Yogagirl,

Congrats on 2 AF nights!! Reading through your posts it looks like extinction is happening it's just fading in slowly. It is a good reminder that this is a marathon not a sprint. So glad you've stuck it out. I have young kids too and I know this is the best thing I can do for them!!

Take care, BTDT

Hey YG, 2 AF. Brilliant. Congratulations.
Kiwi

It sounds like you have a good doctor. I was thinking that 25mg increase to 75mg make sense to steadily increase the naltrexone as your body becomes more tolerant. I am going to start working on more AF days. Do you make a decision not to drink then no pill on those days or do you still take your pill? I think I need to plan ahead but sometimes still get the urge so I always take my afternnon pill just in case. Sounds like I need to be stronger and make to commitment to be AF.
Thanks,
Mike McO.

Good for you! I too am a mom with young kids and that's one of my reasons I really want to change. I'm a daily wine drinker for the most part. I'm away from home right now for two weeks and I kept telling myself it's the perfect time to apply some effort and have some AF days. First week has gone by and I haven't pulled it off. I, like some people, sometimes don't even feel like it but I do anyway. I can't figure out why I'm so afraid to NOT drink, when that's the whole point of trying this!!

I'm going to try to take some inspiration from you and make tonight the night! Perhaps I put too much pressure on myself. Maybe just trying for a couple of nights AF this week will be a good goal.

Thanks for posting your experiences!

Ill

Hey Mike and Ill!

I read somewhere that an increased dosage only lengthens the amount of time Naltrexone blocks the opioid receptors, but I am not sure about that. I am seeing my doctor tomorrow, and I am guessing she will increase my dosage to 100mg, but I need to understand why. I will find out and post here.

Mike to answer your question, I don't take my Nal on nights I don't drink. And that has hurt me a few times when a party materialized right outside my house (happens all the time!) or I changed my mind about drinking at the last minute. In almost all cases, I took Nal and waited an hour or more to drink. A few times, I took my Nal and waited only 1/2 hour (I had read that in a pinch, you could get away with that ... a loophole! Again, don't know if that is true.) Two times I took Nal along with the first sip of wine, and once I forgot altogether till after I had one beer. I really don't know what is better, taking it every day "just in case", or not taking it every day and having those occasional times that the time before drinking is less than an hour. (Anyone care to comment? I love hijackers! )

Ill, how did your AF attempt go on Sunday night? And I agree, why does it have to feel so scary to spend a night sober? It is getting easier for me though ... I have seen a few more AF days, but I am still drinking waaayyy too much on the days I DO drink. And I am glad to have another mommy of young kids along for the ride!

After all that, my quick update: A few hellish hangovers last week had me really beating myself up. But then I looked at the numbers and was shocked to find that I had 4 AF days last week. That is the most EVER, excuding the times in the past when I was trying to quit. Maybe something IS actually happening!

Yoga! this is good news. BTW an idea: When I am in a pinch and am going to take a Nal and might not be able to wait the full hour, I crush up the pill or at least quarter it. That way it should break down and get in my system quicker. I believe this works as in my younger rock and roll days I would crush up pills in various forms because I could feel them kick in faster. maybe that's just because some of them had a time release? maybe I'm being superstitious, but I do still think crushing one up makes it work faster. maybe JamesCT could comment on this.

but I would say taking it every day until you are in more control would be better. I believe the main benefit of not taking Nal on off days is to get the wash out and make use of selective extinction. and selective extinction can work backwards if you drink off of Nal when you have the up-regulation happening.

those are my thoughts on it. anyone else?

Well Yogagirl, I drank anyway on Sunday. I have really been drinking less overall though. No "hellish hangovers" in the recent past.

I tend to do similarly where I still drink more on nights when I know I can sleep in and less when I have to work the next day. That is an improvement over the past for sure.

I think right now the being away from home thing isn't workin so well because I'm BORED. In a hotel room watching TV every night. And what do I do when I watch TV? ... drink wine! I've only been buying one bottle though and making it last all evening.

sometimes recently when I've been at home I realize it's almost bed time and I still have a big glassful amount left in the bottle. here's the problem. Instead of not pouring it and going to bed, I'll tend to pour it and just stay up later to finish. I have some mental thing about not leaving any drop behind.

Things overall for me are still much better than before NAL, but gotta work that elusive AF day.

Maybe tonight I'll go to the movies!

Ill

Hey YG, 4 AF!!!! That's fantastic. Not sure if you saw my reply to your post on my weekly progress...but just in case you haven't - I noticed that my progress started with a couple of AF's here and there...but on the days I drank I could still down a full bottle of wine....and look for more. I was kinda disappointed and thought at that time it wasn't going to work. But over the last few weeks, the AF's have increased....and when I started to get to 3 or more AF's in a week on a regular basis...that's when I started to see the volume per drinking session start to drop. Joe12 just posted a link to a Cured Members original weekly progress...and he talks of the same steps in the progress too. NOt sure if everyone sees the progress happen this way...but my guess is, your HUGE number of AF's last week is a great sign that the next step you will see is a decrease per drinking session over the next few weeks. Hope you have another great week.

Hugs
Kiwi.

My first attempt at a graph ... here goes:

Wow!! The graph looks great!! You have to love week 16. Things seem to be heading the right direction!! Keep doing updates. It really helps those of us in the early weeks. Take care, BTDT