Bleck......drank 3 glasses of wine last night over a few hours. I only took 12.5 of the Nal and it did help to curb the need to guzzle. The problem is that I woke up with a vice grip of a headache that I've only been able to buffer all day. One can only take so much OTC meds. Anyhow, not liking TSM today. We will see how it goes tomorrow. Keek

Ouch. Sorry to hear that. Headaches suck.

Your commitment will pull you through. If you never drink without that pill, you'll be okay. If you end up not drinking because it's not worth it, you might not get proper extinction but you're still changing your ways.

The headache will pass eventually. *hug*

Tnx Mel, I'm just not used to functioning with a headache as I rarely get them unless I really over do it with the wine and when I did get them they were easily taken care of. I'm trying really hard not to give up on the nal and to focus on the benefits of not drinking so much. I'm Still plugging along here with a minimal amount . I figure a little bit is better than nothing if it helps reduce the consumption. It wouldn't surprise me if part of my problem isn't detoxing. After-all the body has gotten a little used to 3/4 to a bottle of wine at least 4 nights out of the week for a decade or two OR three. I have to admit that even just a little nal helps to curb the appetite for alcohol. I am able to postpone the drinking by doing other things and its just not that appealing. Hopefully, I will acclimate in a week or two. I might have to tailor this program to fit my needs. I realize that deviating from the Golden Rule is somewhat sacrilegious on this forum, but the way I see it, anything is better than just giving up. Ill touch bases after the weekend in Sin City....Take care, keek

I'm not at all sure that that's true. Intermittent reinforcement is not nothing, and it's also worse than giving up.

Hmm, Keek. I'm not sure you're getting good extinction with a quarter-dose. I'm not sure you're not, but I'm a little concerned.

Hi there

I don't know if this will help, but I am responding as an 'old timer' to your request for bios;

Mid-late 30s female
Pre-TSM mostly binge drinker, 30 units per session could be 1 x per week or 3 times and have had spates of drinking at that rate 5 days a week x 6 weeks at a time.
Started drinking at 16, problems started 17 and lasted 18 years getting worse in the final ten years when weekly intake averaged 100 units. I'd hold off for as long as I could, but the cravings would always take over.
Tried everything, rehab, counselling, detox with support, baclofen, campral, natural remedies, AA
Started TSM April 2011 immediately units when I drank halved from 30 to 15 per session, this was liveable so I started to drink more often, units still reducing to below 10, was drinking 4-5 nights a week, so decided to shoot for some more AF days. Reduced to drinking couple of times a week @ less than 10 units per session. By 6 months mark all cravings had gone and I could chose when to drink and how much, and often only had 1 unit.
July 2013 I realised I was only drinking because I could, I'd had periods of 6 weeks enforced no alcohol due to lifestyle and decided to try long term AF.
Not touched alcohol for 16 months.

I have done a lot of work on my self of a therapeutic nature, finding out about behaviour, feeling, emotions and learning to live again.

I believe TSM gave me the chance to chose to live, and that it is a holistic process.

The other thing I did was I NEVER DRANK WITHOUT NALTREXONE, NOT ONCE SINCE I STARTED TSM. I have even stopped the car to check I had some and would have turned back home to get some if I didn't, or simply not drank rather than risk returning the addiction.

Ok dosages.

Once cured I tried half dose, and was ok once, second time I was back up there. Some people find 12.5 does work and that's great, but the best chance has to be with the optimum dose.

I did get the nalovers but not until a way in, but remember I was drinking 30 units and being sick as a dog without nal, so 15 + nal was nothing.

My nalovers came further on in the process and would occur on unrelatedly low amounts of alcohol, I remember a nalover from 6 units - so a fifth of what would previously make me ill. It just made me not want to drink and helped me cut down even further.

I hope things get better, please keep plugging away. Consistency I believe is the key and also courage, courage to take the pill and go for it.

Thanks for the input Mel and good to hear from you UKBlonde, Hmmm....this intermittent reinforcement thing is interesting. I totally understand how drinking without the pill sometimes would reinforce the over active endorphins when one drank without it, but I would think that desensitizing some of the endorphins all of the time would put us on a more even playing field with the "normal" drinkers. Right now I'm finding that a little bit helps to curb the need to guzzle and is taking my taste for wine away. On Friday I took 12.5 and ended up going to the liquor store where I chose champagne because nothing else sounded good. I returned it for another brand cuz I didn't like the taste and ended up drinking through the Nal with 4 glasses. Boy was the Nalover horrendous. I didn't drink the next day while everyone else was partying it up and then the next day I ran a half marathon and and had one margarita afterwards. I thought I wanted more, but was able to make the decision not to for fear of the nalover and I told myself I really didn't need it. To me this is progress. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I have read some success stories with 25 mgs, so I'm trying to wean myself up to that. Perhaps, the twice a week drinking occasion will be a do-able option, as I'm finding that the longer I go AF and then drink with the Nal, the worse the Nalover is. Decisions, decisions.
Right now, I'm just trying to keep myself on track with the Nal and will hopefully get past the SE's. Thanks for being here everyone and I wish all of you continued success.

Ok, so....I'm really enjoying the AF days and don't want to drink just to extinguish endorphins. It just seems counter intuitive. But, if I do want to drink I have to take the Nal and suffer the consequences the next day. Just a little affirmation for the day...Keek

I had such bad side effects at the beginning that I stayed on the Nal for 16 days before I had an AF day cause I know the longer you are on a Med the more your body gets accustomed to it. Then I took 1 AF day to give my body a break and went back on Nal for another 15 days and now have little to no side effects so I have taken 2 AF days now. I really, really want to lose some weight so I am trying to go AF on most of the week days and then drink on weekends to see if I can shed some pounds. I will see how it goes on Thursday or Friday starting Nal again after a few days off.
Maybe it's just my thinking but I think that the more you take Nal+drinking maybe this whole process will happen so much quicker, who knows? All I know is I hope I can get a handle on this on my 3 month trip to Mexico so I don't screw up my vacation blacking out, being hungover, tired and withdrawing into my room.

I have heard somewhere else(not a scientific source), that the endorphin receptors become more sensitive when nal has been used, which would explain the rapid readdiction when not using nal.

I hope you can get up to a higher, more effective dose.