Good deal, my mother is taking it well, although she said she worries about side effects and long term effects of Nal, and cautions me to keep up on the literature. She also somehow thinks that if I switch from beer to red wine I'll be healthier. Sorry mom, not much of a red wine drinker, although I like the occasional Nero d'Avola (an Italian varietal that's about the only red wine that doesn't upset my stomach).

And she forwarded my email, and the article I sent her ("Targeted Naltrexone Treatment Moderates the Relations Between Mood and Drinking Behavior Among Problem Drinkers," 2004), to my uncle, although she said she doesn't even know if he is reading email anymore. I hope he is. He is my flesh and blood, I do not want him to drink himself to death. He deserves better.

Hi there
ive been on nal for 13 months and havent been on the site much recently but i read your stuff with interest. Re tiredness- i was absolutely wrecked when i started i seemed to need a nap every afternoon it took about 3-4 weeks to pass as i recall. Others on the site have mentioned this sf as well. I got a bit disheartened recently as i still wasn't 'cured' however seeing posts here about upping dosage i tried this weekend and found it made big difference. I upped to 75mg- the tiredness came back as well. The first night it seemed to make no difference but the remaining nights i really struggled to drink even though i had a gang of people staying so the wine was flowing.
Glad your mother is positive and sounds like your hubby is supportive. Try to be patient.
SBTS

My drink numbers for week 4 have gone down a little. A very little. At least they stopped going up like they did in weeks 2 and 3. That was scary. It seemed I had a higher tolerance than I've ever had before, which is probably not true. The days I had 12 or 13 drinks, they were spaced out over a long period of time. But I really never want to drink that much. It's a waste of money, packs on the calories and leaves me hung over in the morning.

I've got to learn not to drink every time I'm stressed out about something. We were worried that this young cat we just adopted might have FeLV (feline leukemia virus) because one of his siblings had tested positive. So I drank a fair bit on the days leading up to the vet appointment where we'd find out. Well, he turned out to be just fine. My drinking didn't help, any more than worrying did.

I hope for more progress in the coming weeks/months.

Hang in there Luna this is only the beginning and you will go up and down..I think we can all to a certain extent relate to drinking when stressed, depressed, annoyed etc. you name it! (Any excuse for most of us really;) but obviously any sort of drama will exacerbate the problem.

The path for everyone is a different one and the only thing you need to do is take your NAL every day before you drink. I am the queen of overthinking and it hasn't served me well before TSM or during so now I'm just trying to take it easy and go with the flow, recognize when units are up and /or down but not fret too much. The Nal works on a subconscious level to extinguish and it can take a few months or over a year.

You're on your way and there is a fantastic chance of your being cured in the very near future..

Best wishes T

Hey Luna,

I am roughly at the same stage as you. Just a couple of weeks ahead. So...I am not qualified to give any advice being a newbie myself...but I wanted to offer my support. I am sure we are all going to have big ups and downs...and we just need to keep focussed on the goal. I recently read a post by Toxicgirl and it struck a chord with me.... In a nutshell it says - we are all going to experience different things on this journey and we shouldn't panic or read too much into the "lows" along the way. TG researched the journeys of the "Cured" on here and found everyone had a different journey. I have cut and pasted TG post ... Hopefully it will help you to not worry about your units going up at the start. We are all different.

BELOW WAS CUT AND PASTED FROM A POST BY TOXICGIRL.

"I think it is worthy of pointing out that people respond differently to naltrexone and just because you don't experience specific things, it doesn't mean TSM isn't working for you. Here's what the cured say:
*Naltrexone made me nauseous
*Naltrexone did not make me nauseous
*Leveled off at 25mg
*Leveled off at 50mg
*Leveled off at 75mg
*Leveled off at 100mg
*Experienced an initial severe decrease in units
*Experienced no initial severe decrease in units
*Alcohol no longer tastes good
*Alcohol still tastes good
*Units decreased steadily
*Units went up and down like a seesaw
*Initial buzz has disappeared
*No longer get buzzed, just feel dull or drunk
*Still get a buzz, but a different kind of buzz
*Still get a very nice buzz
*Wine, beer, scotch, to schnapps drinkers get cured (I'm not a scientist, but the extinguishing
occurring in the brain is for alcohol, I don't think it knows a grape from a grain).
*Binge-drinkers and daily drinkers, young and seasoned get cured
*Getting cured was a light switch moment
*Getting cured required some minor effort
*Cured in 3 months
*Cured in 6 months
*Cured in 8 months
*Cured in 15 months

I really haven't seen much progress in terms of the numbers. I think that before I went on Nal I did not know how much I was drinking, so I think I'm drinking about as much as I was then. However, I don't have the same bloody-minded NEED to have that first drink, or that last drink. It's just that if it's around, and I'm still awake, a drink seems like a good idea. But not a necessity.

Yesterday I completely forgot to take my pill before going to the pub, where I had 2 pints of a fairly strong IPA. When I left I realized I hadn't taken the Nal and I thought, well that's odd, it didn't feel any different, I didn't get a mad buzz or go off the deep end. So maybe I'm in that 10-15% where Nal doesn't work because it's not endorphins that are primarily involved in the addiction? I hope not. I really hope not.

My husband completely underestimates how much I drink, even when I am drinking right in front of him. He thinks I'm having 3-4 a night when it's more like 7-10 a night. I don't have the heart to tell him he's wrong. I think if he knew how much I was drinking he'd be worried for my health. Hell, I should be worried for my health. But I feel fine. Most of the time. If I pace myself, I don't get hangovers. Had a doozy of one yesterday morning though. When I do get a hangover it's much worse than before I started Nal, or maybe that's my imagination.

Anyway. I keep hoping to work in an AF day here or there but so far it hasn't happened. Last week I was going to do AF Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Monday night my husband wrote beer on the grocery list and complained that we were out of beer again. That had been my plan, to be out of it so I didn't feel tempted to drink any. Oh well.

Don't worry about it. You're only in week 7 and nal + AL + Cure. So when you drink on any given night, you are taking care of your problem. No need to be dissappionted in yourself. But for God's sake take that NAL every time!!!!!! Hell take it every day with lunch if you need to, just make sure you're covered. my2cents

Thanks, Joe. Yesterday was the first time I forgot to take the Nal before drinking, and it quite surprised me. I had made it a point to take my pill either at work about 4:30 p.m. or (on days I work out) right after my workout. Somehow this time I forgot... until right after I'd already had 2 pints (then I took the pill). It won't happen again (I hope).

I don't really want to take the pill with lunch. I should just set my Outlook to remind me to do it at 4 or 4:30.

That's a good idea - I should do the same. I already use it for just about everything else, because it seems like I can't remember much of anything these days if I don't write it down. I even set an alarm so it'll jump up in front of me, or I'm likely to miss it. But I still blame age, not booze.

hey there! Luna thanks for sharing your progress. I need to start a weekly thread but haven't wrapped my head around it. charting units however in my journal. like all of you--I want to see those numbers go down and not overthink this thing.
I loved that cut and paste piece that Yoga girl popped in her note from Toxic girl--what a great illustration of the huge variety amongst us all. It was quite entertaining to read in fact!
That is a keeper!
Hang in there!!! keep sharing.
liz