Nigel I'd be curious to know what your numbers are. How many units pre TSM per night versus after. I'd also be curious to know if you have a family history of alcoholism.

I'm curious about a lot of things.

I'm I guess what you would call a text book poster boy for TSM. I can absolutely assure you that there is no placebo involved at all what so ever and the science clearly backs that up. I being one of the most skeptical persons on the planet am not easily fooled for one thing and as such I read very far into TSM before starting it including the published jpurnal papers and studies and so on and STILL didn't believe it. The biggest reason why I didn't believe it is because I lived it. As an alcoholic who was desperate to quit, in fact waking up almost every morning of my entire life promising myself to stop only to repeat till black out again that night, I would not have believed that anything would even chop off 10% of my drinking. And each year it just got worse and worse.

What I am most curious about is why it works so well for some and not so well for others. Like I said I pretty much responded instantly. I went from 25 years of alcoholism, binge drinking, taking a week off here and there and sometimes a month but always getting worse and worse culminating up till the time I researched about TSM to a good 4-5 month binge and the night before my first experience of TSM having 16 drinks (that I actually counted) including beer, whine and vodka down to 7 drinks then down to an average of 3 per night over the course of the last 4 months.

Like yourself I still enjoy beer and wine, not so much hard stuff, and I still even look forward to it. I just don't NEED it. and need is exactly what it was which brings me back to my own personal hypothesis of why TSM worked for me. When I think back on my drinking, and even while I was drinking I used to think about this, I'd be always questioning myself. Why do I drink? The innocent reason is that I drink because I really honestly do like the taste of a well made beer. I really do like a glass of red wine with a nice tomatoey pasta dish. The only problem is that due to addiction after that first drink the chase was on. I had no choice but to drink after that first one. I didn't know it at the time but what would happen is that if I did stop drinking then the primitive part of the brain that demands the rewarding pleasure of endorphin would start to send all kinds of mean signals to other parts of the brain that control other parts of the body and things would get nasty till the opiodergic system of the brain was pleased again. In other words my brain would make me sick till I drank again.

So to answer my own question of why do I drink? Because if I don't then I will get sick. After a night of drinking I'd wake up felling sick but get over it as the day went on, morning coffee, something to eat, and just general mindfulness of work and so on till about 4-5pm then I'd start felling sick again. This sickness was withdrawal. It was the mind torturing the body to get it's primitive reward. The suffering came in the form of chronic thoughts about alcohol, general ill feeling in the stomach, severe anxiety, heart beat irregularities and rhythms, dizziness, nausea, and overall a general feeling of crisis. That was step number one in why do I drink. That first drink was to put it crudely better then sex. Actually it's not a bad analogy. It was orgasmic. That's the thing about our alcoholic brains we sure's hell know how to go big with the rewards. The first drink felt so vital because it cured the self inflicted sickness. That would last a short period of time, maybe 20 minutes. My first drink by the way was typically a beer with a double shot of vodka. Then the sickness would creep in again even worse this time and I'd really have no choice but to drink till the night is done.

So in short what I am getting at is why did I drink? I drank so that I would not get sick. Period. I didn't drink to get drunk. I didn't like being drunk. I drank to not get sick.

My guess is that TSM works well if this story resonates with the person interested in trying it. But I don't know. It's pure conjecture on my part but the big thing for me and from others who I've questioned where TSM works is the concept of the chase and the sickness that develops from drinking.

Newlife, this has me in tears, for I am so happy for you! It sounds like things have changed for you...heart, soul, and mind...alcohol better give up that grip or you are gonna give it a can of whoopass! You go girl!

Jaba

Ocean,

I am wondering if it works faster on those who have abused alcohol the most and wants freedom the most. I know Generic struggled for over a year, and he in my book was a flat out (I lived with his type) alcoholic, but I did not read all of his posts to see if he struggled with the not being drunk anymore.

If I understand you correctly you have had enough of alcohol and drank because the side effect of not drinking would be unbearable, and you had enough of getting drunk (but couldn't control that) and you really wanted that monkey off your back...so you took the pill and was able to unhook that monkey and still feed it without going through withdrawal.

I know I already had liver damage and if I didn't get control I would most likely need a liver transplant in the future (if that isn't a motivator to be sober), so I needed to be able to drink in healthy limits and those nal. overs reminded me of why I was doing this and I needed to stop asap.

