I think you really need to try upping your dose, or at least, if you're going to drink at lunch & dinner, taking 12.5mg an hour before each. if you're drinking 6-8 hours after taking 12.5, then you're going to have virtually no Nal left in your system after 1.5-2 half-lives

I don't know your history, but I'm assuming you had bad SE's at 25/50mg & then dropped down to 12.5? if you're tolerating the 12.5 reasonably well now, I doubt you'd notice much increase in SE's if you stepped up to 25, now that your body's used to Nal

best of luck!

-badger

Thanks Badger - I agree with your suggestion and will try to increase the dose. Today, I sadly overdid my drinking. I had a glass of wine with lunch and then three beers later. This was way over my usual dose. I took the Nal just before lunch and later in the afternoon really enjoyed drinking beer. I was traveling that sort of disrupted my routine. Tomorrow, I have a dinner event and need to be extra careful not to overdo things again. It is an ups and down ride!

I have one month on Nal now. It has been quite an easy ride. Numbers of drinks are down from what they have been on the start and there are more AF days. However, it might need to go for 25 mg dose soon. I feel that 12,5 mg is having less effect. When drinking, I do not have big cravings but at the same time I also do not have the feeling of aversion that I had at the start. Now, I feel like "normal" drinker. When I have one or two glasses of wine, I feel great and then do not crave more. However, I do not have that feeling of "loss of desire" for wine that I experience at the start. So, my fear is that maybe Nal does not have effect anymore. Or that the dose is too low. Since I had terrible SE with 50 mg, I am quite afraid to increase the dose. But might need to next week when some parties are planned.

sounds like your body's ready for 25mg. good luck!

I agree with Zontar - try upping to 25mg and make sure that you have a full tummy when you do so! Good luck to you,

Hugs, Maggie x

Thanks Zontar and Maggie - I will increase the dosage when I next go out. At the moment, I try to have more AF days in a row. It is going well.

Here is what I have learned this first month on Nal:
- alcohol is a habit for me, less a physical addiction. I had no withdrawal symptoms, tremors etc.
- to kick this habit, Nal works like a crutch. It helps lowering consumption.
- most work, however, is needed in "curing" habit - i.e. developing strategies to count drinks, AF days etc.
- I doubt that long term changes happen without passionate devotion to these habit changing strategies.

Here are the strategies that I now employ:
- no alcohol at home (unless one needs to buy a bottle when inviting people for dinner)
- no solo drinking (unless I were to be traveling, eating in a restaurant and really wishing to have a glass with my meal)
- try to minimize drinking when kids are present (in the restaurant, of course, since there is no drinking at home anyhow)
- when having dinner with friends, drink twice the amount of water than wine
- sometimes replace wine with beer (I drink less of it)
- order small glass of wine and not large in the restaurant that offer that option
- start making mock coctails with a lot of ice

What still needs to be done in the near future:
- exercising more
- better time managment (get some old projects done!)
- planned fun activities that do not involve alcohol

I am very happy with the changes that Nal brought into my life and am sometimes regretting not to have discovered that years ago. However, past is past and it is great to start a new page of live with alcohol not playing a major role anymore.

Thanks everyone here for support!

Tamtam, congratulations on your progress. It sounds like things are going great for you! I have to admit that I am a little envious of your quick response. I hope your journey continues to be an easy ride.

Thanks for summing up what the first month of Nal has taught you. It made me realize how lazy I have been in seeking a cure. I am usually a bit critical of people who don't want to work at something but just want the magic pill, but realize that I have been doing just that. I think that this forum and people like you are just what I have needed to start some work in earnest. I am going to start a weekly progress post of my own. In that way I may have some accountability when I view what I have done in writing.

Thanks, again for your posts!

Great insights Tamtam! Let us know how it goes this week as I think you are upping your dose .... yes ?

Deena - it really is a good idea to have a progress thread so that it is easy to see at a glance how you are doing - also I have found that it helps to see the ebbs and flows - of which I have many! But it is all on a downward spiral so it IS working - it is just taking time !! It also helps those coming along after us so then can see that if it isn't working too well at a time then they can see the same happened for others too -

Hugs, Maggie x

I did not increase yet the dose to 25 mg, because I am trying to have more AF days. Yesterday, I took 12 mg Nal before having one beer and did not wish to have more. I have some major work related event next week and will need to be very focused. That is why I will increase the does only after that. I cannot afford to deal with side effects of Nal at the moment. However, in the near future I will increase the dose.

tamtam1 quarter tabs of 12.5mg's has worked well for me going on 10 weeks now. I usually take a tad bit more then 1/4 though. What I do is split a pill into quarters and then take the largest one. Next time I take one quarter and split that to add onto one of the smaller ones. So just in case I know I am getting at least 13mg's or more. On a few occasions I've taken a half like for example if I expect it to be a very long evening. I know what you mean though by getting the feeling it might not be enough. On a few occasions over the last month I've had 5 drink nights and even though I still never get drunk or go over .8BAC it's still too much and I get that old feeling of Moar!!! But still it's not a reflexive unconscious imperative that I do get more. In fact that urge is squashed. In the old days I'd say to myself that I need to slow down and then before I know it I just slammed a beer and grabbed two more out of the fridge so I could 'sip' one and have another under the table to keep the levels up. That sort of insanity is gone even on 1/4 tab so in my case I think that desire for more feeling is a physical one. After all alcohol does have physical properties that we can enjoy even while on Naltrexone and I think that's what I am going after but again, nothing lie it was.

Sounds like it may be the same for you. Anyway it seems to be working for you well.