Hi, UKB
Did you find it to be easy to quite with TSM?
To what do you most attribute your awesome success? Was it mostly the NAL or mostly you.
Did you continue to drink heavily on NAL?
Why do YOU think a lot of the inmates here still drink heavily for months?
Do you not agree that NAL could be a brilliant tool to head off addiction as well as to recover from addiction?
You and Guapo seem to have been more successful at controlling massive AL addiction than most on this site. Any thoughts on why?

Steve

maybe because they've completed the process whereas just about everyone else is still going through it?

Good one Badger !! Zing ..... !

Zing taken.
Again I wish to express my admiration to those of you who are battling monstrous AL addictions. I consider MYSELF to be the lighter drinker, at least in comparison. I had no idea humans were capable of tolerating the amounts alcohol that some of you consumed regularly. I speak only of my own experience to hopefully encourage others like me, who worry they may be heading into a problem, that it CAN be easy and painless and why not take control NOW. I get the feeling that I've upset some of you. Perhaps I sounded judgemental but that was not my intention. There is a lot of valuable support here for the heavily addicted but I can't really speak to what I haven't experienced. I can say, AGAIN, to those less addicted, it CAN be painless and relatively EASY. AS IN MY EXPERIENCE!
Steve

Steven, I am not offended and in fact I welcome your thoughts. I am, however, a "lighter" drinker by some standards, and yet while I do feel I have gotten relief with the nal, it has not been easy or painless for me. In fact, it has been a major struggle. From my unscientific view of what I have read on this forum, it seems to me that people's results are more random: some people, both heavier and lighter drinkers, are "fast responders" and seemingly easily cured, while others, both heavier and lighter drinkers, take longer. Some take up to 2 years. And it goes without saying that a lot probably give up along the way.

A least for me, the nal alone helps, but it isn't going to get me where I want to be on its own. But it helps, and so does this forum, and A LOT more than AA, shaming, blaming, etc. etc.

Tonight for me is the end of Week 13. At 14 US Units (assuming that I don't drink tonight, which is my goal), and 2 AF days, it is my lightest week yet. But it is still not where I want to be. I want to be drinking less, but also THINKING less about drinking. I am hoping that continuing with the nal and the other techniques and strategies that I am slowly learning will get me there.

But I am curious about "low dose nal". Is it a different pill altogether? Or are you saying you simply take a regular 50 mg pill and cut it way down? Where did you find the research on it?

And again, thanks for your thoughts. We may disagree and challenge each other, but all in all I find this to be a group of really caring and incredibly smart, experienced people who have the same problem that I do. Invaluable.

XOXO from Newlife

Distinguishing between the degree of addiction is probably irrelevant. Nobody would be here unless they knew they had a problem.

Not to be trite, but what helped me the most was optimistically believing that the things I did would get me better.

Somebody did a nice post recently that alcohol is your hobby or a love affair of sorts. Whatever it is, making it a thing of the past by taking away that status is the best thing you can do.

Your point is well taken, Newlife, and possibly backed by hard science. One interesting report I read stated that alcohol and drug addicts tend to be endorphin deficient. It inferred that we subconsiously self medicate with drugs because we ARE deficient. NAL may be more or less effective depending on our normal endorphin levels. Also earlier reading related NAL efficiency to the presence of a particular gene. If one is endorphin deficient, low dose NAL reportedly raises endorphin levels after the temporary blockage of opoid receptors. In theory, less may be MUCH more. IN THEORY.
There is a TON of info (some obviously qwackery and some so scientific as to be unreadable) to be had by just googling LDN and endorphin deficiency.
I make my own by dissolving 50mg into 50ml of distilled water. Take 5ml of that liquid for a 5mg dose of NAL. Quite bitter...chase with lots of water.

I think the drinker who is mostly addicted to the initial rush of endorphins hitting his opoid receptors and chases that feeling with round 2, 3, 4, etc. will be more easily helped by NAL because this part of drinking is the ONLY part NAL has any effect on. The addict who drinks 30 units per session or is drunk 24 hours a day or even just (!) does 100 units a week has some serious additional physical and chemical issues to deal with. NAL ONLY deals with OPOID RECEPTORS as far as we now know. BIG difference to recovery in time and discomfort.

Hi Steven

Firstly I measure units in UK units which are double that of the US units system.

