Hi all

Just got to week 4.

Biggest thig I've done this week is to really look at my units/drink count. I've decided to switch from the UK daily units to USA weekly drinks counter used by many here.

In summary I dropped about a third of my intake in week one but then stayed there. I've only had 1 AF day and a few with just one or two drinks. Other than this I'm drinking 6 or 7 drinks per night.

AF days are not coming with any particular easy right now so I'm just following the science and trying to read all who have gone before me and hope I will one day look back at my own success story.

Pre TSM 70
Week 1. 48
Week 2. 45 (1AF day)
Week 3. 50

Applause thistime! Fully compliant for 3 weeks and you've made it past what I consider the hardest part for most. The acclimation to the nal. You know what to do now. Drink like normal and let the nal and your brain do the rest. Don't worry about anything that should be, but direct your attention to how things are. Does the alcohol taste different at all? Are the effects of the alcohol a little different? These little subjective experiences are what kept me in the game although my numbers didn't change at first. I am very happy for you. You are on your way back home. Stay the course.

That's a great first month. The hardest part is over. Every session will be just that little bit easier than the last one, and one day you'll realize -- to your own surprise -- that you're cured.

Yay.

Hi All

Having recently participated in triplabs progress, I've been mulling over this question.

Since TSM clearly works how come I found my first 3 weeks so difficult? How come I had so many doubts, so many questions. There's even a book written for us ordinary folk that explains it all. It all happens in the sub-conscious right.

All I have to do is follow the Golden Rule, take a Naltrexone/Nalmefene one hour before and then drink as normal. JOB DONE!!!

IMHO, those who have stumbled upon TSM after decades of alcoholism are bound to be sceptical, not least because we've tried and failed so many times before.

It's not like we go to our doctor and he says " you've got alcoholism go take these tablets for 3 months and you'll be fine". Normally it's the other way around we are battling the disease whilst trying to live some kind of normal life and convincing our doctors as well as those closest to us that we've found a magic answer.

The higher consciousness must be in overdrive trying to control the sub-conscious, which of course it can't.

1) TSM (including reading the book).
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2) The Golden Rule (take Nal 1hour before and drink as normal).
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3) Have a support network ( this can be a good doctor/councillor).

I don't have step 3 so without this forum and to be honest the few Cured folk who have hung about to help others I probably would have fallen by now.

Just interested what others think.

Hey thistime,

Thanks for posting. I think folks with long standing alcohol issues lucky enough to find TSM do so at different stages of their lives on the destructive road alcohol can lead us. This can obviously result in many different paths to the common destination of extinction, or might result in a "failed" attempt if the one requirement to take Nal before drinking is not strictly followed. I am starting to realize that everything else is just over-thinking it in my opinion and experience so far. On a related note, if had found this approach when I was two years sober in AA, I would have scoffed and laughed it off as poor bastards who can't find god and seek a miracle from a pill. The idea of drinking even a drop in the name of the desired outcome of indifference to alcohol would have seemed utterly absurd. This is honestly still a big chunk to swallow. For me though, when the student was ready the teacher appeared. The teacher was the Cure book, and this community. I have issues with some of the information in the Cure book mind you, but reading it, taking the action of starting the protocol, and posting here and reading the historical success of many individuals gave/gives me a ton of hope. This hope is now backed by my own experience.

As far as the drink counting, obsessing about AF days and the science of drinking while on Nal .. this is a very tricky one for me too and part of the "over-thinking" I mentioned. I think it boils down to habits and routines around my relationship with alcohol that provided a very convincing illusion of escape and relief for many years, and are therefore very hard to break. There is a ton of science around this that I am reading about and discussing with my doc about the limbic (reward) part of the brain, and how depleted the alcoholics' normal brain function can become the more dependent on alcohol we are. Remove or reduce the alcohol by whatever means, and the brain still desperately tries to find the reward, and especially on Nal, may overcompensate by chasing a larger number of drinks despite the futility of it. At least initially, and this is the hope part, until the brain can heal and the lack of reward associated with alcohol is brought to the decision making part of our brain and consciousness. And we finally come to our own conclusion based on our own experience that our relationship with alcohol has changed forever. Drinking or not.

Cheers!

