Well it's only my first week using TSM, so I don't have a whole lot to report, but here goes.........

1) Naltrexone (uncoated Naltima from AllDayChemist) tastes awful!

2) I can feel it plain as day as the waiting-hour passes, sort of a spacey feeling, occasional VERY mild nausea, and a couple of mild headaches, but other than that no real side effects. I'm thankful for that, since some folks seem to struggle with discouraging side effects. For me it's becoming the "new normal" without any real difficulty.

3) My behavior while under the influence is more "even keeled". I could say I feel like I'm less the Shakespearean idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing, but my teenage son would probably say something like: Dad, you're less of an asshole (oops, can I say that on here?) Seriously, my drinking behavior could be kind of emotional and manic with my wife and kids, and there's no question in my mind that it's immediately improved with naltrexone. Dr. Escapa doesn't discuss this in his book that I can recall, but I'd love to hear what others have to say about this since I can't imagine that I'm the only one who has experienced it. I assume that it's from putting the kabosh on my endorphine response, but anyway, more Jeckyl and less Hyde is definitely a good thing.

4) Nat + Alcohol is at times mildly unpleasant. For now I regard every day I do it as another extinction session, and I'm not shooting for any alcohol free days for at least the first month, but I can see them coming in the not too distant future.

5) Today I had my first experience with a "nalover" and the weird thing is it followed a low consumption day (maybe that's why I wrote #4). I have read that others have experienced the same, the feeling of being hungover and out of it, the morning after nal + drinking less than usual.

6) My consumption dropped by 27% in my first week. Based on what others have experienced I don't regard that as all too meaningful.......we'll see. If I were to rate my craving on a scale of 1 to 10, one being hate the stuff and 10 thinking I HAVE to be drunk every waking moment, I'd report that I started at a 7 maybe and immediately dropped to 5. I don't know, that's hard to judge.

So there you have it week #1 under my belt

Haha all41 are you chewing them, lol!
Lucky you that you are not going through the bad side effects that some of us have gone through.
Glad you have your first week under your belt and very happy to have you and all the rest on this Forum to support each other.

hi all41,

how are you doing now with everything. i really appreciated your post and found it very helpful. i am currently approaching my first week. any feedback on your journey going further would be great.

thank you!

Congrats all, well done. Now stay the course.

all41 .. congrats on week 1. We have very similar initial reactions and experiences. Looking forward to more updates!

Well done all41

IMHO you are following a successful pattern, from how you've responded so far to Nal you can expect TSM to work its magic.

Remember nal 1 hour before + patients = success

Yea Cheeto I admit it, I chewed them a couple of times never again.

I got myself a mini keychain pill holder too, good idea there to always have Nal with you. I have already used mine twice.

I have a supply at home, at work, and on my keychain wherever I go.

Welcome All41, glad to have you on board!

Thanks Kekede!

You know in my second week I can already tell that something is happening, that there is an effect for me, and I wonder what it's like for the 1 in 5 that it doesn't work for? Is it simply no effect, or do they do something wrong?

Anyway, I'm not setting any time limit. I'm either going to follow the golden rule for the rest of my days, or eventually go AF. It's one or the other.

The third option...........well let's just say it's not an option and leave it at that.

Also I neglected to give you guys any bio, so for introductions sake, I'm 55, I own and live on a farm with my wife of 25 years, two sons 10 and 15, three dogs, 12 Golden Campine chickens, two Berkshire hogs, and a sheep. That's just hobby stuff though, I have a day job and a crop share the farmland with a professional farmer. It's not a bad life and I have nothing to complain about, but I have bad genes, and too much time alone on the farm was not good..............father, grandfathers, several aunts, uncles, and first cousins, all alcoholics. Bipolar runs in the family too, but I somehow dodged that bullet. I used to smoke grass in my younger days along with a 2 pack a day Marlboro habit but I gave them both up 25 plus years ago.

I have talked to counselors and doctors about my drinking, tried hypnosis, campral and antabuse, but never set foot in an AA meeting or attempted any kind of 12 step. Saw it backfire/fail too many times in others and steered clear I guess. Didn't trust the broken man/let the spirit guide you or whatever it is they tell you. I had a friend die this past summer after a rehab 12 step program relapse, and it was really sad and ugly to watch......helpless. I didn't know about TSM at the time but I wish I had. He was a scientist, and maybe it would have worked. Anyway I'm pretty much an atheist at heart, and the science based Sinclair Method is much more to my way of thinking.

I love books, the outdoors, my wife and kids, the land I live on, and have a lot to be grateful for, but alcohol is an insidious drug, and it has a ways of creeping in and tearing things apart. In a few months I think I'll have more to say on that, but for now, that's pretty much me, myself, and I in a nutshell.

lovely to hear about you all41. We sound similar people, a love of land, livestock and growing. I am more into the growing these days.

good luck, we will succeed