Thanks Illuminae and PacMan! As for not being worried when the units go up, that is new for me. I have spent plenty of time here, obsessing about the ups and downs. I think I am finally calming down and taking the great advice I got here all along: Just take Nal an hour before drinking, do what comes naturally, and don't sweat the rest too much. It seems that patience and being kind to ourselves is key.

Interestingly, I am heading into what may be my 4th AF evening in a row after coming home. A few times today, I have asked myself if I feel like having some wine, this being the weekend and all. So far, the answer is no. It just doesn't sound good. PacMan ... maybe you are right, perhaps some major extinction happened while I was on vacation and hitting those high numbers!

HoustonTexans, I have not experienced any differences in workouts ... I would say any lack of motivation comes from hangovers. The times I have hated myself the most in the last many years is being in a yoga class with a world class hangover. I would see myself in the mirror and see such a contradiction, a big lie. How could I aspire to be this healthy, enlightened person, while poisoning myself on a daily basis?!? So TSM has actually helped there. With more more AF days coming lately, I am working out without a hangover and feeling really good. Who knows, maybe there is some lack of endorphin reinforcement, but I am not worried about that. The more AF days, the less Nal, and the more opportunities to reinforce good behaviors in the long term. I don't think that means we need to avoid those good behaviors now!

I had the same question early on. I am fortunate to have a TSM friendly doctor who has successfully treated several people. I asked her about exercise, etc., and she said "you should absolutely do those things, as much as you like!" Her opinion was that the risk of extinguishing those behaviors was low, and exercise can only be good for your health and well being. Again, if you happened to extinguish something you like now, later when you are taking Nal less often and those receptors are super sensitive, you can "re-addict" yourself to those healthy behaviors again. Plus, when you do the math, if Nal is in your system for about 10 hours, by the time you work out the next day it will likely be gone anyway. Good luck to you!

YG

Usually I post my progress graph on Monday mornings, but since I am happily AF tonight I can do it early.

This week, I returned from vacation with no desire to drink AT ALL. Then, interestingly, reading a thread about feeling bored without AL made me feel bored without AL. I decided to get a bottle of wine and gave myself permission to drink all of it plus a little more. I felt crummy this morning, and have no desire to drink at all today. But not because of a hangover, I just don't feel like drinking (big difference, right? )

I am happy to see that after a few weeks of higher units (with my highest units since before TSM on vacation last week), this week I had my lowest units since starting TSM. Even with too much last night. My pattern seems to be several weeks of lower units after a big spike. I am hoping the trend continues the next few weeks!

Those are great numbers. congrats!

YG,

That is terrific and seems to represent how TSM works. Spikes followed by drops. Clearly some extinction took place on vacation. You're success has given me hope when I was feeling low. Thank you for taking the time to post. Your story has given me support when I needed it most. HUGS, BTDT

It seems that patience and being kind to ourselves is key.

That should be our mantra! Your numbers look amazing.

Really enjoying seeing your progress reports and graph Yogagirl. At a quick glance it's obvious there is a gradual but very real achievement, you can really see how the drinks are slowly decreasing with the AF days creeping up at the same time. It seems to represent a realistic and inspiring outcome! G.

May I ask where you got the graph? I'm a visual person and could really use that kind of motivation.

Thanks, Weird-oh and Gwyneth! I am also a visual person, so charts really help me understand where I am.
I did the graph at http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx and downloaded the .jpg file to my hard drive. Then I uploaded the image to ImageShack.us. Then I pasted the "direct link" into my reply with the "Img" tag above.

Here's this week's chart. Although it looks like great progress, I am still feeling very discouraged. My AF days are up, so my overall numbers are down. BUT, on days I drink, I still drink 5-7 US units - way too much! I don't really feel like I have any more control than I ever did, once I start drinking.

Where TSM does seem to be working is in reducing my urge to drink every day, so I have many effortless AF days. But after 7 glasses of wine last night, I am not feeling very happy today.

I know I'm preaching to the choir yogagirl--but your numbers look fantastic! I think it's part of our disease to be so hard on ourselves. I mean, take a step back and look at your graph as a whole. I don't know what your life was like pre-TSM but if alcohol had as negative an impact on your life as it did on mine, I'm guessing life is a whole lot better for you right now. Even though you may feel like your individual session units are too much, you've still made remarkable progress over the months. Many of the "old timers" on this site felt it really took a year before they felt they were at a level where they considered themselves cured.

Thanks for the tip. As long as your numbers keep trending downward, I don't think you have too much to worry about. Just think how much less damage you're doing to your body than before.