I've been taking the NAL for 5 nights now. (12.5mg) A couple of nights, (last night especially) I was very irritated, and wasn't very pleasant to be around. I didn't want to talk to my wife, or have my dogs around me. I know Jaba said she has this problem sometimes, but does it go away with time. I don't want my wife to have to be around me like that. I was always a happy drunk.

Billy, you have removed a chemical reaction you've grown very accustomed to having for decades if I recall your introduction. It soothed you, served as a coping mechanism, inherently numbs emotions to name only a few functions. Having only been a few days your brain is adjusting to a huge alteration in its mechanisms and like so many things of this nature i.e quitting smoking it will take a little time to normalize. Like so much with this everyone's journey is unique filled with both pit-falls and break throughs. Stay the course and I predict it will improve.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

Bardo pretty much nails it there.

You've got a couple of things going on, one is the Nal, which blankets your opioid receptors and breaks the resulting dopamine release that is the downstream effect that drinking has on your opioid receptors. The sudden lack of dopamine is likely what's behind the misanthropic attitude.

The second thing is the GABA / Glutamate reaction from drinking. Activating the GABA receptors (as alcohol does) gives a calm feeling. Alcohol also tones down the Glutamate receptors which also helps you relax. NB, if you just went cold turkey, you would run into much the same problem, but you wouldn't get the extinction effect that Nal lends.

When I took Nal for the first time, I was in a very irritated mood. Kick the dog kinda irritated (fortunately I don't have a dog). That would resurface for a bit on occasion, but really doesn't bother me much anymore. So it might be a while longer till you get past that stage, hang in there.

Thanks Joe and Bardo, On a good note, I have only drank 57 beers in 5 days, compared to about 93 normally. I've been writing down my beer numbers every night, but when you add them up and look at it on paper... Damn that's a lot of beer. I've never looked at it that way before. lol

Just wanted to add that I also had the irritated jerk thing. Grouchy, snappiness, etc. Only lasted a couple of weeks I think. So just hang in there, it will pass!

Yeah, I had the same OMG experience when mine added up to 84. About 1000 oz or almost 8 freaking gallons of beer a week.

Nice drop in the numbers there, Billy! Nal on!

I've mentioned that I've noticed this too. I felt like the guy in the film "Pi" with his brain following him around like a pet. Mine wanted to bite me! I felt like I was in a struggle with it the first time I drank on NAL, like I took away its favorite toy or something...

"...like I took away its favorite toy or something..."

Zactly!

Ha yeah - unhappy brain but it will get used to it over time . I could understand your wife irritating you but your dog ? Gosh - my dogs are the only thing that keep me going at times when my partner and daughter are in bad moods. My dogs are always super happy to see me .
Hang on in there ?

HaHa. I love my wife and my dogs. We have 4 Chihuahuas, and they don't understand why "Daddy's" in a bad mood. They still crawl right up next to me.