Hey guys, I'm glad to have found a forum to discuss this with others in the process of treating themselves. I've been on the treatment for 3 weeks and am looking for advice from others as to how they're keeping their lives together during the treatment. I'm drinking about 80-100 drinks per week and as a 23 year old college student I'm having a very hard time keeping my head above water. I've tried setting rules for myself (no drinking before 5 or after 12, weigh every drink to precisely 1.25 oz, meditate and exercise every day, etc.) but have had trouble sticking with them. I know that the treatment takes time, but given that I'm so young I was really hoping that the treatment would work more quickly for me. My doctor has prescribed me clonodine at night which is helping with the morning withdrawals (tremors, sweating, fever, vomiting, anxiety) and I'm starting to feel less of a desire to start drinking when I wake up but can anyone else that has been where I am give me an idea of how long it took for their treatment to start working?

-Brett

Hi Brett, 3 weeks is so early into the treatment even for someone as young as yourself. Sometimes you have to play mind games with yourself and it seems you've picked a few already. This may sound stupid but try drinking a glass of water between each intake of booze, it not only fills you up but slows down the consumption of AL. Try it what do you have to loose? Try to keep yourself away from places and people where there's AL as much as you can and if you need some support post here there's always someone who will respond with a word of encouragement.

Good luck, hang in there
corkit

The $100,000 question for all of us: "How long does this take??"

Unfortunately, there is no concrete answer. Under any scenario, three weeks in is very early and you probably shouldn't hope for any real results for three to four months, per the book. BUT, you are very young and an unsubstantiated theory of mine is that the less time you've been drinking, the faster extinction will occur.

I agree with Corkit. Try mixing in some water between drinks and keep taking naltrexone one hour before you drink, every time you drink. Have patience and don't over-think it.

Good luck. My best to you.

Nick

Hey Brett & good luck!!
As a college student, I applaud you thinking/knowing you have a problem and doing something about it!! That is awesome and I am so impressed! Good luck - just take the pill an hour before drinking and hopefully it will work its magic over time.

As the mother of a college freshman and HS junior, I cannot applaud your efforts any more loudly than I have here. Good for you, my man & keep posting & letting us know how it's going. We care & I, for one, am singularly impressed with your desire to do something about your problem drinking early on.

You rock - good luck & keep us posted! XO

Brett, I feel for you hon. My boyfriend started out drinking about as much as you, and we're still slogging through this at week 30. But you are much younger than him, so hopefully it won't take you nearly as long. As for how he's holding his life together, well he really isn't. He lost his job from taking too many sick days when he first started on nal - bad side effects. He has another job lined up to begin in June, and I'm just praying that he's functional and down to much lower levels by then. He's also got the shakes and whatnot whenever he goes very long without a drink, and is only now starting to be able to sleep throughout the night without waking up and doing a shot or two. And he hasn't driven in months, I don't want him behind the wheel when he still drinks so much, so as of now he can't even get back and forth to a job.

Try to keep yourself as busy as you can, because that often helps take your mind off of wanting a drink right this second. Get a study partner if you can to help you keep your grades up - it's hard to justify getting shitfaced during study time if someone is there with you trying to work. Are you working a job or just going to school?

Someone on the forum mentioned that they give themselves a 5-minute waiting period if they want a drink right now. Sometimes by the time 5 minutes have passed your mind has moved on to something different.

Once you get your "maintenance" level of drinking down a little bit, you'll start to feel better and more clearheaded, so it will be easier to go about your life and get things done.

Hang in there, you can do it. And good for you for getting help for yourself.

Edit: I forgot to say, what do you usually drink? I've found that the hangovers from whiskey, wine, and "dirty" liquors like that are way worse than if you stick to something cleaner like vodka. I actually heard that sake is about the least-hangovery thing to drink, but downing that much sake in a day sounds pretty disgusting! LOL

Thanks so much for everyone's responses. I've actually noticed a big turnaround this week; Clonodine is apparently a drug that is used to help people in rehab that are trying to make it through the DT's. I'm taking .1 mg at night and it's still in my system when I wake up. As a result I'm no longer waking up with a fever and I've only vomited once this week. The tremors are not nearly as severe. I've noticed that I don't wake up with such a severe craving to start drinking and have been able to be more active throughout the day without feeling compelled to binge (I've been able to get to the gym every day this week). I'm still on my way to 80 drinks this week but the Clonodine has really helped with my functionality. This might be something to tell your boyfriend about, Nmarie33. Also, you deserve to be lauded for staying with him while he's going through this treatment; I don't know what your background is but the support of friends and loved ones is inestimably valuable for us alcoholics that are trying to fix the problem.

-Brett

P.S. Nmarie33, I've been drinking almost exculsively vodka. I LOVE wine, gin, and tequila but I'm not willing to spend the money on them if I'm just going to be guzzling the stuff. So I stick to cheap vodka if I'm going to be drinking in large quantities.

Also, in case anyone is interested: I took a page out of that Passages Malibu book (which, as a rehab facility, is a complete scam but offers some halfway decent methods to improve one's quality of life) and had a full blood panel and pituitary screening done. As a result, my doctors have discovered that my brain has been producing enormous amounts of creatinine and cortisol ever since adolescence, both of which are steroids. I guess it can cause a WHOLE LOTTA problems that contributed to my self-medication. It might be something worth looking in to for the rest of y'all.

-Brett