Man, sometimes reading the stories here are so weird. I could swap my name out for tambo;s in the So'co' story and it would be my exact experience.

Finished my 5th week with more units than ever on TSM. Very discouraging, but I am doing an AF night tonight with very little effort. Wonder how long I can keep this up? I still have a lot of hope in TSM and I think I may try upping my dose to 75 mg if I don't see a decrease in units soon. Even though I may not be drinking less, I am definitely drinking more slowly and I don't do crazy stuff when drunk anymore like I used to which in itself is a miracle.

All your posts and progress reports help remind me that I'm not in this alone. Thanks everyone.

Tambo,

Hang in there. My 5th week was my worst too. I don't think it's unusual to spike around this time. Things have improved gradually since. Hugs BTDT

Count me in to the "5th Week Spike" club! No real good reason for it either. I tried to blame it on the elections but that's bullcrap, I knew the Democrats were going to get soaked and they're really almost all a bunch of crooks). I just craved more and drank more. This was the first week where I realized having extra booze laying around my apartment was a bad thing because I know for a fact I kept on drinking long way past I could would or should, because it was there.
I hesitate to offer anyone advice but if I can can timidly suggest this Tambo I'd say give TSM/NAL the minimum 3 months that the Eskapa book, clinical research, and many of this site's veterans have recommended in order to see early steady measurable progress. I know it's tough to call it "progress" when the drinking amount is increasing, and I'm one to talk because even though my units were up this week I'm still way down from the absurd amount I was consuming daily before TSM, but I've spent a lot of time reading the old posts on this site and am heartened by the long term results for many of the members here. Hang in there!

Hey Tambo,

Me too! I had a huge spike in my 5th week, followed by two weeks of almost half the units in that spike. Then another spike, followed by even lower units the next few weeks and so on. On my doctor's advice, I increased my dosage to 75mg in the 5th week. I increased to 100mg in the 17th week.

I can't say if the dosage changed anything, I might very well be in the same place if I was at 50mg the whole time. But I can say my overall trend is down, slowly but surely. And I continue to have spikes along the way. I take comfort that the spikes are always followed by lower numbers in the following weeks.

I know you know this, but it is worth repeating. You are only at the beginning ... 5 weeks is not very far in when you consider that this could take 3-12 months by accounts on this forum. Please try not to overanalyze and get discouraged. Just stay the course and things will happen over time.

Hugs
YG

Hi Tambo,
Hang in there. My Hub's Dr prescribed him librium along with the naltrexone. He can use it for high anxiety moments that would lead him to drink. I wonder if that would help you out? It is not a long term solution, but you might be turning to alcohol for more than the "high" but also the calm. I am not a Dr, but the Psych that my husband is seeing believes in the combination. Many do not like it because librium can be "addictive" but his dr says only in very long term situations.

Good luck!

Just finished my 6th week on TSM. I really can't believe how quickly the time is going by! I'm happy to say that after having a really bad 5th week, I've somehow managed to get my second lowest numbers on my 6th week with 27 total units. I think this is amazing considering that I'm using only a tiny bit of willpower. The cravings are still there but they are not so strong that I have to give in to them. Plus, emotionally this past week has been probably the worst since my breakup with my girlfriend. I think without Nal I would have drunk myself into a stupor and taken the week off of work but instead I kept things under control.

I know that I may have more bad weeks in the future, but for now I am filled with hope that this is working for me.

Hi Tambo,

Well done on such a good week despite the break up stress- these are the times when you know its really working eh? You are about a week behind me and its good to see things progressing well for you.

Susie

Great job Tambo-wish I could say my 6th week is as good as yours but my numbers are still looking relatively low from week 5 (my 6th week will end on Sat). Especially with going through the emotional trauma of a breakup--I know for me emotional stuff like that is a major trigger.
Onward to lucky week 7!

This week like last week has been so intensely painful emotionally. Broken hearts are the worst. I can't tell how much of my drinking is due to actually craving alcohol and how much of it is just to escape the constant pain that I am in. I wonder if my numbers would be lower if I wasn't going through a breakup right now. I guess that's a question that there is no real answer to. My TSM week ends on Wednesdays and I'm going to try to be AF today and tomorrow just because I'm sick and tired of feeling sick and tired (a great AA saying) at work. I just have to suck it up and face the pain.