Week 18 ... 78 units ... I have just completed 4 Calendar Months and find I no longer have the capacity to consume what I could just 10 weeks ago.
Back then I could have 15 units in a sitting and be bright eyed in the morning.
Now, I find I wake after 9 units and feel pretty ordinary.
My units are up from last week because I went on a bender triggered by emotional issues.
If not for that, I would be at the same level as last week.

In last weeks post I said "I'm not putting any pressure on myself to change my behaviour. I'm just going along for the ride and see where it takes me."
I have reconsidered this and decided it is time for me to start setting limits, or at least try to set them.
In the past I could never limit myself.
The adage "one is too many and a hundred is not enough" certainly rings true with me.
I am not saying that everyone should set limits ... I just feel it is the right thing for me to try at this time.
It may not work. Time will tell.
When I think about it, I often drink it because it is there.
So if it isn't there, I will not drink it.
Well that's the theory. lol
In a previous post I said my start time has gradually crept forward over the years.
There was a time when I wouldn't start drinking until I sat down to my evening meal.
4 months ago I was starting at 3 pm and finishing at 11 or 12 pm.
That's 9 Hours of drinking!
I was spending more time drinking than I was working.
Madness ... sheer Bloody Madness!

I love your theory tuttle, and it's certainly applied to me at times, even before I started Nal (no matter how drunk I was if there was more to be had I would drink drink drink until it was all gone!)

Quite a few of us are adding in little ways of controlling how much we drink, either by willpower or other means. It's going to be really interesting to see how we get on. Good luck to us all!

I'm loving your progress quite aside from that, great news

8

Thanks Tuttle,
I never really thought about the time spent drinking before.
"4 months ago I was starting at 3 pm and finishing at 11 or 12 pm.
That's 9 Hours of drinking!
I was spending more time drinking than I was working.
Madness ... sheer Bloody Madness!"
I'm spend about 7 hours everyday 3:30-11:30 on drinking.
When I think about it, it blows me away. I can't imagine sucking on a lollipop
7 hour straight everyday, that would be consider insane, right. But here I am drinking something that's hurting me emotionally and physically, knowing full well what the outcome will be. oh my god. TSM is my hope.
And Tuttle our success, and others are my inspiration.
THANK YOU

Week 19 ... 69 units ... My attempts to set daily limits have been, so far, a failure.
Some days, I have no desire to drink much at all and on others, I have an almost insatiable thirst.
Fortunately I have been able to push back my start time to 5 pm and that is progress ... small but good.
One thing has become apparent after a close look at my figures, is that in my first 3 months of TSM, my units per day were always in double digits and now in my 5th month, single digit units per day have become quite common.
I also track average units per day and these have fallen into single digits.
It shows the importance of keeping a drinking diary.
I have yet to master creating charts on my iMac so I dont know what my extinction curve looks like.

tuttle all I see is the 100 pre-tsm and the 69 now, to me that looks like a big jump! How is your life different now other than the numbers we're looking at? I just know with the difference in your numbers that life in general has to be so much better.

corkit

One of my favorite mags,..the tuttle weekly!

Week 20 ... 66 units ... My attempts to set daily limits continue to be, disappointing.
However ... extinction also continues.

I've had a lot "on my plate" lately, both emotionally and physically. I've taken on a few new projects on top of an already full schedule and I'm wondering whether it was such a good idea. Time will tell. I guess what I'm saying is that I am stressed at present and so my weekly units may be affected i.e. up from where they could be.
I've also had a visit from the Black Dog (depression) recently and I'm not yet fully recovered.

Blackouts are very common for me, if not the norm. However, it used to take in excess of 12 units to bring one on. Last night I only had 7.5 units, yet upon awakening (in bed thankfully) I had no recollection of anything after 8.30pm. This is not good. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this decrease in tolerance.
Does a decrease in tolerance go hand in hand with extinction? I'll ask Dr Eskapa.

I've noticed a decrease in tolerance. The hangovers come more easily and I have that 'wasted' feeling much sooner. Had 3 drinks last night and woke up feeling like crap. Have tried to limit myself but don't have full control over that. Have also tried drinking slower and will try to slow things down even more. I actually have naturally been drinking slower while progressing on TSM but lately, it hasn't been slow enough. I'm in week 21 and thought this would be so close to the cure...

Week 21 ... 54 units ... now this is becoming really exciting for me.
My units continue to fall and so do my overall cravings.
My craving for the first drink is still driving me ... but once I start drinking the desire to continue is drastically reduced. I've said it before ... I just dont want to drink as much as I used to.
I mean ... I had only 5.5 units last night and 6.5 the night before. A few short months ago this was unheard of.

And I would like to add that I have made little to no effort to kerb my units despite saying I would try.
I quickly gave up trying and went back to letting it happen in it's own good time.
I've also made the switch from Red wine to White which has a lower %ABV, so I'm consuming even less alcohol than my units suggest. I'm not going to start splitting hairs now so I'll stick with my unit measure of 100ml regardless of ABV.

I wish I could say that I feel so much better ... but I dont.
I have a chronic sinus inflammation that makes me feel pretty awful 24/7 and it is particularly bad at present. I gave up the smokes in the hope that was the cause ... soon I hope to go alcohol free for a while to see if that helps. Sometime in 2010 I intend to have an operation to remove the polyps growing in my sinus. Then, hopefully, I will be able to breathe and smell and taste.

Cheers: T

Lookin' good tuttle!

It'd be really cool if you wanted to put your stuff in the google spreadsheet!