Hi there - I have decided to start one of these threads! I like that it can help others and also have been finding interesting stuff written by others .... I just wish more people would post!

I started Nal 3-4 weeks ago. I have already noticed a difference in the way that I view AL - my mind still wants it but my body doesn't most of the time. My intake has already been reduced but I still am drinking daily. I usually get home from work around lunchtime and have my first drink then - that first one is SUCH a habit that it is hard not to - even though I have not been sure that I want it each day now. I read somewhere on here that the best thing to do (after obviously waiting the prescribed hour before having a drink) is to try and wait an hour before the next drink - from when I started the first one. I have not being doing that but will try. The other day hubs and I went out and I had a drink - I only wanted the one (would normally have had two) then we came home but it was at least an hour between the first and getting home - and I really did not want another one - but had one anyway because that is what I do! But after reading that about the wait it made sense to me as to why I didn't want another ....

Cannot remember who it was that wrote about that - but thank you !

I would love to talk to anyone who started around the same time as me - I actually started Nal on the 9th January.

I might have to start a different thread but am curious - I have a friend who started Nal but is not drinking - she said that the Nal makes her not want to. I told her that the correct way to use Nal is to drink after taking it - but she said she doesn't want to drink and that the Nal is working. I know it is her choice but I feel she is setting herself up for a fall - the Nal is NOT doing it's thing the way she is taking it - has anyone stopped drinking just talking the Nal and NOT drinking ? As I said, just curious ....

Hugs, Maggie

hi Maggie,

I'm so glad you're already seeing a positive effect I'm afraid we're a select few here compared to MWO & similar forums - most of the cured wander off to get on with life, which is great for them but makes things a little slow

I think AngelGirl started about the same time as you - you may want to have a look at her progress thread & compare notes

about your friend who is taking Nal & not drinking - if it's who I think it is, am I right in thinking that she's taken Bac/Topa before, & is maybe she's thinking of Nal in the same way as these? Nal is sometimes/often prescribed with abstinence & some people do seem to respond to it as an anti-craving med. I don't suppose it's the end of the world if it's working for her, although the positives of good endorphin-producing things - exercise, sex, food, etc. - are going to be dulled. also, obviously, she's going to have to go on taking it indefinitely as she won't be getting the pharmacological extinction of TSM. there's an old thread on this topic here:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2673

& the same thing that way spoted on MWO:

http://www.mywayout.org/community/showt ... ot-via-TSM)-helped-cravings

-badger

I started NAL on the 12th. I am the same in the fact that my mind still wants the wine, but my body does not....I'm just going to keep going.

I can knock alcohol on the head for months at a time, but then I get a flash, and |I'm back on it again. So for me, the NAL is to ensure, when I do have a break and AF days.....when I start again, I don't go mad. I hope this makes sense?

Summer

Hi Maggie,

All the best in 2015, I'm at the 3 month mark and so far so good. It takes time so be patient. Simply stay complaint and keep a good journal so you can keep track of what's happening.

Some people do Nal reduces cravings without drinking or following TSM.

For me I took nal and didn't drink for the first week or so, this was because I simply didn't want to drink, I'd had a hard 4 months of baclofen, ended up feeling really ill and was tapering off the baclofen, but because I couldn't trust myself to wait the full hour if a craving did come on, then I took the nal each day anyway, just in case. I am wondering is that why the side effects were minimal for me when I did start drinking on it?and did I notice such a huge drop in units drank when I did drink because of some sort of enhanced effect?I don't know, all I know is that I got an improvement right from the start.

Hi there Summer, All and UKB - thanks for replying.

UKB - you were on Bac before ? Obviously it didn't work ... is the Nal a lot easier ? I am really pleased that it is working for you.....my intake did drop the first week and is slowly coming down - although after the first week it hasn't dropped a lot and this week too, I am drinking pretty much the same as last week, but will just stick with it - reading other's threads is very motivational for me.

All - I have a spreadsheet very kindly designed by Badger that I love and use - so I can see on a line graph how my units are dropping!! Thanks for the encouragement !

Summer - what you said makes perfect sense to me. Unfortunately right now I am still drinking even though my body doesn't want it - although not as much and it is easy to stop - I just do NOT want that 'next' one ! When you say that you can knock it on the head for months at a time - you mean you are AF for months at a time ?

Badger - what can I say but thank you - you have been so supportive of me from the very beginning and helped whenever and wherever you could. it really is much appreciated ! Thank you for the links that you posted - you know that the person to whom I referred is not the one you thought it was - she has not been able to get the Nal from her Doc although I told her about the stuff for docs at the back of the book and she has sent it to her doc so hopefully she might be able to get it from her yet!

Have a great weekend everyone,

hugs, Maggie xx

You want an honest answer?

I was zombied on baclofen. I got up to around the 200 mark, stuck at that level for a month, and my life was rubbish. I felt constantly ill, ringing in ears, woozy, daily nausea and couldn't concentrate properly. I also had some very wierd and morbid thoughts, like nothing I'd ever had before. I took baclofen for a total of 4 months, and did manage I think 3 weeks continuously AF in that time however if I remember rightly that was mostly because I felt too ill from the medication to drink - and drinking on baclofen was a complete nightmare, it exacerbated all of it's side effects. I also collapsed a few times drinking on baclofen, I was fully conscious and my legs just went from under me. Prior to bac I did have falls but always in blackout, this was not in blackout and it was as if my legs stopped working for a few seconds.

Nal's side effects are nothing compared to the SEs I experienced on Bac. My visit to Dr C was actually to find out if Baclofen would work for me, he asked me some questions and said no he didn't think it would and to try using previously successful methods (I had managed two periods of 5 months AF without any meds). It was then that I asked him would he prescribe Nal, and he said "Yes". I then tapered off the Baclofen over 7 days and by day 10 almost all the side effects were gone. The wierd thoughts would pop up again every now and again but did also tail off over the next 4-6 weeks.

People talk about the tiredness drinking on Nal, it's nothing compared to the tiredness of baclofen and I look at it as a normal effect of alcohol! After all all the nal is doing is preventing the rush of excitement.

Maggie

Yes, I can knock alcohol on the head for months, then all it takes is a flash bulb moment that I want/need a drink, and off I go on the downward spiral.

This weekend was a test as I was with a drinking partner. I did not get drunk, and did not go on a bender when I got home....for me, this is a turn up for the books!

X

That is a great job Maggie! Keep up the good work!!

Thanks for the replies - UK, I could never take Bac - it terrified me and a friend of mine who did take it, found that she had some serious anger issues on it !! I am so glad for you that you did find Nal !!

I do not have tiredness - at least I don't think I do - I am sleeping terribly and I am feeling really grumpy today which is not going down well at home - I am not usually like this but feel very snappy and irritable. I have had less to drink than usual and do not want another drink - maybe that is why I am feeling snappy?

Summer - when you do not drink for months, do you actually think about it/crave it and just do not drink - is it a conscious decision or is it the way that most people feel the Nal works and that you are more like a normal person ? I cannot imagine having a problem yet you can go for months without a drink!

So glad that this weekend went so well for you !!

Thanks Angelgirl .... you are really doing well too !!

Hugs, Maggie xx