Hi 8, I had the same side effects when I started, too. Spacey, nauseated --even my dr. told me to expect nausea. I think it took a week or so for it to go away, so just hang in there. Try taking it with food if you can.

Hi 8
On the question of taking 25 versus 50 mg. I decided recently to reduce to 25mg as i was still having powerful SE's - not nausea any longer but awful tiredness and post drinking depression. As i tend to drink over a 3/4 hours in the evening i thought i would be covered. i found it helped with the SE's. I only take the full 50mg when i know i will be starting to drink earlier. I know that there is an issue about how long we are covered with each tab. someone, Bob i think explained at one point about the half life of NAl and coverage. You could search his thread.

Hi 8,

I a bit anxious to hear how it went for you on the 50mg. I will be going to a going away party tonight and will fill you in as to any side affects that are still reocurring for me.

Hope all is well,

hapful

Thanks guys

No change on the side effects. I don't like the chemical smell on my skin, taste and smell seems a bit distorted, and still feel a bit overwhelmed by the headiness. I would like a day off feeling like this, but I'll give one more night a go. 12 UK units last night, and I almost went for one beer more, but when the time came thought 'nah, don't need it or want it' which is great. Very vivid, unusual (!!) dreams last night and woke again strangely early. This time though I stayed in bed and managed to doze again till midday (!!)

hoping4 - yes I will definitely keep on taking it on a full stomach for a little while yet. Today's only my third day on 50mg, so it'll be interesting to see if this time it's even easier. When the nausea's not there I just feel disinterested in food which is probably related but something I'll have to watch - I can't afford to lose weight.

soul - aha, half-life would explain things! I'll try to search out that post one day soon, but for the time being just having that principle in mind helps. I think I'll continue aiming for 50 unless it gets too uncomfortable. I'm going to try to drink less and for shorter time tomorrow night because of plans on Friday, so I may well have half a tablet tomorrow.

hapful - all is well my friend, thank you! Luckily I don't have much on right now, so I can afford to lose a few days not being on top form. Perhaps if I had no choice but to be busier I wouldn't notice things so much. Anyway, I'll keep a close eye on your thread for your own progress, hope you have a great time at the party

13 UK units last night, for a total of 82.5 for the week, 0 AF days. Overall craving I would say was 6.

I'd say that with the day where I couldn't drink much due to side effects taken into account, my 'usual' weekly consumption would be around 90 units. It's definitely around the 12 per session mark. Of huge interest to me, that was the point at which, without Nal, there was a happy balance between the 'reward' of drinking on the night and the 'payback' of the hangover the next day. In the past it took a lot of willpower sometimes to stop at that point, even though common sense demanded it.

Now on Nal that very same limit (so far) is the one at which I really am satisfied, and cannot drink any more, even if I want to! Last night the beers were flying down, and I planned to have an extra beer or two, but when I hit the 13 unit point I just couldn't!

I wonder if I've identified something I never expected - that without Nal my body was trying to tell me very strongly, and repeatedly (via hangover) that around 12 units is some sort of an inbuilt limit for me, but that the endorphin rush from AL would often see me push on to drink more. And now that the endorphins are cut out, my body can strongly sense the same thing, but on the actual night??

If so I would take that even at this early stage as a huge sign that Nal has the potential to restore some sanity to my drinking - a sanity I don't remember ever having. The gift of knowing when to stop.

Another post for a different topic - morning drinking.

How I hate writing those words. Although I've drunk too much my entire drinking career, it was always my 'rule' only to drink at night, my way either of deluding myself that I didn't have a problem with alcohol, or perhaps subconciously a way to protect myself so that I didn't drink 24/7.

In the autumn last year a succession of traumatic events and increasing episodes of panic and blind terror led me to stepping over that line in the sand and drinking in the daytime, even, eventually, from waking. Within a few months this got me into an awful lot of trouble, health-wise.

I awoke very early again today, and with a very high craving, but not so high that I couldn't have gone without a drink (let's call it an 8). But mindful of the method, I am having the last beer in the house (3 UK units) from 7 in the morning, after this I plan to go back to bed.

This is not something I plan to make a habit of, in fact very much the opposite, I am scared stiff where this could take me. I'd very much appreciate some feedback on this aspect of extinguishing for me on TSM from you guys. If this is a regular necessity, I just can't continue down the road, abstinence is really the only choice...

I've got no advice for you. I am right there with you.

I almost never drink in the morning. NEVER.

I've had 4 beers so far and I've been awake for like 2 hours now. This is very new for me and scary too.

This sucks -- sorry to hear this guys. Hang in there.

All I can do is repeat the broken record: TSM works. For 80% in the studies and it would have been a lot higher if the subjects followed the proper protocol (nal one hour before drinking). Abstinence rarely works because of the "alcohol deprivation effect" shown even in rats. Take away their booze and their cravings increase, and when they come back they drink even more than they did before the abstinence stint. Plus, abstinence does not address the underlying craving. We've all known the miserable "white knucklers" who don't drink but are miserable because the itch remains, but unscratched.

You two are the only guys I've come across whose use sharply increased immediately after starting TSM. The only thing I can think of is the "extinction burst" -- since the endorphins are blocked when you drink, your mind tells you, "keep drinking, keep drinking", in a futile effort to reach the old endorphin rush level. This will pass, I'm confident of it.

TSM works -- please re-read THE CURED list and more importantly, their personal stories. I was here when Bob3d was complaining TSM does not work for those on benzos and now he is one of our poster boys for the cured. Most, if not all, of the cured had huge reservations about TSM during their journey and look at them now! Try to keep your chins up, fellahs. I, for one, would miss your excellent contributions if you drop out of the program. Don't do it -- give it 6 months minimum -- it will work for you and this period will just be a bad memory.

All my best,

Nick

Thanks so much for the warm encouragement, as ever Nick

My units haven't increased at all in my first week on TSM, in fact they mirror my long-term drinking pattern. So I'm not sure in my case it's an extinction burst, though I do hope it is for LoOp as it would be very promising. It could be, but for me it was a scary reminder of my 24/7 drinking of five months before my few months abstinent. That was under quite extreme stressful conditions, so I hoped it wouldn't return now that stress doesn't exist.

I cannot bear returning to that lifestyle, but may be over-thinking things. I'll continue on as I had been for a few more days and see what happens.

If I get those morning cravings again, though, I'm unsure what to do. Have a drink or two (which stopped the craving today) or white-knuckle it till the evening? TSM should still work eventually anyway, right, even if I'm not specifically extinguishing those morning triggers?

My gut tells me yes, it will work even if you don't extinguish the specific morning trigger. My unscientific instinct tells me that you should try and avoid drinking in the morning just because drinking 24/7 is plain awful for your health. I would try not to drink in the day until the cravings are insurmountable -- once they reach that point, take the nal and take comfort that you are extinguishing your addiction if you do drink.

I don't know how you "Mediterranean" style boozers (and I say that with all fondness ) can drink every day. My body requires a break after my binges of at least one, if not two, days. There have been a handful of times I got up and drank in the morning -- both on vacations. I found it HIGHLY unsettling. It's pretty hard to deny you have a MAJOR drinking problem if you get up and reach for a drink.

Anyway, chin up! I'm rooting for you.

Nick