24 year old male looking to eliminate binge drinking. It seems most of the people on this forum are/were daily-drinkers, but I can go a couple days a week AF no problem, but need help reducing heavy drinking occasions.

I began TSM on October 15, 2015, and I have been very happy with the results. I figured it was time I stopped lurking and posted my progress here.

I started TSM because I have minimal willpower to stop drinking on my own, and my alcohol consumption (along with its negative side effects) has increased in the past year. I am tired of the headaches, anxiety, heart palpitations, weight gain (25 pounds in two years), depression, risky behavior, arrests (drunk and disorderly), erectile dysfunction, mental fog, and friends telling me I smell like alcohol. Bad hangovers would leave me with intense paranoia, feelings of "impending doom", body shakes, intense sweating, and sometimes auditory and scent hallucinations. I have noticed personality changes: I am more selfish and misanthropic when I am drinking or hungover, and any creativity or optimism I had before is greatly diminished. I am not a functional alcoholic.

History:
Family history of alcoholism. I didn't start drinking until I was 19. Right from the start I never had a healthy relationship with alcohol: I would drink as much as I could and had constant thoughts about how I could get more. I started drinking heavily on weekends when I turned 21. My drinking has increased steadily since then. In the past year, the longest time I went without drinking was 9 AF days. The side effects from drinking got much worse when I started drinking multiple nights in a row (rarely drank during the day). I also noticed that my drinking got a lot more compulsive and I had almost no control over whether or not I was going to drink that day. If I did drink, I would drink until I passed out. For the last two months pre-TSM, I was drinking around a handle a week (1.75L 80 proof liquor = 70 UK units), drinking 2-4 days in a row with only 1-3 AF days inbetween binges. I was definitely physically addicted to alcohol and the constant withdrawals made me feel like I was dying. My Nal came in the mail on Oct. 15 (no doctor).

Goals:
Short term, always adhere to the Golden Rule (take Nal one hour before drinking) and eliminate drinking two days in a row. Long term, only drink socially and not alone. Cut down to healthy limits on days I do drink (<4 UK units). My friends and family are not heavy drinkers and I don't feel the need to have alcohol to socialize, so I feel like I can have a very fulfilling life with little to no alcohol present.

Results so far:
Pre-TSM: ~70 UK units/week, 2-5 alcohol free days/week. I am using UK units (1 drink = 10mL pure ethanol) because I like to track exactly how much alcohol I am drinking.

Week 1: 28, 4 AF. I took my first Nal after a 4 day binge (full 50mg, big mistake). After about an hour, I felt very sick with feelings I can only describe as "accelerated withdrawal": pounding pulse, intense anxiety, mild visual hallucinations. I didn't sleep for the next two days. Pretty disturbing. I knew I should have ramped up the dosage slowly, but I was pretty delirious after a 4-day binge. I have continued to take the full does (50mg) everytime.

Week 2: 39, 5 AF
Week 3: 39, 4 AF
Week 4: 43, 4 AF
Week 5: 51, 4 AF
Week 6: 31, 5 AF
Week 7: 30, 4 AF
Week 8: 28, 5 AF


As you can see, my drinking has decreased just about in half. This is partly due to sticking with wine and shitty lite beer instead of liquor, but I also feel so much more in control about when and what I am going to drink. Around week 4 and 5 I felt like I was starting to maybe lose control, but I became more mindful of my drinking and was able to fight off cravings some days and drink in relative moderation on others. Very importantly, I have always followed the Golden Rule and only one time did I drink two nights in a row.

Misc:
I currently weigh 190 pounds and don't take any medications that might interfere with Naltrexone. I take the Naltima brand of nal, purchased through alldaychemist. Single, no kids, non-smoker. Rarely use illicit drugs. Don't gamble. Not a caffeine addict. Not much of a sweet-tooth, but I do binge-eat salty snacks.

Overall, I am very pleased with my results so far. I have an online journal where I keep track of my daily numbers and thoughts; maybe someone will find it helpful:
https://naltrexosaur.wordpress.com/
A big thankyou to everyone in this forum! I love reading all the posts. I probably won't be very active on this forum, but I will update this thread ~once a month. However, I hope to keep updating my journal daily.

