For what it's worth, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says this:



I mention this because I don't personally know any "normal" drinkers who drink every day. For heavy drinkers who hang around other heavy drinkers, it's easy for the idea of "normal" to get a little off kilter.

The NIAAA guideline makes sense to me. Someone who drank daily but didn't exceed the weekly limit would drink 1-2 drinks per day, which is the amount that's supposed to be good for our health. Someone who drank 4 drinks at a time would not be drinking daily, although he might drink three times a week.

I'm not trying to be a nag or a scold. Heaven knows I have no high horse to be on. I just wonder if you'd see more progress if your normal were closer to the general normal than to your family's normal.

I can tell you from personal experience that 30 in a weekend is not a good thing.

Hi Christopher

Looking at your numbers more or less halved , what great progress , I also see you are having less blackouts , I assume one reason is because you drink less but when you do drink a lot in one session do you think the nal has helped you not blacking out . Reason I ask is because I blackout a lot and hate it . Wishing you continuing success . All the best . J.

Christopher,

I'm with Melissa on this one. "Normal" is a relative term, but I do think that there has to be some baseline to measure normal against. I'm pretty sure that 30 on a weekend isn't it. I can remember taking an executive physical back to the mid 90's. One of the questions asked was how much did I drink in a week. At the time I answered the question truthfully and I was bumping up right against that limit of 14 drinks per week. The doctor spent a reasonable amount of time cautioning me about the dangers I was potentially facing. Although I was in my early 30's then and didn't think I had a serious problem, at some level I knew that I already had a problem. Over time I blew right through 14 a week. But the number 14 makes sense to me now. It was a sort of tipping point. There was a time where I drank a few beers in the evening and was done with it. After breaching that 14 threshold enough times then 30 became the new normal, then 50, and so on..... Then I started drinking solely for the effect and the numbers became meaningless.

My point is similar to Melissa's in that you might want to adjust your goals. Maybe shooting for 30 as an interim step on your way to 5 or 10 in a weekend would make sense. 30 as an end goal is probably not sustainable in the long run. It certainly isn't from a health standpoint. If you have the disease, you probably aren't going to get away with having 30 and effectively managing it, TSM or no TSM.

After 50 Weeks. Still taking Nal. I did not lose it over the holidays but didn't do so well either. Just over 2 weeks and I hit my one year mark. I see progress, just not enough. I feel changes are coming. Far from where I want to be, but getting closer.

3 AF days so far this week. Now that the holidays are over, it is become very apparent to start adding in some forced AF days. Anyway, thats my plan, closing in on the 1 year with Nal.

The graphs below tells the story. As info., the 17 unit blip at the end of the graph is this week, 2 days to go yet.

Your starting consumption was extremely high, so I'm less than completely shocked that your cure is taking longer than average. The downward trend is quite clear.

You're getting there. That's the main thing. "Slow and sure" is a lot better than "crash and burn."

Hey buddy, it's great to hear from you.

I know you are still drinking "too much." So am I. But how has it been going with those vodka pints that used to be your every day companion? I'm guessing it's better.

Guys like you and me.... We ain't Barry. We are also not some of the other fortunate folks that take five pills and are cured of their alcoholism.

Don't give up though, amigo. You are getting there. Drink Coors Light you can do this. I'm two years in and honestly still getting better

Still a happy camper in regards to no vodka or other hard booze. I've had a few temptations.

When I kicked the daily pint of vodka routine on the ride home, I switched to the barley/hops 2x4 cans of the sugary variety. Partly due to, TSM, beer just not tasting that great any more. The good news, is that these were lower alcohol content than any of my vodka mixers and were pretty filling, stopping me sooner. The bad news, these are loaded with tons of sugar and calories compared to light beer and booze with diet mixers. So I packed on a few more extra pounds.

Example Twisted Tea. 5% AC. 440 calories per can with 64 grams of carbs. Drink 2 or 3 of these?

So I'm giving those up, joining the wife on a low carb diet for the year, and most importantly, trying to squeeze in more and more AF days, and continuing my goal to not drink alone. I did have the temptation, related partly to this low carb diet, to try and switch back to booze and diet mixers. This actually was bothering me last night before leaving work. Mental debate with myself. I was close to popping the Nal and was going to grab a mini bottle and add it to some diet coke to quench the urge. My better half of my brain actually won the battle. I didn't pop the Nal, and didn't stop for anything on the way home. Making yesterday the 4th AF day this week. Nice accomplishment as I hadn't hit 4 AF days in any of the last four months, no less in a single week.

On a different note, I am becoming more comfortable saying "No, lets just stay home" and not join in on the latest drinking event, of which, there are still plenty surrounding my lifestyle.

Falling down sloppy black out drunkenness. Not happening. Over the last few months, there were a handful of times where it lead to black out type drunkenness due to not remembering conversations the next morning, however, no embarassing results or passing out cold. But since about 9 months ago, about 3 months into TSM, I think there were only 2 instances where my wife politely suggested that I don't drink as much as I did the night before. Both events were uneventful in regards to drunken sloppiness. This being different as pre TSM, this was generally a weekly suggestion she would offer up.

Drunken driving. Pretty much gone once the vodka mixers disappeared. There have been borderline events of the happy hour variety. I've been following the online BAC calculator in regards to my weight, number of beers, and a 2 hour rule for the math, to make sure I don't get to that 0.08 limit. I also have the portable breathalyzer still. Nal not only has helped with that, but also being sound enough at the end of a couples mixer, to throw the keys to the very responsible, controlled drinking, wife. In regards to happy hours with co-workers, when they do occur, and I do go home, I have found it much easier, to give in to the plate of food versus, booze for dinner. Full belly after dinner, hitting the couch, and not drinking booze the remainder of the evenings.

I still have events where I start of slow, and am close to quitting, for the evening, but let the devil win and drink through the nal and close in on 12 beverages. These are increasingly less frequent, but still exist. A lot different then 18+/- most days/evenings.

No intentions on giving up any time soon. Just the opposite. I'm sold on Nal, thinking I'm a lifer. My outlook is that I will continue to get better, and my units will continue to drop. I can't imagine stopping the Nal, and falling back into that 18+/- daily BS.

Nal for Life brother.

From 18 a day to 8 a day? That's fantastic.

Killing a bit of time at work. Looking at the obvious, I need to improve on the AF days per week. That trendline tells a lot. Overall units creeping downward slowly, but the AF days trendline is going in the wrong direction.

Thanks for the update. It's very encouraging to read your progress. It may be taking a while but who cares as long as you get there in the end. And let's be honest, how would life be if you weren't taking Nal? Sounds like a lot has changed for the better...I look forward to hearing how you're doing in a few months time.