I had a bad Friday night - went out for dinner with the group where I had 2 glasses of wine, then went back to my room and drank a bottle by myself. I moved up to 50mg that night and the hangover the next day was astoundingly bad. Brutal - like 4 star brutal. I get this funny feeling when drinking now - like a strain in my head, kind of like a mild pulled muscle, if that makes sense. Anyway, Saturday was awful and I needed a nap midday. Saturday night I had one beer and called it a night.

Sunday I didn't drink anything - there were no dinner plans so I just ate leftovers in my room. Monday I had two glasses again at dinner (this seems to be the norm here) and then 1 at my hotel room. Tuesday night was again 2 at dinner and then 3 in my room. Tonight I had the usual 2 at dinner but have nothing in my room to drink, which I feel totally fine about.

This is a very unusual situation I'm in here, being in a hotel room without usual triggers or comfort zones. I'm here for another two weeks so we'll see. I'm interested to see how it pans out when I return home. I usually do more AF days and then on the days I drink I tend to go nuts and finish the bottle. I've been restrained here because of my coworkers, and also because it's a very intense time where I have much work to do so I'm totally exhausted come 9pm when I finally get back to my room.

Started May 29/11 (preTSM 50units/wk)
Week 1: 2-4-4-0-4-6-1 21units/1AF
Week 2: 0-3-5-2-(so far!)

Keep tracking your progress artagogo and pay attention to all the small differences in they way you drink now, it will help you stay the course.

This week was less busy so that meant I had more time to go out. I had my weekend free so I treated myself to a night out a great spot and had 3 glasses of wine, then the owner gave me a glass of prosecco. The rest of the week was mostly normal, aside from tonight because most of my colleagues leave tomorrow so there was a big celebration this evening.

I've noticed a few changes, like I'll have wine available but I'm not rushing to it. Small stuff, but nice.

Started May 29/11 (preTSM 50units/wk)
Week 1: 2-4-4-0-4-6-1 21units/1AF
Week 2: 0-3-5-2-2-3-4 19units/1AF
Week 3: 4-3-2-4-3-6-X 0AF

Well, it has been some time. When I was writing and trying nal I was in Europe where I had no problem having nal shipped to my hotel room. In retrospect I should have ordered more because I ran out in July and then couldn't find anyone to ship to me in Canada, despite several attempts. Frustrating! Has it been anyone else's experience that once you've tried nal for a while then go off it your drinking increases? This was my experience but I'm not sure if it was because I was going through a lot of very difficult stuff. I had a break up in October, then my ex took me to court which took several months and my job was totally overwhelming for months. Previous to nal I easily didn't drink three days a week, but from November on it felt like a **** show and I was drinking nightly, which has been sort of the norm since then. I can pull off two days a week now but that's about the maximum I've done over the past month or so. I realized I need to get back on this program before I end up like my dad (dead of cirrhosis) and his dad (same). I just ordered some nal from another supplier and hopefully this time it will make it across the border. It's so expensive though ($500 for 90 pills) but hopefully it will be worth it. It's so irritating that a Canadian supplier will ship to the States and not to Canada. Grrr.

I'm about to hit summer season which is always an easier time for me to drink because my kids go away for weeks at a time to their visit grandparents. When they're here I tend to hold back a bit more.

It was working though when I was on it, at least it felt like it was. I wasn't drinking 5 pints after soccer games, but keeping it in around 2 or 3. Then when the supply ran out I started going crazy and had a few black out nights and one night when I could barely walk home and my boyfriend had to carry me. Totally embarrassing and juvenile. I'm over being 'that' girl.

Jeez, that IS annoying! I'm glad you did find a source, and the expense is worth it...I would spend that much for what it has done for me.

Thank you for updating your story - there is worthwhile information for us all. Good luck getting back on track, and let us know how it goes for you.

My Nal arrived today! I'm so happy it finally made it through customs. I still manage quite a few alcohol free days, but when I do drink I go to town. I generally don't drink during the week when I have my kids, but all that is going to change in the summer when they go to their grandparents every other week for week long stretches. I'm worried about how crazy I'll go without them around. Anyway, for tonight I've popped my Nal. I usually don't drink on Tuesdays, by ensuring I have no booze in the house, but yesterday a friend dropped by and brought some wine, which is left over here. I know myself well enough to know if it's in the house it will be drank. Here's hoping that changes over the next little while.

May 25-May 31 8.4/11/12/17/0/0/13 (61.4 2AF)
June 1-7 11/6.3/0/8.4/0/0/0 (25.7 4AF)
June 8-14 13/4.2/9.1/8.1/0/0/0 (34.4 3AF)
June 15-21 8.4/14/14/11

I joined my.drinkaware.co.uk, which is a great site - it really lays it out there for you to let you know your units. So, I'm now posting my drinking in these units, whereas previously I was just writing down the glasses I drank. The unit way of doing it certainly makes it look like I'm drinking a ton more than when I was writing it down before.

