Thanks for all of the support guys. I am back safely in NYC without any big drinking mishaps. It was a very heavy drinking week, but as I had predicted because of all the wedding festivities. What really screwed up my weekly total was actual the pre-wedding Tuesday night binge. Still trying to parse out what that meant and why it happened. So as for the actual wedding it was really well-behaved all around and I was no exception. Probably had about 9 drinks over the course of 8 hours or so. Never drunk or sloppy or out of control though my conversation got a bit animated and I might have been a bit hyper No real hangover for the boat cruise and brunch the next day, which was great....but then I got food poisoning from bad eggs and spent the rest of sunday in the bathroom. I made it back on the plane, thankfully after most of the food poisoning was out of my system, but it was not a pleasant or fun way to end things. And I kept thinking that maybe people would think I actually had a hangover and was lying!!! GAH for some reason that made me really uncomfortable. But anyways feeling exhausted and need to work on a deadline here in NYC but I am relatively happy with how the wedding went and how my drinking didn't cause any problems. I did feel the pull at the end of the wedding night to drink more, because I felt like the event hadn't lived up to my expectations (drinking or otherwise). I got a little mopey but ultimately just went to bed. I have a larger, general issue of not dealing well with big events because I get ridiculously excited about them, build them up for ages, and then am inevitably disappointed by their realization. I've been like this since I was a child and I really don't do it on purpose. I just don't know how to not get so disappointed by big events. It's a problem, because that in turn triggers the OMG I AM HAVING SO MUCH FUN ON A RANDOM TUESDAY NIGHT WITH NO PRESSURE MUST DRINK FOREVER binges like last week's.
Anyways, weekly recap is more or less 32. Which is a massive amount for me right now, but I just think back to pre-TSM...and that was probably a LIGHT week!!!

"I have a larger, general issue of not dealing well with big events because I get ridiculously excited about them, build them up for ages, and then am inevitably disappointed by their realization. I've been like this since I was a child and I really don't do it on purpose. I just don't know how to not get so disappointed by big events."

i have the same problem. or even when the event does live up to my expectations, i just get so damn excited that i almost always go overboard with the drinks. It doesn't help that I don't get together w/ friends nearly as often anymore since we all live fairly far from each other. In other words i live a pretty lonely, antisocial existence so when the time comes for a really fun social gathering, it's hard to pace myself.

I just need to find a good woman who isn't a big drinker, but who can be sympathetic to my struggles and help encourage me to moderate, if not stop completely. The last time I fell in love with a big drinker, it grew into a marriage and has now dissolved into divorce. Suffice it to say, it's REALLY easy to avoid dealing with big relationship issues when you both tend to just drink all the time and avoid dealing with the issues.

Hi EL - just wanted to chime in and congratulate you on handling the wedding. I gotta believe that weddings have to be one of the biggest triggers for us TSM-er's (the anticipation of an exciting event [as you mention], dancing (poorly), communal drinking, sexy people, anxiety over running into ex-flings, etc).

Keep it up!

-H

Hi EL, sorry to hear about your upset tummy, not nice! I'm with you with disappointment at big events, I always have more fun at unplanned things.

Is there any chance that you might have forgotten to take your Nal on the Tuesday night?

Curi

Definitely took the nal on Tuesday night, but only took 25 mg as I did not expect it to be more than a couple of drinks. That was my mistake. I have been experimenting with taking either 25 or 50 mg depending on the situation (as there are many times when 25 is amply sufficient) but this was not one of those successes. Now that I am having many fewer side effects from 50mg I might just take that all the time.

Hi El - afeter a few bad experiences, I think we both realised that 25mg isn't enough.

25mg seems to work with beer and wine, but with Vodka or high-strength stuff, the rapid influx of endorphins is too great and the low dose is overpowered... that's my theory anyway

A good learning point for all - if you can handle 50mg, then don't mess around with 25mg.

Sorry to hear about your sickness... drink plently of fludis... (non-alcoholic of course)

That's very interesting! 25 is good for me but I only ever drink wine and the occasional beer, so you could well be right about that.

Hi EL

Curi

Hi El, just checking in on your posts. Your figures look pretty good especially relative to your pre TSM days. Don't bemoan an occassional outbreak too much, thats bound to happen once in a while. As for getting over excited about events, I think I have been guilty of that in the past as well. In terms of your dose, I wouldn't mess with it too much. The studies were based on people taking 50mg and taking a lesser dose may interfere with the "re-wiring". Enjoy the rugby, hope you barrack for the Wallabies!

Thanks WJ, I bet you're right about the 50mg...i have just been playing around with lower doses on days when I really don't want to run the risk of side effects (which for me have included vomiting). That appears to be behind me, thank god, so now I think I'll stick to 50mg all the time.
This week is shaping up to be somewhat heavy in consumption but also completely in control, so that's good. Two nights of social drinking and one night of having a few at home while relaxing. Today is Friday, but since my boyfriend and I are staying home and being domestic-cozy I think I'm going to make it AF. Since I'm at 10 units going into the weekend, that should help keep me under 20 for the week, my goal from here on out. But we'll see.
EL

Hi EL

Well done at the wedding! Sorry you got food poisoning. Yuck!
I hope you can follow my graph instructions in my latest post. Enjoy the rugby - you must be so pleased for the French.

Cheers
Sticky