My drinking per session was halved from my first session with nal.

Because it was suddenly much so much safer to drink I stopped 'holding out' and drank every evening. Over time my units reduced further and I decided to break the 5-7 day habit by using tools I had used in previous attempts at abstenance.

I wanted to break the hold alcohol had over me and I was prepared to do anything, I was highly motivated to change and already had experience of attending events without drinking - it was too dangerous for me to drink at social events because I'd end up unconscious, or asleep, or doing something dangerous. I had also seen through alcohol a long time before TSM, I knew it was a con and I knew it wasn't essential in anyone's life.

So I avoided/limited drinking events either by refusing invites, or by going sober and leaving early.

There were spikes but I recognised them and they spurred me on to work harder. Over time I changed my friends, changed my lifestyle. Pre-TSM I had also cut off some alcoholic/heavy drinker/drug using friends. That was very, very difficult and I was harassed. I would hide from them, and also changed my phone number. It took 6 months to get them away from me, but that laid me in good stead for TSM.

Like Guapo I firmly believe life changes have to happen.

I have heard of LDN but I am not interested in taking the tablet everyday, and I am not interested in risking reversal by drinking without 50mg Nal.

I quit fairly easily, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been easy. It was however a decision I made after a couple of years of moderating/barely drinking through lifestyle choices. I simply was not enjoying alcohol, even one glass made me feel self-conscious. I was also not prepared to risk the process reversing. So I quit.

I don't actually crave alcohol but I get annoyed that I am 'on' 24/7/365.

I don't smoke, I don't use any mind altering drug apart from caffeine which I do keep under control (caffeine is something I enjoy, funnily enough I didn't enjoy or become addiction to cocaine - so figure that one out!).

I deal with life in the raw, every day with no let up. I do go out and socialise, dance etc but it's not central to my life, instead it's something I enjoy every now and then. I am also not afraid nor ashamed that I no longer drink - it was serious and I decided to save my life. Ten years ago I was told by a medical consultant that because of the level of my drinking I would not make it to this year.

Post-TSM an old eating disorder which I had pre-alcoholism (although back then I did have problems most times I drank), has resurfaced and in pretty much the same way/same behaviours as with alcohol but I am working on that.

I've also done a lot of self-reflection which is part of psychotherapy training I'm completing.

Has this been easy?Hell no.

TSM is a tool, it gives you a break from the physical addiction, the remainder I am convinced has to come from within.

I am a shy, nervous, insecure person but I was brought up to take responsibility and if I have to do something I will find the courage to do so. I decided to live.

Fast responders intrigue me however, I have decided that they are simply ready to stop and capable of doing so. The logic works for them right from the off.

1. I cannot disagree enough about NAL and hard core drinkers! Don't anyone reading that believe a word of it. I went almost 40 years never having had a single day without a bunch of drinks, and 80% of the time, -a lot more than a bunch. I knew 20 years ago I was in terrible trouble. But I didn't know what to do. I went to one AA meeting, and could not get out of there fast enough. I could never envision a life without alcohol. My honest-to-God thinking was that trying to give up alcohol would be nothing but a living hell, and I was convinced that if I ever managed it, within a year of suffering all that torment, I would be hit by a bus or diagnosed with some fatal affliction, rendering all my suffering pointless. Instead I tried every way I knew to moderate my drinking in hopes I could run out the clock before I died of natural causes. I counted drinks, avoided situations that were triggers, watered down drinks, -everything I could think to try for decades. But of course, -ever year my consumption went up, despite my best efforts. NAL saved me, and while it was perhaps a bit difficult at the time (I like Guapo's word: effort), when I look back upon it, -it seems like it was effortless. In fact, it was magical. And I didn't use much in the way of will power, and certainly no white knuckling. And now my life, sans alcohol, -is fantastic.
2. You are correct that cured people leave here to get on with their lives. I predicted I would in one of my earliest threads. It's natural. When you escape from hell, -you aren't going to want to have anything to do with it any more. I've been around of late because I've had some minor knee surgery and am home for awhile and a bit bored. So I am practicing being a good citizen and helping others.
3. Forget completely Steven's assertion that "taking 50mg of Nal and hour before drinking" is not the best way to go. As the poster freely volunteers: He hasn't bothered to study TSM. Enough said. This post is harmful.