Thought I'd report on my first 2 weeks on TSM


I'm a daily wine drinker. Before starting TSM my usual pattern was 1 large glass at lunchtime and 2 or 3 in the evening.Nights out, birthdays, holidays etc would all see my drinking increase (usually double).
Previous weekly totals average 60 UK units per week

Days 1 and 2 were great. Started on 25mgs. Felt a bit light headed and spacey but other than that felt fine. On day 2 we were out for a meal and I left my last glass of wine!

Days 3 and 4 were horrible. I started to feel really sick and the feeling lasted all day. I looked for advice on here and people suggested taking anti sickness medication. I was feeling much less like drinking but I couldn't tell whether that was because of the Nal or the nausea!

Days 5, 6 and 7 were good. I reduced the dose to 12.5mg and took 1 Motillium tablet with it. The nausea went away completely. I noticed that although I was still wanting to drink I didn't want to go back for as many top ups.Again, I was out for a meal with friends and found that I really didn't want the final glass and left it.

Week 1 total UK units 37.1 (down from my average by nearly 23 units...or just over 2 bottles of wine)

Days 8 and 9 were good. Continued on 12.5mg with a Motillium. Still no side effects. Started to notice that although I'd take the Nal and be wanting a drink, by the time the hour was up the urgency had worn off. I would still have wine each evening but the start time was getting later without me even noticing.

Day 10 was something really quite special. Increased to 25mg with a Motillium. I went to a music festival with a friend and then we had a BBQ. Normally this would be a time when I would get completely smashed...drinking through the day and night. However, it was very different this time. I really enjoyed the first glass of wine, the second one was ok but by the third I found that I really just didn't want it. I kept sipping at it, but in the end just threw it away (this has never happened before!!). I even had a glass of water!!

Days 11, 12 and 13 continued in much the same way. I kept at 25mgs but stopped taking the anti sickness tablets and I felt fine. I kept waiting the hour, drinking the wine and letting Nal do it's magic. I found that although I still wanted a drink and enjoyed the first one, I was becoming less bothered about having any more...weird!

Day 14. A milestone...no lunchtime drink! Just didn't feel like it. Hooray!

Week 2 total UK units 45.2 (down by 14.8 units. Not bad)

So far, I'm pretty pleased. Not sure if it qualifies as the honeymoon period, but I do feel as though there are changes afoot. I'm off on holiday for a week now. Have packed plenty of Nal and we'll see how it goes.

Ruth

Hullo, Ruth!

Wow, that's fabulous progress--and swift! Don't worry about it being a 'honeymoon'; if it is, it is, you're still taking Nal and it's still taking you to where you want to be.

Congratulations! I'm looking forwards to more of your updates.

All the best to you,

Xanthippe

Hi Ruth. I guess you're on your hols now but please let us know when you get back how you handled all the extra temptations!! What wonderful progress in such a short time though. It really is amazing what relief naltrexone gives us. And don't worry about all that talk about the honeymoon. Your progress will be yours alone and may just go very smoothly all the way to where you want to be.

I'm a daily wine drinker too but I usually start craving around 4 and wait until 5 for the first one. My quantity does not go beyond 2 or sometimes 3 but it's the fact that I can't do without it that has me beat. I have been sober for as long as a year in the past, and have had shorter sober times too but always cave in.

Recently as I've examined my life more closely, and the reasons for the anxiety I feel I've made the discovery that I'm living a life that is "someone else's life." Namely DH's life. If you are interested I'm going to post about this in my own thread.

I just wanted to say Hi and I'm so happy for you!!!!!

Thanks Xanthippe and Babs for your words of encouragement.

This is my week 3 progress report.

Well, I'm back from my holiday and what a holiday it was! Very relaxing and very different from most previous holidays. Usually a holiday would see the doubling of my drinking. It's the perfect excuse to kick back, relax and drink. My usual lunchtime glass of wine would extend into the afternoon and then continue through the evening. My average on holidays is about 2 bottles of wine a day. That just didn't happen this week.

I upped my dose this week to the full 50mg which I'm now tolerating without any sickness. I'll list days 15 to 21 together as they were all about the same and followed the same pattern.
Mostly we ate our main meal when we were out and about at lunchtime. With this I'd have 1 large (250 mls) glass of wine and then in the evening we'd be back at our rental house and I'd have another large glass with dinner and that would be it. I just wasn't wanting any more. My units stayed more or less the same as my week 2 totals.

These are a few things that stood out to me as being different and significant this week...

There was a bottle of chilled wine waiting for us on arrival. After a very long journey and as a start to the holiday my inclination would always be to open a bottle, make a toast to "Happy Holidays" and start as I meant to go on. The wine stayed in the fridge unopened until 8pm that evening...and we had arrived at noon.

