Sanclaire,

Many of my patterns are very similar to yours. I can manage to avoid alcohol if I have to, although it was becoming increasingly difficult. And I certainly have those auto pilot/robotic moments. Last Thursday I had a very similar event to the one you had with your girlfriend. I had no intention of drinking Thursday night and was trying to put together two alcohol free days in a row. My wife called me late in the afternoon to tell me that she would be home late and it was game on, immediately. I passed go and went straight to the liquor store and ended up with a railroad spike in my head the next day.

I have been a late afternoon, early evening drinker for several years now. I have a specific starting and stopping time, although sometimes (rarely, thankfully) I do achieve blackout status. Those are very scary moments for me. And for the last year it is always done in secrecy. And it is a living hell. My wife thinks I am abstinent and I have been attending AA for over three years now. I have been on TSM for a little over eight weeks and I am finding that my patterns are changing in two significant ways. First, my overall consumption has declined over the last two weeks by roughly 1/3. Second, my patterns within a given session have changed. I used to drink a lot in a very short period of time and now I am finding myself drinking more moderately over a longer period. Part of the reason for this is the Nal hangovers are a bit more severe, and that's OK. I think that shows the medication is having some effect on me.

Good luck to you and keep the faith! There are plenty of testimonies here showing that it does have an impact over time. And 80% success rate is impressive and certainly better than what I have achieved without TSM.

At the risk of possibly sounding discouraging, Sanclaire, I do agree that the Nal can intensify the hangovers. I can definitely relate to the jittery feeling, coupled with the "kill me now" headache and nausea Avoiding dehydration and making sure you have a bit of food in your stomach when you're drinking can help, and I believe your body should adjust to the medicine to some extent with time.

And honestly, if anything, I feel the bad hangovers helped to played a part in breaking my former love affair with alcohol. It may sound weird, but once I had begun to stamp out the endorphin reaction and could think more objectively and rationally about the decision to drink or not, I would consider the potential hangover and just decide to pass on some nights.

I rarely get the killer hangovers anymore, which is probably due in part to my body adjusting, and partly from adapting my behavior - i.e. learning to stay hydrated, generally avoiding wine, and cutting back the amount of alcohol consumed in a sitting. However after some of the hangovers I've had, drinking during the work week does not usually strike me as a great idea anymore, and in fact the thought makes me feel a little anxious/repulsed.

And honestly, I couldn't be happier about it, which is kind of funny (well to me anyway)

"Hang" in there, buddy - pun intended! You won't regret it for a second.

Hey Boo,

It's great to see some new (to me) voices popping in.

And Sanclair, I hope you're reading. I'd love to hear an update. My goal is to start getting one or more AF days in (this is week 9 for me) and so far that hasn't happened. This thread resonated with me because I went on auto-robot-pilot today about 4:30 in the afternoon, which, thankfully, is a lot earlier than usual these days, and am almost through a bottle of wine at 8:15pm, so, actually fairly slow intake. Planning to call it an early night so I don't drink more but not feeling entirely confident about that. A mildly dissapointing day is all it takes for the auto pilot to go off! I don't currently have an SO and the two cats aren't at all judgmental so I get away with a lot.

Anyhoo, both of your remarks help. Please keep posting.

Your issue sounds like mine. For what it's worth, here in week 8 for me and that control is coming easier than I've experienced at any time in my adult life I can remember. A few times I've found myself opening another beer purely out of habit or boredom rather than desire. When I'm mindful enough to pour some iced tea or something instead, it doesn't even phase me.

So you'll get there, too, if that's what you want.

I still have room to improve. I cut out about 25% of my drinking volume and would like to cut it down by another 30% or so. I was averaging a case of beer (24 bottles) a weekend. I'm currently down to 18 even with multiple social engagements, parties, etc. I'd like to get down to 10 or 12 a weekend.