Week 18 down. 13 units and 3 A/F days. Happy with that. I cleansed for four days, the shortest cleanse I have ever done. It just wasn't meant to be at this time, but even the four days felt great. This week will be a little tough as I am having an unexpected house guest for several days. There will always be a bottle of wine open.

Hey that is a great week!! You deserve lots of credit for that!! Have fun with your friend, just be a bit mindful and I bet that you will surprise yourself. xoxo Newlife

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Good luck with the house guest! I know it is real tough when old drinking buddies are around. Still trying to conquer that part of my problem - but it is getting better. You are certainly looking good! - I mean your numbers of course!

Yeah I completely know how stressful it is! When I put my daughter to the kindergarten her performance was also not good but the teachers managed everything. They did everything with fun activities and also taught ethics and moral values to the kids.

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Jaba, thanks for checking on me. I have been very busy.

Since the houseguest was unexpected I did not spend the entire time with her because I had previous commitments. There were indeed many, many bottles of wine open and a lot of partying going on here. I thought it might be tough but it actually wasn't. In fact, watching people my age behaving like teenagers was kind of a turn off. The party looks a lot different when you are the only sober one. One night I came home to find one of her friends so wasted that I hid his car keys. He has had two previous DUI's. I had a talk with her about TSM but apparently she had enough to drink that evening that she did not remember our conversation the next day. One of the things I hated about drinking so much was not remembering conversations and that has not happened to me in a long time. Small steps...

We went into Boston for the weekend. On Sunday we saw a play and then watched the first part of the Patriots game at a bar. I had one glass of wine. I had another glass of wine finishing the game in our hotel room. We went out for a fancy dinner and I had a martini and another glass of wine. In the past I would have hit the open bottle of wine in the room when we got back but I had no desire. Four drinks wasn't the best, but it was a special occasion and I was ok with it. Monday night my husband hosted a business anniversary party at a brewery. I get a little nervous at these things so in the past I might have had a small shot of vodka to start. I did not but I wanted to. I had a couple of hard ciders at the party and did have a couple of wines in the room as we recapped the evening. Four drinks again. I woke up feeling horrible...not worth it. My daughter and her boyfriend were here for dinner on Tuesday night and I woke up feeling awful on Wednesday. I thought I only had two glasses of wine but realized that they were topping off my wine glass at frequent intervals. I am going to have to be more careful with that in the future.

I am on week 20 and wish I had no desire to drink. Sometimes I feel like I am taking a placebo because I still feel like I could drink all night once I get started. I don't, but I feel like I could. I have been reading about moderation management and those techniques seem to be helping.

For those plagued with side effects, I do have to say that 20 weeks in, almost all of the SE I experienced are gone. I even went through a huge depression where I couldn't handle the flat feeling and the loss of libido. Fortunately, even those side effects have passed. So, if the side effects are getting you down, hang in there.

Deena, I think you are doing great. What you are describing sounds very very similar to me. But I think the nal makes us ABLE to take advantage of the moderation management type techniques and able to cut down where before we were not able to. It is subtle, I keep saying that but it is the best way I know to describe it.

But when I look at your numbers I am very pleased for you.

Hugs from Newlife

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