Congratulations! This is amazing change. It is so good that you discovered Nal and that you are slowly changing your life.

Nal on!

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At 24 years old I was just about the same as you, pretty much kept it too weekends and could easily stop for several days weeks. 20 years after that it was full on day after day. You are off to a great start and have a great attitude to tackle this problem before it even gets worse.

Good luck!

Thanks for the encouragement, you guys! My drinking was bad enough; no reason to let it reach Leaving Las Vegas levels. Since I'm young, I'm expecting that I may have trouble with long-term adherence to TSM. But I'm staying optimistic! I certainly have enough bad memories seared into my brain that I shouldn't forget why I started this...

Week 9: 46 units, 4 AF days. Celebratory weekend. My number this week is kinda high, but I felt in control when I drank even though I drank a lot.

Looks like you're off to a great start! Kudos to you for recognizing so early on that you want to get a grip om your drinking. I'm curious, though, why you think you may have trouble with long-term compliance with TSM. From everything I've read, including The Cure, 100% compliance is the ONLY way to bee successful with TSM. Hopefully you won't find the commitment to taking your Nal EVERY time too overwhelming! Keep on keeping on!

MinneMom

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That really is how it feels right now! It hasn't been hard at all to take the pill or get a different drink if I'm waiting an hour for it to kick in. And I haven't had urges at all to drink without the nal. Maybe I'm just psyching myself out.

Week 10: 71 units, 3 AF days. Ouch, this was a heavy week. But I don't feel terrible about this. I still felt more control than I ever have drinking. And this week included a weekend out with college friends that was destined to be heavy: I normally would have blacked out over a few hours. This time, however, I managed to drink over the course of 7 hours without getting way too drunk or drinking compulsively. I feel loads better than I did pre-TSM and I'm making healthier choices, so I'm not overly-concerned with the high unit count.

Week 11: 46 units, 3 AF days. Christmas time means protracted drinking sessions. I stayed in control this week. Two new experiences this week: I took a booster on Christmas because i started drinking at 2pm (with a full pill), and wanted to continue drinking at 10pm, so I took a half pill. I couldn't feel any difference, but I didn't lose control. Later in the week I knew I was only going to drink 1 glass of wine (constrained by family travel), so I just took half a pill an hour beforehand. It worked! I had no urges to continue drinking. Good to know a half pill might work if I am sure I am only going to take a drink or two. And I can always take another half if I feel I want to drink more. No reason to tempt fate, though.

Week 12: 53 units, 4 AF days. Ugh, New Years Eve. I did get out of control here, and I attribute that to whiskey. I need to stay away from hard liquor. I was drinking over ~7 hours and lost track of my units; too hard to moderate. Browned out. Probably drank past the nal. Not a great showing. I think being around my family stresses me out.

Not a great couple of weeks, but the holidays throw a wrench in my routine and honestly stress me out quite a bit. I'm looking forward to a healthier January.

So it has been almost 3 months on TSM and my weekly drinking numbers are still far higher than I want them to be. Because I only drink ~3 times per week, I have only had 34 "extinction events". Does this mean I am effectively only 1 month into TSM? What do y'all think? Am I looking at a 9+ month timeline to be "cured"?

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Trex -

From what I've seen and what others have reported, it's pretty common to pop back up to your pre-Nal consumption. If you stick with the Golden Rule, you should see your numbers decrease overall going forward. Interesting about the whiskey, maybe break the Nal in half then take both halves an hour before whiskey?

Would you mind if I ask Joanna to look at your post? She moderates Optionssavelives and is an alc abuse counselor for Cthree europe, but she doesn't post over here.

Edit****

You know though, it seems you're doing everything per the book, see page 286, 3rd paragraph:

"The first extinction session (i.e., drinking after administration
of the antagonist) can be conducted under close supervision in
the treatment center. It is important that later extinction sessions
be conducted in the same drinking situations and with the same
alcoholic beverages that the patient usually has employed in the
past."