Yesterday I had 25mg 1 hour before I went to an afternoon event. I wasn't sure if there would be drinking there, so I did it just in case. Turned out I had a couple malt beverages (2 beers and a hard cider). Those aren't really my things (I like hard liquor), so it didn't affect me at all. Later in the day I took another 25mg an hour before I knew I would be drinking because the big game (Wisconsin vs Kentucky) was starting soon (I live in Wisconsin, so I'm obviously a happy guy today). I got completely hammered drinking bourbon. This is only my 3rd day, so I'm not expecting miracles right away, I knew I would have "bad days." BTW I only did the 25mg because I'm early on. I'm going to start taking 50mg from now on. I've had very little side-effects; minor dizziness is all.

Enough about yesterday. I was thinking a few things that I have not found addressed in the book or articles (maybe it was, but I don't recall seeing it). Maybe someone could shed some light:

1. If you take NAL 1 hour before you plan on drinking, what if it turns out to be 2, 3, or even 4 hours before you actually do? The "Golden Rule" is 1 hour. But is there some sort of time limit before you should take more?
2. What if it is a situation like above, where you end up drinking twice in a day (a lag time between drinking)? Take another one for the second drinking episode? I've seen people say that it stays in your system for 24 hours, give or take. Anyone have any experience with this?

I think those 2 questions cover what I'm asking. I hope that any responses/help will be beneficial to others and not just me.

in theory one 50mg dose *should* last you 24 hours, however some people take a 25mg "booster" if they're going to be drinking, for whatever reason, more than 6-8 hours after taking the initial 50mg. it may or may not be beneficial, but it probably doesn't do any harm

-badger

Thanks Badger. I'm glad I joined this TCM group. I'm new, but I can see already that some great info can be gathered here.

Hi McDad

Yes, 1 x 50mg dose should last 24 hours.

The golden rule is to ensure the nal is on your receptors, it takes one hour for it to get into your bloodstream and onto your brain.

When I did TSM I would however take another 50mg if say I'd taken 50mg 1 hour before drinking the night before and was going to drink at lunchtime or mid afternoon the following day.

As a bit of history at the start of my TSM journey I did actually take my nal at 11am each morning. This was because I knew that once I decided to drink, at that point in my alcoholism I might not have waited out one hour. I was advised to take it in the morning. If I drank later than say 7pm I would then take another 25mg. This was probably a bit overkill, but it still did the trick until I trusted myself enough, and the cravings had subsided slightly, to then wait one hour.

I would also like to add that someone, a member of a place where other medications are considered, accused me of not actually using TSM because I took my nal earlier in the day.

Reading posts here allowed me to see that it's merely to allow the medication to get into your brain, that is all. Sure you want to hit peak concentration but (a) people are not robotic and (b) the method doesn't require you to cram everything in one hour after dropping the pill!

Or maybe we have to rename a UKB method?

UKB, thank you for your reply - this is precisely the feedback I was looking for just now, as I took my 50 mg Nal late this evening (on beer #2 currently, probably not having much more tonight), but will be in a drinking setting tomorrow afternoon and wasn't sure how much more I should take tomorrow. I will likely take another 50 mg tomorrow afternoon to be sure. Thank you for welcoming me on my initial post, too!