Good middle of the night everyone... 2am EST in the States

So I am approaching the end of my 2nd week on TSM. Things are going ok...I'm drinking more than I expected, but things haven't gotten to an uncontrolled level. My first couple of days I recall a reluctance to drink, some nausea due to Nal, and had a AF day in there. 2nd week: I'm drinking near pre TSM levels. I had a day where I starting drinking very early on in the day (before Noon). This has been an indicator in the past that I'm getting to an uncontrolled level of drinking, and consequences will follow shortly. (yikes)

Anyone else have such a short honeymoon? Thank you.

Yes, don't worry. Many of us have found that habit is much stronger than the treatment and that's where your willpower and the desire for what your particular outcome is plays in. For me, I only want to drink moderately and not to make a fool of myself. I've been doing quite well at that for over a year now with only a few exceptions so I'm very pleased. others seek complete abstinence so this may not be the place for them.

Oh, and by the way, 2nd week, phhhfttt!!! This takes a long time! Please be patient and let it work. The book says 3-4 months and most of us say 6-9 months and for me it was a year. There is no quick fix and god knows that is way better than no fix and AA is no fix!!!

Keep going you're doing fine. Much love and kindness,

Illuminae

Thanks Illuminae..

My concern was just the timing of the honeymoon. It seemed (after doing a good amt of reading on this forum) that the honeymoon came into play in like month 2.

Yes willpower... I need to get a bit more active in this effort to curb my drinking (my goal is moderation), and stop sitting around waiting for it to happen.

Thanks for the feedback....MCNJ

My honeymoon was in the first month, I think many other (but not all) members have had that experience.
And so early on, I wouldn't worry about bringing willpower into the equation. It's my understanding of the method that it's important to drink as you normally would and not try to limit or curb your consumption so that typical drinking behaviors have the opportunity to be extinguished on NAL. After some time (months), depending on your progress, then you can look more closely at habitual behaviors and how they impact unconsciously ingrained drinking patterns. I'm in week 14 and just starting to do that, but am trying hard to let go of the guilt associated with not "trying harder" to reduce my drinking. I used to be a habitual morning drinker and since I've started TSM there has been a couple of occasions that I did revert back to that behavior, and ended up drinking at my pre TSM levels that day (3 bottles of wine in a day). But it's only happened a couple of times, and I'd like to think that by letting that happen on TSM/NAL I perhaps extinguished that habit.
Congratulations on starting TSM and I hope it continues to go well for you

Montclair, my honeymoon lasted less than 2 weeks and I'm seeing amazing progress now. Don't stress over it and just drink like you normally would except with taking the nal at least an hour beforehand. Like others have said, willpower will come in later after you've been on the program a few months.

Thanks All for the info and welcoming words. This forum is fantastic; there's so much info on here as everyone has documented their progress faithfully. I will continue to track my progress on here as well. Hopefully down the road perhaps my story can be of help to another TSMer. Think i heard something about giving back in those HUNDreds of AA mtgs I've attended over the years..

Hi Montclair

Yep, AA is very much about giving back & we are doing a similar thing on this forum. My honeymoon was the first 2 weeks of taking nal where i had a few times where i could just have one or two drinks and not want more. This is what i would like long term too.
I posted on my weekly progress in answer to your question about telling your sponsor. Didn't have much to suggest except to be honest and to show him or her the book (i assumed that you were female then thought after i don't know what sex you are!!) or print out the wikipedia summary of TSM and show him or her that.
I told my sponsor last week that i now felt like i didn't really belong in AA meetings at the moment but she convinced me to keep going to my home group and said she would support me in whatever i did and i will still meet with her weekly and keep notes on my feelings around drinking, etc. Also i did really enjoy the meeting. I still relate to other alcoholics because we all have the same illness and ways of thinking. Also she was saying that alcoholism is a physical, emotional and spiritual illness and nal only addresses the physical side. Will see how it all goes. Also online support is great but not quite as good as face to face stuff.
I can imagine lots of sponsors would react totally differently though and as Kiwichick said to me, you will need to ignore what your sponsor says if he/she is not supportive and keep on with TSM anyway. You are only a few weeks behind me so lets hope in 6 months' time or so we are both drinking "normally"!!
All the best with it.

Cheers
Sticky

Hi again

Just read your "introduce yourself" and think you are probably male, but the name could be female too! Glad you're off the other meds -sounded scary. I'd like to think i'll get off antidepressants again one day, but they have been a life saver for me.
I think any alcoholic is in danger of relapsing after 10 years (or 2 in my case, and 10 mths and several 6 mths.) It is the nature of the beast. I have heard from an amazing woman in NZ who has been sober 30 years that only 5% of alcoholics get sober for long periods. I don't know what constitutes a long period but the odds are very slim. That's what is so encouraging about TSM - 75% success rate and of the remaining 25%, 10% don't take the medication properly or at all. That was my understanding from the book anyway.
Topamax is another alternative i heard about first but couldn't get in NZ. I read the book My Way Out which was one woman's experience and how it worked for her, but it had no backing of scientific studies.
All the best
Sticky