I am taking it once a day like i've been told to by the prescribing doctor/nurse. They say it should stay in my system. Don't know where you are based. I m in the UK . Managed to get Nal prescribed under the NHS. Prescriptions are not free. It is something like 7.60 GBP per prescription, unless you are exempt, which i am not...
And i get a prescription for 14 pills at the time. But you can buy a Prepaid Prescription Certificate which is 104 GBP per year and covers all your prescriptions. I bought one so if i get the Naltrexone prescribed it's much cheaper for me and affordable.
I think i just have to lie and tell them whatever they want to hear so i keep getting the prescriptions...

Hope everyine else there is doing OK!

Alice,

Go ahead and tell that fib, and get your scripts cheaper. That's what I would do if I were you.

I also believe that they are probably correct when saying the nal will be in your system all day long, however, I really believe taking it 1 hour before makes a pretty big difference. That is both my opinion from experience, and from my interpretation of reading many other posts on here.

Good luck, and talk to you soon.

Hi all

I haven’t posted in almost a month now..

And here is what’s been happening briefly (or not so briefly).
I posted about seeing a nurse at the Substance abuse centre (where i get my prescriptions from) and she saying abt making a plan, Antabuse, TSM not working... Anyway, a few days after started feeling really down and stopped carrying abt how much i drink or not drink and skipping the Nal...(this was somewhere abt 18 April, a few days after seeing this stupid (to not use a rude worde) nurse ...
Then so my regular doctor abt my depression asking her to review my medicine. And she was like ‘You have to stop drinking; this is what is causing the depression etc...) Got ne even more discouraged. It is a vicious circle: depression causes me to drink; drink causes more depression. And i feel no one is to help me....

So another worker at the Substance abuse centre on 29.4.13 and he kept on the same song: TSM not working...By the way i went back to the religious Nal taking the Friday before... He gave me a prescription for 14 more days and made me an apt to see the psychiatrist. I saw him on May 7. He kept on about detox, antabuse, TSM not working as it has been 4 months. And said he will not prescribe the Nal any more. I felt in complete despair. I tried to explain i think it is helping and it can take long time or even several tries and no luck. So I won’t be getting any more prescriptions...Don’t even know if should go there any more, as every time i do i get really really upset and discouraged.
I told him how i feel and asked for another apt and said i will decide if i want to go...Basically in the psychiatrists opinion i need to stop drinking and maybe then they’ll prescribe Nal to keep me off the alcohol. But this is not what TSM is about.

Anyway, i am wondering if i can go see him and lie and tell him i have had quite a few AF days after i last saw him hoping he’ll prescribe it? Or just to get out of this place as they discourage me so much and start ordering over the internet...

My dad was visiting for two weeks (left last Sat) and i had a bit more and didn’t keep diary while he was here as wanted to feel ‘happy’ s he doesn’t get concerned...But now that he is gone i have to get on with things.
I have Nal for 4 weeks (ordered 14 from internet, skipped days and last time they prescribed it they messed up the date and gave it to me from a week before they ought to have)

Any advice or opinions?
Do i go back to this clinic? Or just do it myself and order off the internet. I also bought ‘The Cure for Alcoholism’ book and intend to read it, so can do TSM as per it..

Am in despair right now!

Alice

Wow, there's been a lot of sad stories around here lately. Maybe Antabuse would be good in the short term because it will FORCE you to not drink and shock your habit a bit. You might need to build up your personal strength and confidence before TSM will ever work for you, and maybe that will do the trick. It seems as though your depression / anxiety might be stronger than Naltrexone at this point. That's just my opinion based on what little I know about you through your posts.

Hi Alice,

It sounds like you are in a rough patch, and I'm very sorry to hear that. We are unfortunately at a time in history in which there isn't a lot of belief in the use of medication to treat addiction within the medical profession, which means that if nal doesn't work for you immediately, your physician is more likely to assume that it will never work, rather than try to tweak what you are doing.

Reading through your posts, I immediately wonder how much exercise you are doing. For people with depression in general, exercise has been shown to help about as much as most available medications. Strap on those running shoes, even if you have never done it before. DO YOGA! It's amazing. Ride your bike. Get outside. Push yourself. As Barry mentioned, you need to build your confidence, and all of these will help. They take effort, but you are committed to getting better, right?

To add to the exercise, a patented generic trick is to throw yourself into a freezing cold shower. It's the poor man's electroshock. Sounds silly but it works.

Like most of us, it sounds like you have a lot of issues that synergize with the drinking, so this won't be an easy road. Some time completely sober, some time in AA, some time in rehab, these things may all bring you more results and aren't necessarily incompatible with naltrexone... A little dry-out to help you gain perspective may be exactly what you need.

Please keep us updated, I'm rooting for you. I know you can do it.

