Hi folks

I turned 40 last week and started on Naltrexone on my birthday. Couldn't wait to get into it I suppose. I have done a great deal of research on all this and decided this was the way forward. Really have had enough of the booze. It's controlled me for twenty odd years. Up until my 30's I was a regular user of Ecstasy, MDMA, cocaine, and Cannabis intermittently, but I had no real problem saying goodbye to all that.

Anyhow - I have only managed short periods of abstinence - maybe a week or two at a time - apart from one three month period in 2008/9 where I thought I'd cracked it! Done AA but realised that was just not for me, had several counselling sessions - not for me either, I know what my problem is, I don't really lose control any more - the main problem is concerns for my health and the possible impact on those around me - which is not major (my wife is a similarly heavy drinker with similar issues).

I am clued up in terms of health and damage limitation. I take good Vitamins / Minerals and know how to protect my liver with quality supplements i.e. Now Foods Liver Detox and such. I eat well and am incredibly strict / sensible in so many ways in my life. I have iron discipline in regard to almost everything else, er, except when it comes to alcohol. Then it all falls by the wayside!

Been averaging 15-20 units a day of late - it was 2-3 bottles of red wine a day before then for these last few months - then I've switched to beer and mostly been having 6 or 7 a night (2.5 units each beer typically).

I have been a fairly heavy drinker since my early 20s.

I don't get into trouble any more - just fed up of the toll this is taking on me physically. I have a good job and generally function well and drinking does not impact on my work or daily life or routine.

Anyway - read up on all this and started on the pills last week. My longest period of abstinence was 3 months in 2008/9, but generally I have only managed a few days here and there in the last few years.

The pills seemed great for the first few days - then I have drank well over what I would want to the last couple of days - i.e. last two days I have had two bottles of wine each night (20+ units etc.)

We have taken the tablets religiously (i.e. one - two hours before a drink) each day and stuck with this, e.g. tablet at 4pm then start drinking at 5.30 - 6.00 pm.

We just want to be free from this nonsense - early days I know. I'd appreciate anyone's take on where I'm (or we) are at?!

Glad so many people seem to be doing well on this method. We shall stick with this. I am open-minded, as is my wife, we have been so far down this road - as in we have both been drinkers since our teens - both of us had troubled / damaged teenage years and abusive backgrounds - we are just both so keen to be free and healthy and just getting on with our lives,

All the very best,

God Bless

John (UK)

Welcome John and good luck to both of you. Seems like you understand TSM protocol pretty well, that's good. Now it's just a matter of compliance and time for the science of extinction to give you what you are looking for. 40 is young, I'm glad your taking steps early. You have a lot of sober life ahead of you to live. You guys can do it, keep us posted. Peace

Sounds like you're doing it right. I wouldn't worry too much about two nights ago. It's common for people to have brief bursts of drinking levels going back up -- it's either finally having "permission" to drink or the addiction going a little nuts because you're no longer giving it what it wants.

Hey John, welcome.

I think folks here - especially in the US - underestimate their 'units' and therefore may appear to be lighter drinkers. Before Nal I was averaging 8-10 drinks per night .. drinks, as in a 12 oz beer, or 1.5 oz 80 proof vodka, etc. So your 6-7 beers a day seems a little light Doesn't really matter. Some drink less some more. You know you drink too much, it's always been an issue to some degree, but you are functional and care about your health. Enough to find Nal and TSM. Same here. Since Nal, and it's only been a few weeks, I have gone from ~60 drinks per weeks to fewer than 20. It is hard to have more than 2 a day. I expect to be sub-10 per week soon. It has taken zero will power, no higher power (nothing against that though), and it feels totally "normal" in a very odd way, which is not a term I thought I would ever use to describe my drinking. Good luck amigo.

Hi all

Thanks so much for your kind and thoughtful replies, - means a lot. You all talk a lot of sense too.

I shouldn't expect any less from "drinkers" I suppose! Always the best people, in my experience!

This Sinclair Method is a strange process I suppose - all the negative feelings and experiences and <considerable> guilt that has built up, over many years, have almost become "acceptable" to be tossed away as part of the "disease".

And that is a very strange thing to me - I have always felt incredible guilt and self-loathing around my drinking.

This is perverse to be able to just say "ah well its the drink and not your fault and it's all OK".

And then to be told "just take a pill" and "carry on"! seems even weirder too now - but on reading the book, it is starting to finally make sense.

Thank You Dr. Sinclair and Dr. Eskapa. God will Bless You.

I mean that in the nicest way - Dr.Eskapa describes those with a propensity to "alcoholism" as those who have a propensity for more
"emotional molecules".

I liked that terminology - it resonated with my experience of "drinkers" and "alcoholism" over the years without being too clever or smug.

I have lost many friends to the drink and funnily enough they have been the most caring, well-rounded, thoughtful, deepest, people.

Anyhow - I am only a couple of weeks in to this - still drinking fairly heavily daily -but I know that I have turned a corner now, and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Now I have real hope.

I have drunk a lot since I was a teenager I suppose. Now I finally feel - two weeks in, well -Almost Free! A long way to go, admittedly, but I almost know <in myself> that something major is on the horizon here.

I cannot explain how this makes me feel -every feeling imaginable, bit the overwhelming sense of relief and joy is beyond words.

Thank you to all on this site, to those that know and understand - "cheers",

Keep encouraging others like you do please, it will make that difference and can't be underestimated,

John x

Sorry for the late reply.

We all have different backgrounds in boozology. I myself used to be a morning/noon/night drinker, whenever I could.

It works for everyone (EDIT: Most everyone), just takes longer for some than others.

Good luck!

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