I guess this question is really for all the long time TSMers who've managed to get past the drinking out of habit stage... but also for anyone who has any bright ideas or knowledge that can shine a light on this for me.

I've noticed that a lot of us who've been at this for a while talk about breaking the habits and associations around our drinking but I'm wondering how this can best be achieved.

For some people drinking has a really strong association with watching sports, being around certain people or being in particular situations but I'm finding that I get a big craving around certain foods. I know it sounds a bit ridiculous, but bear with me while I give an example. Over here we have a chain of pizza restaurants called Pizza Express. I can remember going there when I first started work and having a pizza and a glass of wine. For over 30 years I've been eating their pizzas and have always had a glass of wine with it...that's a lot of reinforcement! They now sell them to cook at home and I was recently going to have one for lunch. Almost as soon as I thought about cooking it I had a really strong Pavlovian reaction for a drink. I could almost feel the area in my brain light up!! I really had to fight the feeling and force myself not to pour a glass of vino ( I even told myself that if I started eating it and couldn't resist I'd have a glass without the Nal as I didn't have time to wait the hour). I know that if I was having a ham sandwich or eggs on toast there wouldn't have been a problem as I don't have any association with them and wine. I know I could just stop eating pizza...or any of the other foods that I have this type of reaction to...but to my mind this isn't just about avoiding things. Should sports fans no longer watch a game if it sparks their urges? Ideally I'd like to get to the point of breaking these associations. But how??

On the one hand, Eskapa says to drink as you normally would and in the situations that you normally would to allow for extinction but others on here say that you have to put in some effort and force yourself out of those habits.Should I fight the urges and eventually they will fade away or should I try and extinguish them by taking the nal (maybe at a higher dose for the worst offenders) and hoping that eventually I'll get to the point when the association between them is broken? I know this isn't really life or death stuff but it's really proving to be a sticking point for me.

Has anyone out there got through this stage? Is anyone else in the same boat? Any thoughts? Advice? Suggestions?

(Just to make it clear...I'm not obsessed with pizza )

Ruth.

Yum, I love pizza.



I prefer the path of least resistance so if it were me, I'd keep drinking for extinction in those situations rather than struggling. I think the whole point of this is for it not to be a struggle. I haven't bought into the idea that I need to force myself out of habits (yet). Maybe people are impatient for extinction to be complete so they come up with idesa to usher it along. Alcoholics are know to have control issues!

Just some thoughts, not really sure yet. I have a few situations where I can't imagine not drinking, like my recent get together with friends, but did see changes in my behavior, and figure my behavior will continue with time and increased extinction. Stay tuned....

Hi Ruthy
I am not a long time TSMer not yet
But I have had the same struggle with food and tv sports those will all pass in time.
but your right its just habbit and you can work on those and when you get pasted
them you will not have those cravings anymore or even think about it anymore.
The ones you will always struggle with is the parties that everyone around you is
drinking and getting drunk at. So just try having coffee ,tea ,pop when eating that
pizza before you know it you will forget about the wine. I have adjusted to all of
those habbits and that all they are is habits . TSM or not if you want to drink like
a social drinker some of the alcoholic habbits have to go.and most of them will go
with out any real effort. I believe TSM will remove most of your craving for alcohol
but it cant remove your view on pizza and wine or sports and wine. I think your on
the right track by questioning those habits.

I hope I was helpful

There are "regular drinker" tricks which can help you limit consumption without feeling deprived or struggling. The most common is to alternate glasses of water without alcoholic drinks. You don't have to tell anyone what you're doing; you can just say you're thirsty. That provides its own higher-level sort of "extinction," as you learn that you can get buzzed without getting drunk and still have a good time that way.

I don't drink in social situations, so I have no real experience of this. I'm just theorizing from reading other stories here.

Interesting post, Ruth.

FWIW I imagine I shall still have a bottle of Peroni next time I'm at Pizza Hut - providing I have had my Nal!

Thanks everyone for the responses. Am still pondering the best course of action.

I guess if I were a smoker and trying to give up I might use the nicotine patches but I would avoid standing outside with the smokers...meaning that I'd avoid the situations that trigger the craving. On the other hand I've bought into the idea of extinction and for me that means that I don't have to avoid alcohol realted things as I'll get to a point that there won't be any triggers. Then I wonder if I'm expecting too much of the Nal?...or is it just too early? Mmm...questions!questions!

I'm fairly sure I read somewhere that the centres in the brain that get the reward from alcohol also get rewared by food (particularly carbs and sugar). I guess that's why we comfort eat. So maybe that's why it's proving so hard as I'm fighting the double whammy of carbs and booze.

We'll see.

I dont know that i could have quit without ice cream. I tapered off that now though.

I put myself in plenty of drinking situations, but mentally, I was apart from it. In my head, I gave up on the nal dream (normal social drinker) and accepted my new lot - abstinent, but not judgemental, former drinker. Initially, it was "drying out for an indefinite period of time", because who can argue with that?

I made it a point to not trip peoples "im not an alcoholic" defenses, because most of the drinkers i know drink more than i did. If i had a problem, then they had a problem, you know?