Hi,
I just found this community and have a question. I have been in and out of outpatient programs and AA for the past 18 months. I am currently taking naltrexone and campral to contriol cravings....but I keep relapsing and drinking up to 2 times a week.

Should I stop taking the naltrexone and only take it right before I want to drink? Will the method work if you are not drinking more than a few times per week?

Thanks so much,

LEH48

Hi there LEH48. Are you saying that you would like to follow The Sinclair Method? If so the method is: take .50 naltrexone one hour before drinking, every time you drink. It is not used as a craving drug in The Sinclair Method so it is not taken every day unless you drink every day.

I would strongly urge you to read The Cure for Alcoholism and to read as much as you can here for the information you need. Good luck!

Yes, I guess I'm thinking about trying TSM. Last night I took the pill then dran 4 glasses of wine and feel crappy today. I think I'm down to only relapsing once a week so not sure TSM will work for me. I don't want to go back to daily drinking just to see if TSM will work for me.

LEH48

Drink as you feel with TSM. Some people have found NAL alone helps with cravings but generally it doesn't work that way. I only drank daily with TSM because as a binger I felt 'safe' because of the initial drop off in intake. I was probably drinking 5 days out of 7 after the first few weeks, but after a short time decided it was a habit I wanted to break, and the NAL helped me with that in that it had already reduced my cravings through extinction.

TSM just requires time and patience, that's all.

Hi LEH48

You don't have to start drinking every day to benefit from The Sinclair Method. If you want to be totally abstinent but find your cravings get the better of you once or twice a week, then that's the days you'd take a naltrexone. Just be sure that you make a really good attempt to WAIT an hour before you have your first drink.

Then if you relapse again the next week, simply take another naltrexone and wait an hour and have the drink. You can still get the benefit from it. But it will not help if you don't drink.

So if you are able to be abstinent forever you would not take naltrexone at all. Is that clearer? Please feel free to ask lots of questions. As well in the Board Index there's a section called Questions and Answers About TSM that is really informative. You might want to check that out too.

I actually think this would be a very useful way to use TSM, combination of abstenance and Nal use. The AF days have already broken some of the habits.

Hi there
I am just about to start taking this medication,
But I wondered why on some forums it says you must be alcohol free for 5-7 days before taking the first pill (and I am not confusing it with Disulfiram)
So if I drank a bottle of wine last night does that mean I can't take my first tablet tonight and not even for 7 days?? Seems strange, would I have a reaction? I can't manage 7 days without alcohol at the moment which is why I kinda need this drug!!

Any advice gratefully received
Katherine xxx

Katherine

Whatever you have read is wrong. You can start taking Naltrexone and drinking with it is as per the Sinclair method(which is taking Nal 1 hour before drinking) asap - ie without any detox there is no withdrawl or detox required for the Sinclair Method.

In fact stopping drinking forcefully before taking it is wasting time, taking it whilst still drinking is the way in which it works.