I am a daily drinker...1 bottle of wine per day since 9/11. Yes..I live in the NYC area and had many people that I know effected by that date. Including my husband and my father. They are both fine, at least physically! I have a wonderful marriage. 3 great children, the youngest has down syndrome....which ended up being a blessing to our lives!
Ok. I digress...since march 2013 I have turned into a bottle of red wine per night drinker. I totally suck! I start at dinner and stay up late drinking! I HATE myself for it. I am also a breast cancer survivor (2005 was finished with chemo and radiation...took tamoxifen for 5 years had a 2 year holiday and started Arimidex in Jan. of 2013)...The recommended alcohol consumption for women is 7 drinks per week. I can do that in one night! I am so embarrassed and hide my drinking with the exception of one friend who is also a drinker. OK.. so now my issue....I started TSM on Wednesday, 8/28. Pre TSM I was 35 drinks per week (which means 1 bottle of red wine per night). I suffered severe nausea and loopiness my first week on the nal. It was awful. That went away after about 5 days and now I suffer from sleep deprivation. When I am asleep I suffer from very vivid dreams (kind of like chemo!) My first week on the nal was as follows: Days 1-3 5 drinks per day...day 4 was 2, day 5 was 1.5, day 6 was 2, day 7 was 1, days 8 & 9 were 2 each. Today is day 10. I took the nal when I thought would be 1 hour before drinking, but it was really 2.5 hours prior. I have now drank MORE than I did pre nal. i am over my bottle. I am very scared!!! And I also feel like a total loser!!! I am in my self-loathing place ! What should I do???? Is the nal not working anymore????? I really hate what I've become! Any feedback would be appreciated! Maybe I should just check myself into a rehab center????????

Thanks in advance for your help@
spbx

pre nal - 35 drinks per week
seek 1: 5,5,5,2,1.5,2
week 2: 2,2,7

spbx,

I can relate to your 9/11 story.... and my drinking increased and stayed up after that tragic event. Sounds like you have been and are going through a lot.

OK, so a couple of things. Since you didn't say we'll assume you are taking the full 50mg of Nal. If you've read other posts here you will see that people have a wide range of reactions when first taking Nal but almost always these reactions go away within the first week, two or worst case three. The nausea, trouble sleeping and dreams are very common. Some reduce their dosage to 25mg or as low as 12.5mg in the beginning just to reduce the side affects then build back up to the 50mg as tolerated.

The golden rule is Nal + 1hr if you are going to drink - never deviate from this rule! However waiting to drink past the hour is ok (your 2.5 hour wait was ok). I generally take another Nal if I'm going to be/continue drinking after 5 hours (this doesn't happen very often since I am quite capable of doing all the damage in the first few hours!).

Did you notice any changes in how alcohol affected you after starting the Nal? Like was the "rush" or "buzz" reduced or never achieved? While drinking on the Nal did you ever think/feel that you could take or leave that next glass of wine?

TSM is a gradual process taking many, many, many months. In a nut shell the idea is to deprive your brain from the good feeling (the rush/buzz) alcohol delivers. So your brain craves alcohol less. You drink less. You repeat this process over time - And eventually you can decide to abstain or your're comfortable with a much lower alcohol consumption. You should read all the posts here and get the Eskapa book, Second Edition, so you have a solid TSM foundation.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cure-Alcoholi ... alcoholism

It's also very common for a drastic reduction in drinking not to occur from day one of taking Nal, in fact, it's rare that this happens. I notice you have 2's in week 1 and 2 - that's a huge reduction in drinking on those days!

Next - you're not a looser! Based on your brief story I'd say you are already a winner and finding TSM and deciding to get with the program only tells me you want to change your relationship with alcohol and you have the strength and fortitude to do it!

Lastly - I feel the tension as 9/11 approaches. Every year since that horrible event I would drink more in the days prior and especially on 9/11. I would start drinking at 8am while watching the moment by moment repeat on NY television - I mentally relive that day hour by hour and the feelings are as real today as they were on that day 12 years ago. I'm going to try (I hope I can do this) to break that pattern this Wednesday by going to Eagle Rock to pay my respect instead of cracking open a bottle of wine at 8am. I think I have the strength to do that this year. If I don't I'll be taking my Nal and hoping for the best.

Hang in there spbx!

Rich

Welcome! I am just starting my 3rd week and I was alarmed when I drank so much last Saturday and had a horrible hangover the next day, worse than I've had without Nal in a while. I didn't beat up on myself as much because I am looking at it as part of the process (and hoping it is).

I've beat up on myself over my drinking but learning about TSM and the whole opioid thing has helped me to make sense of the crazy cravings and crazy behavior that result from them. I relate to what you say but insist you are not a loser! Hang in there!

Welcome, spbx.

The most important piece of advice I can offer is to have patience. The Sinclair method is not an overnight cure. It is very common for people starting TSM to experience what we call the "honeymoon" period immediately after starting where your consumption drops dramatically for a week or two. And then it goes right back up to where it was before, or even a bit higher. Don't be discouraged by this. As Rich said, TSM is a long, drawn-out process that typically takes several months. A lucky handful of folks report an unusually quick success story within just a month or two, but for the vast majority, it takes a long time. The whole idea behind TSM is to slowly train your brain away from the motivation to drink. It may take six months, or a year, or even longer. But the evidence seems to show that TSM does work as long as you stick with it and don't give up prematurely because it's not working as fast as you had hoped.

It took a long time to program your brain into drinking as much as you do. Reversing that programming will not come overnight. TSM can do what you need it to do, but you'll need to be patient.

Not sure about the rest, but vivid dreams and increased alcohol consumption following a traumatic event are symptoms of PtSD. If that is the case, it can be dealt with seperately. Anywways just a thought.

SPBX,

I can only enthusiastically agree with everyone else.

You're not a loser! You've had great early success - but not every day will be a 2!

You've had a tremendous amount on your plate - and now you're seeking help to get even healthier - so congratulate yourself on that, and be kind and patient with yourself. As others have said, it's a longtime, lifelong process, and you're just barely starting out.

Take care and I'll look forward to hearing more about your journey.
Sheryl

Thank you all so much for your encouragement! It is so much appreciated!
I always beat up on myself for my drinking and now that I am proactively trying to stop it I felt like such a loser when I went off the deep end. The good news is that the next night I only had 1 small drink of wine. That made me happy. But today, I am on #3. I need to go to bed so I won't drink!!!
Again, thank you so much for the support!
Spbx

Pre TSm - 35 drinks per week
Week 1: 5,5,5,2,1.5,2,1
Week 2: 2,2,8,1,3