B*gger! just did long intro, submitted, but didn't appear???

Anyway, here goes again - the abridged version as am now emotionally exhausted!

I am 44yr old female in UK, married 20yrs, no kids. Well-educated and successful in business (until alcohol/depression got in the way). Started drinking as teenager (always loved it) progressed to nightly wine drinking in mid-twenties. At worst 2 bottles of wine in evening - couldn't function at all. Current consumption (with meds at night to calm me down/put me to sleep) 1.25 x 75cl bottle wine. Although without meds am sure it would be much higher - v. scary.

Have tried in-house private detox/rehab 3 times, but never really stayed out the rehab bit, AA etc, as hated the whole de-humanising experience.

Undertook home detox Feb 7th - initially promising but caved in at day 18 due to truly horrible black moods. Stumbled across the SM during this time and was extremely interested and optimistic.

My long-term shrink has looked into it with a reasonably open mind and has even read through some of the studies. He is rather scepical but happy this is safe for me to try.

So, (with great trepidation) started last night, 25mg. Drinking did feel different - no rush and not the usual physical relaxation (maybe just tense waiting for nausea which hasn't happened - yet). I was disappointed that I drank 1.1 bottles wine and fell asleep at normal time. Sleep very patch last night. This morning, slightly "better" hangover but mood a bit low.

Anyway early days and am determined to give this a good shot. I will keep posting with progress.

Lastly, thanks so much for this site. It has been a source of great hope to me the last weeks. I am delighted to be part of such a sane experiment.

Good Luck to us all.
Shasha

Hi Sasha

Great news that you have began.

You will probably find when you go up to 50mgs you might experience some of the effects others have experienced, but I would not worry if you don't- just take the Nal one hour before you start and in no time you will begin to see the results.

I do find it very helpful to keep a chart, I am glad I did it from day 1, because you don't notice anything as such I think it is very helpful to be able to see exactly how your drinking is decreasing.

Hi Marbella

Thanks for the support. I am committed to giving this a real try and I promise to be meticulous with my records!

Don't worry Shasha. The good thing about SM is that it is pretty hard to do it wrong. Nal + Drink => Right way
Drink no Nal => Wrong way.

It doesn't get much easier than that.

Whether you are feeling one way or the other has little bearing on the process. Those are just side-effects that some of us have experienced. The cure is happening while you are reading this, whether you like it or not.

Take Nal one hour before you drink and then drink as you normally would. One morning you will wake up and look back and think that something is different. That is how it works.

It will be fun having your shrink wittness your progress. Those are the people I want to convince and you are doing us a great service that way.

Oh yeah, listen to Marbella. You two have a lot in common.

Thanks for the encouragement Springer. Indeed, I can't wait for the look on my shrink's face when this starts to work - priceless! (I wish our sessions were!) I am going to encourage him to view this forUm and get a feel for people's genuine experiences on the SM.

I have followed all your posts here and on MYO and have been greatly influenced by them - very shrewd and often hugely entertaining.

Hope things continue to go so well for you.

LOL- I was thinking that- nothing to worry about Sasha, just the 44 year old female from the UK who started drinking as a teen, no kids and successful in business rings a bell

Hi Shasha - I started last night as well, 25mg.

Not really nauseous but not entirely normal stomach. I am wiped out today, though - started out feeling great and had to take a nap an hour ago (4:00 pm here now)...I hope this goes away, but I can live with it if not and it will definitely drive up my No Nal / AF days.

Last night had roughly half what I normally drink and poured 1/2 of the second drink down the drain. I just didn't have the energy to drink it and since I had already had 1 drink, I think that completed the equation for the night. From what I've read, it's not the amount you drink, just as long as you drink, so that works for me. I know this is the honeymoon period but it's encouraging. Looks like your volume went down slightly last night as well - so take that as a good sign. Hoping you are not feeling as lethargic as I am right now. Thank god I can still drink coffee.

Glad we are starting this process together - keep posting

~Hopeful but tired

Hi all,

Seems like we're all starting out about the same time. I just took my third dose of 25 mills. After only three days I can feel the side effects getting a little easier. I fell dead asleep within 90 minutes of taking it last night (but did manage to get in about 8 oz of wine before I did). Tonight I took the Nal and still felt a little spacey and definitely got tired almost immediately but I did finish a paper I was doing for a class and I'll be up for a few hours and may even watch a movie.

I find myself disconnected and a little spacey the day after.

This morning I was realizing for the first time, with a little trepidation, that I am ingesting a substance in the hopes that it will change my brain chemistry. I'm doing this without a doctor or any medical support so that thought gave me a little jolt. But then I began laughing as I realized that that was exactly what I was doing for all these years when I sucked down my chardonnay. I was deliberately ingesting chemicals in the hopes that they would change my brain chemistry. And boy did they!!

How can this be worse than drinking to excess?

I am drinking very little as I don't want it. But I'm dutifully sipping about 8 ounces of wine each time I take the pill. I think of it as medicine.

That is funny, I felt just the opposite. I had read Eskapa for three days and was so excited to start Nal. Minutes after swallowing the pill, I felt so very relieved to be "on my way". My only other options was to go back to AA, which would get me some relief for I had used it for many years in the past. But it wasn't a pair of shoes that fit so well.

Listen to all of us. You anxieties will lessen. I have yet to here someone say I took Nal and it got worse. That, in and of itself, should be encouraging, if nothing else.

Hi Marbella

"LOL- I was thinking that- nothing to worry about Sasha, just the 44 year old female from the UK who started drinking as a teen, no kids and successful in business rings a bell "

Not sure what you mean???? Are you in a similar position? - have read through posts but can't find your back-history.

Progress - last night, 25mg again - no side effects to report - drank 1.05 bottles wine - pre SM 1.25 bottles - (despite rather nasty row with S.O.) So I guess that's promising.