Hey guys,

So it has been just over 3 years since I started TSM and still going.

Whats happened you may ask? Well, you might be thinking over 3 years and still taking Nal would mean that you have no chance beating this. Well , on the contrary, I was a very heavy drinker everyday and was spiraling out of control. Work related functions were killing me with the free alcohol and pressure to drink. I did not know what to do and then I found this site.

I am not "cured" as lot of people here are saying. However, I am now a social drinker, have not had a blackout for over 2 years, I take days off during the week and can leave beer in the fridge.

I don't think I will ever cured ,but as long as I take the Nal I can control myself, which is a good thing as my health is much better now.

I still have some concerns about long term use, but low dose nal use seems to help people.

Anyway, just though I would check in.

Dave

Good to see you Dave - I am glad that you are doing so well. Yes, I think our definition of 'cured' varies from person to person - I would have been quite happy to be 'cured' like you are but that decision was taken from me - I just have no desire to drink at all - in fact it will be interesting to see what happens in a social situation! We do not go out much at all - and relatives do not drink. If you are happy with where you are at with the Nal then I would not worry about it. What dose are you on? If you are still taking 50mg maybe you could try 37.5? If that still works then go down to 25 but I probably would not go lower than that - I would hate to undo the good work. But as you said, others do well on ldn too. How many AF days a week do you have just out of curiosity? and when you drink how many units do you have?

Thanks for checking in - I think it is great that older folk come back to let newer ones know how things are going.....

Hugs, Maggie

Thanks Dave.

I am two years + and still doing great. I take my Nal everyday along with my other meds and nothing bad ever happens. When I get in bed I sleep for 8 hours. I don't wake in a panic, I don't pee the bed. Haven't had a hangover since I can remember. Health better, -everything. I have wine most nights with my dinner. But now I have 2 or 3 glasses instead of 2 or 3 bottles. I am having a colonoscopy soon, which used to mean panic because no drinking night before. No sweat now.

I do consider myself cured.

Hey Dave.

Almost 3 years here. 12.5 of NAL works well, but I only take it about half the time when I drink anything. Perhaps the main changes have been behavioral, and at this point NAL has little impact. It certainly helped get me to this point Though !

Cured ? No idea. Better to think I am in a good place mentally, where I'm not controlled by a substance, and can make rational and coherent decisions.


I doubt there's any long-term implications to taking the medication, especially if you only take it sometimes. Glad it's going well for you.

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the support.

Did not know that 12.5 of Nal works. I may give that a try. Thanks

Hello Dave,

its nice to see 'old timers' come back and tell us how they are doing.

When I started this I was sure that I would be cured, which to my mind was going to be removal of the want to drink, the don't care don't want to. I do think that the book/film/research/info that we see on TsM does give us that hope. The reality is different and it seems that there are a few that do totally go off drink and we could consider 'cured'.

HOWEVER

for the rest of us its not the holy grail of really never wanting or needing to drink and this actually clouds our conception of how we have done, we are all hoping for a miracle but instead get slow steady progress. If I was being objective I now after 18 months drink 50% of what I did have 3 times the amount of af days and find this easy. If I was Dr Sinclair I would call that a success and hence I understand why the cured list should be called the positively altered list!

thanks for checking in, Dave! I put myself on the "altered" list, as I couldn't drink half of what I was drinking before and AF days are no big deal. it's really great to hear different people's experiences. Nal on!

It's very good to hear from someone who has been on TSM for 3 years successfully. It was one of my biggest fears, and I know I can speak for many first timers here, that one day Naltrexone would simply just stop working. I'll be celebrating my one year annaversy next month and while I agree with you on the term 'cured' being a hard pill to swallow then change in my life has been more then dramatic indeed. Since the very first dose of Naltrexone I took, the very first day on TSM, I have not been drunk once, only tipsy a few times, not had one hangover, have not hidden one bottle or sneak a single drink, have not tortured myself with thoughts about quiting knowing that I cannot, have not gotten sick, not called in sick to work, not had one out of controll alcoholic argument with my wife, the list goes on and on and on and on and on.

I got through the whole of TSM pretty much on just 1/4 doses. I tend to take halves now just to be safe. I still drink, some times too much but now too much is 5 beers not 15, plus a few glasses of wine and however many shots of vodka I drank under the table. Sometimes I have to remember back on how I was and just pinch myself real hard just to believe it's me the way I am today. I have nothing but the greatest respect and debt of gratitude for the work of Dr. Sinclair and his colleagues including Dr. Eskapa and everyone else who's dedication to science has saved so many lives.

I plan on carrying this torch for the rest of my days.

Dave: I'm a long timer too, though nothing like you!! I started on March 3, 2015 so I am about 14 months in. And I drink less than half of what I used to. Lately I am cutting down even more, and wanting to drink even less, so I am optimistic that even more positive changes could be in store for me. I'd like to more easily and more consistently have AF days so I am working on that.


Thanks for coming back and letting others know how you are doing. It really helps.

xoxo Newlife

You sound cured to me!!! Congrats!