Congratulations thistime, I am right behind you starting my 3rd week. I have been thinking about having an AF day but as I see written on many posts to just let it be and let the Nal work and not to force it.
I also want this whole TSM to right work now but gotta have patience as all the posts recommend. We are both just starting out and may have quite a ways to go. I just want my drinking to get down to where I don't feel so sick and hungover most of the time, so many totally wasted days.
I think I have doubts because this method is not widely known, this board is so quiet, and how can this work with just One Little Pill (I did rent the documentary). I am also scared that this won't work and I will be doomed to be an alcoholic and die very soon. I think it's our beast brain saying this can't be true cause it doesn't want us to kill it, it's scared. I also do not have a support network and actually my Doctor thinks I am taking Nal and not drinking like she instructed me to do so can't even talk to her about it so this message board is important to me too. So again thank you to all the people that take the time to post giving us encouragement and hope about TSM.

thistime2014, I'm still in the reading/research phase and can't speak from direct experience, but I think Claudia Christian touches on what you're talking about in the end of her book Babylon Confidential. If you haven't read it I'll just summarize it here as a bio of her career as an actress, and how the course of her life lead to addiction, and eventually The Sinclair Method. Now she's an advocate.

Towards the end of the book she discusses how TSM and pharmacological extinction cured her physical addiction fairly quickly, but that her behavior changes for the better and psychological healing took longer. This makes sense to me, and I think that's at the heart of what Escapa is getting at with naltrexone washout days followed by re-enforced healthy behavior. While the extinction process might be similar for many, relearning healthy behavior might be a substantially more varied process.

For example, I'm working with a counselor right now trying to work through several traumatic experiences I've had over the course of my life, and while those experiences might have helped lead me onto a path towards addiction, they are not experiences that others share. I have to come to grips with them as an individual and make myself whole as best I can.

She (CC) also has a quote where she says: The pill isn't a weapon, it isn't something that let's you crush your addiction. The Sinclair Method is an ally, a partner, you have to work with it.

I don't know, what do some of you who have been doing this for a while make of that quote? Does it ring true to your experience?

"She (CC) also has a quote where she says: The pill isn't a weapon, it isn't something that let's you crush your addiction. The Sinclair Method is an ally, a partner, you have to work with it.

I don't know, what do some of you who have been doing this for a while make of that quote? Does it ring true to your experience?"

she is exactly right as far as I'm concerned. The naltrexone allow us your brain to heal, after you finally get back to being for all intents and purposes a nondrinker.

At that point, I think many people discover a completely changed view of and desire for alcohol, which translates into a life where alcohol overusage just isn't a problem anymore.

When you're first starting out, you find that concept hard to believe, as you are likely a daily drinker, and feel you'll be losing your best friend.

At that point, whether or not you drink, and how much is up to you, but most seem to go to a path of drinking very little.

The new un-addled you, may find that you just don't miss it at all. I just can't say enough good things about this whole process.

[quote][/The pill isn't a weapon, it isn't something that let's you crush your addiction. The Sinclair Method is an ally, a partner, you have to work with it.

quote] It's real difficult to get across our true intent when we have to put things in writing. You ever have that problem with texting how the meaning your trying to convey gets mis-construed by the other? I believe what's she's referring to is true. But for me, if I felt like it.....I could argue the point. But is it really worth it? Probably not. For me personally, the nal continues to crush my addiction to alcohol. Crush it much more severely then my conscious mind could ever of done. Is TSM a ally a partner....you bet it is, the best I know of. To work with it? Of course.......you must be fully compliant for it to work. Or is she referring that we need to have added will power endevers for TSM to work successfully. For me, I ended up adding things. But it was a natural response from not having the grip of alcohol in control. I believe to be successful or happy in life. We all must engage in activities that produce the things we want or like. With my release I was happy to start implementing things that bettered my life. So is it, the chicken or the egg? Do you engage in activities to help in your transition in your recovery or do they spontaneously come due to your new freedom from alcohol? Are there any things you find yourself doing now that weren't there before? Alcohol demanded a lot from us, now its our turn. What are you giving you?

I agree with plant.

In my opinion the keyword is control. When you are in control, you can decide what you want to do without being influenced by the addiction. You can now consciously choose to do something else than drinking.

So you regain control and then you choose another path.