I agree with Path. Freedom of speech. It's tough when you get close-minded biased people who don't appreciate a good thing when they see it yet, are so quick to critisize someone else. Let's all keep in mind no one of us is "perfect". Least of all myself. I am not offended by what you said. That is just your views, you are entitled to your opinion without harsh judgement from someone who obviously benefited from this forum!

I don't want to highjack Second Chance's thread so I thought I'd post this here. I love talking about politics and religion, but it probably is not a good idea in this forum. Maybe in the OT section. BGH and StJude are both excellent and supportive posters. Having said that, my political/religious views would probably drive you both nuts -- right of center on many issues and agnostic, at least in regards to traditional religion.

Regardless of our views, I think we can put that aside and be supportive of each other as fellow TSMers.

I you path, merlot (aka "flabby red"), & jane for those kindly critically constructively posts--i just donned my hipwaders and headed over to initiate a playdate at the sandbox. Until we have our first TSM Conference, and can meet up in person, there appears to be the best place to spar over religion, sex, politics, and toilet paper preference.
I really hope BGH is still lurking and is inspired to join in!

Hey StJude,

You are doing even better than me..... It looks like TSM is working for you as you are way down on pre TSM days. 3 bottles of wine a day is very difficult to come down from so well done! The fact you have been able to have up to 4 AF days a week also shows great progress. I'm with you on the binges in between though....they need to be worked on. I'm not one to advise on avoiding acting on impulses but I wish I was able to have more AF days. The great thing about this site is that the good people on here are all with you on this.

Best wishes,

Chemical Galoot

Figured something out last night--I think I would drink less in an evening if I switch from white to red wine. I usually drink white mostly in the summer and love my dark spicy reds throughout the cold winter months. But with TSM I seem to be craving pretty much only white, Sauvignon Blanc (maybe because of higher sugar content) and it's very easy to drink 3 bottles of it in an evening. Last night I mixed it up a bottle of white with a bottle of Cabernet and was able to drink it much more slowly and more importantly stop after finishing even though I had another bottle of white chilled in the fridge (I'd had 3 small glasses of white earlier in the afternoon at a late lunch work meeting). Tonight I'll be AF and tomorrow is my last night to drink before my surgery next Wed so I hope I don't try to be squirrel-like and stuff in as much as possible to prepare for "lost time". I know there are physical cravings to AL but I also feel my addiction is also strongly rooted in the psychological and habitual act of drinking. So far this week I'm at 35 units (my week starts on Sundays) and with one more night of drinking planned I hope to keep it under 50 units for the week.

Week 7 finished out with 50 units. I'm definitely going to stick with the red wine strategy next week (which I didn't use Thursday night-over several hours drank one bottle of red, one of white, and then started to tuck into a 3rd bottle of white before I stopped myself halfway through it).
One good thing this week was I had to stop drinking Thursday in preparation for upcoming surgery Wednesday. Friday night was easy because I was driving several hours for work, but tonight (Sat) I had dinner at a friend's house. We are usually wine-drinking buddies and she offered me some a few times, she was drinking. If I had the option I would have said yes without a second thought, but it was surprisingly easy to say no (no cravings, regrets, impulses). I felt surprisingly strong and disinterested in alcohol. So, ended with 4 AF days again this week. Even though my total units are still pretty high for only 3 days of drinking, as the girl who was knocking back 3 bottles a day every day for months with no ability to stop or slow down I'm feeling on top of the world.
Sunday and Tuesday will be interesting because they are typically my drinking days at home alone in my apartment. I definitely know I won't break down and drink prior to my surgery on Wednesday, but I have no idea what to expect and what I will do with myself instead of drinking. Makes me realize on the evenings that I do drink it is the primary focus/activity of my evening. Man, I need a hobby! There's nothing like being a self-absorbed narcissist to make you realize how empty the life of a self-absorbed narcissist can be
I'll be checking the forum next week and will post an update after I get home from the hospital. Should be interesting because I have no idea what kind of post-op pain I'll be in and for how long, and once I'm home I'll be forced to choose between using AL and Oxycontin as a pain reliever, quite the quandary
Thanks so much to all of you who sent me well wishes and I hope everyone has a great week!

Good to see you still progressing so well, those AF days are really building up. Totally identify with what you say about needing a hobby, the AF days are great but its hard to know what to do with all that free time. All the best with the surgery and hope you make a speedy recovery!

St. Jude, I hope the surgery goes well for you next week. TSM must be doing something good if you able to rack up the AF days. I hope you get more than turkey pot pie and hospital jello on the day after your surgery.

StJude, best wishes for your surgery. I'm sure you are aware of it, but you want to make sure NAL does not interfere with any medication related to your surgery or recovery from surgery! When in doubt disclose to your doctor. Good luck.

So good to be back on the board!
It's been weird being off of it entirely a few weeks. I had a problem with my EKG and my surgery scheduled for 11/23 ended up being postponed until Thurs 12/9. I just got home from the hospital today. So my numbers for weeks 9-12 are weird because I didn't know exactly when my surgery would be rescheduled for and I had to be off the NAL for at least 5 days prior. That's been a roller coaster in and of itself, but I've had no real cravings and no problem not drinking when I couldn't (and no problem drinking when I could). I'm on Lortabs (hydrocodone) now for pain relief and will probably stay on those for at least 5 more days before resuming NAL--I'm going to play it by ear. My 3 hour surgery ended up lasting 7 hours and I had a lot cut out of me so the post-op pain is pretty intense. I know addiction to Lortabs and other codeine-based substances is common but they've never been my thing and if given a choice I'd rather be drinking. I have some trepidation about what my numbers will look like after drinking so little for so long, but I'm going to take it one day at a time. Drinking was so habitual for me so now that I'm out of the habit I'm curious to see if I can apply more will power to reduce my overall weekly numbers.
I have so much to catch up on with reading the other posts but I'm on total bed rest now so I have plenty of time, and I can't wait to see what my TSM peeps have been up to and who is new here! Have really missed you all, and thanks to those of you who sent me pm's with well wishes.