After 8 weeks of taking naltrexone one hour before drinking, I got arrested for public intoxication, assaulting a police officer, and resisting arrest. I am not allowed to consume any alcohol , and have a court implemented curfew. I can not continue the Sinclair method. I was felt I was doing better and better on it, but maybe I was just fooling myself.

Maybe you need to up the dose? The doctor I am under said you can go up to over 75mg's......I know someone else who was struggling on 50mg's....upped the dose and result!.....

Don't give up. xx

Yes, I strongly recommend obeying the order of the court!

If you find that you simply can't resist, though, and have already reached the point where you're going to drink -- you still have nal. If you don't have alcohol in the house, you have a built-in safety buffer by taking the nal before leaving to get the alcohol.

As sumerglow said, you can try a higher dose. It's really quite a safe drug. Unless you have other liver problems, you could probably double it with no ill effects.

How was your experience of drinking on nal? Did it seem the same or different? Was it still pleasurable, and if so was it in the same way?

8 Weeks is still at an early stage of TSM. Its also a stage where many TSM followers can get discouraged. Re the dosage, it depends on how long your drinking sessions are. Although its said that 50mg is enough for a 24hr period, Nal is at its most effective in the first 12 hours. If one expects their drinking beyond that, then it may be best to take an extra dose (25-50mg) a few hours after the initial dose rather than all at once. The half-life of Nal is about 4 hours in blood plasma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naltrexone).

Neptune, if you're still reading this -- I agree that TSM could still work for you, agree that your approach probably needs some tweaking, and also believe that only you can decide the best approach for you. Since you're having legal trouble, immediate abstinence may well be the best approach.

Can you sustain abstinence? I can recommend online LifeRing as a great bunch of people. If you're wavering and think you may fall, a double dose of nal may provide you with better protection from the euphoria that draws (most of) us in.

ive been AF for 9 days
the legL inplications of me drinking helps be abstain but when the lefal stuff ends....that is when it will become much more difficult. ill check out that life ring.

If you can stay AF then please do.

If you must drink after the legal imposition, use nal.

I've removed nal from the house because I've decided to go AF and having it there could tempt me (I have had one incident where I looked for any nal I might have secreted in pockets or bags, so glad I didn't find it because it would have broken my AF stint), my cravings however have gone so I'm in a different place.

Ukb: You know, i have the opposite. I keep a nal on my keychain, and it keeps the temptation away. If I didnt have the nal, I would wish I had it so i could take a drink. If I have the pill I have to decide to take it ir not.

So far, I haven't taken it.

I havent been on this site in about a year, and wow, it is interesting to read my old posts.
Fear of breaching my court condition did not keep me sober long ( about 6 weeks) , then on and off for a few weeks, then I wasn't taking naltrexone because I wasn't drinking, on April 4th, I drank, and because I drank alot, I acted out, and woke up with 9 charges. for 239 days I stayed sober and went to AA. then I relapsed, then I quit for 7 days, and now I took naltrexone one hour before drinking. I think I need to be reeducated on the sinclair method, I forget alot of it. Is there any current statistics on the success rate?

Aw, geez, Neptune. That sucks.

Given how you get arrested, I'd have to suggest hardcore harm reduction as the first step. I mean no judgment there; I have a lengthy alcohol-related criminal history of my own.

Are you dealing with any consequences right now? Whether yes or no, do you have a plan in place to avoid repeating the mistakes that ended in arrest? Everything's just going to keep getting worse and worse if you can't stay out of the court system.

There's not that much to the Sinclair method. If you're taking naltrexone one hour before drinking alcohol, you've got the gist of it down pat. After that, it's mostly a matter of time for the cure to work.

You never really got a chance to try TSM, because of the previous arrest. IIRC, you felt early effects like increased awareness. Ideally there'd be a drop in consumption by week 10, but not always, so that doesn't mean you weren't responding.

You know, I hate to say it, but I don't see any way around it. You're in the same place you were a year ago, only worse. You're facing essentially the same choice that you were then. TSM is unique in that it may have a real cure for you, but it does take time, so in your case it really, really needs to be combined with harm reduction. I'd really hate to open this forum in a few weeks to learn that Neptune is going white-knuckle abstinent because of another arrest.

What can we do to keep you safe when you drink?

I nag because I care. *hug*