5 units today (Friday).

habbit is taking over. I am so happy when I drink as the pressure gets off.
I really wonder if this escape from reality is a typical alcohol psychological pattern?

I'm posting this in several places:

I just re-read Dr. E's caution on pg. 118: ". . .it will take at least three to four months to reverse the addiction." [Emphasis his.]

That's at least, as in the minimum time frame to expect to see results. Few people here are at that point. We just saw a long-time member of this board withdraw from here, at four months, because she wasn't seeing results. How sad! So many are expressing doubt and discouragement long before the minimum amount of time the process takes.

Let's just keep reminding ourselves that this process is different for everyone, and there's no reason in the world to assume it won't work for each one of us so long as we always follow the Golden Rule: Take naltrexone one hour before you drink, every single time. Then, just don't worry about it!

Onward, and downward!

I need to give this at least 1-2 months more before doubting any results.
Maybe even longer. There is no better alternative anyways. The only alternative is to go into an Anti Alcoholic Therapy to stop completely and to stay for the rest of my live without alcohol.

I have seen such a great time where alcohol was not so important and it hurts to see a drawback in my therapy. Although this drawback might seem minor when looking at it over a longer period of time.

I am not going to give up. I still have enough Nal and if needed I will get more. I know it will work.
The only thing that anonys me is to fall back into old patterns.

Alcohol is not my friend, it will not help me with anything. It will just destroy my health, it will only make things more difficult to me.

Like I said in a previous post, I think the Nal honeymoon is over. But I already expected that it won't go well all the time. Statistic shows that there will be a period where there is a going worse - and it even looks maybe like it is not working.

So what I am about now is to experience a wave back to higher consume that will be hopefully followed by lower consume.

The Honeymoon is like the name already says a first time reaction, it is love but how I can work out the rest of my live with my partner alcohol and/or Nal. We will see now how this will work out.

I thank you all for your support, and I am sorry to say that my Alcohol consume might rise again. I do trust however that I will reduce it over the long term!

Love this topic you all.....Everybody has helped me a lot. One thing I notice about the "extinction" process is the COMITTMENT to take a NAL as soon as the overwhelming craving hits and then comitting to the hour wait before my drink.

For me, psychologically, I know I won't go "deprived" so the hour is easier....but additionally, after the hour goes by, much of the craving has, too. Sometimes I'll have a drink just because I didn't want to "waste" the benefit of the NAL....but then again, that only reinforces my negative reactions to the drink.

I'm so glad it's considered harmless enough that it may one day be available OTC.

P.S. My pharamacist has MS and is on LDN (Low Dose Nal). As an "off label" prescription it has been proven to be VERY effective against both frequency and intensity of the attacks.

Here I go again: pay attention, friends!

I'm posting this in several places:

I just re-read Dr. E's caution on pg. 118: ". . .it will take at least three to four months to reverse the addiction." [Emphasis his.]

That's at least, as in the minimum time frame to expect to see results. Few people here are at that point. We just saw a long-time member of this board (houtx) say she is withdrawing from here, at four months, because she wasn't seeing results. How sad! So many are expressing doubt and discouragement long before the minimum amount of time the process takes.

Let's just keep reminding ourselves that this process is different for everyone, and there's no reason in the world to assume it won't work for each one of us so long as we always follow the Golden Rule: Take naltrexone one hour before you drink, every single time. Then, just don't worry about it!

Onward, and downward!

I really have no clue why I drunk yesterday 5 units.
I feel sick when drinking this amount. And I still felt a bit sick in the morning.

The ideal amount is 3-4 units in a session to me. Still I could not stop yesterday.

Hi Craving - look at my units in my sig...I just recently put all my weeks/units back in my sig so others can see the spike -- I definitely have a bell curve...I started spiking back up around week 6 and it's only recently gone back down. Which is where I feel like it will now stay. I am not yet at 4 months.

I was very lucky to essentially have a 6 week honeymoon (if you can call it that...) and it was very scary when it went back up. I tried to stay positive while posting, but in reality it was very frustrating/depressing/scary. It does go back down, though, and I would guess that given your history, your spike up will be a lot shorter duration than mine was. You are only in your 20's, right? So you have had much less time to build up your addiction and I would expect you will not take as long to extinguish it.

Please take heart. This board can actually be a bit discouraging to those finding success early because you feel like you are not the norm - you feel like it's normal to struggle and NOT see your units go down... but do not let this week's numbers lead you to believe that the game is up. You are doing great and part of it is your age and part of it is your unique approach. Please keep trying as you have, (even though we are not suppose to 'try' I've noticed you are able to control your drinking in certain situations and I think it is a good practice for you to continue because it works for you).

