Week 4
Can't believe its been 4 weeks already where has the time gone? Well as Nick predicted my units have gone back up again.
42 UK units (30 US) and only 2 AF days. Bit out of pattern this week as had work dinner where there was alcohol supplied free! But the difference was i noticed i was drinking at the same pace as my fellow diners without any effort. Usually i am anxiously watching for when the waitress is going to come around again and my glass tends to have been empty while others still have wine in theirs. I actually turned down an opportunity to go to the bar after- unheard of for me at a conference! Also on sat night i offered to drive my friends had one glass AND the big thing was usually i'd be dying to get home and get stuck in to the drink but i just went to bed!
So i suppose i am appreciating that Nal works in different more subtle ways not just a crude reduction in overall units.
Actually i have just realised that although i had fewer AF days my average units per drinking day have gone down each week! Hooray
PS i cant seem to edit my signature to put my units in.

Week 1 55 UK (31US) 3 AF
Week 2 37 Uk (21US) 3 AF
Week 3 31.5 (18 US) 4 AF
Week 4 42 (24 US) 2 AF

Totally agree -- mere numbers are a "crude" measure of progress. There are some weeks where you have way more opportunity to drink than others. Also, the experiences you identified I can completely identify with -- drinking faster than everyone, wondering where the waitress is with my next drink, etc. -- and they are being eliminated or reduced on nal. This is what I think of as "the loosening of alcohol's grip on my psyche." The "grip" is still there as we progress each week, but it's getting weaker and weaker, regardless of the overall numbers. Congratulations!

Oh Soulby - I am so excited to be the one to tell you how to update your signature! I can now do it w/o referring to notes as I am totally tech-challenged - altho, my notes are sketchy, here's how to do it:

Click on the "User Control Panel" in the upper Rt. corner of this screen. Go to Profile/ click, then Edit Signature/click... VOILA! start editing. Hit save or send or whatever it is once you're done...I'm pretty sure that's right. Someone else will correct me if I'm wrong, fo sho.

Yayyyyy!!! I'm so excited I gave someone computer advice! LOLOL

Way to go houtx
If my sig appears at the end of this message you are deemed a tech teaching success!!

Hey Sbts

any update on your progress?

Hi One 4
Thanks for asking- feel mostly quite invisible here.
Have just written long post only to loose it when i went to update my signature! v frustrating.

Week 5 45UK (26 US) 2AF
Been v low and stressed and deliberately drank mid week one night. Just wanted to be out of my head. Took nal and started. BUT wasn't even able to finish first bottle of wine- drank about 500cl. Normally in that scenario i would get through 1st bottle in to next then not really rem going to bed. Its quite strange- one of my major uses/abuses of alcohol since my separation has been to drink on my own to dull the ache of lonliness. Bit of a bummer if thats gone! (i.e. the comfort not the lonliness! )
However decided to do something positive for myself and take time off work to de stress as i was getting to point of dreading going in to work- not good in my line of work!
However as others have found i continue to have lots of clarity, no grey outs and no hangovers on Nal.

Progress for week 6 and 7
Haven't felt much like engaging here on the site but have been reading posts. Mood is still very low and still off work with stress so i suppose that in the light of that the fact that my units continue to be lower than pre TSM.
Wk 6 40 UK (23 US)
Wk 7 40.25 UK
I was finding the tiredness really bad again- wanting to sleep during the day etc so following reading a post from Nick i decided to experiment with reducing Nal to 25 as i dont tend to start drinking before about 8pm and usually finish by midnight. This has definitely helped. As others have posted here its completely unpredictable- like last night i was at dinner with friends which would normally be a boozy occasion. Often i would drive in a vain attempt to plan not to drink much but would end up drinking too much and having to get a taxi. But last night i had 2 modest glasses of wine over the whole evening. Whereas the previous night i had 'planned' to only have a couple of glasses with dinner as i had some of my daughters young friends staying but ended up drinking a whole bottle and opening the next- but wierdly although i knew i shouldn't i did open it but then only took a couple of sips and couldn't drink any more.
You know the old joke- How do you make God laugh? Make a plan! should be amended to How to make God and Dr Sinclair laugh- plan your drinking!
It is so helpful to be able to read others posts and know its not a linear progression if it weren't for the site i might have given up by now and although i don't post very much as by the time i log in people have usually said all i might have in response i still appreciate being able to lurk and gain from others experience.

I think it is a good personal discipline to post, as it focuses you on your journey and documentation of that. There will be uptimes and downtimes on a personal level in that journey, but by formally documenting it here, you open it up to the wisdom and experience of others to help. You also lay a trail for others to see as they continue on their journey.

Hi SoulBy- just noticed your progress...you look like you are doing great for this point, steadily moving downward and seeing little moments when you have some control.

I was also very stressed out around week 7 / 8...I thought it was all work related but odd that it happened at the same time. I was not able to take time off of work but feel much, much less stressed these days. Hope it turns around for you as well ! I really think as our units decrease and we face live without high levels alcohol, a lot of old issues rear their heads hard and force you to start sorting them out....it's much easier to do without the veil of alcohol...I'm sure you know all of this through your profession, but it's much different when it's happening to you directly : ).

Hope the mood turns around soon and please keep posting - I really enjoy your posts!

Soulby, I can relate to the mood souring things for you. But if 7 weeks ago you were told that you would have reduced your numbers to their current dropped figure, you'd be happy! Chin up! Rooting for you!