Ruthy,

It's great to see your progress. I'm a little further ahead of you and definitely fall into the same camp as you. Had an initial honeymoon with a big reduction and then it has been ever so slow, gradual progress with intermittent set backs. I'm going through one right now. Units are up over the last few weeks and I'm sitting on the couch watching football and really want a drink on Sunday afternoon. I know how those can be so frustrating, but the overall trend is down. And I will go with an overall 80% success rate any day! Have a great week!

Update for weeks 21 to 23

Like most people I have been really busy in the run up to Christmas and so I haven't updated for 3 weeks. I have been on here reading posts and keeping up with everyone's progress though.

I've no figures for week 21 as I lost my phone which has my unit counter app on it with all my totals. I'm guessing it was about 25. Week 22 was 26 units with 1 AF and week 23 was 32UK units with no AF days.

My drinking has been higher and I've had less AF days. Although I'm not happy about this I'm not floored by it either. There's been a whole series of events, nights out, relatives visiting and parties going on...all of which have involved drinking. Not major amounts of drinking but enough to push my unit count up. I'm ok with it as at all of them I was able to moderate my drinking.There will quite a few more events coming up over the next few weeks so I've decided to go with the flow until the new year and all goes quiet again. Maybe in the new year, I will give myself a kick up the behind and knuckle down to some serious alcohol reduction. I'm not a million miles away from my goal of being within the healthy drinking range. Ideally I'd like to go AF Monday to Thursday and just drink a few glasses of wine over the weekend. I know it's do-able and I'm coming round to the idea that I've got to put some effort into it myself. I had hoped that the Nal would take away the wanting to drink, but I find it's still there. It's weaker, and it's no longer a need, but it's still there. 23 weeks in and I still like to drink. I haven't yet got to the indifferent state. Am I disappointed? Yes, a bit. If I'm honest, I had hoped to be on the cured list by now. I haven't had the really strong aversion effects from the Nal that melissa1928 or sideeffect2 has experienced. It hasn't snapped that cord in me as it did for them. But I'm trying not to be influenced by other people's experiences and accept that all our journeys are unique. The more I read on here the more I see that we're all different in our responses to TSM. Some time ago I wrote this...



By comparing myself to them I became quite dispondent and felt like giving up. Having seen Buenavista, DoTheWork and BarryB all back on here in the last few weeks I'm glad I decided not to be too influenced by what they had to say. I'm going to keep plugging away and see what 2014 brings.

Good luck to you all and happy holidays.

You know what? I'm a little envious of you because you (apparently) can still enjoy alcohol. If you had that "about as much fun as drinking radiator fluid" experience, then -- yeah, you'd make faster progress towards abstinence. You'd also lose the pleasure of alcohol. You wouldn't really be "cured" in the sense of being able to drink alcohol normally as long as you took the nal.

You're still within the normal range of time for a cure.



This is what I need to tell myself if I ever start thinking that I could have a Ruthy experience if I just took nal with the first one, just to enjoy those first couple . . . .

Ruthy, you're great, and you have made a lot of progress. Okay, you're not done yet, but so what? If one person recovers from pneumonia in three days and another takes three weeks, we don't think that the first person is somehow a better person. Luckier, maybe, but not better. We can't all be lucky at everything, and you're lucky in a different way.

Ruthy: Are you waiting the full hour every time?

Im starting to think this should be part of everyone's log. Time nal taken and time of first drink.

It's not that hard to know whether or not it's been an hour.

Unless you forget to look at a clock when you take the pill, I guess. In that case logging might remind someone to check the time.

melissa, thanks for your post. Sometimes the grass does seem greener on the other side! This whole process just doesn't seem as cut and dried as it first seemed and it's sometimes a bit frustarting. But hey...even when my numbers are up, they're still way down from when I started.


Thanks for the reminder

sideeffect2, yes I always take it and wait the hour. In the past, I've had a few slip ups on the golden rule but not anymore. My current increase is just from the frequency of the social events going on at this time of year. I haven't drunk too much at any of them....there's just been so many! Of course, if I was further along I could go and not drink, but I'm not at that stage yet.

Ruthy,

I have definitely fallen into the trap of looking at the differences of others on this board. The progress that seems to have come so easily to some has been a bit discouraging, so it is great to hear that another member has fallen into that trap. It's not great that you fell into the trap, but you know what I mean. I think your attitude over the holidays to go with the flow is very healthy. Especially since you haven't had any troubling episodes of over indulgence. There's no sense in fighting it right now. Just adhere to the rules and let the process do it's work. Maybe on the other side of the New Year you will reach that next level and be where you want to be.

I agree. Go with the flow and things will calm down after the new year. I'm counting on that for myself as well, for my drinking and my low carb diet!

Time for another update and things are looking good

I did as I said, and went with the flow over Christmas and New Year. My drinking was up due to the sheer number of social events. Also we had family staying with us for a week which meant lots of drinking...lunchtimes and evenings. However, I always took my Nal and followed the one hour golden rule. There were two occassions when I didn't top during a prolonged session and with hindsight I really should have done. Since starting TSM I haven't had any "can't remember" episodes, but on those two nights I did. I know that I didn't do or say anything that I regretted and I didn't embarass myself in any way, but there were chunks of conversations that I couldn't remember clearly the next day. I really hate that feeling, so it's been quite good to have a little reminder of what that feels like...I used to have it nearly every day. I didn't count my units over the holidays, so I'm going to have to put question marks in my count. I know my intake was high, but I also know it was nothing compared to last Christmas.

After the festivities were over I took a week or so to regroup and gave myself a much needed kick up the arse. This last week has been great and I'm feeling positive and very much in control. One thing that I've been struggling with for a while is my association between food and wine. There are so many meals that I just can't imagine eating without having a glass of wine with them. After I've eaten, the wine craving has gone and I don't drink any more but there is something about certain foods (not just spicy ones) that sparks a real Pavlovian reaction. The voice saying "have a drink" gets really loud, even in the afternoon as I start planning what to have for dinner. I've been trying to understand why this is and have gone over and over it a thousand times. I've got all sorts of theories and ideas as to why this may be, but during the arse kicking episode I just decided...it doesn't matter why. I've got to stop driving myself mad trying to understand the why and just accept that it is what it is. Once I accept that, I can do something about it. So, a bit of an Oprah lightbulb moment!

I've now given up the endless why and have decided on a strategey to do something about it. I've made a list of all the foods that spark the "gotta have a glass of white with that" and a list of all the "nah...water goes better" meals. This past week, Monday to Thursday I've cooked from the water list and without any difficulty I've had 4AF days. It's made a huge difference to my intake and it hasn't been hard. I'm still having the "wine" foods at the weekend with a glass of vino. It may be that in the future I cut them out at the weekend too, but for now I'm staying present and enjoying things as they are.

I know that I'm one of the few people who have the food/wine thing going on, but I'm guessing it's a bit like breaking any habit or association that we might have about alcohol. By putting in some concious effort to changing things up, I've been able to see some really tangible results. Long may it continue....luckily, I'm not sick of the sight of baked beans just yet

Week 27 total UK units 11 4AF

Things are looking up indeed! I'm so happy for you Ruthie. You seem to have landed on a strategy that makes sense for you. Congratulations - you're making great progress in the New Year!