Wow melissa, you've been busy! I like the flowchart...an interesting idea. I guess my feedback is a bit like Kerri's. It's the "is your drinking significantly different" part. I don't know how to answer that. It is in that I don't get drunk when I take nal and alcohol, I don't want to drink anywhere near as much and most importantly I find my brain telling me after a couple "I've had enough" without any concious effort on my part. But, my reaction isn't "no joy", it's not an unpleasant reaction when drinking and the wine doesn't taste like vinegar. For me, at the moment, I still like wine and get a different level of enjoyment out of it but the switch which said "have more" has been turned off....the switch that says "have some" is still in the on position.
I don't know what it is with wine drinking...why do the wine drinkers take longer? Does it just taste nicer than spirits and beer? For me, I think it's because it's also linked with food and maybe that means there's a more deep seated addiction at work. I really only drink with a meal. If I'm drinking outside of a mealtime (say whilst playing cards with friends) they'll be snacks and I'll drink whilst eating them. It's very rare for me to drink and not eat...but I'm starting to think that I'm a special case!!
This wasn't in your flowchart but I also wanted to comment on what you said in your blog about pregnancy and how you'd lost the desire for alcohol. I never experienced that. I didn't drink when pregnant or breastfeeding, but I still wanted to. It wasn't quite whiteknuckling as I knew that alcohol would be harmful and so I could pacify my brain with that somehow, but throughout I was looking forward to the day when I could have a glass of wine again. I wonder what, if any, significance that might have?
Keep up the good work and thanks for all the effort
Ruth