Also, does anyone know of any bad side effect from upping your dose? I have never heard of any. if not, why wouldn't people try it? I mean why wouldn't we TRY anything that might help if there was no downside?

Newlife, Je - I do not know if upping the dose has downsides - I cannot see that it does apart from SE's - and as JE said, he tolerated it first time round well so it should not be a problem - are you thinking of upping your dose Newlife ? I keep dithering around thinking of maybe trying it to see if it will speed things up a bit. Someone did send me an e-mail with a bit in it about upping the dose to 100mg, saying it was generally well tolerated. I have tried once or twice upping it to 75 with no discernible difference - I might try upping it to 100. I have enough AF days that I have some spare so might give it a try!

Je - Newlife, let me know if you do up yours !!

Hugs, Maggie x

I think I am at the dithering point too. I feel like it is working at 50 mg; I am just not always working it, if you know what I mean. But at some point I will probably give it a try. XOXO Newlife

I know EXACTLY what you mean newlife ! Yes, IT is working but WE are not working it - really well said !!!

Hugs, Maggie x

Je, newlife, and maggie,

I reread some of the information from the link I posted(TIP). This scares me for I am not a doctor; however, it does say "if nal. is well tolerated" to up doses certain days of the week for a trial period of 2 weeks. It scares me because of the liver and kidney issue. If you had access to having your blood tested before, mid-way, and after, I would be less concerned. Or if you are working with a doctor to discuss it with them.

One of the things that I did read was that nal. is not a "magic bullet". As much as I want it to be magic, I have to work with the nal. and not against it. My desire for drinking isn't as loud as it was, but it's still there. I want that desire, itchy, tense, I gotta have a drink feeling just to leave me my brain. I would like to have a drink because it sounds good (good wine with a meal, a beer at a game) not because my booze brain is saying "feed me, FEED ME NOW!" If my desire (and my loud talking booze brain) does not quiet down in a year, then I might consider upping my dose.

What surprised me most of that article was that they know patients will drink, but they don't mention TSM.

If anyone is thinking of upping their dose please be smart about it,

Jaba

I think the liver issue may be overstated. As I recall reading here before, liver problems came only at RIDICULOUSLY high doses. Kidney, I don't know about. But you are right to say be careful. XOXO Newlife

Jaba - the liver thing was when people took 300mg a day .... so I do not think 50 mg or even 100mg is an issue - plus if it helps cut the cravings then it would not be a daily thing anyway. Kidneys I have never heard about .... but thanks anyway for the warning - duly noted !

Hugs, Maggie x

Alright jaba, maggie, newlife, so yesterday I took 100 mg of Nal, waited an hour, and then drank. The good news is that I didn't notice any side effects. The funny thing about my experience with the side effects is that sometimes I notice them and sometimes not, and it's unpredictable, but always mild. What I sometimes notice is some slight drowsiness during the first couple of hours, and a little bit of diarrhea the next morning (sorry, gross, I know). But last night there was nothing noticeable. As far as whether 100 mg made a difference, I have to say for now it's inconclusive. The first 2 drinks I had, the buzz was definitely suppressed, which is great. But that usually happened when I was taking 50 mg as well. Impossible for me to say at this point whether it was more suppressed or not. I proceeded to have more drinks after that and started getting some pleasurable buzz at that point. So the 100 probably didn't help, but I may continue with it a little longer just to gather some more trials.

I think that Nal is simply most effective on the first couple of drinks, and after one passes a certain level of intoxication the good feeling starts to come back, although still not as much as without it. If you can get to the point where you're only having 1 or 2 it's not hard to stay there because you aren't getting the pleasure. But if you can't reduce your numbers enough, you don't get the full benefit, it that makes any sense. I've also noticed that I tend to do better at keeping the number of drinks low when I have beer or something that is low ABV, which would support that theory.


This is where I'm at right now.

I sure do wish there were in-person TSM support groups where we could get together and talk about all of this stuff face-to-face (maybe over a beer, lol). I'd love to meet all of the personalities from this site.

je,

I am glad the side effects aren't that bad. And that desire is something that I hear will become extinct; however, you do need to be mindful drinking for the nal will not take away that buzz. This isn't magic and if you slow down (easier said than done at times) and ask yourself is this really what I want to do?
I slowed down after a few nal overs that were hell. I mean I wish I would have gotten sick, instead I had everything but, and I wanted to die. I had terrible anxiety, racing heart, pacing, sweats, cold chills, diarrhea, nausea, praying for sleep, and I was thankful I no longer worked for driving would have been deadly. The first nal. over I had I thought I would have to have my husband take me to the E.R. because I thought something was really wrong.
Pace yourself, drink water in-between, slow down whats the hurry? You know what's like being drunk (and a drunk), and now it's time to learn how to drink like a normal person.
I know they claim to drink like you normally do, but I cannot anymore. I never ever want to have a nal. over again and I sometimes even when I have 2 (5 oz) glasses of wine I get a headache. And I have had a slight nal. over at 3 (5 oz.) glasses. So maybe you aren't to the point to where your body tells you it has had enough, just be careful in the meantime.

Good thoughts beaming at you,

Jaba

Oh, and I like being hidden. I don't think I would ever show up at a meeting; however, I know for some it would be great and they would really appreciate hashing out the ins and outs of this process face to face.