I have been wondering if its possible to go back on and off again?

Some people have tried that here, from what I have read, they all slowly started drinking more and craving more so they returned to TSM, some at a lower dose. There have been no long term studies to the best of my knowledge. Dr. Sinclair says we must take Naltrexone for life every time we drink.

I suppose you could try if you have already gained control, I'd suggest trying a lower dose first, though, if it doesn't work you can always go back to Nal.

Curi

Curi is right. The short answer is no. You must take nal every time you drink forever. The long story, I'm guessing, is that you can probably gauge the danger of various drinking situations to decide if you need to take nal again. But it's a slippery slope.

You can't drink without NAL or you will get re-addicted, fairly quickly.

I made this mistake a year ago while on a vacation. It set me back in terms of having AL craving. My craving increased, but not nearly where it was pre-TSM. It took a couple solid months on the TSM to re-extinguish the craving.

It really is not worth it. Don't drink without NAL.

Q

I cannot recommend strongly enough, please don't do this, especially if you have had any kind of progress or success with NAL. I drank w/o NAL after a few months of making very good progress. Really it was out of a mixture of curiosity, boredom, apathy and of course, the fact that it had been a little while since I felt desperately awful about my drinking, so I had kinda forgotten how bad it could get!

I started daily drinking to excess very quickly and within a week or two was feeling just as addicted as ever. It's taken me a while to return to TSM, but the great thing about this method is (to me) its clear and logical basis, so I was able to understand quite logically why I had regressed so quickly - rather than seeing it as an inevitable moral failing, the way I did when I was in AA.

So if you have drunk without NAL, don't worry... it's never too late to start taking it again. But I would recommend reading The Cure For Alcoholism which explains why the method is set out as it is.

Good luck

Thanks for your replies! It's hard to imagine returning back to wanting it as much as before... especially now that I've learned so much about how it came to be that I was having drinking problems. I had arranged my life so that if I decided to drink for a few days it didn't matter. Not until I finally met a great woman and I was breaking engagements with her and watching the phone ring when I was expected to answer knowing full well I had no excuse but even then could still recover the night by stopping immediately but couldn't did I realize I had a problem. Then my work situation changed and I wasn't choosing what days I worked anymore and I ran into issues there. Having gone full circle from believing I was an independent individual to a Pavlov's dog I just can imagine ever ending up in a similar place. My whole relationship or perspective to alcohol has changed. Then again I was a binge drinker and never needed a drink anymore because I had a bad day or a good day.

Personally though while for now NAL drinking floats my boat I can't help but look forward to drinking without it. I've put on some of my favorite albums while drinking with NAL and it's was just kind of blah. However, when it comes to socializing and drinking I felt I still got everything I wanted. I'll start another thread to explore this.

I've never felt an everyday yearn for alcohol. Only that next morning can be like a quicksand, so from the results I'm getting so far I see myself as on again off again NAL user or using it depending on the circumstance. IF SOMEONE ISN'T FIGHTING AN ALL THE TIME URGE THEN WHY WOULD NAL BE IMPORTANT TO TAKE EVERY TIME ONE DRINKS?

Has anyone experience a permanent burnout from the NAL? As in after taking it for a year were the effects permanent? I drank a couple days after taking it and still thought I felt it blocking but that could be it's half life.

Willzell, I hate to get all AA-rhetoric on you, but I think you really have to investigate how much you want to control your drinking. It sounds like you are walking a very very dangerous line between wanting to still get the rush from drinking AND being in control. I think that what the science says is that "we" drinkers are not ever going to be completely normal around alcohol if we stop taking nal. Nal ALLOWS us to have control over alcohol, because it blocks the massive endorphin rush from drinking that we get. Other people get effects from alcohol, sure - but they don't feel like superheros like we do. That's why they don't have problems with drinking and can stop almost always at the right time. If you stop taking nal, sure there will be situations where you can control your drinking through a combination of willpower, moderation techniques, and having reorganized your life (as you pointed out). However, I can almost guarantee you that you will also begin to have incidents of bingeing/blacking out/whatever it was that brought you to TSM in the first place. Without nal, you simply cannot retain that sort of control over alcohol forever.
It's understandable that you want to have your cake and eat it too. But in this case I don't think it's possible, UNLESS you are willing to accept to consequences of occasionally drinking without nal (bad behaviour related to drinking, hangovers, missing work, cravings returning, etc). I think the best solution is to not drink if you are not craving alcohol, thus not taking nal. That would be the better indicator of whether or not you are in control of your drinking than arbitrarily deciding that one drinking situation is a "craving" and the other is not and therefore you don't need nal.
And no, I don't think there are any long-term consequences from using nal, at least at less than 300mg a day (then you get into liver problems).

I too miss getting drunk, I miss the buzz HOWEVER a life drinking alcoholically is completely unacceptable for me. This last week I've reminisced several times about going out drinking all day, and night. I have continued to take my Nal because I know without it yes I will get out of control drunk, but then I will have consequences. My friends will have to go through all the worry and inconvenience again, and I'll suffer from the waking up, throwing up again. I could also get in trouble with the law (it has happened during an 'angry' spell some years back), something I definitely do not want to do again.

So I'll stick with nal. Yes it's boring but compared to how my life will go without it, well it's hard luck and I shall have to learn to live without the buzz.

It's a good question.

I tried drinking without Nal once. Just a pint of beer with my wife at a family pub.

Then, when I was away with work all the cravings rushed back. I was out in the sun in a beer garden. I deliberately didn't take Nal. Actually I really wanted to get drunk and it had terrible consequences.

From this point, I will only ever drink with Nal. and will never change my mind.

We have no off switch –. That will never change. Don’t kid yourself and think you can handle drinking without Nal … you most probably can’t.

Why would I ever want to go back to what I was? I am only half way back to what I want to be. It is known if we drink without the nal, in a few months we will be right back to where we were before we started. There is no guarantee it will work a second time. I am doing this because my life sucked because of my addiction to alcohol.

I don't want to be that guy anymore. I have a way out, and I am availing myself of it. I read what happened to Andy. No way in hell I want those consequences. It isn't even something I contemplate. I can easily buy nal. I will always have some and I hope that I am one of the 16% that decide to outright quit and never touch another drop of alcohol.