Get a liver function test. Also drink a lot of water.
Alcohol is a diurectic, in that it dehydrates. Even a non-drinker should drink at least a gallon of water a day and I drink more. Carry a water bottle with you wherever you go, and every now and then, grab it and chug, even if you do not feel thirsty.

Water - good stuff. Your liver, bladder, kidneys and everything else will love you.

Well Naltrexone was in use in the EU way before it was approved in the U.S. I asked the good doctors about it a couple months ago.

Eskapa said:

It is or was on the verge of approval in some countries - Revex. It was supposed to be approved in the UK 18 months ago - so far I have not heard anything. Sinclair believes it is better than naltrexone (no need for LFTs, stronger binding affinity with opioid receptors, safer metabolism) .. but the are equivalent the advantage of naltrexone is that there are more tried and tested trials with naltrexone than nalmefene.

Sinclair said:

I am not sure how much is confidential, but the answer to your question is that one more huge clinical trial is needed in Europe before nalmefene will be approved.

Thanks Guys, I am not giving up hope yet.

I will get the Dr thing sorted this week, and ask about Revex while I am there. I know in the past Spain was quite advanced with meds as my sister used to ask me to get her things she could not get in the UK.

Also gonna up my water intake SR- I do drink water but not as much as I should.

The field workers headed by Dr Kshama Metre a wonderful paediatrician at CORD (the NGO near Dharamsala in North India) which took the first steps in a developing country to bring the treatment to poor rural villagers reported that a minority of the patients felt initial nausea. They did better by reducing to half the standard dose - 25 mg - for a little more than a day or two and by say the fifth drinking session were up to the correct dose 50 mg naltrexone which provides full cover (complete opioid blockade) for most people and has been the standard dose through most trials. It will be interesting to see if nalmefene (similar to naltrexone) when it is approved for general use in alcoholism presents fewer side-effects when it is prescribed on a wide scale. In the meantime, people should stick to the clinical literature which indicates that extinction can occur with 50 mg (generally not 25 mg):

Naltrexone (50 mg) + Drinking (over 2 to 4 months) = Cure (for most people > 80 %)

In my opinion, a few instances of nausea are well worth the price (awful feeling, I know) if the final result is de-addiction - freedom from addictive drinking and craving. I hope that the Sinclair Method will some day become standard treatment not only for alcoholism but for several other addictions as well. We'll see!

Thank you Dr. Eskapa, I agree that it is worth going through a bit of nausea to be free of this addiction.

I think maybe I have over reacted with the urine thing, as I have indeed since noticed that if I drink a juice of red grapes/strawberries (I am drinking this just about every morning as I have a small shop, and rather than let the fruit get bad and have to throw it out, I have been juicing or blending it) that by the evening my urine is a very dark colour- however this is only for one or two 'goes' then it is back to a clear pale yellow I have no other signs that anything is wrong with my liver, my eyes are white, my skin is pink, no tiredness or loss of appetitie so I am going to try again.

I am still planning on having a liver test, but I will not be able to make it to the doctor until Friday. He will send me for a test on Monday. It will be around 4 or 5 days before the results are back, then I will have to wait till I can make it down there again- all in all we are talking 2 weeks. I would prefer to start again now, then in 2 weeks time if he tells me something is wrong I will stop. I imagine all will be fine, I really don't want to wait to start my cure!

Sorry for being a hypochondriac

I have taken 25mg today and so far feel a bit tired by otherwise fine! So Marby is back on track!

Would like to report incase this thread has put anyone off trying the Method, that yesterday on a dose of 25mg I felt barely no side effects at all, so today I will up my dose to 50mg! I am so excited- had 2 beers yesterday, and really struggled to finish the second- I know that is likely to be the honeymoon thing, but any day this happens to me is a good day indeed!

Just to let people on this thread know. I felt nausea on and off at different times during my sessions when I took the Naltrexone but it wasn't severe enough to mention before. I would get a bit shakey and nauseous about a half hour after taking it but it would always go away. It was always 50mg I took because that was the dose my doc had perscribed. It still happens and I am 5 months as of March 5th. However I only take it around 10 times a month because that is as often as I drink. It is not something I try to do, it is just my pattern. Thanks.

Absolutely. I just uploaded a post very similar to yours. You're probably long gone by now. I wonder if you broke through the nausea. I don't think I'm going to, after my 4th dose.

>>I was thinking that 10% (more or less) of people cannot take Naltrexone, because of side effects, and another 10% of those that do take it finds that it simply does not work for them, so of the 100 that begin, there are maybe 19 that don't have success, so possibly I am one of those 19. Well, to look on the bright side, if I am one of the 19, statistically the next guy that comes along probably won't be one of the 19...

I'm one of the 19 also, for the same reason--major nausea.

This is FALSE! I have NEVER heard of anyone not being able to use naltrexone because of side effects. The studies have shown that the small percentage who fail on naltrexone either (a) don't properly take the drug before drinking and/or stop taking it entirely (about ten percent of the 20%) and (b) a very small percentage of people who do not have alcoholism that run in their family also may not find success with naltrexone. BUT SIDE EFFECTS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH SUCCESS ON NALTREXONE. The side effects will subside within a week or two, max - see my other post I just left on your original thread in response to this issue. Try dropping to 25 mg for a while until your body gets acclimated to it. 25 mg works, but not for the full 12 hours 50 mg works. You should shoot for 50 mg because all of the studies use 50 mg. But if using 50 mg now means you are considering quitting TSM, I highly recommend you go to 25 mg until your body adapts to the nal. If you are on 25 mg, you should drink one hour after and then immediately in the few hours that follow the one-hour waiting period.