Susie -

I'm only a couple of weeks in, but I've noticed that it takes fewer to get a hangover too. I started (pre Nal) at an average of 12/day and spiked up to 15 units after trying to taper down to zero (ADE kicking in). Now I'm down in the 4-5/day range and can't imagine being at 12/day again.

Have you been using the mindful approach, like sipping (especially) the first drink? Is there a particular time or event during a session that the drink really seems to fly out of the glass? For me, it was when I went out for a smoke. The first drink of the day would mostly be gone in 15-20 minutes if I had a cigarette with it.

You might want to check into L-Theanine for the anxiety, people seem to like it for that and also report that they get better sleep with it too. Check with your doctor or pharmacist first, but it seems to be fairly well tolerated.

Nothing much to report unfortunately. I really hoped for more of a change by now. It has changed a bit, no more real binging, but the habit I have of drinking every day is still here. I guess I have to try harder to have more AF days. I am feeling kind of discouraged that it is taking this long, but I will continue. The doctor has renewed my RX for Nal. She did a liver test and all came out normal except the ALT which was slightly high.
I am sorry to come off depressed, but I am tired and sick of drinking and wish I could just stop already.
Susie

Susie -

It looks like your numbers are heading down in general, so keep on. I remember seeing a couple of other sets of numbers like that, jumped around a lot, but were trending down. Remember, if you take the Nal and wait the hour and you don't really want that glass of wine, you can shine it on. Have you thought of switching to beer?

Are you still at 50mg?

Have a talk with Joanna too. She's a certified alch counselor and she gives free skype sessions to any TSM'er. You can contact her at Joanna@Cthreeeurope.com, but their outgoing mail server is having problems at the moment, so she may reply to you with her personal email. Just make sure to check your junk mail if you don't hear back.

Still doing okay, need to try to moderate the drinking more than I do. I always seem to have an excuse to drink, but I think next week will be better. Just have a feeling. My husband and I are going to Italy mid March and I need to lose some weight so, yeah, no time like the present. At least no hangovers in a long time

Susie,

It is great that the binging has stopped. Something to be really thankful for. It is hard to get out of the habit of reaching for that drink but a lot of people have posted some tricks to try to avoid or limit it. Lots of water, slow down, etc. Maybe try to add one each week to your routine.

Susie -

Send an email to Joanna@cthreeEurope.com, she a certified alch counselor and offers free Skype sessions to any TSM'er. Everybody that works with her gives glowing reports and she will have some good tips for you, without a doubt.

Like Reboot said, just start looking around for ways you can get an advantage, look for times during the drinking session when you drink more per hour, see if you can stretch out the first drink, stop before you pour the next and ask yourself if you really want that drink right now. That sort of thing. Look for cracks, chinks and crevasses, some advantage, some softening in the old habit that you can exploit, like a hacker looking for a weakness or "backdoor". There will be something there, maybe small at first, but you can work that angle while the Nal is working the other angle. But all-in-all, it sounds like you're doing well! You're past the 3 month mark and it looks like the numbers are heading down overall.

Are you entertaining the notion of an AF weekend at all?

Actually, Joe, I am entertaining an A/F weekend, starting tonight. I am really, really sick of drinking! If I don't make it I will for sure email Joanna.

Susie I've found that the habit is the hardest thing to break. But prior to TSM the habit of having a beer after a hard days work at least no longer means that I will chase that beer into oblivion. TSM has taken care of that no it's just up to me to start thinking that I don't actually 'deserve' a beer just for doing my job.

Susie -

Good deal on going for the AF weekend! Just remember.... No white knuckling!

I think I have made a break through, don't want to be too cocky, but this is the first week I can say that I can take it or leave it! 22 total, 1 AF and one day where I actually opened a bottle of wine and only drank two glasses.
This is from someone who if I knew there was alcohol in the house, I would have to drink it all, even in the middle of the night. Someone who drank in the mornings to make the hangover go away. Someone who in desperation drank perfume and mouthwash!
I can't tell you how happy and relieved I am that I believe this is actually going to work. I wanted to believe it before, but now I know it to be true.
To think of all those wasted years of thinking something is wrong with me, all the shame and self hatred. Now, I can see it wasn't my fault - I only hope that sometime soon everybody will know about TSM.
Now I have to figure out how to edit my signature so it makes sense.