I'm a newbie here, but I'm an old hand with NAL. After nearly fifty years of enthusiastic drinking, the last twenty five of which I was pretty much drinking against my will, I felt vanquished. Especially as my children grew up. Tried all of the usual remedies. Even Naltrexone under a Psychiatrist's supervision, without alcohol of course.

Years later I ran across TSM, read the book and the forums. I am a believer. I took that to mean I could be a success.
So, seven months ago I ordered the pills from River and started taking them religiously. Only that. Not measuring, not keeping a log, not making a conscious effort to cut down on my drinking. Counting on NAL to work it's magic with not too much effort from me.

Now, seven months later I still drink my eight ounces of Smirnoff every evening, and I look forward to it, and I can drink to a stupor. Now I don't have the nerve to try cutting back, to get a bad answer. Am I still addicted? Or is it simply (simply??!!) habit? 50 years.

My biggest question: After seven months using NAL, if I stop cold, could I go into withdrawal? Because, being an all or nothing type of person, that would be my next step.

I think I'm ready to listen.

Tell us a bit more.

Are you taking the Nal 1 hour before the morning vodka?

Keeping a log is a huge part of TSM for me. Probably Golden Rule #2. Rule #1 being the 1 hour before drinking.

In theory, the cutting back should not be necessary for the addiction part, however, cutting back probably needs to be attempted for us heavy abusers for years, to break HABITS also.

I'm 7 months in, and have kept a diligent log, and daily, my thoughts drift to making efforts to drink less today, or don't drink at all. Still more drinking days than alcohol free days. However, my log tells an awesome story. Definitely a 50% reduction in volume, closing in on 30%.

Start keeping a log and keep us posted.

Welcome to the group.

Thanks Christopher;

50% reduction in 7 months! Wow, congratulations. Going to 30%. That would be success for me even with more needing to be done. You must feel a serious sense of accomplishment. Again, congratulations.

Sorry it took so long for me to get back. There is no morning vodka. I own my own business and end work each day at 7:00 pm. Then it's pill time till 8:00 and I drink my vodka within the next 4 hours. Usually about 8 ounces. Then coast for an hour or two and off to bed. Of course it's not quite that simple or straightforward. As any alcoholic can attest, misery, regret, fear and anguish are a constant. Especially regret. So many years.

I know I need to keep a log but I have been trying to avoid it. I'm pretty sure my drinking hasn't diminished since I started TSM in Feb. 13. I know; without a log...... At least now I more often wait until I'm home to start instead of starting to drink and then driving the 5 blocks to home.

I want to just stop. After eight months, maybe I can try that without the risk of withdrawal. That has me really worried.
I don't have a doc I can consult with. I've been getting my nal from River Pharmacy (nodict). Do you know if it's reliable?

I have a couple more questions. Sorry to put it on you, but I'm new here and any help or direction would be great.
1. Should I be posting in another forum besides new folks?
2. If I'm gonna do a log, I need to understand units. Are there any standards?

Thank you so much for your first reply.

Gary

My opinion, It doesn't matter to me where someone posts on the forum. When I log in, I click on "View active topics", and I really don't pay attention to where the posts started. However, there is a section specifically for "Weekly Progress", if you wanted to start a new post.

http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/scol/ccalcoh3.htm

Link to a unit calculator above. 8 ounces of 40% vodka is 5.33 USA units. (However, if your buying a "half pint", it is actually 200ml which is 4.51 USA units.)

So if your only drinking 4.5 units a day, thats not as bad as my situation has been. I had fallen in the Pint a day on the way home with more beer and vodka after getting home. ("A Pint" is actually a 350ml bottle, or 7.89 USA units.) I gave up the vodka, pints, half pints, etc. several months ago, and only go for Beer, or flavored Beer/Malt Beverages. That combined with Nal combined a good for the majority of my reduction in numbers. I still got a long way to go.

My opinion, the logging of units is a big part of TSM. It can be depressing, forcing yourself to review your consumption, but I need to do it.

Regarding withdrawals. Over the last 10 years, daily drinking, I noticed that if I somehow could take a day off, I would get the nighttime sweats. That would be if I had 6 or less. Now on days that I only have a few or go AF, I no longer get the sweats. So that is another positive TSM has brought me with the reduction in numbers.

There is the info. out there, regarding severe withdrawals causing seizures or strokes, however, everything I have read, states that is an extreme and rare outcome.

River Pharmacy, I have never uses. Several months ago, a couple of users thought that the nodict they got seemed ineffective, however, weeks later, others commented that it seemed effective again. I have always ordered from Alldaychemist.

Chris

Gary, are you a big guy? It could be that the standard 50 mg dose is not enough for you. Dr. Eskapa reports that some people have better success with 75 mg. I realize that naltrexone is potentially toxic to the liver, but so is alcohol, and if you are only consuming 5-6 units per day (and have handled being an alcoholic for 50 years) then you probably not taxing your liver that badly. Obviously, I am not a doctor, so take what I say with skepticism.

A big part of TSM is that you need to achieve the full blockade of receptors in your brain so that you don't get that positive feedback from drinking. The 1-hour delay is important, but so is making sure that you have enough medication in your system. On 50 mg I could just keep drinking until I got close to double digits and it would eventually start to break through the blockade. I am now increasing my dose slowly and finding that it is almost impossible to drink through it. I weigh about 180 lbs.

Also, I believe in Eskapa's book it said 200MG was the dosage that could start causing liver problems, right? Interesting thought Ives, I'm 220/6'0. I wonder if I should bump to 75MG. Is there any other discussions on it?