But of course its not a magic pill and takes some will power of your own which I have NONE of so here I go again for the second time, I gave up after 9 months because I was still drinking to the same level as though I was stuck and my drinking pattern simply adopted the taking of naltrexone as part of my habitual routine, it took about two weeks for me to start feeling the unblocked buzz again I actually began to wonder if it would ever come back, I felt great not having that naltrexone dullness that you get...problem is now when I drink I have even less self control then I had before and it was pretty bad before! so Naltrexone works! Im feeling pretty fragile and kind of a failure at this point so I was hoping if anyone else tried and failed a few times and had more success next time round, and if so their experience, and time frame of change.

Cheers fellow peeps.

I just want to say welcome back and well done for making the decision to try again. Don't tell yourself that you have no willpower...being able to consistently take your Nal before drinking for 9 months shows that you must have some! There are lots of people on this board who have tried TSM more than once so you're not alone. This gives you the chance to learn from your previous experience and you'll be going into it with a better understanding of the process. I hope it works out well for you. Stick with it and let us all know how you get on.
Ruth.

Good luck on your second time around!

Thanks guys I appreciate your words of encouragement and Ruthy your right it does take will power to take that pill which you know is going to completely destroy the whole reason for drinking, Im astounded that despite that i still keep drinking, I swear my brain says "REALLY, you going to drink more, WHATS THE POINT", I've heard the words many times it slows the train enough to jump off, Im afraid that will never happen to me since i continue despite the lack of enjoyment, I guess thats where more will power is needed.

I think that willpower does come into it and as you say it's not just a "magic pill" that does all the work for you.However, I don't think it's just a question of willpower alone. Once the Nal starts to work and the urge to drink diminishes, I think it's also important to look at any underlying reasons that may be making you want to drink rather than need to drink. Now that the twitchy "wine o'clock" feeling has gone,TSM has given me the chance to take a long hard look at why I still want to drink. I've realised that I often drink out of habit or as a knee jerk response to my emotions.I think I'm now in the phase of TSM where I'm slowly unlearning these conditioned responses and am making changes...slowly but surely! As time goes on, and the Nal stops the craving again, you'll be in a position to slow the train down. Maybe not enough at first to jump straight off, but enough for you to be able to see and understand what keeps you onboard the train. Once you know that and change it, you'll be able to jump off. This is a fresh start, so try to approach it without beating yourself up for not sticking with it first time round. It'll be different this time.
Ruth.

I just went through the wining hr... as in me drinking wine to dull the kids whining about being put to bed! lol except I didn't drink tonight and nothing was dulled which made me realise why I drink! Once again great advice Ruthy and encouraging too thank you, I was wondering how long you've been on TSM? I know I have some underlying issues that I need to address, I guess it comes with the territory, for a while now I've convinced myself that its just easier to except that I drink a lot then try and address it seriously, when I started on TSM and continued drinking a lot I became really disheartened and felt like nothing would work for me, the other night I got drunk and acted like an absolute moron and once against realised I will never ever like myself unless I get some sort of grip on this addiction, well at least keep trying anyway, I look at those mothers, you know the ones that have two glasses of wine and move onto a cup of tea, they then drive there husbands home and put there children to bed and wake up in the morning without a hangover and find myself thinking I can't even imagine not having a hangover after a social gathering with friends, I just hate being this way so out of control all the time over my own life. Its time to take control back though and I feel different this time really different in fact, I've never been so over myself in my life.

I've been doing TSM for 16 weeks now and this is my first attempt at it. For quite a while I had known that I had a problem with drinking but had never managed to give up using willpower alone. I'd been having some sessions with a counsellor before starting TSM (not specifically for alcohol problems, more as a result of a general feeling of unhappiness with life) and had already started to understand some of what makes me tick. This has been really helpful in helping me see and understand my triggers, habits and conditioned responses in relation to booze. If I don't change some of these what will I do when the booze is gone? The emotions, thoughts and triggers will still be there. If I don't sort out the underlying problems then I'll go back to the vino to help me cope with them. I'm not saying that it's the same for you, but that's how it is for me.


Before I started I couldn't either, but I now find myself turning into one of those annoying two glasses of wine and a cup of tea mothers that you describe!! Wipe the slate clean, start anew and in time you'll get there too.