Well I'm off and running. It's been a long road to get here, but last night I took my first dose of Nal - 25mg. It actually wasn't so bad.

I've been really nervous about how my body would react to Nal. I've read enough here to know that some people have a hell of a time the first week or so. In fact I was so nervous, I actually took a vacation week this week just in case. I expected to be sick all night - I wasn't.

I took the dose in the early afternoon, about an hour after a big lunch. I'm sure taking it on a full stomach helped. Then, I waited impatiently for any side-effects simply from the drug - like the "spacey" feeling people here talk about. I nervously watched the clock for the first hour - 15 minutes, 20, 40, an hour...

Was I waiting to have my first drink? Nope - I thought I would get sick from Nal all by itself! Guys, I'm this much of a basket case!

I can't honestly say if I felt anything or not because knowing me it could just as easily have been my nerves. But anyway, after waiting an hour and 10 minutes (just to be sure, you know), I had my first glass of wine. By the second glass I swear I was already drunk. I kept thinking, is this the way normal people feel after two glasses (because wow, it seemed like alot)?

Despite feeling the effects of alcohol early, I soldiered on and had a total of 5 units and didn't want anymore. 5 units is about where my buzz really begins normally. If this is what Nal is like then yahoo! I could easily see myself stopping at 2 drinks if that's the case. (Then hopefully none at some point - my goal is to stay away from alcohol altogether.)

Last, I was a little bit sleepless last night, but my hangover is slight. I didn't even need any Tylenol this morning, although I definitely can feel it. It wasn't until now, the morning after, that I feel I've had a full first go-around with Nal and like I said it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared.

I'm grateful for this opportunity and hope, hope this will work for me. I'll keep checking in and will let you know how it's going.

Hi TakKat - welcome to the board.

The fact that you took the week off shows that you are truly committed to fixing your alcohol issues.

You’ve certainly done your research – and you may know that the immediate disinterest in alcohol is most probably the ‘honeymoon period’.

But the fact that you’ve had this reaction gives me 100% confidence that this will work for you.

Keep us all updated – we are rooting for you – we want you to succeed.

Take care,

Andy.

Off to a great start! You may still get some mild SE. (I had very brief nausea on second day only) But you initial start bodes well and SE typically don't last long. Your overall goal to quit completely is a great impetus to get you through the ups and downs and help you side with less alcohol when you get to the place of easy decision. Nal-on! Keep us updated.

Sounds like a great start - immediate lack of interest or decrease in alcohol is usually an indication that nal will work for you!
Good luck and keep posting,
EL

Thanks guys! I appreciate the support. Here's an update after 4 days.

Sunday: 5 units
Monday: 4 units
Tuesday: 0 units
Wednesday: 4 units

Well I definitely feel a decreased interest in alcohol, that's for sure. It's remarkable, really. Both Monday, and Wednesday nights, I didn't finish what was in my glass. That never happens unless I've gone waaaaay over my limit and I have trouble finding my mouth. On Wednesday I even kind of forgot about it while I was doing other things.

The side effects are also interesting. I get terrible panic attacks from time-to-time. When I do, I can hardly breathe, and feel dizzy and sick (the worst part is the feeling sick). These attacks are always worse when I am hungover and when I am hungover I can almost guarantee that I will have one. So I've been particularly interested to see how my body reacts to the Nal because I've heard Nal-hangovers are brutal.

Pre-Nal, if I drank say a bottle of wine or less, I'd have a slight, but manageable hangover. I would feel it, but it wouldn't be impossible to go to work, and it wouldn't ruin a day with my family. I call these "smoothovers". If I drink a bottle or more (pre-Nal), look out. The panic attacks come and go all day long, I wind-up kicking myself all day long, I avoid people, yadda yadda yadda...

And of course, the reason I wanted to do TSM in the first place is because I've simply had enough of the nights where I'd wind up drinking that much and I've had way too many of the days-after with the terrible panic attacks.

With Nal so far, I feel a little nausea, and a teeny-tiny headache on the amount of booze that wouldn't cause me really any trouble pre-Nal. I can handle that, so, so-far, so-good. The interesting thing is that there have been NO panic attacks. That's huge for me.

