So I guess I am over thinking this process.

I have some anxiety today after 2 AF days, but not so bad that I want to drink. I think I'll lay of the coffee ( which seems to be affecting me more these days) and take some vitamins. Take care! Keek

New plan for tonight's I have had an insatiable appetite today and now I feel very anxious and wired so I just took some Nal....

I think maybe you're planning too much, but I understand that the side-effects are messing with you. I hope that they subside soon.

When it comes down to it, all the planning we really need is to have a pill handy and be able to delay drinking for an hour when the urge hits. But, again, I can't really know what you're going through with the side-effects. It does sound awful.

Despite it all, you are doing a great job of following The Golden Rule. That proves that you are really ready to get that monkey off your back. Keep it up - I'm looking forward to seeing us both on the cured list.

Thanks Magda, iI'm really trying to work through the SE's this time as they make it too easy to just say screw it and drink w/o the Nal... Keek

I hope you patted yourself on the back and did a "YAY ME!!" for that. I see the urge to drink as a huge dragon that we're slowly turning into a well-behaved toy poodle that stays on a leash. Every time we follow The Golden Rule, the dragon shrinks a little.

I sent you a PM a while back, but I don't know if you got it.

Yes Magda, I did receive the PM, but when I responded it came back to me. I'm a bit technically challenged, so we can "talk" through our posts until I get it figured out. I've been using your hangover concoction and it seems to be helping. Today I feel better than I have in the past after a night of drinking on the Nal. So, Thank you for the tip. I also read some other tips like tums, ibuprofen before bed, etc. that I am enlisting. Here's to the golden rule... I hope you are doing well...keek

You are in my thoughts, hope all well and you are persevering. Good luck. Peace

The weekend went fairly well - I had 2 drinks all night while every one else was letting loose by doing shots and drinking at the concert and casino. I think the small amount of Nal helped. The bad news is that even though my consumption was very low I had a horrible headache and very restless sleep, so the next day I went without the Nal. I stopped at 3.5 drinks and kinda white knuckled it the rest of the night. I woke up feeling great and haven't really wanted to drink since then. I'm Not giving up on the Nal, but if the SE's continue, I might try to take it intermittently until I can get these SE's under control. Perhaps take the Nal when I want to drink just to drink and don't have to be "present the next day and then not take it on big social occasions where I need to exercise some control. I guess we will see where this goes. Take care everyone.. Keek

I think this is a really, really, really bad idea. Intermittent reinforcement is worse than consistent reinforcement. I hope the others who have been at this longer will chime in here, but -- according to Sinclair and Eskapa -- you either need to take the naltrexone every time you drink or not at all, lest you end up with a worse problem.

That said, if you are able to develop the ability to drink moderately without the naltrexone, I think that's a spectacular outcome.

Agreed, this is a poor idea. It's called the Golden Rule, not the Tentative Recommendation.

It's possible to learn moderation as an alcoholic, but I wouldn't put any faith in your ability to do that. And I definitely wouldn't use naltrexone in an untested manner to do so. It has the potential to make your problems worse as well as better.