November 9, 2015 began:
MONTH 1
week 1: 29.5
week 2: 29
week 3: 28
week 4: 39.5

MONTH 2
week 5: 36.5
week 6: 34
week 7: 39
week 8: 46
week 9: 43 (Had really bad news beginning of last week, have been drinking more.)

MONTH 3
week 10: 26.5, 1 no drink day
Week 11: 28, 1 no drink day
Week 12: 27.5, 1 no drink day
Week 13: 30, down to only 2 hard liquor shots per day with beer, feels better
Week 14: 29

MONTH 4
week 15: 34
week 16: 30+-
week 17: 35.5
week 18: 20.5, 2 AF days, 2 2-shot only days
week 19: 18, 2 AF, 2 2-shot days

MONTH 5
week 20: ? went to Cali...didn't track but drank every day (14-30?)
week 21: Cali...didn't track didn't track but drank every day (14-30?)
week 22: Cali...didn't track didn't track but drank every day (14-30?)
week 23: back to FL, 25, 1 AF

MONTH 6
week 24: 24-28, 1 AF
weel 25: Mom fell, in hospital 26-30, 1 AF

Hey Derien -

Fill us in on your drinking style and how you came to know about TSM. Are you working with a TSM doc or did you get your Nal online?

Hey Derian,

Are you feeling any different when drinking? Any questions or have you already browsed around the web site? Keep up with the golden rule and you will make progress.

From Derien:
Not sure if this is the way to reply to your post but here goes:

I have been a daily drinker (or nearly daily) since I was 16. (I'm 53 now).

6 months ago I went through a sudden break up, moved to Florida to be with my mom—being recently diagnosed with dementia—and knew I had to do something about my lifelong daily drinking habit because I was falling into a deep depression and using drinking to drown it (and make it worse). I went to a few AA meetings which really didn't resonate with me. I needed a more logic-based treatment. I read "How to Change your drinking" by Kenneth Anderson and it mentioned Naltrexone. But then I read a GREAT article in the Atlantic Monthly magazine—April 2015 debunking AA as "the only " treatment and it highly recommended naltrexone. I would suggest reading it, you can find it online at http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/toc/2015/04/

Also, my mom was a pancreatic cancer SURVIVOR and the risk for inheriting the disease increases greatly if guess what...you drink daily. IT WAS TIME in more ways than one! So I did more research and learned about Claudia's story. Bought "The cure for Alcoholism" and read it from cover to cover. I asked my psychiatrist about prescribing it and she read up on it and prescribed it. I am really excited, but have to remind myself a lot that I am only in the 3rd month. I am trying not to be overly enthusiastic with telling people because I don't want to be one of the 20%.

ALSO, I WANT TO LET PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT www.goodrx.com

YOU CAN GET DISCOUNTED DRUGS AT ANY PHARMACY. I ASKED MY DOCTOR BEFORE USING THE COUPON AND SHE SAID IT'S LEGIT. I'VE USED IT EVERY TIME FOR MY NAL. I get it for about $40 for 30 pills.

I also got 90 days of Lexapro for $22 instead of $240. I'm not kidding...this just tells you how drug companies mark up drugs.

Also...I am still drinking almost daily because quite frankly I am BORED. I am living with my mom, whose situation is trying, and I've been grieving my divorce and am just starting to feel like a human being again in terms of socializing. I know I have to put things in the place of my old habit though. I think it's important for us to remember that there is some work that needs to be done on the part of the person too. Nal is going to diminish the physical neural superhighway that we've created in our brains but it does not completely BLOCK it. I started to go to the gym with a trainer 2 evenings a week (happy hour time).

Also, for me I only buy little shots, not bigger bottles of booze. I have gotten down to only a 2 shot purchase! I used to buy 4—just in case I needed it But would most of the time end up drinking whatever I bought. Now I just buy 2, and have light beer after that and have some NA beer on hand too. I'll mix it half and half with the regular beer with a lime and it tastes just like a regular Corona, and stretches out the drinking time without putting all the alcohol in. Feels better in the morning I can tell you that!

For me, drinking at home has always been worse than in the bar. I'm always the one watching everyone else get drunker than me. I do the glass of water in between and am much more conscious of the amount I am drinking than when at home. So, I am feeling so lucky to be a part of this discovery and am feeling hopeful!!!

Thank you! I feel a little different sometimes. But not like "I'm not getting a buzz." More like...yeah, I'm getting that drunk feeling but do I really want it? I turned a friend on to Nal and she says she doesn't get buzzed the same way. Like, she won't take it if she just wants to get wasted. I think that might be in her head, I don't know.

Other than 2 times, I have waited the hour. I think those 2 times it was a half an hour, but I've never NOT taken it before drinking. Like I said in the reply below, I have gotten to where I buy half the daily shots than before. The other night I went out with friends. I had a drink, a glass of water. Another drink, glass of water. 3rd drink (over 3-4 hours) and then I was done. Of course, another drink shows up at the bar for me because your friends keep buying drinks naturally. I had one sip and left in on the bar un-drunk. That's definitely progress. You know to leave unfinished booze is sacrilege! hahaha

Wow! That's really fantastic, Darien! It sounds like TSM is a really good fit for you, congratulations on your progress and thanks for posting that!

Derien,

I am glad to read how TSM is working for you.

Being a caretaker of you mother is a very admirable thing to do, but please remember to take care of yourself as well. Going to the gym and using a train is an excellent way to do that, so keep it up!

I was a daily drinker, so I know what you mean about drinking because you are bored. It becomes an easy habit to start, but a harder one to replace. BUT, a year from now you will forget how drinking was a daily thing and wonder how it was.

Keep doing what you are doing and keep us posted,

Jaba

nice work Derien! sounds like real progress. I'm about the same age as you, similar history, and also discovered TSM through the Atlantic article. I also tend to drink more out of control when I'm at home by myself. Nal has really changed my perspective on AL (like today, when I plan to have an AF saturday, something I never would have dreamed of last spring!). good luck to you in FL and taking care of your mom. I HIGHLY recommend keeping up (and stepping up!) the gym routine. the more outside activities you have, the less important AL seems to play in your life. take care!

Aaah, I am SOOO looking forward to that!!

Derien,

Good idea to buy the one shot bottles if you are going to drink liquor. I love capt morgan and diet coke with a lime and after starting TSM I started to measure my "normal" drink and found out that I was putting 3 shots in my tumbler each time I had a drink. Started measuring them (most times) after that and it made a difference. Now as much as it hurts, I try to stay away from the rum. But maybe I will get a few of those small one shot bottles for when I do decide to drink it.