I started Nal back in 2010. Stopped and started a few times however have been faithful in taking NAL for at least the past7 months. My progress has been nil, and I drink like always if not more. What happens if I just stop? I am afraid of the social and legal consequences and really want to abstain totally. Has anyone just successfully quit after prolonged NAL use?
Thanks,
Retread

TSM doesn't work for everybody. I still recommend that you take NTX 1 hour before drinking.

It won't hurt your body (or soul), alcohol does that.

Altough I don't recommend stopping NTX, there would be no withdrawal or something like that.

retreat, I feel for you. It seems that, for a lot of people, TSM is the "last chance" attempt to stop drinking, as nothing else seems to work. I would agree that TSM probably won't work for you. Maybe I'm feeling pessimistic today, but I'm really beginning to doubt the "80% success rate" that is claimed for TSM. As I've mentioned, I know that the Naltrexone does its thing in everybody (ie blocks opioid receptors), but whether or not that causes 80% of humans to stop drinking is a whole other story. I think this board is a good microcosm of drinking problems -- you can sense the complex, dysfunctional behavior and thoughts of people posting on this board that keep them drinking "through" the Naltrexone, over and over.

Honestly, I could never make it as a substance abuse counselor. I read your post and thought, "Well, why don't you just stop drinking if you're that concerned about it?" It's not like you have an infection for which antibiotics aren't working. Maybe in our cure-a-disease-with-a-pill society, we have come to expect a pill (Naltrexone) to cure a disease (alcoholism).

At the same time, I'm not naïve enough to think it's that easy for you to just stop. After all, I couldn't even stop for a day, even though I was highly motivated, until I started on Naltrexone. For some reason that is not possible to pin down, it has worked wonders for me, such that I'm basically a non-drinker who looks at everyone in this online community and thinks, "Geez, if you're so into being sober or moderate, why don't you just do it?!" Of late, I've had to practically meditate on my past relationship with alcohol (trying to remind myself of my behavior, the unbelievably stupid risks I took when drunk); it is starting to become so distant in my mind, even though it's just 4.5 months since I've been drunk.

Anyway, I have no answers for you. Alcoholism is an enigma, for sure. I know that many people have just quit "cold turkey" once the pain and damage outweighed anything else. Many others, unfortunately, simply succumb and die an ugly, premature death. Alas, such is the human condition.

If you can stop without Nal that's great and I would encourage you to do anything to solve your alcohol problem. I have had periods of mostly abstainance but I still took the odd Nal dose at times when I thought I may be tempted to drink - only difference is I was cured so no cravings and no problems.

Do whatever you need to do to beat this.

retread, don't give up yet your only 7 months in!, you said you started back in 2010 but stopped a few times, is 7 months the longest you've taken Nal consistently?? I'm 8 months in and still drink nearly every night a bottle of wine + this pees me off!! BUT as I've mentioned in previous posts there are slight differences, if you really analyse your behavior whilst drinking is there absolutely no difference in the feel of drinking? Nal destroys the high right, yes we keep drinking through the numbness out of pure habit and addiction and yes we can still get drunk but without that high eventually over time the body is going to concede that it doesn't hold the same appeal! Our dysfunctional self destructiveness is a powerful powerful behavioral pattern that some of us are going to have to work harder to plow through but don't give up! unless you really feel that you can go cold turkey, (if you can power to you my friend, your a stronger person then many), it took many a lot longer then a year, a year and a half, two years, to notice behavior changes but the science is there to back the claim, drink=high, the biggest mistake made in this program is the time frame, its disheartened many people and I believe strongly that is why many fail and drift away not because its not working.

However if you feel confident that you can go cold turkey then I would encourage that as well.

Cheers!!

AFter about 2 years when I had to get my prescription renewed I had to tell my doctor that I really drank on average one time a week. I always pop a 'trex an hour before I MIGHT be in a drinking situation and the majority of times I haven't even been bothered to take that drink. Abstinence comes without even thinking about it. This being said, I have to also say that I've gone to AA regularly also and have been able to integrate the two together and nobody has given me any flak becasue I have ben veeeeeery tactful in the way I talk about TSM. I frame it vaguely as a medical breakthrough that allowed me to stop and I don't have a sobriety date because I reduced gradually over time. Only one person has ever asked any further questions and he's ok with it. So it seems to me if you combine TSM with AA you a bulletproof surefire way to stop getting drunk.

I have recently decided to go AF, tee total, whatever you want to call it.

My history;

Started TSM roughly 2 1/2 years ago
Cravings gone 2 years ago - so 6 months in
I did put in some enforced AF days in this time which I believe speeded up the process and broke the 'habit'
Decided to go AF 22nd July this year because whether I drank 1 or 10 I felt no benefit from alcohol and we really don't know what happens to TSMers in the very long term.

If however your drive to drink hasn't gone(and I'm not talking about the hmm I could just have a drink thoughts) then I'm unsure what I'd do in the same position. I like to see things through to the end, chopping and changing was something I associated with unsuccessful things. Any AF time I consider to be valuable so perhaps try some AF days you might find them useful and not as difficult as it seems.

UKBlonde,

I hope to post a message just like you did above some time in the future......

Congratulations!

Rich

It's interesting to me how surreptitious we followers of TSM must be. Anyone of us who succeeds now could help others if we remove the burden of apologetic discretion for a methodology that is the only scientific, verified, reproducible, and falsifiable ("falsifiable": obligatory within the scientific method) approach to either abstinence or dramatic, transformational harm reduction from heavy alcohol use.

Mr. O'Blivion, I hope your doctor praised you for your success. You imply that he did not; it sounds like you were discussing your success with your doctor as though you have failed in some way. Of course, 90-95% of AA adherents fail (they fall off the wagon, and they fall a long way). TSM just assumes that a disciplined follower, who carries the pill on his person, will have a drink sometime, and ... BFD. TSM achieves 80% success, and 100% success in absolutely controlled studies.

The fragility of the AA ideology is such that even if we draw strength from fellowship, as does any human in any context, an advocate for TSM in the average AA room must take care not to disclose his good fortune. Thus is AA committed to the welfare of individuals in need? Is the average doctor committed to the demonstrated science of harm reduction or cure? Or are both committed to the conventions that sustain AA ideology?

I knew AA was a road to no where for me on the very first night when I lied about my drinking..... Done, Over, Failure 15 minutes into my first night.

I can get Nal, I can take Nal, I can follow the rule, I can do TSM.