Thank you all for your kind words. I am still going strong. This last weekend, there was a social event that last almost the whole night and I was drinking very little. I had two glasses of champagne and then three small glasses of wine in 10 hours. It felt great that I had no desire to drink more. I danced and had a lot of fun, while drinking mostly water. The next day, I then shared a bottle of wine with my husband over long lunch and felt no desire to have more. Today and tomorrow will be AF days since I do not have social obligations.

My goal has been achieved so far. The goal was to drink only socially and even that in small quantities. So, my number one rule is not to drink at home alone. In these last 4 months since I started Nal, it was maybe two or three times that I had a drink at home alone. This happened once when I had leftover of wine from the dinner party and once when I was slightly stressed. Happily, I had no craving to continue with drinking at home after those events.

I think that everyone needs to establish for him or herself what the number one goal is and then work towards that goal. Drinking alone at home was for me the most damaging thing. I often overdid it and also lost a lot of time when I could have been active doing more interesting things.

Wishing all good Nal-ing.

You are doing so well, Tamtam! Congratulations on not drinking alone and staying true to your goals.

Hi all,
I rarely come to the board these days, since alcohol lost importance in my life. I have been going steady these last weeks. Mostly, I can easily do 2 AF per week and then have one or two "party" days where I have about half a bottle of wine and on other days, I have one or two glasses of wine, always with food and never alone. This is what my desire was from the start. I perceive this "normal" drinking. Since I am very social, I probably drink more than is the upper official limit for women, however, I never have hangovers and in general do not crave alcohol.

Recently, I noticed that there are some days when Nal works very well and after one or two drinks I loose desire for more and there are other days when I feel no real change after Nal. I was wandering if it might be that some of the Nal that I got online from the suppliers that most of the people here deal with is not OK. I wander if someone had similar experience.

Tam,

I get my nal from Walgreens and I experience the same thing. I started waiting longer than the 60 minutes (a suggestion from JoAnna at OSL) and it does help. But I really think it is normal, for normal people drink a little more at times.

I have read on the LDN forums complaints about the nal from All Day Chemist, for they thought it wasn't as strong.

JoAnna suggested to look at the expiration date, for expired drugs can degrade (although my Father-in-law disagrees with certain drugs and he works at a pharmacy, but I didn't ask him about the nal).

If the nal is hard it can take time to absorb and waiting 90 minutes is helpful.

It sounds like you are cured (or whatever you want to call it)! For you have obtained your goal of a normal drinker. Go You!

Jaba

Thanks Jaba,

I do feel sort of cured. But at the same time, I dread using this word. I lost desire for excessive drinking almost immediately when I started Nal, but then I needed to work on habits. This week, I will have 3 AF days and I am feeling very happy with this. I still could do better at social occasions though. At coctail parties, I am still having about four drinks per evening, but mostly with food.

I hope that others might say something on their different feelings with Nal from online sources. Sometimes I am worried if they are actually the real thing.

Tam,

If you are getting them from the suggested places on the C-3 foundation, then they are the real thing. JoAnna said that occasionally she or another moderator would purchase the nal from different sources to make sure they are okay.

Are you still taking a 1/2 pill? Maybe you might want to increase it to a full pill? (just a suggestion)

Only drinking 4 drinks socially is remarkable, for it is so easy to over drink when it the alcohol is flowing and free. And with time it will become a fading thought of the amount, for you are drinking because you want to and not because you have to! Isn't it a great feeling!

I am still going strong and Nal is working, however, I have now a challenge to not drink in excess at a long business trip. On the plane, I left my second glass of wine full. This has never happened before. I just lost interest in drinking it. However, now that I am alone abroad, it will be necessary to limit drinking in social occasions and also be mindful not to start drinking alone in my hotel room. I am stocking myself with tea and I hope that things will go well with this challenge.

It is time to do a fresher course of Nal. After great success, I became slightly too confident and abandoned Nal. It looked that it was not needed anymore. Slowly, however, I became too relaxed with drinks and now it is time to go back to Nal. I will start with 12,5 mg and will see how it goes.

Tamtam

Cool, Tamtam! Glad to hear it's easy for you to step back in and self-correct. Keep us up on how you're doing!