Hi Maggie, Cheeto, Zontar and Joe,

Thanks you guys for all of your encouragement! So I posted an update on the C3 site and I will copy it here too. Going into week 52 do have a little bit of good news for once! For an update: I am on day 3 of 75mg and I have to say I can really feel a difference - and I am a bit embarrassed that it took me so long to try a higher dose! I am a small person and medication always effects me more strongly than others and so I never once thought I would need a higher dose. But I kind of feel the way I did during my honeymoon period - that first sip just doesn't do anything. All this time while being on 50mg I have still felt a little rush at the first sip of the evening and I have really still enjoyed getting buzzed even while on the nal. Yesterday I was drinking but it just wasn't getting me anywhere and I actually stopped at 4 drinks - which, on a Saturday, while at a BBQ with lots of friends, was actually quite an achievement for me. And I have been able to push back that first drink by quite a bit - and it really hasn't been too painful. While on 50mg I would swear EVERY EVENING that I won't start until 7pm or whatever....but by 5pm there I was dying for that first drink and white-knuckling it so bad to NOT drink until later. Whenever I tried to hold off I would get SOOOO grouchy and sometimes yell at my daughter or do something else that was out of character for me - but I just coudn't stop thinking about that drink, and usually I would give in just to feel better and get my mood back to normal. For the last 3 days it has just been SO MUCH easier! This is the way I had HOPED I would feel for so long now. I'm scared to talk too much about it since maybe this is just another honeymoon period with a higher dose? Or maybe it is just in my head because I WANT it to work so badly? But I can see now with 75mg how much easier it will be to taper off slowly and maybe even get to that elusive AF day sometime in the near future! That is how much better I feel. When I first wrote my sad post a few days ago, an AF day was out of the question. Well, who knows, but in the meantime I am going to keep on keepin' on and I will post again in a week or so and let you all know how it is going. Maybe week 52 will finally be the week that my numbers start to go down!
Thanks everyone for all of the support!
Melissa

Melissa - SO happy to hear your progress! That is wonderful! I didn't feel any difference on the higher dose. But it was shortly after being on it that something twigged for me. Please keep us posted!

Hugs, Maggie

great news! keep it up and nal on!

[quote="Melissa"]Hi Maggie, Cheeto, Zontar and Joe,
I am a small person and medication always effects me more strongly than others and so I never once thought I would need a higher dose. But I kind of feel the way I did during my honeymoon period - that first sip just doesn't do anything.

Hi Melissa that is me to a T too as I had huge side effects when I started Nal. I think I will upp my dose to 75mg too. I had an AF day yesterday and am aiming for another today but it is more about my weight than anything. I have gained 10 lbs with Menopause and drinking 1 1/2 bottles of wine a night, ughh!
Glad to hear that things may be changing for you, hang in there!
Nal On!

Hey Cheeto -

Check out this page of studies, this also reminds me of Joanna's post saying that falling progesterone levels affected how well Nal works:

http://www.functionalps.com/blog/2012/0 ... -in-women/

Check the comment by "Amy" here:

http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/women-h ... hol-abuse/

"Once I got both my Estrogen and Progesterone levels...."

Interesting information, but I'm having a hard time stitching it together. I wonder if Dr. Manak would know....

Thanks Joe, interesting for sure as I never had heard this before.

That is an indication that it is in fact working. By not getting that endorphin rush what you are doing is un-learning the process of the endorphin rush and as such rewiring your brain in a physical sense that leads to extinction. Unfortunately there are many more reasons why we drink and it's not just for endorphin's in some cases. You still get a calm feeling, so do I and probably everyone, and it's why we continue to drink really. It's probably the same calm feeling that 'normal' people get when they drink. Upping the dose as suggested is probably a good idea. I feel for you, it hurts to read this because I know you are trying so hard but don't give up on it yet and look into other methods to accompany TSM such as mindfulness and or even counseling.

I never really noticed that much of a difference in how drinking felt. I still got the feelings that Ocean mentions, but began drinking less and less over the months anyway.