I am not sure if it is the genetics, for there was a study to disprove that claim, or is it the damage done to your liver (for nal is processed in the liver), or a combination of the both, or none? Could it be all those and the desire to stop that madness?

I find this all interesting, and it is a wonder why others respond faster than others.

I know I would have a heck of a time if my husband also drank and he could control his intake, for I think I would want the nal. to do all the work, but I know that is not the case...at least not with me.

I think scientist needs to dive in a little deeper into this question. If this is a cure for even most of the people, then why do some respond fast, and others fight to have that control?

Unless there is going to be a new and improved drug, we may never know, for the funds have dried up for nal and nal research! They know it works for some at some level, and that is all that matters to them.

JABA. You are doing super!

Optimism, and doing what it takes to get better, is a good approach. There is much negativity regarding alcohol use, and many view this approach pessimistically.

It shouldn't be. Look at people who succeeded. How did they succeed ? It can and will happen.

Thanks Guapo for I still have that fear...maybe after a year or two under my belt I will have my footing. But right now, I hate that I turn to alcohol for everything. Habits are meant to be broken!

I did as well. I used to wonder how I could go out on the boat, finish a hike or bike ride, sit under a tree , or do anything at all with my free time, without a bottle of something in my hand !

Lots and lots and lots of thoughts like that. Figured it was hopeless. It's not.

Those thoughts go away, or else this would be impossible.

They really do.

BTW, you have a great attitude, and encourage a lot of people here. Encourage yourself, for God sakes !! (:

I know, must pick up foot and move to the other side...no need to drag it on...I just had a horrendous day and with a pub (or 2 or 3) at every corner that was calling me...not a good...thank god I did not have my pill or I would have been a very lost soul!

Hi Jaba,

I have wondered the exact same thing. It's amazing how different we all are in our addiction or on our path to addiction. Reading Ocean's account of needing to drink to stop the withdrawal symptoms is heartbreaking. I know there are many here that have experienced that and know that they cannot continue to drink as they have been and survive or live a quality life.

I'm not there..... yet. I have it in me to get there (as I've watched my father deal with this ugly disease....) but I am not there yet. It is true that I drink on a daily basis, and more than is recommended (in the US, anyway) and I would like to reduce my daily intake or maybe have an occasional AF day. (AF days are not a priority for me... I know that sounds blasphemous on this board, but really, they aren't! I like to live like the French or the Italians... a glass of wine enjoyed at a meal!) Anyway, my concern is that that Alcoholism that I have buried in me sometimes rears its ugly head in the form on a massive (one night) binge, where I behave badly, to put it mildly. I want to quiet that alcoholic beast BEFORE those binges happen nightly, like they did for Ocean, and for you for that matter! So all of that said, maybe you're onto something... maybe the reason some of us here (myself included at this very early stage) don't experience immediate or dramatic results right off that bat is that our disease hasn't progressed as far.

I am heartened, however, because the book does say that TSM works even for those that aren't in full blown addiction and simply want to decrease their intake. Maybe it just takes longer.... I don't know. Good food for thought...

I am happy for you if it worked out that way. But cooking and eating are/were triggers for me. Triggers for more than 30 years. After success with TSM I find that while I still cook (we have to eat) I used to cook very elaborately and expressively and that is all gone now. In the end, -it really was nothing more than setting a beautiful stage for the drinking. Everything I loved was exactly that: beautiful stages to enhance my drinking pleasure.

It works best on those who have already paid a very dear price for their drinking and know with 100% certainty that there will not be a happy ending without change.

I am a very grown, tough, grumpy old man. I don't cry except when I watch the movie E.T.

But when I read The Cure For Alcoholism, I ruined the book from the tears streaming on to each and every page.

If you are still in the struggle of "I love drinking" but "I wish I didn't need to drink so much", -you're not ready.

Clarion,

I knew there was a big fluffy marshmallow in you...and just as sweet !



I think that statement is so true. TSM is an eye opener, but you have to be really willing to give it up, for it may not work. I was so ready to walk away from alcohol when I started this. I was in the mind set that if it lessened my desire, but I didn't have control, I would have taken it as a blessing that it was time to quit.

I am sure you have seen so many people come and go from this forum that decided TSM wasn't working, and quit, just because of the love of drinking...at times I wish TSM did work on us as easily as the book claims.