First week completed Saturday, 10/2:

8-10-8-11-7-11-14 = 69 units ending 10/2.
Total of only 5 units for Sunday, 10/3, first day of the second week.

This is definitely going to be a roller coaster for a while!

Mad City Guy
(glass of wine = 4 oz, bottle = 6 units).

Three days into the 2nd week, and MCG is drinking less ... and there is less anxiety in general. He would not know that (he says that nothing has changed) but as his wife, I am aware that he isn't as rushed, preoccupied, or as tense as usual earlier in the day before the first drink. This is major to me, and I hope it isn't temporary. He is also more lucid, although his thinking becomes sludgy in the evening while drinking. Wonder how many brain cells are gone, and how many will come back if/when he is abstinent.

Day before TSM: 14 units
Wk 1: 8-10-8-11-7-11-14 = 69 units ending 10/2.
Wk 2: 5-5-7

Mad City Guy (by his wife)
(glass of wine = 4 oz, bottle = 6 units).

that's a good start. remember this takes longer than the 3-4 months for many of us. it can be an up and down bumpy ride. be prepared to hang in there

Five days into week 2, and MCG wasn't completely forthcoming about his consumption on Monday and Tuesday ... there was some vodka that wasn't counted, but I found the empty bottle, and remembered how much was left in it before he polished it off, so now MCG's drink tally should be correct for this week.

Day before TSM: 14 drink units
Wk1: 8-10-8-11-7-11-14 = 69
Wk2: 5-7-9-6-9

Weekend coming up. MCG usually drinks more on the weekends.

Mad City Guy (by his wife)
(glass of wine = 4 oz, bottle = 6 units).

Mad City Guy has completed two weeks plus two days of week 3. Have discovered that he has vodka that is added to non-alcoholic ginger beer during the day, so had to change some numbers for recent days to reflect the extra vodka consumption. Total units were down, however, from week 1 to week 2. What is very surprising is that until I started keeping the drink diary, I had no idea how many drinks he was consuming. Lots of alcohol here for the Naltrexone to work on!

MCG doesn't get how this works. Says he doesn't feel any different and is drinking the same as ever. He was the one who wanted to try this to enable his drinking, but at a reasonable level. He was a participant in the beginning, but at this point, MCG has become a lab rat! I am administering his pills, one per day in the morning, and he drinks as desired. BUT ... it doesn't make any difference! Naltrexone worked even better on the lab rats than it does on people!

Day before TSM: 14 drink units
Week 1: 8-10-8-11-7-11-14 = 69
Week 2: 5-7-9-6-9-9-10 = 55
Week 3: 9-12

Mad City Guy (by his wife)
(glass of wine = 4 oz, bottle = 6 units).

That's the beauty of TSM. no faith required, Just taking a pill an hour prior is all they ask, which isn't a lot

MadCityGuy is doing OK. His 70th birthday was yesterday, and he is in a good mood! The drinking is up and down, but that's normal for the first month. Even when drinks a lot on a particular day, he does not exhibit the anxiety and stress before his first drink of the day, and he doesn't seem to have the cravings as early in the day. He is easier to talk with, and his thinking is lucid. We are getting along very well. Second liver panel last week showed an improvement in the one test that was a little high the month before. This is all good!

Day before TSM: 14 drink units
Week 1: 8-10-8-11-7-11-14 = 69
Week 2: 5-7-9-6-9-9-10 = 55
Week 3: 9-13-9-13-15-10.5-4 = 73.5
Week 4: 9-8-13-13-7

Mad City Guy (by his wife)
(glass of wine = 4 oz, bottle = 6 units).

MadCityGuy's 5th week was remarkable. Best so far re: alcohol consumed:

Weeks 1-4 average week consumption = 67.125
Week 5: 3-7-4-6-7-4.5-4.5 = 36

Sunday, 10/31 was the 1st day of week 6, and consumption JUMPED! Total units = 16. So it's still a roller coaster, but MCG can now go an entire week consuming MUCH less than usual, and not suffer any side effects or big cravings.

MCG's wife

MCG's wife you are doing a great job! I love Joe's plain advice-you take the NAL an hour before drinking and then sit back and don't let it get in the way.
would your hubby be open to be a larger part of this experience now that the whole AL part is for the most part removed from the experience?

Mad City Guy is not much of a computer guy. He asks for a lot of help from me. Keeping track of drink units does not seem to be important to him either, but it's the only way to really know how he's doing re: consumption. I was very surprised to discover how much he had been drinking before TSM. He was very good at hiding it. Now he is honest with me when I ask him how many, and I watch as best I can, too. MCG is much easier to get along with lately. First of all, there's no deception as there was before. And the "clenched jaw" anxiety is gone, the indicator that he really, really needed to have a drink right away. He is more casual about his drinking ... maybe more "wanting" now than "needing" but still not to the point where he can take it or leave it. I am hopeful that MCG will get to that point sometime in the next month or two. And if it takes longer, so be it. Things are better already, even though he is still drinking too much.

A question for all ... does the short-term memory deficit come back eventually? I have heard that the brain can recover to some extent, and, if that is true, I wonder how long it takes.

MCG's wife