Previously, if we were out for lunch or dinner I would have a glass of wine on sitting down whilst reading the menu and then order another one to have with the food. Sometimes I might have a Bailey's to finish instead of a dessert. I didn't do that at all this week. One glass with the meal was enough...it just seemed to last longer. It wasn't that I was trying to make it last or stopping myself from having another one, I just didn't want it. And, for the first time in a long time, I was actually drinking the water that we'd ordered...mine would always go untouched before Nal.

I found that I was starting the evening drinking later. Instead of a glass while preparing the food and then another when eating it, I'd just wait and have one with the meal. Again, not a concious choice but just how it worked out.

I went supermarket shopping with my husband and he said do we need to get some wine? Before TSM I would have always said yes, as I couldn't bear the thought of running out. Even if we had some, I'd get some more just in case. Well, I said "no we've got some, we can always come back if we run out". Amazing.

I found myself sitting outside relaxing in the sun with a cup of tea or a glass of water. This has never happened before. Relaxing in the sun always equates to a cocktail, glass of wine, a bit of fizz. We don't get much sun in England so a bit of sun is always an excuse to drink! I seriously can't remember doing this before.

So, lots of small but significant changes. Long may they continue.

Week 3 total UK units 46.6 (down from my pre-Nal total by 13.4 which for a holiday is pretty amazing)

Holy Cow!!!! I don't call those small changes

This is major stuff, especially on holidays, Ruth. It's that whole "oh, yeah, I guess I could have another, but I just don't feel like it. Maybe later."

And that is such a wonderful feeling eh? Now let's see you really "shine" back home and continue this weird journey we are all on together.
Babs

Thanks Babs. I guess you're right about the changes being more major than minor!

It's funny that you use the phrase "weird journey" as that's exactly what I've been feeling over the last few weeks...weird. Although I'm very grateful that my units are going down I keep getting this unshakeable weird feeling. Like it's almost too easy. It's hard to explain really. I don't want another drink, and I don't have one, but a part of my mind is saying so what now then? What are you going to do instead? Sitting in the sunshine with a water felt great but also distinctly odd...it kinda doesn't feel like me. I guess that's part of the point (letting go of the old me) but it's taking a little adjusting to.

We've got a big family do coming up next weekend (10th August) which will be an all day boozy affair. Everyone there will be drinking. As I think about it now it makes me a little nervous. If the Nal continues to work then the chances are I'll be stopping drinking fairly early on in the day. How's that going to be? How do I cope when all around me are half cut? I know I will cope and I'm sure I'll still enjoy the day, but it's going to be so different from what I'm used to I can't help feeling a bit...well, weird!

I think situations like this are useful in that they help us see how much we don't need alcohol, make sure you take a pill along with you in case you do carry on, but sounds like you won't!

'Long may they continue...' From the sound of things I'd lay money they will! Don't worry about the August event. I agree with UKblonde, just bring the pills along.

Regarding the, 'What do I do now?' feeling: I certainly can identify with that. My situation and (current) locale are very different to yours, the sun being a part of which I not only take for granted, but sometimes shake my fist at and curse! Your attitude is one that would likely benefit me to adopt. Great verandah here, still loads more sun to let in rather than shut out... better than another shot of whiskey, probably!

Thank you again for sharing your experiences (keep it up ), I'll remember them tomorrow and take at least a few steps outside.

All the best to you and yours,

Xanthippe

Xanthippe,

Yes, the sun is a bit of a rarity here! There's an expression " only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun"... We just can't help ourselves!!

Enjoy your verandah x

Week, it's week 4 update time.

Again, I'm pretty pleased with my progress. The numbers are slightly down....nothing earth shattering but going in the right direction.

Highlights of the week....

3 lunchtimes when I didn't drink! Not because I couldn't or because I was making a massive effort not to, I just didn't fancy it so I didn't.

I forgot to take my Nal last night until 7pm. I just got caught up doing something and it didn't cross my mind...which means the craving must be going down as I've never left it that late before.

Thoughts of an alcohol free day are starting to worm they're way into my head.I haven't been pushing myself on these and am quite content to follow the books advice and drink as I normally would but they don't frighten me in the way they would have before.

And probably the most significant thing of all...

I received some very sad news about my oldest, closest friend's husband. Turns out he has cancer and it has spread to his brain. It doesn't seem as though he will have much time left. It's profoundly sad and I was extremely upset and yet I didn't reach for a drink. Wine would have been my automatic reaction. When I got the phone call I'd already taken my Nal and I could easily have had a few glasses, but it didn't even enter my mind. I remember reading a post on here about feeling your emotions...not running away from them but just sitting with them and letting them wash over you. This is something I've never been good at. Alcohol was one of my ways to avoid doing just that. But this time that's what I did. I felt the pain, sadness, disbelief, horror and I cried, and cried and cried. I think this is a really good sign.

Week 4 total UK units 39