Hi everyone, where do I even begin? I have been following this board for a while now and am now in the position to share my story. I am an alcoholic with three years of sobriety largely through AA. It's been an interesting ride to say the least. Being the little researcher I am, I stumbled across the Sinclair Method and was met with A LOT of mixed emotions - Do I? Don't I? In actuality, all I would really like is to have those few drinks a week to enjoy (don't most of us?). I have been successful here in Canada to get Revia and to have it covered by my medical plan. Right now I have a reasonable supply to see me through for some time.
I guess I have just been waiting for the time to start this process of seeing if I will be one of the success stories ( I have Dr. Sinclair's book as well). I think now is the time. Three weeks ago, my former boyfriend from quite a few years ago killed himself just one day before going into rehab. I suspected he was struggling and he was after three years of not drinking. He hated AA; it simply was not for him. I am struggling with the guilt of not telling him about this drug. So here I am and very scared. I am scared of opening up that Pandora's Box again; the hell, the compulsion, the insanity of this disease. But I have come this far. Please, if there is anyone who has had some long-term sobriety and starting drinking again while using this drug and who is willing to share their experience, I would really appreciate it.
Duddy

Hi,

There are several other threads here detailing the experiences of people who've been abstinent and then gone to TSM for a true cure. I don't have the URLs handy at the moment, and it's a bit late here to go searching for them just now. I mostly just wanted to welcome you.

I'm sorry about your ex. You must have cared for him very much.

It's a dirty rotten shame that effective approaches to alcohol addiction aren't more widely known. With Schick Shadel for intensive/urgent intervention and TSM for a more gradual and gentle approach, almost everyone who wanted to be cured could be cured. That would still leave the people who honestly prefer to chase the high, seeing the high as their best option for happiness, but . . . well, we can't control people's choices. In 2013 we have the techniques to help almost everyone who truly wants the help, yet the knowledge can't break through the information blockade set up by folks who are firmly convinced they have an allergy which they treat by faith healing.

It makes me sad.

It's too late to help your ex, but we (not just you and me, all of us) may still be able to help other people who suffer and struggle because they think AA is all there is.

Remember that the last thing to come out of Pandora's box was Hope.

Dear Muiserum, I thought I had some success with TSM read my posts, I combined both methods aa and TSM. Well I am drinking every night again maybe less than before, maybe don't loose days to alkohol but hang over day is not a good day ether. If you stayed sober for 3 years please don't do it, it is not a magic pill. Sooner or later your day will start to dance around the awful, coning, possessive, obsessive booze. Maybe u will not get drunk as before but sober life is so much better. As I write this i have my vodka with me, am i drunk ... No but
All day was thinking about this evening and now I think how am I going to stop tomorrow.
I hope this helps. No magic pill to stop drinking, taking drugs, loosing weight. To good to be truth! Erk

Nal + drinking = not enjoyable

muiserm, erk has a good point. About one person in ten is addicted via a different mechanism than opioid receptors, and for those people an opioid blocker will have no effect at all. Soooo, yeah, it's a bit of a gamble. Your odds are good, but the chance of failure is not negligible, so people who are happily abstinent should probably just stay that way.

People who are unhappily abstinent, with constant craving and misery, may seek another option. Your original post didn't sound that way, though. It sounded more like you would just prefer to be normal -- that's understandable, but is the desire worth a 10% chance that you'll slide back into addiction?

Only you can make that decision.

Muiserm,

I'm very sorry to hear about your boyfriend. Hopefully he is in a better place. I like what Melissa said about hope being the last thing out of Pandora's box. I have a story very similar to yours. I have been sober for reasonably long periods (18 months at one point) via AA, but the cravings have never left me. Regardless of the efforts that I made the cravings were there on my back each and every day. And with it was a healthy dose of frustration. I kept thinking that I was doing something wrong or that there was something fundamentally wrong with me (well, I'm an alcoholic so I guess there is something wrong with me). I'd sit in meetings and hear those stories where the hand of GOD came down and touched someone and the cravings were miraculously lifted. Those stories drove me nuts!

I started drinking again in September of 2012 and stumbled across TSM in April of 2013. This was after trying Topomax and having an absolutely horrible experience with it. I have made some significant progress, but the cravings are still there. Those cravings are all mental and not physical. I can say that the cravings are more manageable and my consumption levels have dropped significantly. At this stage I'm beginning to think that the cravings are almost out of habit or rote behavior. I also feel that I am getting close to the point where drinking is becoming a choice. Some of that is a result of the pain of TSM hangovers along with the lack of reward that TSM blocks. My goal all along has been to be free of the compulsion and completely sober.

With that said, I would not have tried this if I was not already drinking. I don't think that is a gamble worth taking. Part of your decision has to center around what kind of person you are when you drink. If you are the type of person that has a stopping problem I would definitely not do it. I never had a stopping problem as my issue was more of frequency, but if I did I would definitely not do it. TSM simply does not work fast enough. Another factor to consider is your experiences of drinking after a period of sobriety (if you have any). For some it is like they never stopped and went back to their pre-sobriety levels immediately. Others take time to ramp back up. If you are like the former then be very careful. If you do decide to try it always follow the golden rule (take NAL one hour before your first drink). Good luck and keep us posted!

Hi everyone. Thanks very much for your responses. It is true, only I can make that decision. Regarding my success rate if I try this, my genetics do play a factor. My father is an alcoholic and the disease was rampant among his 10 siblings. The disease has also showed up on my mother's side (double whammy for me). I have no doubt that I carry the gene. A good friend has agreed to help monitor me if I do this - basically to keep me safe. My main concern is that I will probably slip at some point and I would rather be taking the drug when that happens.
I have a few more weeks to decide so I will keep you posted and invite other comments. Thanks very much.
Duddy

Hi Musierm,

This line in your post jumped out at me:
I stumbled across the Sinclair Method and was met with A LOT of mixed emotions - Do I? Don't I? In actuality, all I would really like is to have those few drinks a week to enjoy (don't most of us?).

My understanding of TSM is that the Nal works to remove the pleasure from drinking. So if its the 'few drinks a week to enjoy' that you are seeking, you won't find the pleasure in the TSM regime. Drinking is not that enjoyable on Nal. There is no warm buzz, no nice taste, the after effects are heavy - often worse than a normal hangover for the amount drunk.

I wonder if what is attractive to you is that TSM gives drinkers permission to drink, but only while taking Nal with the goal of reducing or breaking the habitual association of alcohol and pleasure. You have already broken your physical addiction which is a huge step you should be proud of. TSM might work for you to break the psychological cravings but, by gaia, you'd have to be pretty bloody careful to stick strictly to the TSM regime and not drink without Nal or break the golden rule. You would need to assess how much you honestly trust yourself to not bend the rules in search of a little alcohol buzz.

Best of luck.
Kerri

This is not true. At least not for everyone. If you drink on naltrexone, you will still get the sedative effect of alcohol and the judgment impairment (two things I find pleasurable). However, the desire to drink more and more will be reduced.

Everything tastes exactly the same. The side effects are most often minor and temporary and hangovers are no worse for most people.

Hi WranSlayer, isn't it interesting how we each have a slightly different experience on the ways of Nal. I find myself getting very sleepy on Nal and one drink and I don't like it much. My kick is the warm glow that I used to get, and now don't. And the taste of wine, at least, has really changed for me. As for the hangover, I'd say my own were @ 20% worse than normal on my first few days on Nal and are helping my aversion.

I hope discussion of our various experiences can help Musierm make a healthy decision.