Thanks guys,

Well even though I took a nal before leaving work on Monday I didnt drink. I think the very act of taking my nal was giving myself permission to drink and then I found I didnt really want to so I didnt. Wednesday night I went to a friends house to watch a documentary we both wanted to see and I had two glasses of wine and had one more when I came home. Tonight Im going for diner to a friends- her hubby bought her a magnium of Champaign for Valentines day and 3 or 4 of us are going to help her. Im going to bring my own wine as champaign makes me drunk quickly and the good thing is that I KNOW I will be able to switch and keep it under controll.

Ive spent every day of the past 5 days in the vets. One of our dogs had a serious knee problem and was operated on Tuesday and this morning my other dog was in the garden playing when I thought she had a seizure, she was frothing and dribling and breathing rapidly. I was really scared as she couldnt stand straight and kept falling to the side. I hated looking at her this morning she was so scared and just staring at me with her eyes wide with fright. Anyway the vet is allowing her home tonight as she says she cant xray her on the day of an injury and she thinks she has injured her back. Im not too happy that shes coming home when we dont rightly know whats wrong with her. She is the first dog we ever had and I adore her. She comes to bed with me everynight untill hubby comes in and evicts her to her own bed.

Speaking of dogs, my sisters dog refuses quite blank to be in the same room as her when she is drinking. I thought it was her imagination at first but I watched her on a few occasions and she will lie in her own bed or at the doorway looking in but wont come in if sister is drinking. I can drink or my hubby can drink and it doesnt bother her but the instant she sees sister drinking or smells her drinking more like she does her dissapearing act and God or man wont entice her into the room. Its funny to watch but we figure she must have upset her in some way some time she was drinking. Anyway that was just a side note

Hope you had a good weekend,champers goes straight to my head too and ends in strong headaches. I hope the nal gave you your usual control.

Had a wonderfull weekend. Im married to a guy who could happily spend his life living out of a suitcase.We are no sooner back from one break than he is planning another. We went up the west coast of Ireland for 3 days. We had beautifull weather and had a ball. Hubby as Ive often said is not a huge big drinker but if he gets it into his head he can drink 8 or 9 pints. He did this the first day we checked into a hotel. I was only laughing at him really and telling him he would be dying the next morning, which he was. I went off to an old abbey on my own and left him in the pub and then went back to the hotel to use the spa facilities. No way would this have happened without nal. He calmed down after the first day and we drank little after that. At no stage was I remotely drunk or in anyway hungover, so all in all Im back being happy with nal.

Mario, that has got to be gratifying and slightly amusing to you to be engaging in non-drinking activities while your non-alkie spouse ties one on in the pub. I'm sure he needed the stress relief and what's the harm if he's not wired like us. Reflecting back on your story it looks like you made the right choice for sure in quitting your quit. You sound happy and content with where you are with AL. The fact that AL is not forbidden fruit any longer provides much of the serenity many of us are experiencing.

St Vincent even though I cant say I had a very tough time on the quit I would still make the same decision over and over again to change to TSM. Being on a total quit effected how I saw myself, basically I always saw myself as being an alcoholic and a lot of the time I thought it was writen on my forehead for all to see. No matter how long you are quit you dont feel 'normal' sitting at a party, at a pub with hubby, on holliday or just meeting us with friends who were having a drink. I do agree though that being quit was a 100 percent better than drinking alcoholically. I coulnt have put my daughter through a childhood of living with an alcoholic parent. More than anything Im glad that I found TSM and I can pretty much live a normal life.

MARIO! I am so happy you are back to your normal self and confident with TSM again. In my mind, your little blip is no different than your Hubby's night with 9 pints. He did not drink all of that because he is addicted, he did it because he felt like tying one on. It can happen to the cured and non alcoholic alike.

Your weekend jaunt sounds wonderful! I have a vacation coming up at the end of the month. I am crossing my fingers that my Hubby (who is passed out drunk right now...snoring infront of the computer) has been long enough on this journey that the freedom to drink for 10 days will not end badly. He is doing better, but his drinking worries me.

Back to you...staying sober for your daughter is awesome! She will likely face the same issues that you have faced, only she has a role model to guide her!

Got some bad news re job position yesterday. Basically I hold my salary but have to work extra hours some of them in a reception type role which is a backward step but though unhappy I cant really complain as there are others who are losing their jobs and to be fair to management they have bent over backwards to hold my wages and position. Anyway I took my nal earlier and I thought I would drink loch erin dry as I normally would have done prior to nal. I poured a fourth glass of wine but had no real desire to drink it so poured it back in the bottle and went to bed though stayed awake most of the night. Anyway Im happy that nal can cope with stress drinking so well for me. Ive allready taken my nal today as my mind is still whirling away in circles and I would be afraid that I would get a craving and want to drink earlier this evening than normal.

When will this bloody recession end?

Sorry to hear about the changes and uncertainty at work but I'm happy to read how well you are handling the stress without drowning it with booze. You didn't have to go to three meetings in one day, you just took a little pill, had three glasses of wine to release a little stress and you'll live to fight another day. Sounds what normal, non-alkies do when they get bad news at work.

The economy sucks but thanks to TSM, you won't drink yourself to death because of it. Being able to drink reasonably when confronted with a big stressor is so huge, isn't it? Congrats.

Hi Mario - Thanks for your post. That is great that you could go through something that stressful and still moderate your drinking. It gives me a lot to look forward to. I know my drinking was a response to stress that started in my life years ago. I used alcohol to alleviate the stress when it got completely out of control instead of changing the situation. Now, 10 years later the stress is gone for the most part but here I am addicted to alcohol. So, when I read your post, I get a great deal of comfort knowing that some day I will be where you are. Congrats to you. Hope the job problems for you end soon but like Nick said at least you are not going to kill yourself drinking over it.