Ives,

It sounds like you are doing great, and it is nice that you are figuring out what works for you.

I am too afraid to try any hard liquor, for I really hate those hangovers! And they seem more intense with the nal.

I think if you can resist that urge in the next couple of weeks you won't want it any more or the desire will weaken. I find the more I resist those urges the stronger I get.

Keep up good work and keep posting because we do care,

Jaba

Hi Ives - sorry we sort of hijacked your thread ! Anyway - good for you re trying to keep the hard liquor out of the house - if it isn't there you cannot drink it right ? You do know that if you do not drink then you do not need to take the Nal - it is only when you are drinking that you take it. Sounds as if you are really trying hard with this - hang in there and keep posting !

Hugs, Maggie

7 last night, pretty good.

Ives,

You should be very proud and doing a happy dance for that is awesome!

Keep up the good work and keep posting,

Jaba

It seems like you are finding what is working for you and doing well. Thumbs up!

glad your plan is working. keep it up!

8ish yesterday, pretty damn good for football Sunday. Going to work on getting an AF day this week. Hope I can find something to occupy myself for an evening and take my mind off drinking. Probably need to pick up a new book, or hope the one I'm reading now starts to get more engrossing.

Ives,

Read the cure page that always inspires me. Or reorganize a closet for it is a good way to lose track of time. It is good to hear that you are pushing ahead strong!

Keep up the good work,

Jaba

Yes - organizing closet really helps. I have been doing this last week and was able to clear a lot of stuff. It looks great to see some order in my house. I would have never been able to do it without Nal!

Yeah, cleaning/organizing is my #1 thing to do when I'm at home sober and trying to occupy myself, next to going to the gym. Unfortunately, that usually only occupies me for an hour or so before I give in and open a beer.

On the topic of going to the gym, one thing I failed to mention that's really killing me now is that I can't go to the gym. I recently had a minor surgery which I'm still recovering from, and I have other unrelated chronic joint issues, which combined means that about 95% of exercises are ruled out right now. I am still at least a month out from being back to normal. So that sucks. Can't wait to get back to the gym. My last really good non-white-knuckle AF night was after a solid gym session.

Despite counting 8 drinks last night, today's hangover was definitely a 10-drink hangover, so I guess I will log it as a 9. I had a few glasses of wine to accompany the usual beer (girlfriend keeps leaving giant bottles of it in my fridge...need to get her to quit doing that) and it's tough to tell how much is one drink with that stuff.

25 mg this morning, 50 mg at 3 PM and another 25 mg at 5 PM. So there is a solid 75 mg dose definitely active in me now, and as I am finishing my third drink already, I can feel that blockade really working hard to shut down those receptors. I think I am going to aim for 50 mg at lunch and 50 mg a few hours after that, and am going to try taking all 100 mg at once next weekend to see if I can handle the side effects. A full 100 mg following the "golden rule" might really be what I need. I can definitely see the advantages to building up tolerance to side effects by breaking up the target daily dose into 3-4 smaller doses throughout the day, but I'm starting to think that in the end, what is really needed is one big dose each day, per by-the-book TSM.