I just completed my first week following The Sinclair Method! Although it has only been a week, the initial results have been astonishing. I have already experienced an enormous reduction in the quantity of drinks consumed, and I don't really feel any strong craving to drink more or more often. It actually feels like I have turned back the clock to the way I used to drink back in an earlier period of my life. I hope this continues all the way back to the pre-addicted state.

A quick summary of what my drinking was like before TSM. My pattern since 2009 has been that I will stay sober for a period of some number of weeks or months while trying to remain abstinent and while attending AA meetings and whatever else. But I relapse frequently and when I do so I quickly go completely off the wagon and slip into very heavy 'round the clock binge drinking where I will literally just sit in my room and drink all day and night for usually 1 to 2 weeks. On these heavy binges I will consume roughly 30-50 drinks in a 24 hour period, so something like 200-300 drinks a week. I have tried very hard when I relapse to just drink at night and keep it in control and not slip into the excessively heavy drinking, but it has never worked. I always end up in a situation where I have to go to detox and go through serious withdrawal while I sober up, only to repeat the pattern after a short time. So I have felt completely hopeless.

After 7 days on TSM, this first week I consumed a total of 34 drinks, which included 2 alcohol free nights. The days I did drink it was only at night and I consumed somewhere between 5 and 11 drinks in each session. The morning after a night of drinking I never felt even the slightest compulsion to pick back up and start drinking throughout the day like I always used to. I feel as though I have already regained a lot more control over whether I chose to drink, and over how much I consume when I do. I could never just chose to have an AF day during the middle of a binge in the past. This program is already working wonders. My ultimate goal is to be totally alcohol free, but I realize I need to continue drinking while taking Naltrexone for at least several months until extinction occurs. I am also aware to be wary of the honeymoon period. Somehow I just don't see myself going back to drinking the way I was before TSM though. But if it does happen, I won't be too discouraged.

I can't wait to keep updating here from week to week and tracking the progression! I hope someone else reading this will be able to get something useful out of it.

Wow je3625, that is fantastic!! So happy for you that you have found TSM and are on a good path. Keep posting, those of us here really do care. Hugs and the best to you, Newlife

Awesome progress and keep us updated on your journey!!

Alright, it's the end of week 2 for me! This second week was definitely a bit different than the first, with some mixed results and a few concerns. This week I drank a total of 90 drinks with 0 AF days, so I've been having around 12-15 a night for the last few nights. This amount is significantly more than I had in week 1, which I suppose can be attributed to the honeymoon period or adjusting to the side effects, but is still significantly less than I would consume before TSM when I'd go on my all day benders. The biggest plus is that I've still confined the drinking to only be late at night and I'm still getting up and functioning during the day. That alone is amazing.

However, I am a little concerned about one thing. I posted this on the "What drinking feels like on Nal" thread but haven't gotten any responses yet so I'll copy what I wrote here:

"I would like to share my thoughts and questions on this topic. I'm approaching the end of my second week of drinking while on Nal. The first week I definitely noticed a significant effect from the Nal in terms of reducing the euphoria, making the alcohol taste different, and making me a little queasy when I drank. As a result I drank a lot less than I normally would in a drinking session. In my second week I feel as though I've adjusted to what it feels like to drink on the medication and I'm drinking a bit more than I did in week one (but still not binging anywhere close to the extent that I used to). But I'm a little worried because I am still enjoying the feeling of being intoxicated even though I'm taking the Nal exactly as I'm supposed to. The first few drinks don't seem to provide quite the same rush that they used to, so there is some effect, but once I get a few drinks in my system I do feel a pleasurable, buzzed sensation that makes me want to continue drinking, and so I still look forward to drinking at night. So I can't really say Nal has taken away the pleasure of drinking. Should I be worried about this? I wonder if I will ever be able to not want to drink if I still enjoy it. Maybe this is just the end of the honeymoon period and nothing to worry about, or perhaps I should consider an increased dose of Nal on the theory that maybe my opiod receptors aren't fully blocked by the 50 mg dose if I'm still getting a high? I appreciate any thoughts!"

There you have it. I'm still hopeful this is going to work, I just wish I could be 4 months in already!

