I'm getting ready to begin TSM after five months totally NA, shooting for a glass or two of wine with my wife now and then. For me, "cured" will be no more than Sinclair's healthy level, and that no more than a couple times a week. But that's me, not trying to lay my trip on anybody else. I see "cured" declarations, though, with numbers clearly way above what Sinclair calls healthy. Hey, when drinking alcoholically I was hitting three digits a week, so I truly get it that 20 is better than 40 and 40 beats 80. But I confess I am wondering what's the general thinking around here about when to log onto the cured list. Don't want to be bummed out if I discover I've set the bar too high for myself.

For me, I don't believe there is a cure. I much prefer the word control, which is where I am today. My target is less than 24 a week, with no more than 5 in a single session.

Be careful when you drink again. I always had my worst negative consequences when I had tried to cut back or abstain.

This really is such an individual thing. When you think of what being in control would look like, how do you imagine it? Maybe if you start by describing what you'd like you attitude towards alcohol to be, then a target number will flow from that.

I'm hoping to stay consistently around 1-2 drinks per day with some AF days each week. I'm about halfway to that goal (in month 10) and feel like it will still take time to get there.

For me, a "cured" individual would be one that drinks without feeling an urge to consume alcohol. For example, this evening I decided to drink a tea, but I did not have an irresistible urge to get that tea. My target is to completely get rid of my need to have a drink or two in the evening and to have 2-3 drinks max at a party without making an effort to restrict myself to that.

Andy G.

For me it was the removal of the strong cravings I experienced on a daily basis. I still get drunk occasionally, but it's like a normal person does - no trouble, no repercussions and wake next morning to get on with an AF day. Other times I have a glass and that's it. Remainder of the time alcohol doesn't affect or enter my life at all.

UKBlonde-
Great signature-
how long did you take naltrexone before you felt like you had that sort of control?
when did you start AF free days and did you experience any anxiety when doing so?

This is where it's not so straight forward. I wasn't a habitual daily drinker as such, more a binge drinker but those binges could last for 3hrs up to 3 days. Once or twice I did manage to drink 5 days out of 7 for periods of 6 weeks at a time but that wasn't usual. I actually had several days AF right at the start of TSM, I was tapering off Baclofen and fed up of feeling cr@p all the time so just didn't want to drink. Once I did I experienced an immediate reduction in units, so much so it was now 'safe' for me to drink which encouraged me to start drinking daily in the evenings. After a while I realised I was now drinking 5 - 7 evenings a week just because I could. I then made a conscious decision to try not drinking every night to break this new habit. It took some mental effort but I didn't feel anxious, I just knew I didn't want to drink alcohol so made sure I avoided it - mostly I went to bed early instead. I didn't feel any loss, or extra worry in fact I felt very good because I was now more in control. The daily cravings had gone completely 5 months in, and have never returned. Sure I sometimes miss the 'time out' alcohol gave me, and sometimes I long for it but it's not the crippling physical urge it used to be.