Dear all
I am in my early 50s, Scottish (surprise?), professional and drink a couple of bottles of wine every night. Have done since I was about 20. I tried Baclofen (at the suggestion of the My Way Out crew), kept drinking throughout and got to 300mg per day. While I was on it I became more irritable, felt very unwell, looked sick and eventually got taken to hospital with a 190/110 blood pressure reading. I had not reduced my drinking at all throughout those three months. Anyway, I stopped the baclofen immediately and had a few months off self-help remedies.
Like most of you, I imagine, I still searched for help and tripped over TSM. I read the book, understood and believed in the extinction theory, ordered my three months supply of naltrexone from inhousepharmacy.biz (very reliable and cheap) and started taking it daily as intended, one hour before drinking. That was about five months ago.
About two months in I was down to two glasses of wine per night, no effort at all. Now I am drinking as I have always done, , take my 50mg at 4pm, get in from work at five, crack open a bottle of chardonnay with the wife, who has one glass, and open the second at 6.30. When the second is finished, a small whisky (sometimes two and sometimes not-so-small) then off to bed.
I am consciously desperate for this to work but it appears that I am doing what I did with the baclofen and somehow, unconsciously, sabotaging myself, despite feeling very sick and miserable.
Couple of questions:
-My first batch of nal was branded as Nodict from inhousepharmacy.biz. My second 3 month batch was Revia from Goldpharma. The Revia looks like the real deal but could it be fake and could that account for the ineffectiveness of the stuff?
-Is anyone in a position to advise me whether upping/doubling the dose would make a diference (I'm healthy so its more the cost than the side-effects I'm worried about).
Anyway, I look forward to your thoughts and views, comments and wisdom.
Cheers
Jockster

Have you been logging your alcohol intake?

Those who up their dose usually go to 62.5.

If you are in Scotland you should get nalmefene on the NHS.

I have never heard of anything like this before. Some people find NoDict ineffective, but ineffective Revia? That's a new one.

I guess it could be fake. I'm not familiar with that online pharmacy. Usually you can tell by visual examination, though.

This sounds like a question for the "Ask Dr. Eskapa" section. This is just weird.

Thanks for your replies and questions. No, I no longer live in the UK but I will look that one up and see if I can get a hold of it. First though, I would like to exhaust this naltrexone avenue.
The Revia I got looks very genuine, box has perforated areas and the caplettes are nicely packed. I really just wanted to know if anyone else had bought fake Revia so I could exclude that as a cause for my setback. I think I will try the suggestion of 62.5 for a while and see if it makes any difference.
As for my alcohol intake, a morning where there are not two empty bottles on the bench is noteworthy but I haven't had that experience for a couple of months now. I'll up the dose and start logging my intake again.
Again, thanks.

Hi Jockster,
Just a thought.
Do your pills have a coating?
If so, this could affect the speed at which they are absorbed.
It has been mentioned in the past and people got over this by crushing or cutting them.
Chris

They do have a coating but it dissolves in my mouth (foul taste) if I hold them there for more than 30 seconds so I suspect that they would be dissolving before they hit my stomach. I'll give it a try though. Thanks.

So far, I've ordered three batches of naltrexone. Batches 1 and 3 were Revia from Goldpharma and batch 2 was Naltima from AllDay Chemist. I haven't noticed any difference in effect between them...they all seem to be doing the job.The disgusting taste seems consistent with naltrexone.
Upping the dose does seem to work for some people, so it may be worth giving that a try.
What was the difference when you got down to two glasses a night? Has anything happened that's leading you to drink more? Are you making a concious effort to cut back? Has your response to alcohol or craving level changed at all? Did you go off drinking but are still drinking through the nal? Lots of people on here have the initial "honeymoon" period and then find their drinking levels go back up.By sticking with it, they level out and then start to go back down again. I've read people say that nal gives you a window of opportunity to cut down, but that it also takes some effort and willpower on our part...I'm still figuring that out for myself!! Based on my own expericence, I'm just wondering if there's also some emotional/habit/pavlovian attachment to drinking going on that you still need to figure out.
Ruth.

Ruthy you have just about summed me up!!


Jockster, I know someone (from Scotland) who upped her dose to 75mg's and that did the trick for her. She is under the care of Professor Chick in Edinburgh who knows of TSM. Hope that helps?

I'm heartened to hear that you think the pills are real but I can't come up with any reason for slipping back from the 2 glasses a night period. Like the rest of us, I am completely unique in my own estimation but will admit under duress or on serious self-reflection that I am as Pavlovian in my drinking habits as the next guy/organism/border collie. That doesn't explain though why TSM works for so many other hopeless, feckless cases but not me.
So I am also lazy, fatalistic, not on death's door and want this TSM to do it for me so that I don't have to behave, be aware of my self-set traps, or apply the required level of discipline to overcome the drive to continue my self-destructive habits. It is just going to fix me and therefore I don't have to take responsibility for failure, only success if it comes.
I'm sure that I'm not alone in this quest for a willpower-free cure? The alternative is unattractive because I do enjoy the distinction between 'drinking time' and 'working time' and the daily anticipation of the latter. I have now learned to look forward to getting up from my desk at 4pm for a glass of water and swallowing my pill an hour before I arrive home. And if this naltrexone dissolves the distinction and removes the evening's gateway to an alcohol-induced period of relaxation then it will, by necessity, be replaced with something else, something better or at least something without as much booze required.
I want it to work but I am willing to give it more time, take a higher dose and spend more money on the pills if it saves me from making the effort to do it through willpower. When it comes to drinking, willpower is a feeble strategy for me.
As of tomorrow I will take one and a half pills whenever required and monitor/report on my progress. Thanks again.