Well, another two weeks have passed and things are continuing to go well. I've stuck with the Monday to Thursday AF plan, and am only drinking at weekends. In practice this means a glass of wine with dinner on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It's not been totally effortless...I do have to put some thought into it and exercise a bit of self control....but it hasn't been too difficult or painful either. All in all, I'm a very happy bunny

Total weekly UK units
Week 28 10 units 4AF
Week 29 9 units 4AF

Hi Ruthy. You do sound so positive and happy, and that makes me happy too What a difference we see when AF days start to happen naturally with nal.

We always have to put some effort into changing our habits right? I'm wondering if we get confused about how naltrexone works? We can feel, most of us, that initial 'lack of buzz' but we've been told just to let the extinction process 'happen' and that effort is not necessary. In lab rats that may be the case. But we're so much more complex than lab rats!!

But as is said so often, we are all different!! The deeper psychological addiction may be keeping us in the same old patterns, even while naltrexone weaves its magic in our brains. As you've proved in your case, that little push can have wonderful, reinforcing results.

Have a great day, Ruthy.
Babs

This whole deal with wine drinkers responding more slowly fascinates me. Is there some other addicting chemical in wine? Does wine just taste good?

Maybe I'll buy some wine and drink it (after nal, of course). I just like to know what's going on.

Gee, Melissa, I don't know if this is true or not. I haven't paid much attention to the numbers, but is this what you are seeing? I've never drunk anything else other than wine - sometimes a lot, now a little.

Ruthy, what do you think?

(and Hi Ruthy )

Hi Melissa and Babs,
I really don't know what it is with the wine drinkers. I only ever really drink wine. The very occassional vodka and coke, which I don't really like. For me, it's the taste. I like the taste of wine (but only some wines...a sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio). I've never liked the taste of spirits or beers and I've never really drunk just to get drunk if you know what I mean.

As I've mentioned before, I think I also have the double whammy of food and wine being very closely associated in my brain.I rarely drink if I'm not also eating. Certain foods/meals bring about a really strong craving for a glass of wine to go with them. I think the same endorphin response is triggered by food as it is with alcohol but also there's a tendency for me to self medicate with food. I have seen a couple of old posts on here with people asking about using nal for food issues but there's no real info on it. I can not drink, but I can't not eat! Choosing to eat foods that I don't associate with wine is making a big difference and I'm trying my best to stick with that. However, the taste of wine and the warm glow that comes with the first drink hasn't really changed for me. The craving for it has lessened though. If I want to completely knock out the taste and "glow" maybe I need a higher dose.

Hi Ruthy

I think I read that Dr. Sinclair and his Lightlake group are working on a nasal spray of naltrexone for eating problems. From what I understand just taking a naltrexone pill doesn't work fast enough to help with food. Most of us who have eating 'issues' certainly don't wait an hour before stuffing in that delicious food we're craving

I'm reading "Intuitive Eating" by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch right now and it really is an eye opener for me. I highly recommend it.

As I've said elsewhere I'm in a peculiar position now. I crave the psychological relief that a glass of wine brings but I don't feel anything at all when I have a sip - but I drink half, or all of a glass....this is the part of the puzzle I'm working on. It is very hard!!!

Have a wonderful day, Ruthy

Thanks for the info Babs.

I'm sure that a big part of it for me is to retrain my ingrained, conditioned responses. After lots of work, I'm fairly sure I know where my demons lie. A lot of my unhappiness is as a result of the many deaths and losses in my life. I started eating/drinking as a reaction to the grief and for a while they seemed to soothe me. However, over time they have now become deeply ingrained and I find myself reacting like one of Pavlov's dogs. I need to recondition myself not to see food and or wine as a treat, reward, pick me up, soother or comforter. I have to learn that if I've had a bad day a big fat pizza and a glass of sauvignon aren't going to make that bad day go away (the trouble is they do give me a short term lift). Unfortunately, I've been doing this for years so I'm guessing it's going to take a while to learn new habits. Luckily, I don't believe the saying that you can't teach old dogs new tricks...I just think that this old dog is a bit of a slow learner

I do think we can retrain, at least to some degree, by simply avoiding the stimulus for a long time. People who "have five years sober" just through abstinence don't usually get drunk just because they walk into a bar, even if it was their favorite bar in years past. The Alcohol Deprivation Effect must go away after a while.

Retraining ourselves about food is much harder, since we have to eat food to live. I guess there's that soylent liquid people have been talking about, but come on -- are any of us really going to switch to just that?

On a different note, I don't intuitively understand why someone who never drank just to get drunk would need the Sinclair Method, or even want it. There are a lot of things I don't understand . . . but I'm anxious to learn. Do you mean that you drank to get buzzed, and that things just got out of control?

Ruthy,

Monday through Thursday AF on a regular basis is huge! I hope to get there soon. I'm also having to deal with the same old habits and I think that at some point we need to put the glass/bottle down and get active in our recovery. There is ingrained behavior in me that is going to take some time to shake. I definitely think we can retrain ourselves to avoid those things that used to give us pleasure (and that we think still do), whether it be eating or drinking. I am so happy for you that you have made such great progress since the holidays. Keep it up!

Melissa,

I don't really understand it either, but I'll try to explain how things are for me and why TSM seemed to be a good solution for me. I've known for a long time that I have a problem with drinking. Five years ago I was referred to a Psychiatrist for depression and as part of the consultation he asked about my alcohol intake. He was concerned that I drank every day but didn't feel as though it warranted any specific intervention. "If you start to get that twitchy 6 O'clock glass of wine feeling then we'll need to look at it and try to do something about it" he said. Of course, I was already getting that twitchy "wine time" feeling, but I decided against telling him. I don't think I wanted to face it and felt I could handle it on my own. My drinking has always been fairly consistent. A kind of low level, every day drinking rather than big binges. I wouldn't start drinking to get drunk (although I might often end up drunk, especially at parties or special occassions) but I spent each evening at a slightly tipsy level. That first drink of the day would bring about the "aahh, all's right with the world" feeling. Then I started having a glass of wine at lunchtime...always making sure that I had it early so that the edge had worn off before picking the kids up from school. I've always had a level of control (I've never driven drunk or got into any serious trouble because of drinking) but I haven't had enough control not to drink. I don't think I was at an immediate health risk from alcohol, but certainly on a bottle a day I knew that over time it wasn't doing me any good. So I'd tell myself, "well how bad can you be then? Just give it up". I knew I should stop, but every time I tried I couldn't make it last. The thoughts of drinking would get stronger and stronger and then I'd cave in. I'd drink for a while and then stop again, then start again and on and on it went.I read books, went to counselling, tried hypnosis. I knew that I wanted/needed to stop but just couldn't seem to do it. I didn't have any physical withdrawal symptoms, but the "voice" in my head was just so very insistent that it would always win out. I knew that my level of drinking didn't warrant AA or a detox (I'm not even sure if I would class myself as an alcoholic) but I also knew that I needed something, which is how I came upon TSM and decided that this might work for me. Maybe it's what barryb means when he talks about an alcoholic with a capital A or a small a.

Does that make any sense?