Hi everyone. I am checking in again and adding myself to the Cured List.

Yes I AM CURED.
The Sinclair Method has been a life saver and I am so thankful.
I honestly was in the pits of despair under the grip of daily drinking, endless smoking, cutting myself and slowly loosing my friends and family aswell as my health.
I was very close to no longer giving a rats ass, drowning in my own anger and sadness.

I started taking Naltrexone on 10th July 2013, I stopped drinking daily on the 7th of November.
I allowed myself a bottle of sherry and a bottle of port over the Christmas period. I drank like a normal person would and did not end up drunk or misbehaving.
I skipped having any alcohol on New Years Eve as I honestly didnt feel like any.
Last night I had 2 glasses of Sherry with 3 cigarettes and the experience was just meh... I never finished the 3rd glass as my head was killing me.
I can't believe I use to poison myself daily smoking and drinking.

I honestly have no desire for another glass or a cigarette ever again.
Concentrating now on rebuilding my health. Avoiding sugar ( that is addicting and health destroying too), eating lots of natural healthy food, forcing myself to eat liver to help rebuild my depleted vitamins ( B12 especially) and I'm joining up with yoga classes, getting a gym membership and I am up most weekends at 3am to go kayaking.

Life is good, no , its great =)
The friends who are true friends are back in my life. No they couldnt help me but thats ok. I had to help myself.
My kids are happy that I am back and beat this. ( though i dont think they are too thrilled with the liver being snuck into their meals)
My mother says she will never forgive me and wont speak to me ever again. Hopefully oneday she will be able to, however she does have her own demons and I understand that I was too harsh with some of my "truths". Unfortunately she did experience the brunt of my anger when I was at my lowest point. My father still denies what he did to me, my brothers dont wish to know and avoid me. So there is no perfect ending. However I am learning to cope now with this without alcohol. Its time to heal.

This method is so simple and it works!
(I usually dont agree with taking pills. Infact I refused putting my daughter on anti-depressants. I am suspicious of medication. What I like about this method is I only take the pill if I am going to drink, its not a life long crutch)

Goodluck to everyone.

Congratulations. I'm very happy for you. I remember your first post and it was very moving. You've come such a long way and I've no doubt that life will continue to get better for you.
Ruth.

Woohoo! Another success!

Congratulations.

Hi Zodina

Congratulations on your success and your continuing healing

All the best . J.

zodina, congratulations. It's amazing, isn't it, how quitting alcohol opens up so many doors that were closed before. I always thought of my life as a wheel, with the spokes being things like "friends," "exercise," "sex," etc... When alcohol is at the center of the wheel, all those things are impacted negatively.

This is a good point. When alcohol is removed from the center, what do we put there instead?

Hi Zodina and congrats!!

I was just lurking here after being away since the summer and saw your 'cured' post. I'm so very happy for you!! My journey has been a bumpy one but I'm on the right track now. I may start posting again just to feel all the wonderful vibe that happens here.

dothework

I always thought of my life as a wheel, with the spokes being things like "friends," "exercise," "sex," etc... When alcohol is at the center of the wheel, all those things are impacted negatively.

that is so so so true

***edit*** the wheel turns and repeats and sometimes it gets no where. Actually no, a wheel and me does not get along.. lol but hey i did get what you mean.
just a few less spokes.. or in my case too many spokes .. ( sorry playing on words.. i should have spoke less like i always use to do)
unfortunately i have to report i have had a wee relapse.

stupid me decided i was strong and didnt need a "crutch"
i guess the word cured has to be used carefully

having said this though.. yes naltrexone does work.

i know that i ran ahead of the lesson now. Dont STOP the naltrexone. no matter how "cured" you think you are =)

gah addiction is hard hey. and its bloody sneaky lol

every one of you on this forum is a fighter.. every one of you is struggling to survive. You must be.. you are here on a forum willing to take some pill that most doctors wont advise and a method not many family members or friends see sense in...
you are all amazing people