There will certainly be days when your numbers will go up. It is disappointing, but please don't worry - you will get back on track!

Sorry you are not feeling well today...the hangovers are definitely worse on Nal when you drink more than your system is accustomed to...

Again - you are doing fantastic, cravings, keep up the good work and don't be disappointed by a few stray numbers!

happy4once,

Thank you so much for this amazing posting. Everytime I feel bad I will read this posting and I think it will motivate me.

Today I was AF like on all Saturdays so far. Although my craving has been in between bigger than normally - mainly because I saw other people drinking, and I was the only one not drinking. So that is even more hard to manage - to say into the group no. I managed to do it and I am very happy.

Still I am already looking forward for tomorrow to drink. I lately feel this pressure to drink. It will only go away the moment I drink, and it keeps on building.
I think this is the original definition of craving - to have a more and more overhelming desire to do something (i.e. to drink)

Thank you so much happy4once - you are an excellent help for my soul in need.

summary

Week 1
........Mon, 20.04. pre-SM AF
........Tue, 21.04. pre-SM AF
........Wed, 22.04. pre-SM AF
........Thu, 23.04. 5.7 units (SM Start 25mg Nal)
........Fri, 24.04. 6 units
........Sat, 25.04. AF
........Sun, 26.04. 5 units

........Total units : 16.7 units
........AF days : 4

Week 2
........Mon, 27.04. 5 units
........Tue, 28.04. AF
........Wed, 29.04. 5 units
........Thu, 30.04. AF
........Fri, 01.05. AF
........Sat, 02.05. AF
........Sun, 03.05. 1.5 units

........Total units : 11.5 units
........AF days : 4

Week 3
........Mon, 04.05. AF
........Tue, 05.05. 1.5 units (switch to 50mg Nal)
........Wed, 06.05. AF
........Thu, 07.05. 1.5 units
........Fri, 08.05. 1 unit
........Sat, 09.05. AF
........Sun, 10.05. AF

........Total units : 4 units
........AF days : 4

Week 4
........Mon, 11.05. 1 unit
........Tue, 12.05. AF
........Wed, 13.05. AF
........Thu, 14.05. 3 units
........Fri, 15.05. AF
........Sat, 16.05. AF
........Sun, 17.05. 5 units

........Total units : 9 units
........AF days : 4

Week 5
........Mon, 18.05. AF
........Tue, 19.05. 1 unit
........Wed, 20.05. 4 units
........Thu, 21.05. AF
........Fri, 22.05. 4 units
........Sat, 23.05. AF
........Sun, 24.05. AF

........Total units : 9 units
........AF days : 4

Week 6
........Mon, 25.05. 5 units
........Tue, 26.05. AF
........Wed, 27.05. AF
........Thu, 28.05. AF
........Fri, 29.05. 4 units
........Sat, 30.05. AF
........Sun, 31.05. 4 units

........Total units : 13 units
........AF days : 4

Week 7
........Mon, 01.06. AF
........Tue, 02.06. 5 units
........Wed, 03.06. 4 units
........Thu, 04.06. AF
........Fri, 05.06. 3 units
........Sat, 06.06. AF
........Sun, 07.06. AF


........Total units : 12 units
........AF days : 4

Week 8
........Mon, 08.06. 4 units
........Tue, 09.06. AF
........Wed, 10.06. 4 units
........Thu, 11.06. AF
........Fri, 12.06. 5 units
........Sat, 13.06. AF
........Sun, 14.06. 5 units


........Total units : 19 units
........AF days : 3



AF days reduced and units drunk has increased too throughout the weeks now.

Mon,, 15.06. AF
Tue, 16.06. 5 units
Wed, 17.06. 4 units
Thu, 18.06. AF


My desire for alcohol appears to be back in full scale. I would wish to drink every day at night alcohol. The AF days I managed this week have been because of my gf.
It is frustrating, but I have committed myself to this therapy and the only thing I have to do is take the Nal right? - That is not really hard thing to do.

Still I am angry with myself. If you look at the weekly results you will see that i made a big jump down in the first week and continued to go even lower over the weeks. Now I am almost where I started. So the initial jump down is gone - like it never existed.

That is probably the mistake ... I thought I have it under control, I was very cautioned with saying that. Then I started to believe it, and then the honey moon is over.

I expected from the beginning that it would be a phase with few alcohol which would later increase again to go more down later on.

I was prepared for this phase to come before, but because of the great results, I was so vain to think it would be different for me. I think I am on my right way.
Expect though higher levels of alcohol - for which I will not feel ashame anymore - or at least try not to.