Hi all,

Very glad to be here. Won't get into the nitty gritty of my history, but only to say that I'm 22 and this summer was a breaking point for me with my alcohol use. 4-day binges and day drinking just to fight off the effects. Alcoholism runs in my family and the voice in my head that I needed to stop became too loud.

My living circumstances would simply not be a good environment for me to go totally sober, so after waiting a few weeks for a meeting with a doctor who had the certification to prescribe this for me, I got my prescription for generic Naltrexone the first week of September.

Flash forward to November - I would love to say that I'm 60 days into the program, but I'm just starting. I took my first dose about a week after receiving my prescription and it worked immediately. No zing from the alcohol and I cut myself off at two drinks. That night however, I laid awake in bed until 4am, and the next day I felt loopy, I had zero appetite, and I wanted to cry the whole time. It was enough to turn me off from taking it again until two weeks later, after which I had a similar experience. After that, I put my plans to start on hold.

Now in November, I'm finally coming to terms with the mental side of letting alcohol go from my life. Its not as big of a problem as it was for me this summer, but its about 40 units a week. Last night I took my my first dose, and tonight will be my first consecutive two-night dosage.

My first big step is taking it this week and just prepping for the side effects. I've read that it takes about a week for your body to adjust, so I am going to tough it out. I have some sleeping aids and protein shakes to help deal with the side effects. I'm also exercising, which should help.

Anyways, very glad to be here, I feel like this medicine is a true gift and I am a believer that it will work for me in conjunction with therapy. Tips are appreciated for side effects and how to deal with it my first week.

I hear you. For many of us there is a grieving process. I too am having trouble with the idea that I'll never again be drunk -- I'm willing to live with it, but that doesn't mean I like it 100%.

Good luck with your sleep. It can be a real struggle. It's one of several reasons why I plan to be basically AF once the cure is done -- there's little point in drinking without the high, and I don't need yet another cause of insomnia.

Keep us posted.

Hello and welcome,

Sounds like you had a tough time of it on your first two tries...let's hope it will be easier this time around. Are you starting on 25mgs? The general advice is to start at 25mgs for a few days and work up from there. If that's too much then drop to 12.5 and slowly go up from there...this worked for me. I also took an over the counter anti sickness tablet which really helped.Be prepared that you might feel quite tired and "spacey" at first but for most people the side effects wear off fairly quickly.

I think that for those of us with an emotional attachment to alcohol (as in we drink not just for the effect but also as a way of dealing with thoughts, feelings, emotions etc) there is a period of adjustment. Sometimes it can take a while and it helps to be prepared for that too.

Good luck.

Ruth.

Hi Nk

Welcome aboard , just as Ruthy said I started with 12.5 for 3 days 25 mg for 3 or 4 more nights then up to 50 mg , I also took a stomach tablet , motillium . the 1st three nights I had sleep problems ie waking up constantly but after that I had no other side effects . All the best.

J.

Welcome nk2010!

I didn't have bad side effects with Nal, other than horrible hangovers when I drank too much on Nal, so I don't have any advice other than to hang in there!

Thanks for the encouraging replies. Starting off with a quarter (12.5) has been going well and I will bump it up to 1/2 tomorrow for a few days.

Good to hear.

Are you tracking your consumption? You might not see much effect while you're still on such a low dose, but then again you might.

Yep I'm going to start tracking via units. Difficult since my M.O. was eyeballing poorly mixed drinks/drinking wine out of a bag. Ready to move on from that!

Still definitely a decreased urge to drink on a lower dose, bumping it up to 1/2 tonight.

1/2 has definitely been less gentle, although I can't say how much is alcohol withdrawal and how much is adapting to the naltrexone. I am drinking significantly less, but eating only one meal a day. I didn't drink last night just so I could have a break from it and I'm feeling good this morning, appetite seems to have returned to normal. I'm out of town so my exercise options are limited, which would be my first step to boosting it. Not sure how to approach tonight and tomorrow.

"less gentle" in what way? Are you feeling nauseous? Like Jokerman I took a Motillium (Domperidone) which I got over the counter and it really worked for me.