Let's go for the gusto.

I'm picturing the same low-contrast colors of the current easy-on-the eyes banner.

In the foreground left, barely discernible, are a series of lines that turn out to be, on closer inspection, a maze. At the entrance of the maze is a rat. At the end of the maze is a giant wedge of cheese with a toothpick banner that reads, Pharmacological Extinction.

Above the maze is a banner that says thesinclairmethod.com.

To the far right of the header is what appears to be a freestanding chalkboard, with a graph on it. The graph looks suspiciously like bob3d's.

To anyone who takes time to look at it, the page will appear vaguely scientific. To us, we'll see the science, the ups and downs of progress, the method, the address, and a reminder that in the maze of life, we are all doing the best we can to reach the reward.

deleted by BHG

Thank you PlainVanilla I couldn't have said it better. Until this thread started no one even noticed the banner and what was incorrect on it, so with that said the banner should be for those who first come to this site because like myself it was the first thing I noticed.

1. Ask yourself what brought you here in the first place.
2. What would you have liked to have seen on the banner when you got here to make you investigate it further.
3. If you found this site for the first time and opened it at work would you quickly close out and leave.
4. Not everyone that comes here are able to be open about their situation.

Now with all that said we're all in this together and want desperately to be able to steer others here so they can have support and the cure or de-addiction. The banner is really secondary for us but more for those who are coming after us, isn't it?

corkit

minneapolisnick, Bob, et.al.
As I said before, the banner does not mean that much to me. Now what does concern me is minneapolisnick's sense of failure. I have recently become active in this forum and plan to remain so. I am just catching up on posts so I apologize if I am speaking out of turn.

I would like to see a thread starting on "problems and people who do not believe they are progressing." Bob was a dark horse due to other meds he was taking and he sounds like he is doing great.

The best thing we can all contribute to each other is condor and honesty. If you are not progressing, please let us all know what is going on. The published numbers are 85%. There are those that are non-compliant but that is an entirely differently story.

I called myself cured but am I the same as the church mouse that had never had mnore than three beers at a setting in their life? The answer is a resounding "No". But last January I was suicidal because I could not get three days of sobriety together. My life is not perfect but I cannot compare it to a year ago. Alcohol just does not scare me.

Do I still get an urge to drink? You bet. But I do so on Naltrexone and I NEVER drink to the level I used to.

I am trying to be blantantly real here. I want to see a thread for those that are struggling beyond what we believe should be expected.

Put on the banner whatever you like. I have more pressing concerns.

Geez Nick,
While reading your post, I noticed your tag. I sure hope that these numbers are not what is discouraging you! You are a babe in the woods. Nick, my friend, the progress is not at all linear and the more you understand it, the more sense it will make to you. I was up and down, all over the map way past where you are now. It was in the fifth month that my addiction broke like a fever. And even after I declared myself cured, i still had days where I felt a very strong desire to drink. We are derepressing triggers and they come as they very well please.


I am not concerned if it applies to those that have contributed to this board but I am concerned if it applies to those that have been compliant for six months. For very strange reasons, there are many who drop out of this program, ever while they sense it is working. They need help that will not come out of a bottle of Naltrexone.

A young lady started with me then dissappeared. I had her private E-mail and asked what had happened. She said she simply wanted to experience alcohol as before. Where do you go with that?

If you have read the testimonials in Eskapa's book, you will see that some have a "come to Jesus experience" whereas others are gradual. Follow the method to the tee and see me in morning (of the sixth month). Your synaps's are being reconstructed whether you are happy about it or not.

Hang in there my friend. Don't make me come over there!

People have been cured of cancer, gone 5 years of more and then got cancer.

People have received treatment for heart disease and lived great lives and then got heart disease.

People have been cured of depression and got depression.

People have dieted, lived healthy lives and got cured of obesity and then gotten fat again and gave up.

