Hi i haven't been posting much these past few months but i thought i would today. Woke up this am and realised that its almost a year since i started taking nal. I have taken nal every time i drank up until jan of this year when i had a problem with an order- i drank maybe 6-8 times without nal but have been back again since.
I feel really fed up- i thought by now i would be totally 'cured'. Prior to nal i would have been a 'binge' drinker. Thurs-sat most weeks and begining to creep in to working week. I was worrying cos i was regularly in to the second bottle of wine. Any way i still drink thur-sat. Still drinking home alone.
So what has changed? Well-
1. I can seldom drink a full bottle of wine these days (although have once or twice)
2. I do have nights where i stop at one or two glasses- but the problem is i can't predict them!
3. I am seldom really drunk and i rarely have black outs or hangovers- although i have had a couple.
4. I have some weeks where i only drink 2 nights.

I am begining to think id have been better to do like Nick and start drinking every night to hasten extinction- but i didn't crave it and would have found it hard to keep up with work and anyway when i was on holiday for 6 weeks i drank almost every night.
I won't stop taking nal -having read some of the posts of people who stopped- but am feeling pretty disheartened. I can't help feeling a little competitive and envious of some of the people who started around the same time or a little after me and who are cured or nearly there.
I have given up tracking points closely but do keep an eye on overall consumption. Months ago it seemed like my extinction curve was progressing nicely and that i might be in full control by about 8-9 months but it hasn't worked out.
I am definitely not a candidate for baclofen and maybe i need to tackle the 'habit' issue that others have talked about.
I admire and appreciate lena, nick and bob and others who have kept this site going and kept up their contributions i have found it hard to maintain enthusiasm.

Hi SOulby,

I look with happiness on your progress.

I pose the question....What do you think your drinking would be like now without Naltrexone and drinking as you normally had,...blacking out etc?

From what you describe, you seem to be an average drinker and compared to an alcoholic, not near the numbers described by folks on their deathbed....

So you know, I'm frustrated too, but I tell ya, I have improved (9 months). Last night my wife was screaming the divorce word etc...even though I tell HER I'm cured (which I'm not), I didn't go off in some pity party and get bombed. The NAL has given me strength to say "What will getting bombed do except get you hungover and I have to play a party today",....so I guess I would reflect on the difference of progressive drinking with and without NAL. I think the former wins....NAL. BEst, JIm

Investing a year, with disappointing results, has got to be disheartening. You signed on for a cure -- not just a reduction. I'm very sorry it's not turned out as you'd hoped and expected.

At some point it's time to explore where to take it from here but I'll let it go at this for today.

i'm so sorry to hear this. makes me wonder if it'll work for me. I have no idea if it is

It looks like your units are cut in half from what they were. Surely that is well within safe limits. I guess it's still heartbreaking when what you crave is a cure. From where we are, your numbers look like a cure to me.