Hi Everyone, I'm Tish. I started TSM 2 weeks ago and spent a lot of time lurking here while waiting for my prescription to arrive. I'm British and based in the North of the UK. It's actually been quite an amazing time waiting as the research I've been doing into addiction and endorphins and Naltrexone has been SO liberating. I've been struggling with booze for a good while now and have been through periods of abstinence (never longer then a couple of months though) and in crisis moments I have ended up in AA meetings which, while good for doing something to get out of a big hole, has not provided long term answers for me. My understanding now is that I have a genetic disposition to being susceptible to the endorphine rush that alcohol can bring and that combined with my environment (able to afford alcohol, middle class environment of wine every night etc) got me whammyed with an addiction in my mid brain that can really rule over my cortex. I've been trying to rationally understand it for too long now and getting the knowledge about the midbrain drive has helped so much as otherwise it's been a bafflement to me why the hell anyone would carry on like this.

But I have a question and am troubled today. I started 2 weeks ago and was a classic fast responder, my consumption halved immediately. Wine just tasted funny and instead of speeding up as the night went on I felt sleepy and went off to bed. Also the amount of time I spent thinking about booze when not actually drinking it really went down too which was an even bigger delight, so much room for planning projects, thinking and everything else - liberation. However that seems to have worn off and I feel worried. I fully understand the honeymoon period (maybe not why it should happen exactly but from reading here I can see it does) and was prepared but over the last couple of nights not only has my drinking returned to pre-Nal levels, my high from it has also. I've followed the 1 hour routine to the letter but now seem to be overriding the Nal and the buzz has come back and with it my urge to chuck more booze into me to get more more more etc. So basically I figured the honeymoon period might end but I wasn't prepared for the buzz to come back. I'm female, average height and build so I imagine if one 50mg pill is enough for a larger built male it should work for me so why might I still be getting a booze rush and everything that consequences from that? Any advice would be so so gratefully received - thank you in advance.

hi Tish,

welcome to the forum & TSM - nice to have another Brit

what you've described is completely normal. most people get an initial dip before going back up to, or even over, their previous drinking levels, before having it drop more slowly over time

all the best & looking forward to hearing how you get on

-badger

Thanks so much for the reply, it feels good to be part of this community now rather than just lurking! I wonder how the honeymoon period comes about and also why it might end? Could it be a placebo effect as if TSM is about eliminating those over worn pathways it can't work straight away, yet it does seem to have this immediate effect for some - also I wonder why some not others? I guess it's a relief it is normal, while the buzz in itself is pleasant it fills me with dread also as it does create cravings of course.

the honeymoon effect is interesting - it seems to be too common & too strong to be purely placebo. I'm definitely not a neuroscientist, but as alcohol works on other pathways as well as dopamine - GABA for instance - I wonder whether the brain "re-tunes" itself to these after a while of having the dopamine path blocked

in any case, it's very common & is no reason to expect that TSM won't work for you

Thanks for that and I'll look into GABA etc - sounds really interesting. One thing I just thought was that my drinking went up exactly when I started on my second blister pack of Nal. I got it from River Pharmacy who seem to be in the US but the parcel is posted from India, could the strength vary or could some pills be a bit substandard? Does anyone have experience of this and is there any way of telling if your pills are the real deal?

I don't understand why there is an initial honeymoon, just that there is.

I'm in the UK too and have had great success with TSM, but I managed to get it prescribed, firstly privately then via my GP on the NHS. There is a website where you can get a legit private prescription BUT they are mostly marketing Selincro which is a reformulation of Naltrexone, Selincro is approved for use on the NHS. Despite it's claim to be 'better' I and others report more and bigger side effects with Selincro, I'd definitely recommend trying to get Naltrexone.

I don't think there's any way to guarantee the quality of pills from the international pharmacies, but I would guess the return of the buzz is simply the honeymoon over, and now on with the hard work of breaking the addiction cycle.

If you want to slow down then I'd recommend trying diluting your drinks and thinking more about how you are feeling about drinking, but it really is very early days and it's best to eliminate the drink of your choice.

Hi UKBlonde, thanks for the reply, I've seen some of your posts and am encouraged by you! I'm interested that you say to eliminate your drink of choice. I stopped vodka and all spirits a while back as they took me to a really bad place and that has helped. I now drink wine and sometimes beer - are you suggesting I stop drinking wine as my drink of choice to move things along? Do let me know, all guidance is welcome.

Tish

Sorry I've probably confused you now!

What I suggest is drinking whatever you want to drink, that is the key with TSM. Later on when you have seen a good reduction in both drinking and cravings I'd then suggest thinking about what you want to drink.

I tried vodka some years before TSM and I had to ban it, it was far too dangerous for me because I could drink it so quickly. I'd certainly not recommend going back to vodka if that is not your current drink.

The other thing with TSM is over thinking, plus a whole host of new experiences as TSM throws usual drinking habits on their head!

I'm also wondering are you ok over the BH?

Thanks again for that, I agree re Vodka, it really did take me to somewhere terrible, I think I was waking up still drunk so the cravings were uncontainable so I ended up with breakfast drinks - and that is no way to go. Looking back on this forum there are posts from 2009 (if not before) yet I had to go through a long time before I found either TSM or simply information on endorphines, midbrain activity and how the addiction process works. AA telling me that "it's a disease" was never helpful - it gives no information about its cause or progress etc. Finding information via TSM answers so many questions and resonates so clearly with me. I understand that as this is not advocating abstention it will be controversial but surely by now there should be a body of people/evidence to support a new way of looking at this and it should be gaining acceptance, yet I don't see this? I wonder why?