Hello All. Ive been on TSM for 10 weeks now (seems much longer for some reason), and have religiously taken 50mg Nal one hour before drinking, except for 3 times, where somehow I just totally forgot.

Anyway, dont really feel much difference yet, but I know ive got a ways to go.

Im just wondering whether anyone is updating the cured list, because it doesnt seem to have changed much in the last couple of months since I started TSM. I was totally expecting Lena to be on there by now.

Have there just been no more successes in the last few months, or has the updated list been moved somewhere else or what?

Hi zman,

I am not aware of anyone having declared themselves cured for a good few weeks. Having said that, a few people seem to be close.

All the best.

V.

Hey Z,

Like Virgil said there are a few people are very close. But as this chart illustrates (and it's not all inclusive), we don't have that many people at that stage but we have a lot of people who might be in a couple of months:


We've got 5 people (reporting) at the 24 week mark, but 2 of them are already cured so we've only got 3 that could declare themselves as such. We've got 8 people at the 20 week mark but 3 have already declared themselves cured.

We've got like 20 or so members at around the 10 week mark though.

Hi zman I started TSM July 29th (I think).

In my updates, Ive stated that I probably will never use the word "cured".

To clarify, I am a binge drinker. Pre TSM I could go a week without drinking even longer, but when I hit the bottle....watchout! Hurricane warning in affect.

Like everyone else that has issues from AL I am a veteran of a thousand psyschic wars. Worrying if this is the way its going to be forever, what I did the night before, who I hurt, how I got this bump on my head, and why people dont want to hang out with me...and continued worry about who I would offend or hurt in the future. Yet I still had to go out and drink.

But since being on TSM, at the point I am at now, from looking at the rest of my friends I am closer to a normal drinker than they are.

I dont make a fool of myself anymore.

I can say "when" on any given drinking session.

I pretty much know at what point I should stop in order to NOT have a hangover.

My cravings to go out and have FUN are pretty much controllable. My triggers come more from boredome or a need to be social.

I am a thousand times more responsible in my drinking than pre TSM.

And many times, when I THINK I want to drink, I find myself thinking again that I dont really want to. To tell you the truth, drinking is starting to become a chore. Responsible things that I didnt think about pre TSM I think about now. How much will I drink? Whats my limit? Who will drive? When should I eat to take my pill. When should I take my pill? Do I really want to drink?

But would I call myself "cured"? No.

I still run the risk of drinking too much. There is a point that if I drink beyond it, i find it harder to stop drinking. If I get into the hard alcohol Ill drink a good hangover in, but I still dont act the fool.

I will call where I am a HUGE success so far. If progress is halted here, I am still a huge TSM success, and could continue my life without the worry of AL issues beyond that of a normal drinker. I would say all of my MAJOR issues from AL are all but a bad memory for me now.

Here is the question... do I want to stop drinking completely? I really dont know, that may happen in the future, but at this point, my wife and I's social life revolves around drinking, so I see myself atleast partaking in the now and then social obligatory drink.

Many of us have gone back and forth with the word CURED and some of us have pretty much decided not to use that word to define our success.

My reason not to use the word cured is, I will always deal with AL issues from a certain standpoint. I will always be on the look out for potential danger spots that could lead me back down the wrong path. I do have to apply some form of self control on any given drinking occasion or run the risk of a hangover. Im wondering if normal people deal with this too?

All in all, I am a TSM success story. Not sure if that answers your question.

Not to speak for anyone else, but from reading Firebird and Nick's posts, I am about at the same point they are, and it seems they are very hesitant to use the word "cured". Id bet they would use the word successful though.

All my best.

hapful

TSM WORKS

I think the experiences of a few of us (declaring victory, only to see numbers increase later) might have taught others that it's a good idea to wait and really make sure before making the call. I DEFINITELY call TSM a success, but I could have saved myself a lot of worry and second guessing if I had waited a bit. Still, my problem with alcohol appears to have been solved, and thus I call myself cured.

Like I've said elsewhere, the distinction can be a distraction right when you need to stay on target the most. And this is with full recognition that where I am is different from where Bob, SR and AJ are. More on this later - it's a subject worthy of a lot more thought.

I'm tempted, but I think I'll sit on my hat for a while. For Firebird's reasons noted above, primarily. Some of the curves seem to have a rebound out here where I'm at in what I hope is the tail of my curve.

I will say that so far as it's going, I've met my goal starting out: numbers reduced to my doctors recommendation of 2/day - for almost three months now. However, weirdly, I'm now sort of interested to see if I can drive those numbers down further, by only intermittently drinking 2/day. In other words, more AF days. That feels a bit in the future, but at least conceivable in a way it never was before.

It was not my initial goal to be even close to abstinent, and it really isn't my goal now either, but I'm somwewhat curious about just how much control I can have. No time like the present to try it out, while I'm in the habit of tracking things.

If I look back in another three months or so and I'm still tracking faithfully at 2/day, I'll probably say, "Meh, mission accomplished, I'm satisfied."

There is no race here and "Cured" is subjective.

I call myself cured but in some ways I am like Hapful, if I let myself. By cured, I mean that I can now choose not to drink and when I do drink. I can drink moderately if I do not go too far. If you think that you will ever reach the point where you can drink abusively i.e. intentionally getting drunk, and not pay a price - it ain't ever going to happen.

