Hi there, this is Spitfire's wife. Just wanted to update this board on Spitfire's progress, he is starting week 5 on TSM under a Dr.'s care.

Background: Spitfire is mainly a beer drinker but likes to have liquor on the weekends (rum). He had purchased a bottle a couple of days before starting his prescription.

The first 2 weeks he was taking Naltrexone he experienced alot of side effects and didn't feel himself. He was drinking beer, but not as much as normal. He did drink that bottle of rum but it lasted several days. Usually he would always go on Fridays after work and get it, it would be done by Sunday morning.

Since he started on this treatment, he hasn't gone to the liquor store. He has been drinkiing beer but way less than normal. He says the fog has lifted, and he is feeling GREAT now, much better than he's felt in years.

The rum purchases on the weekends were a real test to me of how this is working, and the fact that he didn't purchase any in 4 weeks was a great sign.

Saturday morning, he decided to try and have a Caesar (vodka and Clamato juice). It was always one of his fav. drinks. Well, he reported that he just didn't enjoy it like he used to. We talked about the rum and he decided to buy a bottle and "test" the TSM.

He had the bottle for over a day before he cracked it open. And he had only one drink out of it (and way less rum in the glass than he would normally). He finished the drink but said he didn't enjoy it,, and switched back to beer. But again, he's not drinking as much as he used to, and says he feels very clear headed while drinking now.

Today he tried another rum and coke (again, just maybe a shot in it, instead of about 4). He finished it, but he's not having another, he's just having beer instead.

His progress has been really great so far. His level of drinking has fallen off alot. The people at work tell him it seems like the old "him" is back (they didn't know what the problem was). He's feeling really good about his progress and what a miracle this treatment is!!

I never thought there would be anything like this for him to try, but after seeing a local newspaper article a couple months ago and the Dr. featured in the article was HIS family doctor, he went to the Doc, admitted he needed help and asked to try this treatment.

It's been a great 4-5 weeks so far. I am really hopeful about the future, things have changed SO MUCH in just a short month!! Good luck to everyone else, I hope everyone gets the results they want!!

That's some good news! I hope to hear more. Even if the drop in numbers is one of those "honeymoons" everyone talks about. They all say that's still a real good sign even if the numbers go back up for a while. We haven't had that but the drunk jerk behavior has mostly dissappeared.

Spits wife here again. Hi Tbloom and thanks for your reply. I've been following your posts about your husband. When mine started Naltrexone, he was home from work for the first two weeks. And at first, I wasn't sure what to expect when I got home from work. But he hasn't been "drunk" in all the time since he started this treatment. It's been great.

I hope your husband has success with it. But the main thing is I support him, and as long as they take their pill every day, they are covered so they can drink. I don't know if this is the "honeymoon" because he is entering week 5 now. But things have been really good.

It probably is "the honeymoon" which simply means you should not be too alarmed when his drinking spikes back up, which is very typical. The TSM ride is a roller coaster but it does work for most who try it. It takes a lot longer than 3-4 months for most of us, however, so patience is crucial.

Hi everyone, Mrs. Spitfire here. We haven't posted much over the summer so I thought I would give a progress report. Long story short: Mr. Spitfire was a long-time heavy rum drinker with beer as his 2nd favorite thing.

He started on TSM the end of April. Since he has started, he has only purchased Rum on one occasion, and that was a test to himself to see if he would like it.

Well, he did not. And he hasn't bought any hard liquor since early May. This in itself, is a miracle to me. I could live with the beer drinking, but when he gets into the rum, look out, he will be really hard to deal with.

Things have been really good in our home the last few months. Yes, he still drinks beer, sometimes more, sometimes less. But I have only seen him "drunk" once in all this time, I think it was because we hadn't eaten dinner the night before and the next day we went to a social thing at the local pub and he was drinking on an empty stomach (but had taken his Nal). So that was the only time.

We've gone on a couple of vacations this summer. Mr. Spitfire drove the whole way. In the old days, I would have to be the driver and for him, it was the "booze cruise". That has changed totally. We went on a summer holiday with his family and I think they were surprised to see that he wasn't getting drunk the way he used to. Only his parents know about this treatment, he hasn't told his siblings about it. So anyways, we had a really nice time, when in the past, I may have had to worry about how he was going to be the whole time.

He went to his Dr. last week for an update and to renew his prescription. He told the Doc that alot of times now, he doesn't even FEEL like drinking, but just does it because he's taken the pill. The Doc told him, whatever he doesn, do NOT quit drinking right now. He feels that Mr. Spitfire is reaching a crucial point in this treatment and that he should continue drinking in order to keep killing off the desire. So he is following the Doc's orders and continuing with the pill everyday and drinking, most days moderately, which is really good.

So, I will post again soon. He still says he is feeling great, better than he has for years. Work is going really well for him, because he's not hungover every day. He is taking care of other health issues that in the past, he would just drink to try and take away the pain. So he is dealing really well with everything.

I hope everyone else is doing well with their progress. It is a long road, it's been several months now for us, but I feel it is doing a great deal of good. It's definitely worth trying for people who have problem drinking. I've only mentioned it to a couple of close friends, but if I know someone who I think may benefit from it, I would definitely recommend it to them.

Take care everyone and hope you all have a great summer (what's left of it)!!

sweet! sounds like it's working. I hope he and I both get our names on the cured list. keep us posted