Happy b' day and congrats on your progress! Also I LOVE the way you Europeans/UKs speak & write; so do NOT Americanize for us. We luv ya!!

I would think it frustrating to be off on the time frame, but we all seem to be doing ok. What I am waiting for & hoping for is a Nal/friends exchange program where we all meet in Ireland for a bit, then over here for another bit, then down under for another bit, then over here, etc. Wouldn't that be great??

Of course, we'd all be having like 3 beers then going "uhhhh...ick, y'all...think I'll have ice water...blah blah...." BLAH!!!!!!! Do you think we'd splurge when together?? LOL A major trigger to get a bunch of Nalcoholics together & see what happens??!! LOLOL

Happy for your progressions 14R & SbS!

well after a busy enough (i.e. drinking as usual) on Friday-Sunday, I managed an AF day today. I'm feeling rather pleased with that and am now going to bed, looking forward to a solid nights sleep (no mid-slumber dehydration) and a clear head in the morning.
I may even try for another AF day this Thursday, but even to have had my first in 4 weeks feels great

not a particularly good week as despite the AF day I still managed 85 units.

I do feel a lot more in control when drinking though, and there are subtle differences - e.g. leaving a half finished drink there to go to bed, or making a concious (and not difficult) decision not to have another drink. Cravings also seem much less.

My general routine has been a little off, as I've been in semi-holiday mode the last two weeks, only going into work when necessary. The next week or two isn't likely to be radically different in that regard, so I'll have to make some concious efforts to fill the evenings with alternative (non-drinking) activities and be more disciplined about getting up early on my days off (which will make going to bed early a lot easier!)

Well, another week goes by - hard to believe this is my seventh week on the programme

I had a small drop in my units this week, and although I didn't manage any alcohol free days, I'm not too dispondent. This week consisted of some time off and a lot of late nights as I indulged in various hobbies around the home - which traditionally would be accompanied by several large drinks. This week was a lot more controlled, with most of my consumption happening during last weekend - more like a 'normal' working week.

Cravings continue to be weak, and I feel I'm drinking more out of habit than anything else a lot of the time - I'm certainly not thinking about alcohol during the day in the way I might have a few months back. I'm also finding it a lot easier to postpone the start of drinking and to put the cap back on the bottle late at night.

Well done !-4 it is incredible how fast the time goes. Looks like you are following the 'curve'- you being the expert on the plot curving thing! Great feeling isn't it being able to put the cap back on the bottle!

it is amazing SBTS, that the time passes so quickly

I see your progress is steady too. I'm taking pleasure from the small glimpses of progress here and there - the reduced cravings, the feelings of control, the 'leave that bottle unopened', the 'I'll finish this first and then get a drink' and last nights new one - my lowest Friday night consumption since I don't know when - despite staying up till stupid-o'clock watching garbage on TV

My current curve is suggesting that 'safe drinking' (i.e. ~20 units per week) is about 3-4 months away for me, but I expect it to be a little quicker than that if anything

I think you are bang on with your guess of a timeline.

Where you are in TSM treatment is a difficult time -- you want so bad for this to work, but the addiction is still very much in control. Continue to maintain a positive attitude and alway know this will work. It is so easy for doubt to creep in. You are doing great!

Q

Thanks Q - I want to be realistic, but optimistic if that makes sense. I know there will be setbacks and lower moments, but by noting the positives it helps to maintain a strong attitude and committment, IMO. That'll help me to keep going I hope.

Last night wasn't too clever by me. I woke up this morning with pretty fuzzy head, feeling like I had had a HUGE amount to drink. I knew I hadn't done anything really stupid or anything like that, but I knew I'd had the better part of a bottle of wine and quite a bit of whisky too. I was dreading opening the cupboard to see how much I'd consumed, but when I did I realized it wasn't near as bad as I'd feared. Still way more than a healthy amount, and in the top 10% of amounts I've had since starting TSM, but as I say, not as bad as I'd feared when waking up.

So despite last night being a negative, I can see a positive aspect to it - I'm if anything now overestimating a previous nights drinking whereas in the past I'd often wake up thinking I'd been (comparatively) moderate only to find a lot more than moderate damage done to the bottle!

so, like Monty Python said............."Always look on the bright side..........."

not a good week this week.

I was reviewing my diary and realised I had been underestimating my consumption by about 5 or so units a week. I've corrected that now. This last week was also fairly heavy consumption - which surprised me a little when I did the numbers - I knew I'd had no AF days, but I'd felt I'd behaved 'reasonably' well. I guess the fact that monday gone was a holiday here, and that I had two mid-week social outings explains the increase somewhat. I guess I'm just going to have work harder this week to bring the levels down. Current forecasts are 6-8 months before sensible drinking levels

I know it's emotional after 2 months of treatment with no obvious progress, but it really is too early to be concerned. I did the same rough calculations around the same time as you did and came up with 9 months. However, the significant drop did not occur for me until week 16. You don't have enough data points to make a forecast yet, Regarding that you're "going to have work harder", that also is probably premature. Drink as you normally do. The changes that are occurring in your brain are not apparent yet. You have weeks to go before you see results, but the results will come. I never really believed this method would work, but it does work whether you believe it will or don't.

Chin up! Forge ahead. Try not to over-think it (and that is hard to do for analytical minds). Keep Nal'ing and drinking and the cure comes.

Bob