It's been an odd few weeks. After taking the nal two weeks ago I managed to drink quite a bit (8.4 units), but the tipsy feeling wasn't the same. It just felt like nothing, and then progressed into a headache. The next day I felt like absolute crap. I've had crazy heart palpitations lately so I had to get fitted for a heart monitor to wear for 48 hours the day after drinking those 8.4 units. The hangover sucked - I felt dizzy and weak and so tired, more tired than usual. I had a few crazy palpitations while wearing the monitor and ended up feeling so bad that I went to emergency on Friday night. All tests (EKG and blood) came back fine for heart disease, but my blood work did show that I'm fairly anemic. Anyway, I worried that the nal was making my heart worse or even that it was drinking period that had finally taken its toll on my body so I managed to pull off 6 AF days immediately following the hospital visit. I've been upping my vitamins in order to see if that makes a difference (lots of vitamins that are recommended for heavy drinkers - Quercetin, L-Glutamine, Lecithin, Chromium Picolinate, Magnesium, tons of vit C and all the Bs). I felt a lot better by then end of the week, but still very tired. I used my kids going away for a week as an excuse to drink last weekend. I drank Friday and Saturday night but both nights it felt very different. It's like I couldn't get drunk and I just felt gross. Then Sunday I had the worst hangover all day. I only left the house to walk the dog otherwise I lay on the couch sleeping on and off. What a waste of a gorgeous day. After that I just didn't feel like drinking. The week before it had been because I was worried about my health, but this week it just didn't appeal to me. The worry is still there of course, but the craving feels different. I went out last night with a friend to see a play. We met at 5:30pm to get a bite to eat first. I got there a bit early and ordered a pint, she arrived 20 minutes later and ordered a pint. She was done way before I was and I never even finished mine because it got so warm. She commented on how slow I was drinking but I hadn't even noticed. I wasn't trying to drink it slow, it was just the way I felt like drinking it. I was so happy to realize how different it felt already. We saw our play then wandered to a pub for a pint around 9pm. Again I drank very slow compared to her and never finished my pint. I started getting a splitting headache around 10pm that wouldn't go away. I took an Advil when I got home and drank two big glasses of water but it was brutal. I went to bed around 11pm but tossed and turned for a bit because it was so bad. My heart started palpitating again too. It was so weird. I wanted to post all this here to see if there is a pattern when I drink with nal - do I always get this headache and heart thing? Luckily I stopped at two drinks yesterday (4.5 units) so I wasn't a mess today. I managed to finally get a good sleep and woke up feeling okay today (a little bit of a lingering headache but that's it). I'm going to post something in the general forum to ask if anyone else has experienced these heart palpitations as a result of nal. It could be unrelated because it was pre-existing, but it could be exacerbated because of it too, which is worrisome.

May25-May31: 8.4/11/12/17/0/0/13 (61.4 2AF)
June1-7: 11/6.3/0/8.4/0/0/0 (25.7 4AF)
June8-14: 13/4.2/9.1/8.1/0/0/0 (34.4 3AF)
June15-21: 8.4/14/14/11/0/0/8.4 (55.8 2AF)
June22-28: 0/0/0/0/0/0/7.7 (7.7 6AF)
June29-Jul5: 6.7/7.7/0/0/0/4.5/0 (18.9 4AF)

Sorry to hear about your heart and I hope you get it figured out. About the headaches and hangovers - yes I believe many others have experienced this on naltrexone. Serves us right for drinking "over" the nal!!!

Have you tried River Pharmacy for your supply? I'm in Canada too and have ordered from them in the past and just got a friend in the US to accept the shipment and mail it right to me. And the $500 cost seems crazy! River will sell you 120 tablets for $226.80 USD if you order on line and a few dollars more if you order by phone. Are you anywhere near a border? Next week I'm going to go over and set up a mail box so that I will be able to have River ship to me there. When I bring the drugs over I will say NOTHING. I almost always get groceries so I just will just give in my store total and receipt and all will be well. Don't ask, don't tell is my motto.

Thanks Revert - you made me think about setting one up myself so I googled how to and discovered a service you might be interested in too. It's called Kinek (www.kinek.com/) and you can have packages delivered to them, which they hold for you for 30 days. They only charge about $5-10 too, which is fantastic. I signed up and will be making my River order immediately. Sweet - thanks again!

Hi Artagogo

Hope you are well and that your journey with naltrexone is going swimmingly in this hot weather. Thanks again for the tip re Kinek. I just signed up and will be able to get shipments any time now - a big relief as I was relying on my friend in Tenn to mail packages up for me when I had them shipped to her - awkward as she and her family have moved back here for a year!!! And I'm very close to the border so all is well. I have a 9 month supply of Naltrexone now so if you ever run low you can pm me and I could share until your shipment comes in.

I have so much on hand because my poor brother was taking it at my urging for some months before cancer got him - he suffered for so many years with the drink - really made his life hell - in the end he was not able to stop even with the naltrexone - he took it faithfully but was just so sick and in pain that he drank through it. Once he went into hospital he did not have much pain thank goodness and he was dead in 3 months. When we were going through his things I found all the naltrexone I had sent him - so I took it home with me and that's what I'm taking. It's a nice reminder to me of my beloved brother and how he would have been so fortunate if this drug had been available to him years ago.

But it's here for me thank goodness!! And rock on Kinek!!!!