First of all let my say thank you guys for getting this site going and all of the encouraging posts! I have been fighting my problem for several years but in 2008 I realized that I could not manage this thing without some help or the right tools. I work in the insurance industry and know how detrimental it is to have alcohol or drug addiction issues on your medical records, plus I live in a small town and honestly I'm ashamed that anyone would know I have a problem (although people probably already know). I found MWO but just didn’t think the herbs and cd thing would work for me. Sinclair seems to be the answer I have been searching for! Anyway I thought I would post to tell you how I got the meds.

I felt uncomfortable ordering meds from another country. I have heard some bad stories although most from Mexico. So I found this site
http://www.asam.org/MemberDirectorytest.cfm which enables you to search for MD's who use addiction medication for treatment. I was visiting a nearby city last week so I called physicians in that area. Basically I told them I was paying cash and I wanted to be put on Naltrexone and I needed to be discreet. It worked! I do have to use them every time I need a refill but paying an extra 150.00 for an office visit seems like a small price to pay if this works. Plus the Doc was willing to work with me and have my LFT's done locally (but I'm sure they will send me a bill). So I hope this helps! I will be starting tomorrow as I have been abstinent for a couple of days now.

Sorry for the long post and looking forward to tracking our progress here.

Hi GL4C!

Glad to have you here with us!

That directory looks like it could be really useful for those in the US.

I had no trouble getting a private doctor to prescribe me the Naltrexone, but he was not interested in me or my problem.

One thing I was a bit concerned about - you mention you have been abstinant for a few days-I hope you are going to take up drinking again when you get the Naltrexone??

Hey Marbella! Sorry to hear about your Doc that's a shame. I guess I should have told a bit more about my drinking habits, I can refrain from time to time but it always always ends up the same way. I will start back moderating for a few days and then bam a case of beer. I'll usually slow back down to a 12 pk a night until my next really heavy night. After that I swear off it until the cycle repeats itself once again. This has been my MO for years but recently it seems the hard nights far exceed my days of abstinence. I know there is no future in the past but in my case history always repeats itself!

Hi goodlife4casey
I think you misread Marbella. She said she had no trouble getting meds.

I was like you in that I did not want anything in my med record about alcohol. Fortunately, I have an MD that is very discreet. I went to him complaining about a sore wrist (real) but slipped in the Nal request at the end of the session. I had Eskapa's book and simply said I had picked up a little drinking habit over the years and wanted to use Nal to nip it in the bud. I didn't make a big deal out of it and neither did he. I go back in this afternoon for same.

You said you have a cyclical pattern of drinking. Just be sure you take Nal when you drink and don't take Nal while you are abstaining. Just keep some with you just in case.

Good luck

Hi GoodLife and welcome! Your drinking pattern sounds a lot like what Eskapa calls alcohol deprivation syndrome. It's in detail in Dr. Eskapa's letter to a concerned spouse in the Concerned Spouse topic. For the vast majority of us, trying to abstain is pointless torment. I'm glad you've found the Sinclair Methos and are willing to join us here. Please come back often to share.

Lena

Hey Spring thanks for replying. Actually wanted to thank you personally because it was your posts and N101CS's at mwo forums that got me convinced about the sinclair method. I will always take the meds before I drink! That's the one of the things that seemed so logical about this method. Take the med and kill the euphoria of the drinking; but stop drinking and other things that are enjoyable are enhanced because you’re off the meds. Positive re-enforcement! I was offered Vivitrol but in my mind the oral meds prn seems more effective. The fact you even have to wait an hour before you drink may even lead to abstinence some times. I saw that Marbella got her med's but she said her Doc was not interested in her or her problems, to me that's a shame. But hey maybe that's why we all found MWO because this will be our way out!

Thanks Lena glad to have found you guys!

From what I am seeing, the Nal is not stopping any sensible euphoria. By sensible, I mean a feeling that we can experience. I think it is effecting something a little more subliminal. At least for me.

Last night I drank enough to get drunk. Other than doing it over a much longer period (about 4 hours), I think I experienced everything I ever had EXCEPT, the accelerator never kicks in. I used to drink faster and faster until I got drunk but now I actually seem to slow down. I had six drinks of gin last night and went to bed. Before I would not know how many I drank but would have woke up on the couch.

I don't think we sense endorphins directly. We taught ourselves to release them for a particular behavior and when they are released, the are picked up by receptors and the cycle is complete. But when the cycle is not complete, we translate that with as need to drink. If we think that drinking is probable, we experience excitment. When we anticipate that we won't be able to drink we trigger a craving to please those receptors. We only translate that as a need to drink. That is the reason that gambling addicts experience the identical craving even though no external substance it apparent.

By taking the Naltrexone, we allow the process to take place up until its final phase, endorphin binding with opioid receptor. But since we had learned that drinking would stop the craving, we have been tricked. But we are only able to trick ourselves so long and then the brain says, "I ain't gonna dump these precious endorphins if they have no where to go". This is atrophy. And the learning is extinguished.

Pavloc has rang the bell, the dog has salivated but no treat was giving. At some point the dog quits drooling and eventually attacks the owner. Don't try this at home with a pit bull.

No Springer!

There is no such evidence the dog attacks!!..."when, after salivating, nothing is given..." nonsense. You sound like you are worrying too much, sweating the small stuff, analyzing too much under the influence, perhaps...

I identify and am not being critical, but perhaps a chill pill is in order here, muh dear...

I think you have seen the improvements in your habits, and are perhaps just anxious for faster/sooner/easier...me too. And you are ahead of me and many others...by weeks. Don't fall on your pitard, my friend! Go forth one day at a time...I, for one, support your doubts and wavering thoughts. We are drinkers. It is shaky ground, as you well know. HAng in and continue to take your Nal & post these wonderfully personal thoughts.

... hope you had great sex on Valentine's Day!! LOL I didn't!! Nal/house cleaning/champagne/grading papers/feeling the feelings LOL

Luv Luv all - and Springer: it's awwww good!

[quote/]Pavloc has rang the bell, the dog has salivated but no treat was giving. At some point the dog quits drooling and eventually attacks the owner. Don't try this at home with a pit bull.[/quote]



Good sense of humor here. I have only a slight objection - I own a pit/boxer mix, and she's the sweetest dog on the planet. Now, if you had written Border Collie. . .they can be MEAN.

My S.O. and I are on week three, and there is a slight but definite difference in our drinking patterns. Before, we both drank right up until bedtime. I usually stayed up later and drank some more - usually until I couldn't recall actually going to bed the next morning. If we went out (often), I wouldn't remember having seen certain friends, or having particular conversations. (Which was OK, since they wouldn't remember, either! )

Now I routinely drink a third less than usual each evening - slightly more than a regular bottle of wine. It seems like the alcohol hits me harder than before, but now I am not having blackouts. My S.O. has cut his beer drinking way down. He drinks beer very quickly, and often has 8-10 in a night. On weekends he also drinks 3-4 glasses of wine with me. This past week he's not had more than a six pack at any given time.

It's nice to wake up in the morning feeling relatively good, and clear headed. I'm very hopeful!

Oh houtx770,
I was just having fun with the words. I could not help running with the analogy.
But you are right, I am very analytical. It is what I am paid to do and who I am. Sometimes I take myself seriously but not often.

It is all good and going well. Every day has been better than the last. As long as I take Nal, I don't know the definition of a set-back. I accept that our journeys will not be straight paths.

And thanks for being so sweet!