Hi St. V and YG - Thanks for the encouragement. I am still discouraged, but this forum keeps me on track. I see everyone's progress like yours and I know that I just need to keep going. I just finished week 6 and my numbers are slightly down from my spike in week 5. I'm hanging in there. I saw nomoreboozeneeded post on being cured and that really cheered me up. Hoping that week 7 brings some reduction in my booze intake. I am highly motivated and ready to be done with drinking!!!forever!

Thanks again. Your posts on progress really help.

Half glass.

Half a Glass, I had a spike in my 5th week too and then another in my 7th. I felt the same way you do at the time. It does get much better. As I recall, it is very common to have a spike in your fifth week. You are still so early in the process. I think you'll be fine.

Thanks Tambo - I appreciate the encouragement. I am so committed to being done with alcohol. I will stay the course and I'm sure this will work. I wanted it to work by week 5 or 6, but I can see it is going to take a bit longer than that. That's okay.

Again, thanks for the encouragement. Glad to see you are doing so well.

HG

Hello Everyone

Somethin is a changin for me. I am starting to drink later and later in the day. I've thought about it and it seems the reduced craving for Al is causing this. I get busy doing something and find whatever that something is to be more interesting than sitting in my chair drinking wine. I am seeing my units come down slowly but the main difference I've noticed is the lack of initial interest in drinking. Wow! Last night I stopped at a bottle of wine which is where I was at about six months to a year ago. I mentioned that I've changed to white wine. Red wine tastes less than lovely, but then white doesn't taste so great either these days. Haven't had an AF day yet and the thought of that sends terror through my veins. It has been so many many years since I didn't have a drink every day that I can't imagine it yet. Still, what progress with TSM. I can feel it working. I also love the fact that when I say goodnight to my family I am no longer slurring my words.....you know the drill........gad ni...slee ti! Hope you all are doing well.

HG

Much of my initial progress with TSM came from delaying the time of my first drink. I log the time of each drink along with the units.

I used to have my first drink at about 5:15, as soon as I got home from work. I started pushing that back just a couple of minutes a day. When I got the first drink moved back to 6:00, that cut out one whole drink a night. When I got it to 6:45, another drink was gone. 7:30 - one less drink.

I stopped trying to delay the first drink once I got to 7:30, although it is often closer to 8:00 before I have a drink now. Since I usually go to bed a little before 10, I only have time for 2 drinks these days.

I think delaying the first drink is a good strategy for cutting back.

Half glass, I knew TSM was doing something for me when I could get involved with something else at my 5pm witching hour besides drinking wine. MLB's strategy of pushing back the time to first drink is a great way to reduce units. Eventually you'll be able to push the time to first drink back until the following day and voila your first AF day. It will come when enough extinction has occurred. In the meantime you are making tangible progress as evidenced by you not slurring your goodnights to the family.

Hi St. V. - Good analogy. I can see how that will happen. Thanks for the encouragement. I posted elsewhere that for the last two nights I have left wine in a glass without much thought.....once at a restaurant.....once at home before bed. I am feeling pretty good about this process although my units aren't down much in week 7. If I can stick to 5 units tonight and tomorrow night I will actually stay under 50 units for the week. Here's hoping, but I won't push it if it doesn't happen this soon.

HG

Hi half a glass,
Good luck with staying under 50...i was trying to paste out what you said about wine as a quote but could not get it working, but was intrigued to read you found wine taste not so good...i have had that from day one as well. I even threw out a bottle. I guess if wine keeps tasting bad we can just buy the cheap stuff, and save even more money!
Anyway..good luck..overall you are doing well, as you say you drank 60-70 before and have not gone above 60 since start.

Jazz

Hello Everyone - Well, week 7 down. I wanted to keep my units at or below 50, but didn't quite make it. I ended up at 53. Still, my units are going down albeit quite slowly. In week 7 I noticed these changes:

-Vivid dreams....whopping vivid dreams. I can now fly although I have a parachute just in case.
-Night sweats
-Reduced cravings on most days from a 10 when I started TSM to about a 5. I only remember one day where the cravings were high. Cravings are now so low that I walk into the house after work and get busy doing something and forget to pour wine for a few minutes.
-Some nights I want more wine and I don't have any.

Glad to see these changes. I want to be abstinent when all if said and done.

Hope everyone is having a good week.

Hi HG,

So good to see that you are starting to see some positive changes and that reduction in craving from 10-5 is fantastic. Its good that you are noticing and focusing on the behavioral changes and changes in the way you feel- I think these changes often tell us more than the drop in units. After all we could force a drop in units but our craving could be really high and your old feelings about alcohol unchanged. The unit numbers are only a part of the picture ... the subtle changes in your attitude to drinking seem to show that you are responding really well.

Well done!