I see that EndofBenders had signed out and deleted his/her post history. Which I completely respect and understand. Time to move on.

But if feels sort of odd to see someone go POOF!

Hi Tiller

Congratulations on your outstanding week! If I could force myself to stick to beer instead of wine I'm sure I'd be better off. But I so much prefer the taste of wine to beer. Ah well....
I hope this week is going equally well for you.

Cheers
Sticky

Congrats on ditching the hard stuff Tiller.
Wine is my poison of choice and I tend to guzzle it. I find that it really does help to "switch" it up, again I think that it also is part of breaking the pattern inbedded in our brains.


Keep marching ahead. You WILL get there.

Hey Tiller,

Congrats on your great week! Yes switching really does help.when I switched from white to red, the units went way down. Forge ahead!

Best,

Another week on the coaster. Up to 37 units. But still lower than my past routine.

Some travel and difficult family times triggered a couple days where I drank more than I wanted to. Or, should I say, more than I wanted to as measured by the next day. Today's one of those next days.

I've been in a different but familiar environment this week with its own set of "triggers." So the routine I had going at home did not translate here automatically. I've had a few of the good, in-control days (and the great day after) and a few hangover days feeling blue and anxious. But this is still better than a majority of bad days, so I'm not losing hope.

My experience led me to do some searching on the board about extinguishing triggers and I found this interesting thread:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=594

I'm not sure what I think about the idea that deleting triggers is part of the TSM process. Maybe getting beyond established triggers is active work, while undoing the reward circuits is what Nal does in the background. And maybe it doesn't matter all that much, but I'm just thinking out loud. Hope others will chime in with their thoughts.

What seems clear is that hanging on to the the idea of how good I'll feel if I keep it moderate -- and how lousy I feel when I don't -- is growing in its power to be an incentive/deterrent.

Here's to an even better week to come!

Hi Tiller,

I don't know about eliminating/avoiding triggers as part of TSM. After all, they will always be there and will eventually get to us. I thought the idea was to keep drinking while being exposed to all our normal triggers and let Nal extinguish our desire to drink in spite of our triggers. Just my two cents.

Have a good week.

Best,

This is my take on"triggers".

We all have triggers, something that propels us to drink. Taking Nal blocks the reward the brain is seeking for that event that triggered us to drink. Working those events repeatedly while on Nal eventually kills that response. The process of TSM takes a long time because the brain needs time to learn it's not going to get a "fix" from booze.

The events still occur, but the urge to drink simply doesn't happen = the trigger is disconnected.

I just read through all of this thread and gained some valuable insight; this is a long and difficult journey. I need to remember this at week 3 when I have a tendency to throw in the towel. I have made progress with taking the booze out of the house and forcing a couple of AF days by not having it readily available when I can't get to sleep at night. If I really want a drink, I can go to the local store. Now, I just make an effort to take a Nal an hour or two before and then I can have that drink. I hope to see that Cured list with all of our names on it one day! Till, Thank you for continuing to post. Keek

Thanks for the thoughts on triggers. Very interesting. And welcome Keke!

Had my first AF day yesterday in living memory. Just sort of happened because I was busy until late and just decided not to have a nightcap. That's pretty cool.

Tiller, you are making leaps & bounds, I'm SO impressed! Your lower #s, and now the AF day, no big deal...

Are you still off the hard stuff, and getting by on beer (and maybe the occasional Fresca?)

All these good stories! The board sure is providing some very inspiring lunch time reading these days.

Chrissie