waste. The good news is I currently feel no desire or interest to repeat that second night again and hopefully I've gotten that out of my system for a while. Also encouraging is the fact that I was able to rebound last night and not drink anything, and right now I feel like I'm back on track and don't have any desire to drink. I feel so much stability in knowing that even if I do drink a bit more than I intended on a single occasion, it doesn't mean I will spiral out of control and go back to doing it every day. I think those days are gone for good.

That sounds a lot like the pattern I've been getting into, where once is really fun and nice, and then you try to replicate it only to be disappointed. I guess the "getting it out of our system" is what the extinction feels like? We "know" in our mind it's not going to be any fun, but we have to "prove" that to our inner rat who's hitting the switch for more?

Good for you je3625, I am so pleased to see your large # of AF days continue!! In spite of your "big night" look how good your numbers still are. If I am honest I have to say that I am envious, but also very happy for you!! Nal on!! Newlife