Hi Dave,

I went through a bad weekend too, so I'll console myself by consoling you. Having a spike doesn't erase the progress you have made, and your overall trend is still downward. Over the years of drinking, you slowly ratcheted up to out of control levels, and now you are slowly ratcheting down. Don't despair too much.

All that said, I think it IS important to pay attention to plateaus and spikes (if they become recurrent) as signs that you might need to change your drinking strategy. I have used some tricks that have been pretty helpful for me, and there are whole threads devoted to people giving out tips. No need to beat yourself up about this, just maybe try some new directions.

You are making progress Dave, as shown by your graph. Keep it up.

Thanks Generic,

You what is happening of late, the first few beers are really hard to get down, they just don't taste like what they used to. But, my problem is I push through that. I know my cravings for beer during the day have drop significantly and I am at the stage where I get home and I fight with myself whether I will drink tonight or not. Before, it was a given, get home and drink, no second thoughts.

I know I am making progress, I am just disappointed I had that bad night. I think there will come a day where I will stop drinking much earlier, b/c hard as it is to believe I am leaving beer in the fridge right now. So I am going to just let nature take its course for now.

Fu*K, I did it again, drank too much and woke up really regretting the night before. I really hope this is just another stage, b/c it seems I am getting back to my pre nal levels. Also the crave for drinking seems to still be there. Sort of a a point right now wondering if this is going to work for me???

Depressed again

Sorry to hear this Dave... It seems like a good thing though that it's now hard to low through the first couple beers... Now maybe it's just a matter of breaking the habit? Can you take a week to dry out before trying again? What's your drink of choice? Can you downgrade it to something that'll make it harder to "get over the hump" into a loss of control? Have you tried Miller 64? Hard to get drunk on that ****. Stock your fridge and let yourself go buck wild on it, maybe you won't be able to or want to

Bummer that there's craving. Craving sucks.

Dave,

I hear you. Check my graph out. Spikes over hear as well.

I did actually take Generics advice on accident last Saturday July 6th. All day pool party, I brought 18 pack Select 55. I drank all them between 2-11pm. Pretty watered down beer. I also ended the day with a couple of regular Selects after mine were gone and a few shots of Honey Whiskey that was being passed around. I drank way too much. Felt rough the next day. But, believe it would have been worse with BUD heavy or Busch.

We are in this together, and I have no plans on pulling out.

Hey guys,
Long time no post.

Well it has been a little over a year, still following the golden rule religiously. I stopped counting my units each a while back as it was getting to be a bad effect on me.

OK, so an update on how I have been going. I have not had a blackout for as long as I can remember, my average daily units are about 8 units on the days I drink and I usually have 2 to 3 days AF a week now. (Never could have had an AF day before) I occasionally have a night out the co-workers and for the first time I am the one watching the others get stupid. I have found I can pace myself while on Nal. And my golf days units have gone from 30+ units to sub 15.

I am not sure I want to give up drinking if I can control myself like I am now, b/c the truth is I still like drinking, but the difference now is that it does not rule my thoughts of every minute of every day.

I really hope Nal doesn't give you cancer or something else as a side effect, b/c I can't see myself going off it.

Anyway, thanks for listening.

Great news Dave. Seems like I have someone plugging along at my pace. Good job and keep in touch.

If you're happy with your consumption and your life, it sounds good to me.

I think it's a good sign that you stopped counting. Lots of us stop counting after a while, and it seems to happen shortly before we realize that we're cured (whatever our idea of cured may be).

Congratulations Dave great to see people having such great success , All the best J.

Dave,

Congrats. It seems like there are a number of us that have been at this around a year and are finally starting to see the results that we had hoped for when we started. If you are happy with where you are, that should be good enough. I'm curious if your golf game has improved?