So...some people here and there will find that alcohol is in that same category. I was sober in AA for 20 years and didn't think of taking a drink until I went to church and then started to drink.

Cure is now a personal opinion more than a medical fact - at least here it appears to be. I am finding myself changing and on my way to a condition that I've never experienced before in my life. I am getting sick of alcohol rather than getting sick from alcohol. How's that for a cure?

I am not totally sick of it, but that's progressing. Again, another AA quote, 'you'll never be able to drink the same again as you did before you got here' and now that is more true than ever in AA. I don't feel guilty about my drinking or violating my integrity - I just feel physically ill when I drink more than 3-4. I cannot drink the same.

I am changed because of all that I've been through even more so in the past 9 weeks. And for now, no one but you here can grasp the full meaning, and I'm not bull*hitting myself with so called denial - it's real.

Do what you want as a group, I'll stay, but I believe I am already cured from the condition I was in but I am not as cured as I want to be. I'll keep doing what I've been and will see how you all are doing too.

It's a Saturday morning and I had Hershey's chocolate last night - I woke up feeling good. I don't feel sick today. I am fully available to live my life.

Thanks SR.

Oh, don't worry, you won't have to come over here because I will take the naltrexone one hour before drinking FOR LIFE. It is working for me but slower than expected. By the way, I started May 27 so my six-month mark is in a mere 13 days. I dropped another ten last night, easy, and don't see much of a change on the weekends in that regard. However, during my AF days I do not think about drinking which is a huge change; I no longer blackout; I rarely have hangovers; and I do not act foolish when drunk. If this is as good as it gets for me, TSM is a success. But I'm wondering if I'll ever get to the point where I stop tossing back ten the way "normal" people have one.

My best,

Nick

SR welcome back, so glad to see you here, it's been a while. I am one who doesn't post much anymore. Having been at this for quite some time, I feel somewhat like Nick does. My drinking is erratic. Some weeks very few cravings and maybe 3 or 4 AF days and then the next week all hell breaks loose and I am drinking at levels close to what I did before tsm. There are weeks where I don't get hangovers on a bottle of wine and other times when 3 glasses can do me in. It's confusing to me to say the least and quite discouraging. I am one of the benzo group and I know that I am at the same level as Bob in med. dosage, so I wonder what's the scoop there. I follow tsm to a T with the very rare occasion where I might drink in l/2 hour as opposed to l hr, but I have heard others say this too, even you if my memory serves me. So,
here I am doubting, following and not posting so as not to make negative statements. I was reading daily and sometimes hourly but in the past month it's been rather difficult knowing that
people are seeing so many changes that I do not. I think your ideas for those experiencing difficulty is an excellent idea and maybe it can boost our spirits. Thanks

I need to add that my AF days are with effort and resolve mostly due to a previous heavy drinking period.

But we see changes in ALL those who say they are having difficulties!!! Even in posts from people who claim they have seen no changes, they invariably list their changes at the end!! Amazing!! We can't see it when we gaze at our own navels.

Not as many hangovers now
I'm not in total control but I'm not falling down/slurring my words anymore
Can quit before the bottle is empty now
No blackouts for months
Left a half glass and went to bed
Drinking lite beer now
Don't have to hide booze anymore
Husband/wife is supportive
We're going to counseling together
I'm telling others about TSM
I'm looking into bac as well
I'm drinking the same quantity but I feel differently now, more in control
I don't feel in control yet, but I look at my drinking in a new way...

something IS happening!! Boy, I sound like a Pollyanna but it really is true - check out past posts. For everyone who says they see no changes - THEY SEE CHANGES!!

I agree, the vast majority of people on this board see changes -- some huge, some minimal. Even at my recent worst, no blackouts, no drunken behavior. At my best, I'm almost "normal."

Here comes the broken record: TSM works but forget the time frames -- focus on your improvement and not your frustration. My piano teacher keeps telling me that about learning the piano and it is just as applicable to TSM.