Hello all - perhaps some of you can relate to this! I'm pretty frustrated and a bit boggled.

Just a little overview - I started on April 16th. Initially, I found that the pills gave me anxiety and made me very jumpy; so I reduced my dose to 25mg ( my doctor said that was an option as long as I was still feeling the benefits). During this time, I felt I was still feeling the benefits, and initially saw my drinking drastically reduced. I was abstinent for 3 months befre starting, so perhaps that made it easier also.

However, around end of May, I increased my dose to 50mg as I felt that the cravings were coming back. Since then, I’ve been able to moderate and never drink more than 2 glasses, about 5 days a week. However, the drinking has progressively made me feel absolutely terrible in the mornings, quite hungover and very depressed. I’ve gotten to a point where I just want to stop drinking altogether because the aftermath is so bad - but I don’t want to disrupt my treatment - I do hope to get to where drinking is a nonissue for me, and I only imbibe a few times a year at the most - but right now I still get cravings every day and I give in to them, only to suffer bad hangovers & depression the next day. Again, I never drink more than 2, and usually I just have one, and I always drink wine.

So - do you guys think I should just hang in there, hangovers & depression, and keep pushing through? Or should I try to manage the cravings on my own and cut drinking out? I know the whole idea is not to have to white knuckle your way through life, but the process in the meantime has become a bit tough. For example - I had 1/2 glass of red wine last night and woke up depressed, hungover and late for work because I overslept (BTW - even before treatment, I’ve alwasy been one of those people that get hangovers very easily.).

So - stick with it or throw in the towel due to the "aftermath"? I'm seeing my doctor this week about it.

Xo ER

Hi, Ellenrex! Welcome to the community!

That's certainly odd, I think one of the first things I would try is couple of nights of Nal without drinking. That's usually frowned upon, but a short little test won't hurt. If there's no problem with that, I'd try white wine or beer instead to see if you got the same response.

Half a glass of wine leading to a Nal-over, that's the most extreme reaction I've heard of yet.

Beyond those suggestions, I'd have to say talk it over with your doc. Maybe he's run into this before.

I suppose there's always the possibility of dropping back to 25mg to see how you get along.

In any case, please let us know how this turns out! I hope you're able to "Nal on" and are feeling better very soon indeed!

Hi, Ellenrex
bit late but thought I'd respond. I also get nasty hangovers since ive started tsm. I always suffered bad hangovers but maybe having the nal in the body makes it worse. what i would sugest considering is how to take the endge off the hangover so that you can continue with the treatment. you can see it as a temporary measure and not a new habit. for example taking some sort of painkiller. i don't like to use anything addictive but my hangovers can be so bad that i can't function and border on suicidal. so i see it as a lesser evil, and as temporary because now i am drinking less, so im hungover less, so i take less valium. anyway you could talk to your doc about that.

but there are also other things you can do to nurse a hangover. hot baths, comfort food, distractions like binging on a good series so that you're not left alone with your hungover head feeling like death warmed up. and also planning a little bit so that you don't have important things to do the next day.

if you're commited to tsm then all of this only has to be a temporary coping solution. if like me the alternative is going back to drinking without nal then its a small price to pay.
anyway i realise its been a while since you posted so i hope youre doing well and like to hear how it has been working out for you...

charles
week 1 to 13
40,40,38,40,26,40,40,25,34,26,19,23,20

Usually when people reduce their alcohol intake the symptoms of depression, and certainly hangover, get better. That would lead one to believe that the cause might be something else and you should probably talk to your doctor about it. It's not unusual for alcoholics to drink because they are depressed due to other reasons which then causes them to drink more and compound the problem.

Two thoughts I have are one, I don't think a prolonged period of abstinence makes a difference and if anything I have an inkling that could make things worse. Reason being is because once you started again your expectation was not met. And two is, what was your drinking like before you started? IOW were you drinking two bottles of wine a day and cut down two two glasses or were you drinking 4 glasses a day and cut down to two.