........have a question?

Hello all. After stumbling across the YouTube Video by Claudia I managed to order some Naltrexone from abroad & it should be here in the next few days.

My question is when should I take a pill for my own particular situation?

I mainly heavily binge for a week then I finally become sober & have been using Antabuse & willpower to stay sober until I relapse which can be anywhere from 2 to 7 months. I have just come off a Christmas binge where I basically drank lager & wine 20 hours per day for 7 days! I have been sober for a day now just from willpower & because I have joined a gym to keep my occupied. Should I wait until my next craving to take a pill or should I just take a pill when they arrive & have a drink? It could be a few weeks before I really get any cravings.

Thanks,

Tony.

Bflare, welcome to the community and congratulations on getting started with TSM!

Have a look at this page of tips and hints, especially the info on how to get started:

http://optionssavelives.freeforums.net/ ... hints-tips

Keeping a drink log is very helpful, here's one you can use if you don't have one already:

http://optionssavelives.freeforums.net/ ... graph-tool

For the first couple of weeks, it's been suggested that binge drinkers take the pill, wait an hour (always wait an hour, 90 minutes if you're using Nodict) then have a drink (edit: Bingers should do this a few times a week for the first two weeks, daily drinkers should simply stick to their regular schedule). If you can hold it to one drink, so much the better. Bingers often find it difficult to limit themselves, so whatever you can do to throw a hard break into the usual drinking routine is beneficial. This process is about a battle between your "Lizard Brain" that says "Drink MOAR" and your conscious mind that says "Enough, enough already". The conscious mind is used to being ignored about this and has basically gone off into the corner to sulk and eat worms. Also, the more you drink, the more it anesthetizes your conscious control, so any steps you can take to give it a break will get you ahead here. NB, it's likely to be weak and pasty to begin with, so keep working on it and look for ways to encourage it to step in and say "Enough for now". It will get stronger and stronger as the "Lizard" gets weaker and weaker. This will take many months and will likely be a very up and down process. Your log should show you that on average, your drinking levels are heading down though. It took me about 6 months and some have been at it for over a year, but they're getting enough improvement on their control that they feel good about keeping at it.

We're looking forward to your progress reports, thanks for jumping in and sharing your journey with us!

Thank you for your reply Joesixpack,

So should I wait until I get an urge to drink? The weekends tend to be hard for me but I can just overcome them if I keep busy. Stress is also a big trigger. I dont want to have a drink if I dont need one as this will be counterproductive I would think?

Thanks again,

Tony.

Optimally you would have a drink a few times a week for the first couple of weeks, then go back to your regular schedule. Plenty of people have simply stuck with their regular schedule from the start though. The trick here is more drinking sessions exposes the brain more often to the disappointment that it gets when you drink on Naltrexone.

Generally though, you're correct and if you don't crave a drink, you wouldn't take the pill. OTOH, forcing a dry day is counter productive, because if you crave a drink, that's the optimal time to follow up with the Nal and a drink after the hour waiting period (aka "The Golden Rule" or "The One Hour Rule"). The brain is expecting that pleasure from rush of endorphins and you're there to teach it that the rush ain't coming anymore.

don't drink if you don't crave. you'll have opportunities to test the nal good luck! it changed my life, for sure...