I have been on the sinclair method for two and a half months now. The last month I have had roughly one drink once a week. So its working. My irritability has gone and I am confident that 1 pill, 1 hour works pretty much without fail. I have even reduced 50mg to 25mg and found no discernible difference except for a reduction in nausea.

My question is this, and I am not sure anyone really knows the answer to this. I can think of two occasions this year coming up when drinking will be the order of the day - midsummer in Sweden and my friends wedding in September, how dangerous would it be to lapse on these two occasions and not take the pill and just enjoy getting drunk? My drinking has caused me problems in the past but for a long time I have been around the safe limits - 20 units a week in the UK. Its just that I would do them in two days and suffering from depression the alcohol just makes things worse. I'm not sure i want to go to drinking events and not drink. I like being able to go to events where there is alcohol but the alcohol is not the raison d'etre and be able to handle one drink.

Some people have had the occasional drink without naltrexone however if it becomes a habit then readdiction is a possibility.

I would be asking myself do I want to run the risk of going backwards?

What is stopping you from going and not drinking, and would you really stop at one?

UKblonde, he was suggesting not just one drink, but going all out and "getting drunk." Cozmo, obviously everybody is different and since TSM is not an exact science, there's no telling exactly what would or wouldn't happen. My main input would be that a "drinker's brain" will come up with all sorts of weird scenarios, plans, etc... all really aimed at the same thing -- drinking! Personally, I like being the sober one around.

Sorry cosmo, but REALLY!
You are so lucky that TSM is working for you at such an early time. I would give ANYTHING for TSM to work for me as I am coming up to 5 months on Nal and NEVER have waivered from the Golden Rule and am still drinking as I was pre-Nal.
Guess if you are asking your problem is not that bad or important that you get off this Alcoholic HELL RIDE that most of us are on.
Again sorry to be so blunt but I cannot believe that TSM is such a MIRACLE and you want to mess with it!!!!

I haven't started yet; waiting for meds to arrive, so I don't have personal experience to draw from. BUT why would you risk messing with something that is working so well for you? You are lucky that it is working, you don't want to set yourself backwards.

I got mixed up because in one line you say you'd like to do 20 units in 2 days, and the other you say you like to have just one drink.

I noticed the depressive effect of Naltrexone + alcohol and it encouraged me not to drink.

Like the others I'm not sure why you are questioning this, sounds like alchie thinking.

I do however know that weddings can be events where it's expected that you will drink, to have a good time.

I don't know if it helps to know I have attended one such event a wedding where I was expected to drink (although not by the person I was going with), the hosts were initially offended by my refusal of the alcohol on offer. As the evening wore on that turned to admiration. Most people like a drink to help them along with big social events, it takes a brave person to not drink, but it's quite satisfying not to. It also gives you the morning after to do something with.

I realize it is a bit different for everyone but I wanted to share my experience. I never became unaddicted but was sober for several years. I went back to drinking several months ago and of course, didn't need to relearn the behavior, it came back full force (and worse) so obviously your situation would be a little different as you would have to 'relearn' to be an alcoholic to get back to where I am. I just wanted to say though that this time has been excruciating for me - much more painful because each time I make drink too much the shame feels compounded - and the fear is quite intense. I am only 5 weeks in with very little change and would never risk having to do this again, if I had the choice.

Can't you chose to drink more on Naltrexone anyway and just have the drunk experience, not the endorphin one? Just a thought....

I don't think that would be advisable...........for me at least it's an ugly beast in a cave and I feel like I'm barely holding him back with nothing but a torch on the end of a stick. I personally do not entertain the thought of drinking without NAL. It's like someone threw me a lifeline and I have no good reason whatsoever to throw it back......

I think it is totally normal to start missing the buzz after being on TSM for a few months, but hang in there, it will fade if you stick with TSM. Mid-summer is quite a long way off yet- no need to decide right now. By the time mid-summer rolls around, you might find that you have no desire to purposefully lapse.

If you do decide to purposefully lapse, you will be missing an opportunity to work on extinguishing the desire to drink at social events. Perhaps you can plan on using TSM at some social events between now and then (ones that aren't quite so important, obviously), and see how that goes? The idea of using TSM for your major mid-summer events might be more appealing if you've already learned how to have fun at social events without lapsing.

Yes you can 'drink through' nal but it aint necessarily good!