It breaks my heart to read of those who are struggling, and lightens it to see those glimmers for others. I'm just one more data point but I agree with others before me who've said that it's important for the successes to be documented so that searchers can find them "in the wild."

I can't tell you how much this place has helped me think positive, remain patient, and stay on-course. My sincere thanks to everyone who posts here.

Week 23: I'll skip the graph - it's a repeat of last week. Two nights of one glass of wine followed by five AF days. I have new habits. I used to have a glass of wine as handy as the mouse at my computer; I no longer even bring a glass of wine into the computer room. Next week I will probably deliberately scale back up to having a glass of wine or two with dinner more days of the week. I'm not going to obsess over my curve for a while until or unless I exceed NIAAA guidelines for "low-risk" drinking.

Congratulations PlainVanilla! It sounds like you will be on the cured list very soon.


corkit

Good plan. The more you think about it, the more you'll skew your natural results for good or bad. I learned this after a couple of months post-cure. I had this thing about not exceeding the exponential decay curve and when I did go over it one week I felt let down. The next week, my drinks declined under the curve, so my unhappiness for the previous week was a useless negative emotion.

Now I just drink whenever, and screw the curve. Yet the drinks on average are still declining.

Bob

Week 24: Same as previous: 2 drinks.

Week 25: I went crazy on Christmas and had a glass of wine at a friend's house *and* another with supper. That pushed me up to 3 for the week. I'm in a strange place now where I almost feel I *should* be drinking more - for my health! How weird is that?

I probably won't post an updated graph until a few more weeks out. I'm pretty sure there will be a bump as this holiday passes. I was careful to note on my signature graph that the current low levels are lower than my target. As long as things remain below guidelines for Low Risk drinking, it's all good.

Happy New Year one and all. May your drinking next year be on *your* terms, under *your* control.

Week 28: Been a couple weeks and thought I'd post a brief update. Last fefw weeks have bounced back and forth between 3 and 4 drinks per week (5 AF). I'm at the point where it sort of irks me to break a string of 4 or 5 AF days to take a Nal just so I can have couple glasses of wine or hard cider or beer. Given that this level is about a third of my original target goal of 14 or fewer drinks per week, I have nothing to complain about.

Incidentally, wine and beer still taste just fine to me. The only "problem" is that my inner wine snob rebels at opening a really nice bottle knowing that I won't be finishing it. Putting it away for days or a week -- protected with a layer of inert gas or not -- feels wrong. Put it away I do, regardless.

I think I can also recognize a sort of corner right after my first drink is down and tasting fine where it feels like I could just decide to go full steam ahead, damn the torpedoes, and drink like the old days. It's just a passing twinge, though -- sort of like the brief moment when I wake up some days and think -- I'm an adult, I don't have to "go to school" if I don't want to -- just before I get up like a responsible adult and go to work anyway, knowing that it's the right choice for my life. Similarly I think about whether I really want to drink like a fish, or call it a night. I then wash my wineglass, pour a sparkly water, and go back to watching The Wire five-season marathon I've been engrossed in since Christmas.

Congratulations -- you are definitely a poster boy for TSM success.

The Wire is maybe the best show I've ever seen on TV, perhaps even as good or better than The Sopranos.

[quote="PlainVanilla"]Week 28:

Incidentally, wine and beer still taste just fine to me. The only "problem" is that my inner wine snob rebels at opening a really nice bottle knowing that I won't be finishing it. Putting it away for days or a week -- protected with a layer of inert gas or not -- feels wrong. Put it away I do, regardless.

quote]

Nice to put "things away" When YOU WANT..just started this experience.

Just dropping in with a minor update. Still percolating along at 2-4 drinks per week. Typically two glasses of red on Friday and/or Saturday, with dinner. I am so happy to be where I am now.



Had my annual physical today: blood pressure down; weight slightly down; blood panel and cholesterol great. Very best thing of all? During the visit my doctor said, "Thanks to you I was able to help another patient."

Thanks to TSM!

PV awesome! Not only for you but for the other patient and it was because of you stepping out that it happened.

congrats
corkit