Fortunely this slip up is just that.. I know the plan now.. and will try again to follow it. Its not infallible cause well humans are involved. But it will get me through this next few months.. Take the pill jo.. take that pill
You see, I have a huge trigger in my life happening right now. ( my little brother who i havent seen for 30 years is coming to australia in 6 weeks time. I made that happen.. But I had to make that happen in a horrible way.. one of the reasons why my mother will now never speak to me again.. ever.. its been two years.. and yes i know her.. heck she didnt talk to her youngest son for 30 years.. so yes its that big with her. I risked it all to get this to happen. I would love love love to see him.. hes never left my mind. I was going to give him half of my inheritance ( which obviously I dont have now cause i am the big baddie). But I cant .. I have to hold back and be the bad rumour.. I have to play my part and be the drunk no hope sister. So he can give his mum his own chance or help to find himself through seeing her again. For after all .. that is his mother.. father/mother our two biggest psychological basis..... what is one persons trash is anothers treasure.. ouch ok that was harsh, i love my mum so much .. I have tried for years to do it the gentle way and i kid you not.. but there was no way my mother was going to forgive her 12 year old son for dobbing her in for having an affair.. shes the victim so badly that she had to blame an innocent. The only way through that mentally was to sacrifice myself by making me the focal point of her anger, excuses and her own guilt.. and now the challenge is to stay sacrificed. Sounds awfully nobel hey but err its hard to live through, to stay silent. My own selfish desires battle with me. He wont be visiting me. I am only 2 hours away and no longer half a world away. But I wont get to see him. No I cant contact him and give my side of the story .. because I want him to have a chance to be loved by her.. his mother, or a chance to find his own love for her. Any involvement from me would only mess that up. He needs to see what he sees.. Maybe my view is messed up.. after all i am an alcoholic, hey .. lol Heck hes got enough already really .. abandonment. He doesnt need me to come into the picture with all the next 30 years it took me to learn.. gah but it hurts. )
Anyway soooo
lol
Naltrexone does work. It can and does stop that addiction.. but it doesnt fill that hole. The need.. the thing you were trying to obliterate.. It can be scarey when it comes back in full force no matter how busy you tried to make yourself with fitness, clean living, choose a job, choose a career, choose a washing machine, a family, compact disc players and electrical tin openers... choose life.. Thats something naltrexone doesnt do.

Sorry to turn the original motivational post of a cure.. to something negative..
I hope at least these embarrassing few words help you to understand that the journey is still there. We still have to put in the hard work. But at least with Naltrexone it helps to take away the obvious doom of no hope, all engines failed. Its no longer the slow sad suicide of all control being taken away. Naltrexone did and will once again help me to regain control. Where i fly and land that plane is still a hard choice i have to make.
I would actually right now like to delete this .. but i wont. I think it might help others.. especially when i see people post and ask where are the many people who are cured? where are the many people who only made a few posts? I might not be a 100 percent succcess story going on tv and motivating the masses.. I would never want to be that.. Just as people who jog first thing in the morning and eat raw foods makes me shiver. Its just not me and will never be me and yes i worry where is the actual human in those people? OK ok that was harsh.. but hey I think all things in moderation.. and emm this is why i tried naltrexone and not AA .. i think ( hope?) you get where i am coming from.

oh and dont worry.. i am just being a sook right now.. of course i will be ok .. just having a whinge.. alcohol wont be the death of me

and yes naltrexone works.. it even works when you cant admit that you are an alcoholic. =P

I'm not going to pretend to understand the situation you described . . . but you can be re-cured. Others have done it.

I guess that's all I know.

Stay in touch, okay? Hanging around here is one way I remind myself of just how bad things really were for me.

I think we all have moments when we are tested. The times when the rationalizations get louder, the confidence grows stronger, the memories of what it was like go dimmer...

Its insidious, and I dont have an answer for it. Maybe we all have triggers lurking under there that have not been extinguished...