Hi There,
I have been drinking heavily off and on for 10 years. I've been in rehab 3 times, tried AA, tried abstinece always with the same result. I have been on and off antabuse. I am on antabuse now because I have a broken neck from falling down the stairs drunk. It is too risky to drink now and I don't trust myself at all. I am not under any delusions that I can remain abstinent even though I have everything to lose. I haven't drank (because of antabuse) for 5 weeks. I stumbled across the SCM on the internet and bought the book from Amazon. I really want to try it but don't know where to start. My husband would like me to stay on antabuse to make sure I don't drink but I don't think this is realistic and will only cause resentment. I don't want to jump straight into heavy drinking but was thinking of drinking on weekends and taking naltrexone then even if I have to stay somewhere else during this time. Will it be effective this way. My 40th birthday is coming up and I am hoping to be on Naltrexone by then. Please give me some advice.

Desperate in Australia

hi there, welcome to the site.
Do you realistically believe you can keep your drinking to the weekend? I am a part time drinker (hate calling myself a binger) and throughout the 16 weeks have taken Nal mostly on either 3 or 4 days per week. But then i generally don't crave drink on my non drinking days. Basically the treatment is to take the Nal when you experience the craving and 'drinkas normal'. If your 'normal' drinking was only on weekends then there is no reason why it shouldn't work. But if you are 'white knuckling' all week then i can't imagine how that would be helpful. You are in that case working agqainst yourself as each time you drink using Nal you are extinguishing. So it might then be faster in the long run to drink daily using Nal if that was your pattern. Others will be more informed than me on this though.
Many people on the board have had to deal with spouses who are not always supportive of TSM. For understandable reasons it is scary to watch a loved one who was sober go back to drinking with the apparently spurious justification that they are curing their addiction! There are many wonderful posts on this site from spouses and loved ones perhaps you could encourage your husband to read some.
Its great you found us here and Good luck.

Hi There,
Thanks for your input. My last bout of drinking was on a weekend basis. I have three children and no family and only a couple of friends that I don't see very often. I read someones post who said that she felt if she didn't have to sneak her alcohol she might have a better chance with the SCM. I know how she feels. I don't really white knuckle it much during the week but by Friday ,I am definitely thinking about drinking all day long. There have been times when I have just given up and drank whenever but after my last incident the fear in my childrens eyes is enough to keep my going through the week. I enjoy the sober time with them and am very busy being a taxi/maid/cook/friend as my husband travels alot. He is in India at the moment. The weekends are whiteknuckle all the way and at the moment as well (im taking antabuse and feel like i'm in prison). Hopefully I'll get more advice, hopefully from the doctor himself!

Thanks
Whitenuckles in Aussie

Welcome,..

I've been on the system for one week and can honestly say,...I'm not really craving right now,...Pre Sinclair I was 60-80 a week,...haven't changed too much (I didn't keep a log but I its definitely a little less). But most importantly, I'm not jonesing right now. Its 10.34 PM. I may not sleep well, but I'm not concerned, because if I do want to drink, I can certainly wait til the Nal kicks in.

My wife doesn't understand this either,...turn him onto the story in the book about the woman (Julia) who was alcoholic and husband was not too supportive at first...Its tough,..but you would be white knuckling...I would contact Dr Eskapa directly...his email is drroyeskapa@gmail.com

He generally will return your email within a few days....Antabuse is bad news....

Naltrexone cures the obsession over a period of 3-6 months....Never drink without it. This program will save my marriage. Hang tight and stay close there are a lot of happy people here and many are cured! BEst, JIm