Je3625 - it is amazing that you are functional with that level of drinking. I am so glad that you have found TSM.

I can relate to what you are saying, drinking is different for me, but still pleasurable most of the time on nal. I just finished my 7th week, so I don't have a huge amount more experience than you. It seems to me the effects are subtle, and I am trying to watch myself very carefully, almost like observing from the outside. I have noticed a decrease in my desperation for drinks, but it has come on sort of slowly. But changes of some sort are definitely happening, even though they aren't necessarily showing up in my consumption yet.

And you have to remember, whatever the effects are, it took you a LONG time to get up to the level of drinking you are describing here; it would not be surprising that it takes time for your brain to adjust and relearn. That isn't very scientific, I know, hopefully some other others who are more science minded that I am will chime in.

My bottom line advice - it's early days. Keep following the Golden Rule religiously and above all keep yourself safe when you are drinking. The rest will be a journey.

All the best to you from Newlife

je3625,

AL works on other reward pathways as well as dopamine - eg GABA - so Nal doesn't remove *all* the pleasure from drinking, just some of it. you'll still get some of the AL effects - relaxation, etc. - but the Nal should take away some of the buzz/high, although as you've seen, it's a rather more subtle effect that we might have expected/wanted

you're only in your second week of what is likely to be at least a 3-6 month process, so don't be disheartened. it seems to be generally thought that if you see a honeymoon period - which you have done - then the Nal is working for you & there's a good chance TSM will work for you, but it's not going to happen overnight. as newlife says, it's taken a long time for you to get to where you are now, & it's not going to get undone in a couple of weeks

hang in there - Nal + Drinking + PATIENCE = Cure

all the best

-badger

Welcome! I'm glad to hear you are already noticing a difference. Keep us posted on your progress.
Best wishes,
Tweed

newlife, badger1, tweed:
Thank you for your comments, they kind of provided exactly what I was hoping to hear as a response, haha. It's good to hear from others who agree that the feeling of drinking on Nal is only subtly different than normal and doesn't make us indifferent to alcohol or take away all of the pleasure.

I definitely agree with newlife about noticing a decrease in that feeling of desperation for more drinks or for taking that first drink. That is exactly why I've been able to avoid the day binges.

And to what badger is saying about the multiple reward pathways, I have read/heard about that from other sources as well. I experimented with baclofen a few years ago, which targets the GABA system, and at that time I noticed some effect from baclofen but I was expecting a total miracle and didn't get it so I gave up. I suppose that is why some people try combining Nal and Bac.

In any case I am encouraged by my progress and the comments of others and will continue to follow the golden rule. I am actually planning to take a little time off from drinking this week to let my body dry out and recharge, so it will be interesting to see where my craving levels are at and how I will feel during a stretch of AF days.

je3625 - you are lucky that you can get the AF days. You must be very strong. I drink way less than you, yet, to have a voluntary AF day for me is almost impossible, unless I am hugely hungover, which is when they have been happening. We are all so different, and yet the same. Nal on!! Newlife

End of week 3 update!

Week 3 was a great success. I told myself I wanted to have some alcohol free days this past week and I succeeded. I had 30 drinks total for the week and 4 AF days. The days I did drink I had 13, 11, 6 respectively. The amazing thing is that I am now able to drink one night and then be able to just decide not to the next. I don't think that was ever possible before Naltrexone. So often I would wake up telling myself I wasn't going to drink again that night, and yet by the afternoon I was already planning to do it again. Now the craving is reduced so much that I can actually stick to my word when I decide to take a day or days off. And of course I have to keep reporting that I haven't had a single all day drinking binge since I started TSM, which is the most remarkable thing of all.

I'm also noticing that only 3 weeks in I'm spending a lot less time reading and posting on this forum. Obviously there is a tendency for this forum to be dominated by newcomers, which is perfectly fine, but I think it does bias us significantly as far as trying to judge how effective TSM is based on reading people's experiences on this website. I can easily see how someone like myself might start by posting a lot of questions and concerns, then start doing TSM and get quick, excellent results, and then just disappear from the forum and not continue to report how well it is working. I will try to make a point to continue posting weekly updates regardless of the outcome.