I told my story in my introduction thread, but the basic gist is that I don't have an off button. I do not drink daily, but when I DO drink - every Friday and Saturday, occasionally Sunday, too - I just can't stop once I start. I don't want to quit drinking. I enjoy good beer and my entire social circle drinks. I just want to control it.

I am now in week #8 of taking Nal. Still only doing 25mg dozes, but thus far I've gone from 42 units (UK) per week to 33 units (UK) per week. That's a pretty good drop. Still more to go, but I feel very positive, especially after "surviving" this weekend with only modest drinking despite going away with the guys for a few days of drunken debauchery. For the first time EVER on one of these trips, I was among the responsible ones.

So I guess this thread is where I'll track my ups and downs. I know there will be downs, but I have confidence that they will be few, short, and temporary.

coop,

Ever consider increasing your dosage from 25mg to 50mg. 25mg is lightweight and is usually used if you have adverse reactions to the higher dosage. A majority of people can get past the problems in two or three weeks. Something to consider.

Rich

This weekend will be my first at 50. As I mentioned in my intro thread, I wanted to ease into Nal slowly since I generally don't take any sort of medication for anything and never really have. Since I tracked 8 weeks without, I figured I'd track 8 weeks at 25mg and 8 weeks at 50mg, giving me nice, balanced samples to give me a clear comparison. I do analytical work and statistics in the course of my job, so it just came natural to want to have standard sample sizes. Going forward I'll probably always look at things in 8-week chunks now.

coop,

Well then after the 8 weeks of 50mg try 8 weeks of AF and compare results -

Rich

Friday: Popped a Nal in the evening when I got home, thinking I'd want my traditional Friday night beers. Turns out I didn't want a beer after all. The pill went to "waste," I suppose, but so be it.

Saturday afternoon was gorgeous and I knew I wanted a few beers outside, so I popped a Nal, waited an hour, and had a few beers while getting some chores done. Then we had an unexpected visit for dinner from a buddy and his family. He and I always drink a lot of beer together, but by the time they got here I was already feeling like I was pretty much done for the night, so I nursed two beers over the course of many hours simply to be polite. All told, between about 1pm and 8pm I had about 7-8 drinks, two of them practically forced down, and at any time after my 3rd I could easily have walked away from the beer. That's not a feeling I've had in adulthood, so I'm pretty happy with that.

No desire to drink today, so my weekend drinking is gone. I typically ONLY drink on weekends, very rarely during the weekend, so I'm done until next weekend.

If this level of consumption remains consistent, I'll have gotten to where I want to be. As I've mentioned, I don't want to QUIT. I have no interest in having an AF life. I want control so I can enjoy alcohol like normal people. So far, Nal is giving me that control.

Coop, that's awesome improvement - congratulations.
Very encouraging!

Nice! - Thanks for the feedback.

That's brilliant. Well done.

Very nice progress Coop. Keep it up and keep it posted.

My units this week were a little more than 1/3 of my pre-Nal units and just under 1/2 my average units during an 8-week stretch of taking 25mg. (I'm now taking 50mg)

Still, went a bit overboard last night - the only day I drank all week. In the past I would have been fairly well along but not TRASHED from the amount I drank, but Nal really seems to magnify the effects of alcohol. I had what works out to be 8.75 beers. Not a small amount, but close to an average night prior to taking Nal, and nights when I put down 12 in the span of a few hours weren't unusual.

Last night, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was having a great day enjoying the sun and drinking some beers, sat down for dinner, and the next thing I know I'm in the bathroom puking my guts up. That never happens. I felt awful and the drunk feeling lingered all night. I dragged ass all morning. Worst of all, I had that next morning shame that sucks so bad.

So overall I'm pleased with my week's numbers - heck, spent the night out with my wife on Friday and never once thought about wanting or needing a drink - but definitely feel like I could have stopped 2 or 3 bottles sooner yesterday. I think it's in part because I was caught up in doing something. I was so focused on what I was doing I only half paid attention to my drinking.

I'd be happy with 8 or 9 beers a week being my average, just not all in one day!