hello cheeto..... keep going. I have to remind myself nearly hourly that its still too early to see change. The pill is amazing as is obvious from reading thread after thread of cures, BUT it really can't work true magic and change years of habit and addiction in the small time we've tried it.

I have failed again to do the AF days I promised myself... but think of all that extinction !!!!

Yes it's very sad that the ONLY thinking out there to treat alcoholics is AA & Rehab.
That is why I would not tell my Doctor about TSM and said I would be using Nal to cut cravings and not drink. I know she would not have understood and would never have prescribed me the Nal. Actually I wish I had just ordered them online as I am doing now cause it is so much cheaper than getting them here in Canada and my extended Medical coverage would not cover these expensive pills. She said she would only prescribe me 3 months and that is it so hence me ordering from alldaychemists now for the rest of my life if needed.I just pray that I will always be able to order them from somewhere even if they do not ship to Canada. Luckily I have a friend in the US that I have them shipped to and will go down in a few weeks to pick them up so I have another 4 months supply.

Well today is the start of my 7th week on TSM and my numbers have really not changed since Pre-TSM with no honeymoon period which makes me a little nervous if that is a sign for good responders? Of course as Heavy Fuel says "If I had to tell anyone just starting any one thing, it would be to plan on a year to regain control/cured." so I am in the for long haul for sure.
I drank 4 vodka & soda's last night which I did put in 2 oz of vodka in each to make decent drinks and I don't feel hungover today like I do with the wine. I do drink at least a bottle of wine a night which is calculated as 5 drinks and the 4 vodka's I had last night are also 5 drinks. I wish I could just change to beer but a cold beer to me in the winter and with this cold weather just doesn't appeal to me. When I get to Mexico it may be better for me to drink Mexican Beer which is lower in alcohol and as someone posted here it is easier to count tallying up the bottle caps at the end of the night, lol. My only fear is putting on more weight and getting a beer belly so that is why I mostly drink vodka & soda or with something with very little calories or wine. I just like the taste of wine and find white does not give me as bad of hangovers as red but that is my favorite, a good dry, full bodied red!
Well I hope everyone is doing well out there!
Happy Thanksgiving to any of you in the US...

Hi nigelr, looks like we are neck in neck at the same point in our TSM journey and from your numbers you are very much like me with not any huge changes and AF days (well 3 for you the other week is awesome). You are right that this whole process requires patience and that we need to be in for the long haul. Many may just give up at the 6 month mark and as Heavy Fuel said and did he would never had been on the Cured list which I intend to get to come hell or high water!
I am going to really try today for an AF day cause I have a dinner tomorrow night to go to and want to feel good. Many times I will drink too much the night before a function and the next day feel so bad that I have a drink or two before I go out to try and feel better then I proceed to drink too much at the function and I am hungover the next day again. I liken my life right now to that movie "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray where everyday he wakes up and it's the same day over and over and that is me every morning saying why did I drink so much last night and I feel like you know what AGAIN! What a vicious cycle that I pray will stop before I go stark raving mad. It just wears down my self esteem, my energy and my health.

Your doing good Cheeto. Hf is right, stay the course.

Hi cheeto.

I just stopped by the local supermarket to pick a few things up. Coming around the corner, I encountered one of my work associates along with his wife. Before TSM, the chance of me being alcohol free were about zero. Now the chance of me having any alcohol a board is zero.

Anyways, not trying to hide that I'd been drinking, (or "stocking up") because I hadn't been, and I wasn't, is an indescribably good feeling. Those are the kind of things that happen now, and make all this worthwhile.

Then I asked myself, when did I ever feel so good when I was drinking, and the short answer was, never!!!

I'd keep on plugging along if I was you, be positive

Hi Cheeto - just checking in to say 'hello' and see how you're doing. I love how positive you remain - I need to keep a bit of your spirit (not the AL kind ) under my hat.

Guapo I know exactly what you mean about the supermarket. I pop the wine in my basket and try to hide it underneath my other shopping. If I meet someone i know and think they have seen my '2' bottles of wine, I've even been known to lie and say that we have friends coming for dinner and I'm making risotto to justify the amount! My other supermarket habit is to stand at the checkout looking to see how much alcohol other people are buying. It always amazes me when I see trolleys packed with a whole week's shopping and not a single drop of AL. I wonder if they have already bought it in bulk somewhere else - or whether there really are people out there who don't drink! It seems implausible to me - but boy how I would love to be that person. Congratulations to you Guapo - you are that person!!

It was implausible to me too. Am I the only one rotating my alcohol purchasing venues ? How the he-- would I fill the time I had spent drinking, there would be no fun, life would be boring, how could I go on a boat on the lake without a glass in hand and a cooler full, Used to think of camping, or vacationing without alcohol, and it was INCONCEIVABLE.

It isn't.

I'll probably have a wine or so on Thanksgiving as it'll be a drinkfest as usual, but that's IT !!

Hey Guapo & Snapdragon, here in Canada we have to go to a liquor or cold beer & wine store as they do not sell alcohol in grocery stores (at this time). They may change that but hopefully by that time TSM will have kicked into high gear for me.
Anyway it is funny you guys mention this cause what I do is also rotate from 2 different liquor stores along with 2 beer & wine stores so I am not going in so frequently. I also will mention when I buy a box of wine that I have people coming over or some get together so they don't think I am downing that whole 5 liter box in a few days by myself, little do they know eh!
I do see people going into liquor stores or even Costco when I am in the US and they stock up on bottles and bottles of wine or liquor and Yes I do notice and look cause my brain is all about booze and how much others drink. I even watch others drinking while I am drinking to see if they are drinking at the same pace, faster, slower etc so I don't look like such an alchy....

Over half way through my 7th week and my consumption and cravings are still the same as Pre-TSM, no honeymoon period for me. My body is totally used to the Nal other than when I take Nal+Drink I get very tired and seem to be going to bed by 9:30PM which is pretty early. I know it is a long bumpy journey so I am not worried at all, I just follow the Golden Rule and will get there. Slow and steady wins the race!

On the topic of me wanting to switch to Vodka instead of wine, this is what I was told on the C Three Forum:

"While we've only heard anecdotal evidence so far, several people have noticed TSM takes longer with vodka. We're not sure why and I'm currently designing a survey-based study to see if we need to invest in researching what, if any, differences there are with different alcohol-based beverages."

Has anyone on this board been successful with TSM while drinking Vodka?

My own observation, just from hanging around here, is that beer drinkers tend to respond more quickly, wine drinkers more slowly, and liquor drinkers almost randomly. If that observation is correct, it wouldn't make sense to switch to wine until after you're cured or nearly so.

Some believe that "ethanol is ethanol" and all the apparent differences just stem from the human need to see patterns in everything. That's also possible, and would make the switch irrelevant.

If the person on the C3 forums is right . . . well, in that case the switch would be good.

Why do you want to switch? Does it just feel more "normal" to drink wine instead of the hard stuff? I glanced back through the thread but didn't see anything about it.