Brief intro first:
I've been active here long time ago and tried TSM for roughly 6 month without much success. The only clear effect was that alcohol was slightly less pleasurable, making it easier to moderate. Even then, moderation was still a major struggle. In the end, I quit TSM and since, within the last 6 years, my alcoholism became much worse: minimum 10 drinks a day, drinking at work, culminating in the first DUI (caught when the car broke down on the highway; don't do it - super-expensive and car breathalyser is a major nuisance).
Before all that, my transition from heavy drinking without much dependence into a full alcoholism coincided with my successful quitting smoking, in 2008. That went well - no desire to smoke ever since.
Anyhow, one paper caught my eye recently and may be relevant here:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/acer.13601The gist of it is simple: Naltrexone is shown to be significantly more effective in nicotine consumers (presumably tobacco smokers). See the attached figure from it. Now, of course, smoking kills too! But here is what I am thinking: nicotine patches, because they release the drug slowly and steadily, are either barely addictive or not addictive at all, and don't seem to have any appreciable negative health effects (except for reactions to adhesive).
So, I am thinking of trying TSM again but this time with nicotine patches. Half a 14 mg patch (despite what the label says, cutting them is totally fine as long as the unused part is stored in the tightly closed small zip bag) cost 60 cents/day for Walmart's house brand product. Seems worth trying.
What do you guys think? Any relevant experiences or thoughts? Thanks!
