I have just bought my NAL on river as I absolutely know in my heart of hearts that this is my only chance of leading a normal life.

I think about AL all the time, compare myself to NORMAL drinkers/people, always wanting to be like them. I have drank all of my adult life and started to realise it was a problem about 5 years ago if I am honest, maybe more. At this time, I would do stupid things at parties, argue with family and not remember what I had said etc. As time has gone on after trying various strategies, only drinking at weekends, thursday to sunday, only b4 dinner, etc. None worked for more than a few days. The brain always wins (or the addiction does).

Over the past 12 months I have started to feel a dull pain in my right side in the middle of the night/early morning often after I drink. My enzymes were slightly elevated 3 years ago and an ecograph showed a slightly enlarged liver, but nothing at all serious. I know deep down I should go again and have them all checked. But I also know that if I do and there is something wrong, I still wont be able to stop, which scares the **** out of me even more. So I figure, If i am still going to drink then I am going to do TSM.

Over the past 9 months I have struggled from moderate/serious anxiety issues which I know are partially if not mostly down to my alcohol intake and worry about the damage it is doing. I am not taking any tablets, only the odd valium type tablet and only then when I awake at 3-4 am with this absolute anxiety and feeling of impending doom. Which is awful. Unfortunately at the moment this is starting to happen nearly every night and I am now getting scared of going to sleep.

I know that if I went AF, a lot of the anxiety, sleep problems will stop. But I also know I cant do more than a month (only done that once) b4 I am back on it and usuall worse.

I dont know really what I am asking here, but does anyone have these anxiety/sleep related issues at all. I cant think of another alternative to TSM, and I want to be posiitve and just let it take its course, but I am also so impatient to get rid of these anxiety issues and 6 months seems to be such a long time to wait. I also wonder if my liver will take another 6 months of drinking.

Sorry I am rambling now. Thanks for listening, but the fear is paralysing me at the moment and the thoughts about all this are becoming all consuming. I need to give my brain a rest, but dont know how to.

Forgot to say I am a daly drinker, usually sparkly such as cava, or red wine. NOt much else between 4 and 8 glasses daily. Occasionally more.

From what you are saying it really would be a good idea to get checked out by your doctor! The anxiety most likely can be attributed to the alcohol or lack there of in the early hours. Your body is craving more and you are probably in a bit of withdrawal at the time. I too will get those feelings after drinking heavy in the early hours and the a.m. It is pretty scary but common I think. I too worry about continuing to drink as I am with this method for several months but don't have any better idea! Good luck and keep reading here and posting it may help some.

Sober within , concerning anxiety there's a good site called moodgym which you could register with for free they have alot of cognitive type exercises that can help with the thinking behind anxiety .
Concerning your liver situation, the pain , the enlargement three years ago .
All this is exactly my situation and big concern about continuing drinking .
In my opinion the only valid reason to stop tsm is if the liver is too damaged .
However it is is all rather hard to discern the damage . Firstly the blood tests
are inaptly called " liver function tests" they really say very little but only sugget it could be good to have an ultra sound test . If that shows you have fatty liver
it would of course be best not to drink for a while . There is no knowing if fatty liver will progress to cirhossis but it can .
I sympathize and empathize but can't say more I'm afraid . But do check out Moodgym is fun too.

Thanks for the moodgym info, I am checking it out atm, looks like a great site, so ffar.

ShawnAnne

ShawnAnne,
I can't speak to your anxiety, but go have a liver function test just to see...and relieve that anxiety. I am always surprised when mine come back normal after all the drinjing I've been doing over the years. My Dr. said beer/wine drinkers usually do not show as much damage as the hard stuff users...I question that, but I'll take it. At least for me, it was true.

Good luck to you - I'm sure you will get lots of good input here. Glad you are here - it will change your life!

soberwithin,

I'm surprised - thought you had started TSM when you joined, last month. In any case, welcome to the club!

Your night time anxiety issues are common. Try taking 3 mg. of melatonin b/4 going to bed, and perhaps some warm milk. If you do wake up, avoid turning on overhead lights - just keep a nightlight in the bathroom. Light turns off the natural melatonin production, which is our 'sleep hormone.' I used to use Kava Kava and St. John's Wort for anxiety, and it worked very, very well. Since starting TSM, my anxiety levels are waaaayyy down. (But then, my overall life situation has improved, as well.)

As for the liver, there is a great product on the market that helps the liver to more efficiently break down the toxic elements of alcohol. It's called RU-21, and was developed by the KGB b/c so many of their operatives are heavy drinkers, and hangovers were affecting their performance. I can say that whenever I take it, I do not suffer from hangovers or withdrawal symptoms the next day - so I think it really works. It is supposed to be very good at alleviating the stress of alcohol on the liver.

Once you've got a couple weeks on this program, I believe you'll discover that even when you overdrink, you won't have the same number/degree of negative consequences - including anxiety.

Good luck, and keep posting!

Sorry - I didn't pay close enough attention to "soberwithin"'s original post and addresed it to ShawnAnn. I do that - and it's usually when I'm just get started! LOL

G4M, thanks for the tip on meatonin & RU21 - where would one find RU21??

I got mine online - it's very inexpensive.

Remind me to proofread stuff - ugh - I hate misspellings LOL

Just my 2 cents . I would try natural remedies for anxiety first before I got persciption drugs for it. They work just as well for me.That way it won't interfere with the Sinclair method. I understand it is hard though. Best of luck.