Hi
Yes, I do have a lot of issues...
I actually do yoga once a week and try to do a body balance class once a week.

But both you barryb an generic have a good point. I need to resolve my emotional issues and build up strength. One thing i am not prepared to do is take Antabuse or do a detox...

But what I can do is try to be more positive and active....

I also think I need a different treatment for my depression and if the NHS here cannot help am prepared to go the private root. I actually have been trying to find a private psychiatrist I can see, but without too much success so far. I have another apt at this Substance abuse centre as I mentioned and am thinking of going to at least ask if they can recommend a private doctor I can go to

Alice

Hi Alice

Good to see you still posting - but I'm sorry things have been hard for you of late. Some good advice here from the guys above ...but at the end of the day ... there's one person that can do this .. one person that can turn this around for you ... and that's YOU! Come on Alice .. life is too short ... you have your children to think about and you owe this to yourself.

Whatever it takes ... go for it. Its great to see you thinking of trying different routes when the substance abuse nurse was less than helpful for you ... that shows your spirit!! Good on you! Try whatever you can.. seek what ever help is available ... and go for it! Keep on trying .. and keep us updated wishing you lots of good luck and trying to send you strong UK forum vibes all the way from Scotland!!! Love Lorraine

I'd be more consistent with the Nal and try see if you can get some AF days - I know that sounds scary BUT it tends to help the process along. If this is too dangerous then how about really trying to reduce units, drinking slower and trying to recognise - does my body really want and need to drink this drink. I've been abstenant for a while and chance/reason came up for me to break this recently and I got reasonably tipsy, just because I could and the old desire to continue and get blasted was there BUT I said to myself Wooaaaah, is this what I really want and need and was able to just about pull it back, take the easy option to go home, go to bed early. Part of me yearned to continue drinking but I knew, thanks to TSM that really wasn't for me and once the decision made was able to resist. That's what I think Nal and TSM does.

I agree with this statement so very very strongly. Nal reduces desire, more and more over time. I used to have a physical sensation in my chest of longing for another drink, pulling me toward another drink, and that is completely gone now. It doesn't mean that I can't get drunk still. I can very easily, and have, very easily gotten drunk still. I enjoy it less (or differently, to be more accurate) than I did before, but guaranteed, if I drink 3 bottles of wine, I'll be wasted. I used to try to slow myself down and it was painful. Nal has made it not painful, but the change in habits has still been a effort that I've had to make. The pill won't do it for you. Tips that have worked for me, but may not work for everyone

Delay your start time. It isn't self-denial, it's just a delay. Occupy yourself with something else.

Substitute weaker drinks for stronger ones. In the past, this did me no good, as I would just start slamming beers. On nal, it helps me immensely to swap light beer for heavy beer for wine for whisky.

Have a soda. They are tasty too, and slow you down. If you need that bite, I like diet ginger ale plus about 5 dashes of bitters. It's like a cocktail, but not. Again, this doesn't have to mean the end of the night, just a tiny break.

And finally, if all this routine sounds annoying and like it's not that much better than forcing self control without nal, I promise you that it is. For a period of time pre-nal, I forced myself to never drink more than 3 drinks in a night. I was able to do that for almost half a year, but it still never became a routine. As soon as I hit the date that I had planned to give up my regimen, BLAMMO, back to annihilating bottles of scotch semi-daily. Now, on nal, this kind of thing actually does take hold.

On another note, can you start a whole new exercise routine? Yoga 1x a week is great and all, but it seems like a huge change is what you need to snap you out of this, not just a little one. Temporarily at first. Run or do yoga EVERY MORNING for a month and I promise you will feel better. Start today. You can do it Alice, goddamn it!

Hi Lorraine, UKblond and generic

Lorraine, you are right that it is up to me to sort myself out. I just find it so very hard...But I know I have to do it for my kids. I think i'll start one small step at the time. Recently I've been having often some wine in the morning, even before work (basically I'd feel really down and start crying, mu Dad will be 'Why are you crying? You have nothing to be upset abt etc. and i'd go for the wine to cheer up). This is the first thing that has absolutely to stop!

UKblond, at the moment AF days seem impossible, but I will try like you say to reduce units. I've enlisted my daughters help - to remind my I have to drink less; talked to her this morning. She is only 11, but is the only person i have close by to encourage me. And am going to start keeping diary again as of today.

Generic, I hope Nal starts working for me too. And I'll try to use some of the tactics you suggest to help me reduce units. I hope Nal will help like you say.

As for the exercise - I work full time and am a single mum. So I am ususally out of the house before 8 am with 2 kids to take to bus stop/ child minder So going out for a run is out of the question. But I can do say 10 min of yoga each morning at home.

At the moment I feel I need someone to believe in me and that TSM will help! And the people at Substance abuse place definitely don't!

I just have to keep trying!