Hi Server - I can't answer your question about the amount of Nal, but I sure can say congrats! Your units are really going down and I think you are doing amazingly well. I know how hard the AF is. Like you it fills me with anxiety. I am going to give it a shot this week, but if I don't make it I'm not going to beat myself up. Remember Toxic Girl? I was just reading her blog today out of curiousity. She hasn't posted on that since last December, but at that time she was essentially AF. She struggled mightily to get to AF and didn't have an AF until she was in week 24 or so. By the end of her first year she was entirely AF for a month and ended her blog in December with one night of 4 ounces of wine and wanting no more. She called herself cured on her blog. (Nick and St. V should we add her to the cured list? Check out her blog). So, no worries about the failure to AF Server. We will get there. Toxic Girl's units had to get way down there on a daily basis before she did an AF.

I have. I have found that if I'm drinking over the course of a few hours or so in an evening, 25 mg works just fine for me. I don't like Naltrexone in my system for 24 hours. It makes me feel lousy. But the book and Sinclair say take 50 mg, which covers your brain receptors for 24 hours. So, I'm not advocating that folks take less than 50 mg. However, if you are sensitive to Naltrexone and have bad side effects, you will have to decide for yourself what is best, taking into consideration how long your drinking session lasts.

Well, wk21 is over for me and my numbers are down again. 17.5 is getting there; 14 units for women is the recommended level. One of my goals was to get down to 14 units or less, now I just have to figure out a way to get those AF days in. If I had a few of those, 14 units would be very easily achievable. My tolerance is way down. The one night I allowed 3 units, I felt dizzy and sluggish, slept poorly and didn't like the feeling. I remembered that I used to feel that way years ago, before I had a problem. If I felt like I was losing control, I hated it. Now that feeling is back after many years. I just have to keep moving forward and hoping that one day, the AF days will feel natural, or at least I'll have the guts to force them and tackle that last hurdle.

Server, just looking at your units it looks like you are making amazing progress. I have no doubt that you will eventually reach your goal. This process takes a long time but it looks like its working for you.

Feeling like you did before your drinking problem got too bad is a great sign that your brain is changing back to normal.

Server - What great news! Even without AF your weekly numbers are way down. Good for you. I'm with you as I know that if I can start dong AF my numbers will come way down too. I just haven't felt the urge yet to do AF. I genuinely believe it will come naturally and that I don't need to force it quite yet. If I'm still drinking daily it is because I still have daily triggers to extinguish. However, I have noticed that those triggers are lessening with each day as instead of AF I have shorter and shorter drinking sessions per day. So, we will make it like Tambo says. We just have to keep going. For you, I can see your amazing progress and it gives me hope. Thanks for your post.

Thanks HG,

Yes, the last few weeks have been good. My goal this week is to go from 2.5 units per night to 2 per night. That would take me from 17.5 units last week to 14, but I'm having trouble. I switched from my doctor's prescription to Nodict from River pharmacy and don't know if this has made a difference. I find that I crave that extra half unit more than I did last week. I can't beat myself up about it when I'm getting close to "normal" consumption. I know AF days would really help. Yesterday, I tried waiting to take the NAL hoping that I could just ignore the time and not have anything, but I started to get so anxious, worried, watching the clock. Finally, I just gave in and took it. Ah, to never look at the clock again and never even think of AL. I still struggle with it; I think if I wasn't so disciplined about it, I would not have even made it this far. One day at a time, I tell myself....

Hi Server - Yes, one day at a time. Don't beat yourself up over the cravings. Look at what you have done! You've gone from 50+ units your first few weeks to 17. My goodness, that is truly amazing. I would trade places with you right now!

You and I are both having trouble with the AF-ing, but we will get there. It is just going to take a little longer than we had originally thought. I was so sure that after about 12 weeks of TSM I would be cured. No one can say when that time comes. We have to continue to drink through the triggers until it does. As long as you are seeing progress there is no need to worry. Anyway, that's my philosophy. I wouldn't be happy to stay stuck at 37 units a week of wine for the rest of my life, but one thing is for sure Nal has kept me from advancing beyond that. I am now in week 20 and that is 5 months on TSM. When I started I was drinking one to one and 1/2 bottle of wine per night with most nights one and 1/2 struggling to keep myself at at that. Now I have many nights where I leave wine in the bottle. Without TSM I would now be stuggling to keep it at one and 1/2 to two bottles of wine. So, keep your chin up. We will get there.

Wk 22 is done and I'm down to 16.5 for the week. Big change for me this week, the ability to go from a 4L box of wine to a 1.5L bottle of wine. The ability to look at the bottle, see what I'm drinking and realize where it's going, is huge for me. With the box, you don't see how much you are really drinking. You think because you don't go the store everyday, you are fine. Getting through a 4L box in 3 days is not fine but that was my life. Now a box was lasting me over a week, and I realized, I can do this, go to a bottle and be real about my drinking and who I am. I feel good about it. It's taking accountability for what I"m drinking. Now the elusive AF day. The last frontier....god, if I could do that, it would be so great. It's my final obstacle. My plan is get down to 14 units per week or less, then tackle the AF day and go from there. We'll see...

You can do an AF day -- no problem, if you are only drinking two a day. But don't sit home alone though. Go out to eat, see a movie and come home at 10 and go to bed... Stay busy.

My best,

Nick

Server - You should be so proud of yourself! That is a huge achievement to be able to do so few units per week. This week is the first week I've noticed that I am aware of how much I am drinking and can stop more or less when I choose to. For the last three nights I have been able to choose to have only 4 units.

So, we will do an AF next, huh!? I'm not quite ready yet so if you beat me that is just fine, but if not then maybe we can plan one together.