I thought I would start a thread to give newcomers hope. And us old timers a reminder…

This method is a slow journey that happens at a level we can not detect and often cannot ‘measure’ on a daily or even monthly basis until enough of the extinction has occurred. It’s easy to get discouraged.

I remind everyone of this because when you are in the thick of it, it’s very easy to take a look at your daily intake or your weekly intake and think – ‘that’s as much as I used to drink, what the hell is going on?’ And for newcomers just looking through the posts, it’s misleading.

Instead of looking at the posts/units, I would like to offer these observations from my own progress. I believe many of these points pertain to others, although we are all on our own unique journeys:

1. Cravings before Sinclair: I used to physically ache on my walk from the train home from work – anticipating when I could get my wine. That ache would continue until I shoved my kids in bed and got my glass of wine. I would wake up the next morning trying to remember how much I drank the night before and visualize how much was left in the bottle for the upcoming night. That is not a very nice beginning thought for the day. During the day at work, if I was low on wine, I would be in a meeting and part of my brain was on topic and the other part was thinking how I could get to the store with 3 kids in tow to pick up a bottle or two of wine without damaging them for life and without making my problem too obvious. DAY 1 of the Sinclair Method, this nonsense stopped. Period. My cravings immediately did a nose dive and have never reached those levels since. Wine is in the house but I no longer know how much is there and if it runs out, I simply do not drink that evening. Not always easy, but it’s now a possibility to just go without -- there is no longer the mental tug of war.

2. Units before / units after: Pre-Sinclair I would hold to ¾ a bottle of wine a night with effort (I know that's not as much as many here - but it's all relative and it's still a serious problem). I frequently had a beer or two in the middle of the day to get over my hangover and probably did not count that in my units because I lied to myself about what I was doing. My glasses of wine were allllll the way to the top of the glass – filled to the brim. DAY1 Sinclair and after – the most I have had in one normal nightly session has been ¾ a bottle, and that has occurred only during an adjustment period and it felt like it was quite enough – no feelings like I was stopping short. I have not had any beers during the day since starting and it has never crossed my mind to have one since I started. The other thing I’ve noticed is my glasses since starting are 7 ounces at the most, which is probably 2 oz less than what I used to fill in a glass. This is pretty significant, I think, because it’s not something I consciously did. I just looked up at about week 4 and thought, ‘ look at that, I’m really not filling my glass that full…there is plenty of room at the top!” This week I had my first ever glass that was less than 5 oz. By choice.

3. Yo-yo-ing. There is definitely a honeymoon with the medication during the first week. I think there is another ‘leveling’ period at the 9ish week mark where you spike back up to pre-Sinclair levels, and then go back down. That is the place I am at now, hopefully trending toward staying on the down side. This does not mean the method is not working – it just means our bodies are adjusting to the medication and we are not ‘cured’ quite yet.

4. Overall: There are subtle, subtle changes that I only notice when I take the time to think through how I am feeling / thinking about alcohol. They are there. They are more significant than the number of units I am drinking and they are the story we should all be focusing on.

My life is so much better since starting and while there are ups and downs, overall I know I am moving in the right direction steadily and slowly...moving in this positive, permanent direction has never happened before. Before this, it’s always been a downward slide or a brief period of AFs and then a quick ‘slip’ back to where I was before.

So – newcomers, please understand that we post our frustrations here and we post our daily/weekly units but be aware that because of this, the forum does not lend itself to an easy way to ‘see’ the progress. It is the way we support each other as we make it slowly through the 4 (to 6?) month period of subtle changes. If you stay with us for awhile, you will get to know the members and see buried in thread after thread the little rays of hope like I’ve outlined above. This does work. It’s not easy, it's not fast and it's not always obvious - but it works.

As a ray of hope – I think my weekly units this week will be around 10-15, which is (at least) a 50% reduction at Week 11. I may go up next week, but I know when I come back down, it will be in that range again. And eventually it will just stay at the level I choose. I am slowly gaining control!

Best of luck to us all - we are getting there

W4M that was a really great post for us all. It puts everything into perspective and I think most of us feel the same way and are hopeful. Your explanation was an ahaa moment for me.

Thanks for taking the time to post this. My experiences exactly mirror yours. My drinking is significantly reduced. . .tho not yet to the levels I desire. My cravings are less than half what they were. I give alcohol about 1/2 the attention it used to demand (which was nearly ALL my attention). I've begun an exercise routine, and my days are much more productive than they were. My appetite, which had been non-existent, has normalized, and I'm eating healthy foods again. When I'm thirsty, I reach for water, rather than wine.

I don't get sloppy drunk any more. I never experience blackouts. Hangovers are a thing of the past.

The only time my drinking went up to pre-Sinclair levels was one day when I accidentally took a look-alike allergy medicine, rather than my Naltrexone. The next day, when I realized what had happened, I fully realized what an amazing difference TSM really IS making in my life.

Yep, just one job for all of us: Naltrexone+drinking=cure.

I wish I could say the same. Sadly, no changes at all for me.

I am telling you. YES YES!!! It works. It is just very subtle and takes a while. It is still working for me. Don't be discouraged. Be diligent if you can. . Look at Springrider's post.

houtx, have you read your own signature?

Pre-Sinclair: 60 - 70 units/wk
Wks 1-5: 40 - 50 units/wk Cravings 10
Wk 6: 2 AF days otherwise same
Wk 7: 41 started counting again/cravings 10
Wk 8: 61
Wk 9-12: 45/50/45/47
wk 13: underway


Unless I'm reading things wrong, you're consistently drinking between 10-35 upw less than pre-Sinclair.

No progress? I thought you said elsewhere you're a 'glass half full' kind of girl?

Perk up, it IS working!

Houtx - I'm with G4M, I'm not going to let you off the hook and let you feel sorry for yourself and think it's not working for you.

You always admit you're not good at keeping track of your drinks, right? Look at this: one of my big signs of progress is less wine in the glass, 2 oz less -- that is how closely I am looking for signs. Maybe the same thing is happening to you and you haven't noticed. I have been very lucky this week, but the 2oz thing happened when my units were at what I thought were the same as pre-sinclair levels...the other thing is, when we are still drinking heavily we lie, lie, lie about how much we drink. So - I really think everyone's pre-sinc levels were probably much higher than we all reported AND it was much harder to keep them at that level.

I'm not ready to give up on you yet - you hang in there and do me a favor and just any positive thought you have this week, wirte that down. ANYTHING. Because it all adds up. It is going to work for you, it may just take a little longer..and if you get to drink through your treatment and hang out here, then a little longer aint as bad as some other methods, right?

Having said all that...I know you are frustrated (and I didn't mean this thread to make you more frustrated). Just want you to know you have a lot of people here cheering you on...who don't believe it's not working for you.