I am about to start TSM and am wondering what experience anyone has when your not drinking everyday. I am presently binging on 25-35 units at a time every 5-7 days.

Will it take longer for me to see a decrease? I am not so concerned about units at this point, Im just looking forward to not loosing control. I have fun when I'm out, but the damn hangovers last 3 days now and my body is not liking it. The days spent recovering are such a waste. Not to mention the tens of thousands of dollars I've wasted.

Thanks for any insight into my particular case. I am ready to do this!

Hi Pacificman and welcome!

I was a binge drinker, maybe I still am, but to a minute degree of what I once was. That 5-7 day cycle you speak of is one that I am quite familiar with. Only my 5-7 days has now extended out to basically as long as I want, and that 25+ units a session has become 2-6 for me. For the most part I consider myself cured. So yes, it works very well for a binger. Take a look at Mario, minneapolisnic, firebird, potato, and a couple others on the forum that were/are bingers threads. You will get some insight.

The time it takes for TSM could also depend on how many years you have been drinking, from what we have noticed there may be a correlation between the amount of time you have been drinking vs the amount of time extinction via TSM will occurr.

All the best,

hap

Hey Pacificman I have a 25 year old son who does the same thing. He thinks I drink too much, which I do, I have been about a 12 pack per day (or more) guy but never hung over. He goes out and really does some damage and pays for it for the next three days. It sounds like some others have made TSM work for their binges. I will be interested in your progress and may encourage him since he has an open mind, I only started only a week ago. I think he knows he needs to be careful after watching me drink his entire life, I am 52 now. Do put your plan into action, I am liking the early results.

I was a weekend warrior into my mid-30s but spiralled into an everyday disaster, what some in "that program" would term rock bottom. Shakes by noon, sipping vodka to stave off the withdrawal then eventually just drinking round the clock til I tried to stop and had such bad withdrawal I ended up in the hospital. Twice. Add to that all the usual DWI, totalled car, loss of friends, ruined relationships, yada yada. I've been a hard core every day and a weekend binger. Only now I'm physiologically dependent since the crash.

I used Campral for a while til the constant cravings were over but typical of 'our kind' I was using it to stop the cravings during the week combined with diazepam (half a 5mg) to stop any withdrawal after indulging on Fridays and Saturdays. Overindulging to pass out/black out. This was a few years ago. Over time I stopped the Campral and don't have the cravings during the week but my body sure knows when it's Friday! I won't even be thinking about it while working but the internal booze clock kicks in and I can feel it.

I still drink Fridays and Saturdays and WAY overdo it. I've ordered the Nal and have a few pills from a prior psych prescribing it a few years ago during the dark days (prescribed as part of an abstinence program of course - WRONG).

My question IS: I want the extinguishing effect to kick in faster. I feel that only using the Nal on Fridays and Saturdays is going to prolong this effect, similar to Pavlov's dogs if the bell ringing sans food had only happened occassionally. (Perfect timing, my Nal from River was just delivered). If I drink 3 days in a row, I do experience some withdrawal so I do not want to add Sundays or Thursdays. I want to add Wednesdays in, with a small portion of alcohol (half my usual - 1 small bottle of wine rather than the big one), to the regimen. I have NO desire to go back to daily as I fear I'll kill myself and I don't want my work week messed up by a day of bingeing mid-week so I want to drink a smaller portion + nal. I looked through the book but the topic of 'binge' isn't a topic in the appendix. We all know you wouldn't recommend someone who is abstinent to BEGIN drinking to make this work but is adding a "light" day helpful for someone who already binges out of control on the weekends?

I know one thing: the golden rule is "Nal=Al=Cure" period. I would be careful adding a day, given your history of sinking into daily drunkenness. Since TSM takes months, seems to me like you might be risking it. I don't know what your history is as far as ability to achieve light days either. Who knows though, TSM may work fast for you like it is for some WITHOUT adding a day.

Eskapa and Sinclair say drink AS YOU NORMALLY WOULD. If you do add a day, be careful and either way, keep posting. It helps all of us.

Hey Dog,

You know this is such an important forum because there are vague answers to questions such as yours ,...i bet someone here will be able to answer though

Personally I would be wary to adding drinking to "speed up" the extinction process.

I'm coming on a year of TSM as a daily drinker of about 25 years. With 4 years or so of sobriety in the middle of that.

I think I have glimmers of the cure and hope at my one year anniversary I will have a AF day that will be semi easy. I think I will force it as I want to document my one year with a description and total recap of my year.

KNow this,...I am drinking later in the evening and its 11.30 PM and normally I'd be pretty smashed. I've had 32 Oz. of beer and expect another beer plus some 6 Oz. of rum for the day. Thats about 6 units. I've been stalled here for some time. If I wasn't taking Nal I'd be drinking way more. That i can guarantee you.

So did I answer your question? no,...but as Eskapa said,..drink as you normally would and drinking daily is not normally anymore,....no judgment as I've been struggling very much with the habit aspect of drinking...I truly only wish you the best, Jim