So, celebrations are FINAL over! I am ready for a lowkey vacation, I think !!! Last night was the big party, and I made the decision to not really keep tabs on my drinking after taking the nal. I'm guessing I had maybe 15 drinks? Even with that, however, my weekly total isn't SO bad: 23.5. From now out, I'm gonna make a conscious effort to stay under 6 drinks in any one session I think. I'm having my endoscopy next week so that will also keep drinking units low lol.
Keep you guys posted! (and the party was a BLAST!)
EL

Congrats Electra on your MAJOR achievements!!!

One thing though.... That last party was a real blast, eh?

Funny. Hmmm.

My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail....

No worries. There will be many, many more parties.

Fondly,

Ketchikan1

So. bit of a setback. I am at my parents' house in CT, and I forgot my nal in the city. My boyfriend is coming with it on Saturday, but I drank tonight and will likely drink tomorrow without the nal. My parents are actually one of the main reasons why I felt like AA is not an option for me - my family is French, and drinks very moderately and responsibly always, but wine is a CRUCIAL part of mealtimes and bonding. Last night I didn't even realize that I didn't have the nal, and did great - 2 pours, which might have been about 3, 3.5 units. But tonight I am hitting the bourbon hard - it's free, I'm at home relaxing on vacation, no driving, etc. I think I'm at about 6 units tonight (though I hope this is the last drink). I just notice the difference without nal bigtime on the second day. I missed nal a couple times before - and for ONE night, I can maintain the moderate drinking. But beyond that....not so sure
I wish I could go AF tomorrow (at my house, this would not be an issue). But here, my parents would make a big deal of it. I'll try and stick to the two glasses of wine with dinner only.

Hi ElectraLou - You have the best attitude about this process, so be patient. Just remember you are drinking through triggers and one of those is drinking at your family's house. Although it may be uncomfortable, it gets you one step closer to regained control. I wish you the best of success in your journey.

Good luck El. That's the toughest situation for me - white knuckled abstain is doable for me but having just a couple in an otherwise accommodating setting is pretty rough. Maybe get everyone out to a movie or something? Hope you can do it, and when you get your nal the deprivation effect shouldn't have much chance to reinforce.

For the future, someone else posted something like this elsewhere, and looks like a great thing for us!

Thanks guys!
I'm feeling okay today - my parents will likely notice the sizeable amount missing from the bourbon bottle, but I'm not hungover and everyone is excited that my brother just flew in today and announced that his girlfriend is having a child! So the focus is not on me hehe I really can't believe I forgot the nal - I think my brain went into "childhood" mode, wherein I go back home and my parents take care of everything and I don't worry about my drinking. Historically, even if I drink a lot at home, it's ok and within acceptable bounds, especially as I am not going out to bars/restaurants/clubs (my big trigger). I think I subconsciously allowed myself to not be working the TSM because I've always thought of my parents' house as sort of hiatus time which doesn't really belong to the real world. But one more drinking night without nal and then phew! it arrives. No harm, no foul, just a strong reminder that although I have made some long-standing changes in my drinking pattern without nal, it is still the strongest chance I've got against overdrinking.
EL

Hi EL,
Wow, do I relate to what you said about your parents house! Problem is, mine live a 5 minute drive away and we have get-togethers (always with plenty of beer and wine available) at least once a month.
My hubby and I both come from functionally alcoholic families. This makes it hard because there is always alcohol around. This is one of the main reasons I chose TSM.
Also, I've had the SE of fatigue from Nal since the beginning. It seems to go up and down with my drinking, strangely enough. Some nights I find that I can drink through it and it's not that noticable, but other nights I can hardly keep my eyes open.
All part of the roller coaster I guess.
Keep up the great work,
dragonfly

Hi EL

Good to hear you got through having no nal with no dramas. And congratulations - you're going to be an aunty! (If you're not already?)

Cheers
Sticky

Week 7 total: 23.5 units (insanely enough, the EXACT same as that week!). This is including three nights without nal due to me being an idiot and leaving it at home when I went to go see my parents. One six and one seven drink night a piece which I'm not thrilled about - one was a fun night with my brother and friends playing board games and I was on nal, so even though I had 7 drinks they were spread out and I was always in control. On an earlier night without nal, however, I really felt myself getting out of control - started drinks with my parents before dinner, had wine with dinner, and then continued myself while watching tv. I managed to drink slowly so I wasn't hungover the next day but I really had to drag myself to bed at 3am instead of continuing to drink. The difference without nal was striking. I can keep my units down a bit without it, but it's a struggle. With nal it feels pretty effortless to be at my current level, and I think with only a little bit of elbow grease I can get down to 15-20 drinks per week (my goal).

Hi EL,

I'm really glad this weekend went OK. As Nick has said previously, it can take 6 months drinking without Nal to get back to previous drinking levels - so one night won't do any harm at all.

Take care,

Andy.