I use my wife for my gold standard. In our twenty years of marraige, I have seen her drunk less than 5 times. But she admits that there is a limit and if she crosses it, she will lose control. I also have that limit so I go to great lengths to stay clear of it.

I now drink less than my wife. She likes to drink a beer nightly. I do not. Mainly because of the Nal thing. I don't want that chemical swimming around my brain just for a beer. If I were to drink like her, I would be on Nal 7X24. So I save my drinking for occasions. The hassel of Nal acts as a discouragement for me. An unanticipated side effect.

It not uncommon for the "cured" people to have an uptick in numbers. And that does not make them less cured although it may be a little unnerving. Even after reaching sound control, we will eventually find a trigger like money in an old coat pocket. That is a good thing. Not a setback. Just be sure you are on your Nal.

Hapful that was an awesome post.

I, yes even I, consider TSM a resounding success. If to follow what Contral clinics said about their patients at least halving their consumption w/ in 3-4 mos., I am probably there. I believe my pre-TSM number is skewed. It is most likely >100 units. I am not changing it in my sig, don't want anyone to think I am cheating.
I am not cured per the WHO standard. I drink a lot less than a lot of people I know, now. I drink w/ a lot more control.
Here is the post I put on MWO. I have a hard time writing a lot as I can't type very well. I have a lot to say. That is how I got my nickname.


I am doing TSM. From the first day of taking the naltrexone the positive effects appeared. I didn't necessarily reduce quantity but I remained clear headed. See, you still get drunk while doing this. The physical effects of motor skills, some anasthetics, etc. still occur. What is eliminated is the irrational high that drinking more and more is gonna make things better.
I have been doing this for ~ 5 months. I , per the numbers, have reduced my drinking ~30%, maybe a little more. I believe it is probably more like 50% as I believe my pre=TSM numbers are a bit skewed as I had just recently tried abstinence and intensive out patient and was already watching my drinking. This was mostly to appease my spouse.
I had been exploring pharmacological methods before. I had tried the Campral thing. Campral didn't do much for me except maybe help w/ confidence to quit. I know why now. Naltrexone was one of the meds that I had researched and I believe TSM was part of what I read. At that point though, abstinence was pretty much all the wife would consider. So I wasted a lot of time and spent a lot of money. In retrospect, I guess I got the counselling part of TSM out of the way. Maybe it has helped. They had discussed coping mechs, and other stuff, but I had heard it all before.
I believe I fall into the category a lot of the subjects in the book were in, where the cause of any depression and anxiety was there alcohol abuse. There is some theory that alcohol is the med for the anxiety and depression, I don't believe so in my case.
So far while doing this, my wife has stated she is getting the old me back. Believe me, I drank a lot when we first met. I didn't drink with the alcoholic mindset, at least not as severe as I have ended up at. Of course, I didn't have the pressures of children, mortgages, healthcare, etc. adding to my drinking habit. I feel like I am drinking back at a totally different attitude, if that makes sense. When abstinent my wife knew I wasn't enjooying it. She wants me to be happy. I was happy for the clear head but resented not being able to do what I wanted to do. I was happy but miserable. She would normally cave and get me something to drink after a week or so. Or I would sneak drinks, so now I had lying and hiding adding to my guilt.
I used to drink to the point where I could close my eyes and basically hear white noise in my head. I would pass out most times. I said crap that either embarrassed me or my wife. I acted like an idiot.
Now I get to a point, well before what I used to, and go to bed or even think to myself "Well, that's enough for tonight". This is a dramatic change. Some may scoff that drinking 10 beers isn't success. Well I believe it is if the person would've normally drank 20. I guess it all depends on definitions of success. There is so much more to the success I am having with TSM. I might write more about it at another time as I am having triouble w/ words for it.
Anyway, this is working for me. I could be happy at the drinking I am at right now but I am looking to reduce further. All in due time. I am trying not force too much and that is the glory of TSM. It is easy for us drunks to follow. Nal+Drinking+Cure

I concur that the list isn't growing partially due to people don't want to say cured then spike. What is a normal drinker? Not the average amount of drinks. Not what the WHO says is safe. Of the people calling themselves drinkers, those that wouldn't be considered alcoholics, what is the "normal" amount, attitude, targetted feeling, etc.? This is a big question to me. I believe it may vary by the region, country, ethnicity that a person is from. I believe it has to do a lot with what the social norm is for the people that surround that person. It may also have to do with what that society defines as fun, leisure, etc. There is the, "If it causes a problem it is a problem" adage. So if it doesn't cause a problem anymore the it isn't a problem now? The hard part is getting certain entities to accept this.
Success is an individual calculation, I guess.

My brother is almost 8 months now on Nal (started 3/26). At the 5 month mark his drinking slowed down dramatically along with a slight decease in units. At the 6 month mark, he suddenly lost cravings and had a few AF days. At that point we thought he was cured. But at the 7 month mark, his drinking was back to pre-TSM levels and has been that way since. I've seen a few other people who also made some progress but after 6 months some back-sliding seems to be occurring. Dont know what to make of it.