Hi, I started to read your post yesterday. I could not remember who had posted and have not been on here for several days sooo I spent the last hour looking for it!!!! What a great post, what great success. You sound so healthy and positive and successful with tsm. Congrads. Glad I spent the time to find this. I also hope that some day I will feel even just a bit close to where you are!

I've just gotten back in town from a long weekend...and have logged in to see all of these truly touching comments.

Kris, Elfern, Netty, Soul, WTE & LaBear -- Thank you so much - it means the world to me ...I have no one else to tell that would truly understand how big a deal this change is, so thank you for letting me spill (nothing brave about it - just excited!).

Thanks especially for the mom-encouraging comments - I had such a fun time with my kids this weekend. I really feel like I'm back in the game finally. So nice to look forward to events and to start thinking of how I can grow, with them.

I see ~Q posted he is cured this week as well as Bob (hopefully - I don't want to jinx him). Isn't this awesome? We are all getting there slowly but surely. We are becoming the personal success stories that we were searching for so desperately a few months back. How cool is that?

Hi Happy
I was wondering about SAM e. I sent away(its not available in UK and Ireland) for it some time ago having read about it elsewhere. I didnt take it as i was worried about interfering with Nal. However having seen your post i started taking it. I just wanted to check with you as i have found that my stomach feels very quesy a while after i take it. I am taking it in the morning on an empty stomach as per instructions. Any tips?

Hi Soulby -

The book that I was reading that recommended SAM-e ("The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook") says to titrate up. "start with 200mg per day at first (for this reason enteric coated tablets are preferable). After two days, raise the dose to 200 mg twice per day. It you do not experience benefits after a week at this dose, you can raise the dose again to 800 to 1200 mg per day."


Hope it helps you! I went straight to 800mg per day because I have an iron stomach for most things : ).

THIS IS GREAT! Fantastic! I am such a moron as I keep finding posts that I have never seen before. I am just seeing this now. Congratulations!!!! I am so happy for you!

Having a stressful day at work and just saw your post - I'm sitting here laughing.

Thanks, Nick - I can't keep up with all the posts these days either. Which is fantastic news in itself - so many new members and so many oldies still posting and starting to be cured or see progress ...it's getting pretty exciting around here these days.

WTE - you are right behind me. I saw the graph that AJ_ did for you - how cool is that? Very dramatic when you look at it that way.

We will all get there - I didn't do anything special other than attack my addiciton 10 years before you did. I've been drinking since I was 13 years old. I remember my first drink. And very little of my life since then .

Soon, we will be looking back at your reports and saying wow, it was a short time ago that you came on board WTE and were anxiously waiting for your Nal to arrive by mail, remember? Time goes by fast - the other side of the looking glass is fast approaching for all of us.

8/7/2009: Posted weeks 19-22 at top.

Hi Happy
Just been reading your progress thread- read back over the whole thing. I was so moved by your posts and delighted by all the changes you are making in your life! Its wonderful that you are going to be able to spend time with your kids. I am def feeling the effects of SAMe and i also take 5HTP at night.
On the breathing- there is a wonderful Buddhist writer called Thich Nhat Hanh who has loads of very simple little exercises to help with mindfulness and breathing. He even has little suggestions of ways of introducing these practices with children which are delightful- he suggests creating a space in the house where every one can use as a space to get away and be aware, breath and be mindful. No one else is allowed to interrupt while you are there. One woman i know did this and she was telling me that now if she gets agitated her kids suggest it is time for her to go to the 'breathing space'!
Anyway i can identify with your post ages back of feeling that cos your pre TSM drinking wasn't as high others don't identify. Your pre TSM drinking levels are similar to mine so i am hopeful.
Hope you enjoy your hols.
Hope you are'nt going to turn in to a Sarah Palin soccer mom! didn't she say they are like Rotweillers

Hi Soulby - thanks so much for your post - I read it this morning and have been thinking about on & off all day...a special place in the house to do breathing / yoga sounds ideal. My kids need this as much as I do! I had one of my books at the beach with us (it was just in the car and I brought it out to read)...my kids grabbed it and started doing some of the poses. It's amazing to me how interested they are in it.

I'm glad the SAMe is working for you -- I'm up to 800-1200mg a day and it is truly helping. I have also been reading "How to Use Herbs, Nutrients & Yoga in Mental Health Care" by Richard Brown, Patricia Gerbarg & Philip Muskin....and they mention SAMe extensively in there...again with the added benefits for liver health. They even have a section on alcohol abuse and suggest SAMe because of the benefits to the liver (I got the book for the Yoga but there are a lot of alternative treatment recommendations in there).

Loved the comment about our Ms. Palin . I only get rottweiler-ish if the other team cheers too much when our team is behind...I need to toughen up bit!

Hang in there with your progress. Looking back I think my cure really did snap into place at week 19ish. I'm totally different now than I was even a month ago. I'm at my mom's which is a huge, huge, huge drinking trigger on many levels...and haven't had anything to drink so far... totally unheard of pre-TSM...I just have zero desire fore the stuff at all. Hope it lasts!