There is a little shop I frequent that sells gourmet foods, cheeses, wines, etc. They often have a little taste of a wine they are featuring out for people to try. I do mean a little taste. In fact, I asked and they said that they put about 1 Tablespoon of wine in the little cups they use. My question is, do I need to take a nal before having a taste? If I took nal the evening before and wanted to taste at 1:00PM, I would still be covered, correct? But what if I was A/F the day before and did not take nal? Would that small amount of alcohol make a difference? Before starting nal if I had a taste in the afternoon it did not send me rushing home for the wine bottle, so it is not a worry that I would continue to drink without taking the nal. Opinions?

Deena,

That is a funny question (not funny haha), for I posted something in the sinclair method questions about that. It was an article from the about how the smallest about can bring on the dopamine response or what I call the "AH moment".

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4535

I'll go searching for it, Jaba. Thank you.

That is interesting, Jaba. One Tablespoon is about 1/2 ounce.

I personally would not risk it but if it didn't bother you in the past you probably would be okay especially if you took Naltrexone the night before as you mentioned. I know one thing, back when I was a full blown drinker if I had one thimble full of wine at a tasting they'd be carrying me out on a stretcher wondering how I managed to drink so much. I'd be wondering the same thing.

Thought this seemed relevant. Dr. Eskapa weighs in:

http://optionssavelives.freeforums.net/thread/227/trace-amounts-alcohol

Thanks for posting that link Bardo. I completely forgot I had read. I guess I retain what I want !


Jaba

Hi, Deena,

Outside of whether the opioid receptors are covered for small amounts, which the others have already addressed, there is what's called "incentive salience."



That's a fancy way to say that the cues of alcohol (sight, smell, sitting in a bar, etc) become salient--that is, they command attention over other things--and become an incentive in and of themselves.

So just being in the gourmet shop and exposed to the cues of even tiny amounts of wine may be triggering strong interest or even craving and driving a desire to pick up the tablespoon of wine and consume it, whether or not there is an endorphin reward.

For that reason, I personally would tend to partially disagree with Eskapa's statement on the OSL board that Bardo linked, that "It is not worth taking the opioid antagonist for 1 or 2 grams of alcohol!"

This is an opportunity to begin to extinguish the incentive salience in that context. You're not just extinguishing the alcohol reward on TSM, you are also extinguishing all the cues that have acquired value in themselves.

You could possibly do this while not on Nal by doing the "wine-tasting" thing, that is, holding the wine, smelling it, taking a sip, tasting, but not swallowing. If you spit it out, then you are being exposed to the cues without getting the future opioid reward.

If you don't think you can spit it out, then personally I think you are risking strengthening the incentive salience if you get even a tiny opioid reward. And that will maintain and strengthen the incentive to act on the cues. So to me, the safest and most effective thing to do would be to take the Nal, go happily to the shop, taste the tiny sample of wine, and expose yourself on Nal to the cues.

In this way, your brain has an opportunity to recalculate the value of those cues. They may still have value, in terms of being pleasant and interesting in themselves, but your brain will make a prediction error of expecting opioid reward TOO. It won't get that on Nal, so it will start to revise its opinion of those cues and their value.

In short (am I ever short?) it kinda seems to me like the perfect extinction setup on Nal.

For the geeks, a challenging but relevant article on dopamine, prediction error, and incentive salience:

http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~dnl/pdf/ ... ntague.pdf

Dee,

I am -or was - the same way as Ocean. If I even had a "wee-little sip" I would turn into a leprechaun of the worst sort! Sampling all the samples, buying a bottle or two, hit a bar or two on the way home, and end up home in bed with not a clue how or why it happened. Then I would get depressed about how foolish I was. Of course I would then say, "I will not drink today!." Only to find myself an hour or two later wondering where I put those bottles of wine I bought yesterday at the wine tasting.

In other words - is it worth the risk? Of course if you had your handy little pill with you - take it and shop for an hour and head back to the sampling!