Hi Diver,

Your numbers are looking good I agree with EL, although you are still very early into TSM (like me) it might be an idea to put some effort into the weekends, maybe waiting a little more than an hour before drinking?, I find that the longer I wait after taking Nal, the less I feel like drinking, it might be the same for you. Also, try eating and drinking water before you start drinking alcohol, we often crave alcohol because we are hungry or thirsty, it might be worth a try.

Best,

Curi

I am mid-way through week 15 and while I am able to frequently have AF days during the week I have absolutely no control on the weekends. I typically average 10-12 units a day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I am thinking that starting next weekend I am going to up my dose to 75mg to see if that can give me more control and bring my units down. If anyone else has experienced this I would welcome your thoughts on how to bring my weekend numbers down.

Curiousone,
I drink a lot of water so it’s not a matter of me being thirsty. I have tried to start drinking later in the day but I just seem to drink at a faster pace if I do that.

Thanks,

Hi Diver - I am not a weekend drinker, but I would like to give you some food for thought. Just take the Nal+Al and let the process of extinction happen. You are only in week 15 and that's early. I don't see a real purpose in upping your Nal dose this early in the game.

Hope that helps, but if I've learned anything in the time I've been practicing TSM, it is that we all have our own path to "regained control."

HG

I agree with Half, you are at the earliest stages of TSM. Consider giving it more time at 50mg. The therapeutic effect is not predicated so much on the dose, but on the repeated experience of extinguishing habit/triggers. If you don't see significant change in 6 months then upping the dose might be in order. But if you notice any obvious change now then stay the course. Expect the ups and downs, and pay attention to the changes in craving. Be patient. Good luck!

Half and Digetic2 – Thanks for your responses to my earlier post … I’m sticking to 50mgs.

Well my units jumped up and my AF days declined this past week. However I’m not surprised in the least since Monday was Labor Day, and on Thursday night my World Champion Green Bay Packers kicked off the NFL season with an awesome win. Sorry Nick, I know that you are a Vikings fan. Now that football season has begun there will be plenty of triggers that will rear their ugly heads, of course I’m confident that with Nal, I’ll be able to slay them one by one.

There are times that I feel like I am not making any progress, but then I think back on how it was before starting TSM, and I realize that there have been some small and some not so small changes that have occurred. A perfect example is today, after watching football last night and consuming 11 units I have had no desire or craving to drink so far today (1:30 PM). I am working from home today and prior to TSM I probably would have nursed my hangover with a few drinks shortly after rolling out of bed. Instead I woke up without cravings, got a couple of hours of productive work done and then went to the gym.

It’s not perfect but it is progress.

"It's not perfect but it's progress" - should be our TSM mantra!!! Nal on diver, you'll get there

Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good!

Keep it going!

Hi Diver, sorry to tack on to your post a little late. I agree that increasing your dose won't be a good move- it doesn't increase Nal endorphin blocking activity but it will increase the chances you'll have adverse effects from Nal. Your are still early on in the process (most of us take 30+ weeks, I took 43) so try not to over think it. There are many changes happening under the surface that you won't be aware of BUT they are happening all the same. All the best

Well I just finished week 19, and was able to complete three consecutive AF days without any problem. That’s the good news, the bad news is that on the four days that I did imbibe I consumed, on average over 11 units per day. I continue to have difficulty controlling my binging on weekends.

I have an intensive Certification Examination coming up that I need to study for. In order to pass this I will need to be able to study with a clear head (no hangover). I plan to study the next couple of Saturdays, so hopefully this will cut my consumption down both on Friday night and on Saturday. Of course Sundays are going to be a tough since it is American Football season and that is a big fat trigger for me. I’ve just got to be determined.

I finally figured out how to make a dual axis graph in Excel 2010, man do I hate this new version. I was going to include it in this post, but couldn't get it to paste into it. If anyone has some suggestions on how to paste a graph I would be grateful.

Have a great weekend all,

Diver, here is what I do.

I downloaded a screen shot capturing software called clip 2 net. I use this to take a snap shot of the graph and safe it on my computer.

Then I go to a photo hosting web site call photobucket.com. I upload the picture there from my computer into photobucket.

Once there, there is a box with a link in it. click on that bottom box and it copies the link to your clipboard. Navigate to this site, click on reply to topic, put your cursor in the box, ctrl-V to paste and whalla, you have now placed your piture into this message.

A little playing around and it becomes really easy

Hope this helps



PS, I am an accountant and I hated excel 2010 to in the beginning, but wow it is powerful and easy to use after you get used to it. Try minimizing the ribbon and then customize the quick access bar. It looks like the older versions of excel shown below