I also definitely feel the Nal itself - "a little spacey" is, it turns out, the way I feel on it as well. In addition, Tuesday was an AF day, but I woke up Wednesday morning a little groggy. Usually after an AF day I wake up clear as a bell, singing songs in the shower.

I'm only on a half-dose for now so I imagine I've got a ways to go before I'll get a good read on how this will actually go for me, but I'm encouraged so far. I figure I've had roughly 20 years to figure out how to manage alcohol-induced side effects, so I shouldn't be so impatient with Nal. I plan to go to a full dose in a week or so.

So anyway, day 5 - feel good with this. Stay strong brothers and sisters!

-TK

You are off and running tak_kat!

Hi, TakKat, and welcome! I think you'll find that your anxiety attacks will rapidly decline, because even if you continue to drink close to your usual amounts of alcohol, initially, with Nal you won't feel the same effect, so no more blackouts and embarrassing behaviour like drunk-dialing/posting etc...

I'm looking forward to reading your progress.

Best regards,

Curi

Welcome Tak Kat

It sounds like you are off to a good start and are serious about making this work for you. Good for you. Be prepared for a roller coaster and check in often as the support on this site is awesome.

I wish you all the best and look forward to hearing about your progress.

Cheers from downunder
Sticky

I've been trying to read-up more on all of your progress. It's very helpful to have this board and to read about all you've been through. So far, I've been through most of ElectraLou's, Ketchikan's, and MLB's progress. Some of Sticky's too.

Reading about the ups-and-downs, and all the day-to-day stuff has prepared me well. Hangovers, sickness (EL, I followed this bit of fun on your thread in particular ), extinction bursts, progress, setbacks, loss of heart...

MLB, one of your last posts (after a year) seemed to conclude that TSM both worked and didn't. After reading that I'm back to asking myself a whole lot of familiar questions. What do I want out of this? What is "success" for me? How will I deal with this situation, and that?

I have to say, the idea of TSM makes sense to me. The reality of your experiences tempers my enthusiasm, however. I'm committed. But I am a notch less than hopeful, if that makes sense. I say, allright, let's just do this and see how it goes. If TSM doesn't work for me, I will just do something else. I'll have to.

In that light, I almost don't want to track numbers at this point. I will because ultimately I believe they will be helpful. But for now, I don't want to be goal-oriented. Right now, I just want to let the Naltrexone work on it's own if it's going to. Because the hard part for me isn't getting started (I can do that on my own), it's what comes later.

I don't think I'll really know if TSM is working for me until after an extinction burst or two. That's what always kills me whenever I try to cut down on or stop drinking on my own. I do well for a while, think all is fine and that "I can handle it," then I start to relax and drink moderately for a little while, and then BOOM - I'm right back at it, boozing it up. I've been through this cycle enough to know it well. It's the return to drinking at high levels when I feel most like an alcoholic, and it kills any energy I have to do something about it.

In fact, pretty much the entire reason I'm doing TSM has to do with that part where I return to drinking at high level. I can have a honeymoon with drinking less or not drinking at all without Naltrexone. It's the "after the honeymoon" part where I have trouble. I suppose I am not doing TSM to help me quit, I am doing TSM to help me stay quit.

But that's a ways off from here. I'll just keep going and see what happens...

I agree TK, that it's important to ask yourself what you want out of TSM; some people end up abstaining from alcohol entirely, some have the very rare drink, some hover around 15-20 units a week but consider themselves as having regained full control. I absolutely sympathize with your panic attack accounts - that was by far the worst part of my alcohol cycle as well, and I am happy to say that I have had ZERO panic attacks since starting Nal. I've had a handful of HORRIBLE hangovers since then, accompanied with some of the old guilt, shame, etc, but it's nowhere near as bad - and I can always tell myself that even if things got a little out of hand this time, I AM doing something to regain control and it's all part of the process.
I think the most important thing, however, is to remain patient. As I'm sure you've seen from reading our threads...we have ALL had moments of doubt, really bad incidents, etc on TSM. IT's part of the rollercoaster I fear :/ The good part is that you don't have to believe in TSM for it to work - just follow the very simple rules and science will take care of the rest