Attempting my 1st AF day today. any advice on how to stop the shakes?

Hey ma6907 - I don't have any advice on how to stop the shakes. I had the shakes yesterday and I haven't done an AF day. I notice I get the shakes these days even without AF days which like St. V said may be the withdrawal factor of Nal blocking the opioid receptors. Probably doesn't help you much, but I just ignore them. I figure this too shall pass.

Hope things get better for you, and hang in there.

HG

I don't mean to alarm you ma6907 but is it possible you are experiencing DT's? I remember you are on Vivitrol so your opioid receptors are being blocked 24/7 so you should be used to that by now. Has the only thing that has changed is trying to go AF? DT's are no joke. You can read about it here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delirium_tremens. When you've had AF days in the past did you experience withdrawal symptoms? Please keep your physician in the loop on what's going on. Presumably if they prescribed you Vivitrol they know how to deal with withdrawal symptoms. That is the nice thing about TSM is you can detox slowly over time not cold turkey which can be dangerous for some. Take care.

(Nothing in this post should be construed as medical advice. Please consult your physician about any changes in your medical history or prescription drugs.)

Thanks Saint Vincent--I am not sure if it is Dt's or not. I am armed with meds for DTs and am working VERY closely (daily) with my Physician. He is very understanding. ill keep you posted. Not trying to quit cold turkey--just trying to have an AF day. I have had very few of them in the last 10 years. Ill take all of the advice I can get--keep it up! I juist had my 2nd Vivitrol shot. After the 2nd one, i am switching to the NAL pills and hopefully will have more AF days.

Glad to hear your doc is in the loop. When I went from drinking heavily to a 2 week cold turkey quit 2 years ago and then a 30 day not long after than I had irritability, tachycardia, night sweats, increased BP but fortunately no shakes (I could hide the other symptoms but shaking hands are a bad thing in my profession). The beauty of TSM is I was able to gradually reduce my numbers so when I decided to have AF nights it was not uncomfortable at all. Zero signs of withdrawal and no craving. I hope the shakes subside for you soon.

Hi ma6907,

Good to have you on board. I think one of the keys to success to the method is not to try to force change on your drinking habits too soon. If you have not had any AF's for so many years and you are still early into the method you might need to consider whether opting to have a drink but putting the effort into drinking less in a session is the better option. Remember every drinking session is working towards the extinction of a trigger. It is hard to find patterns on the forum on who responds better but I would say that one of the themes in determining success is not forcing new drinking patterns too soon into the process ( and by too soon I mean the first 3 months). Patience is the absolute key to this method. I found that when I was ready the AF days just started to come naturally and by that time my general drinking had gone down so much that a AF day didn't cause the shakes (in contrast when I had AF days pre TSM I always had terrible shakes as my drinking was at such a high unit level). All the very best with the process!

Thanks. I had a shot. Will try AF another day.

I'm no pro, and totally new to the method, but I agree with everything said here. Don't force it on yourself. Just let it flow and take one when you're ready. MLB is a perfect example of how this method works. Maybe you should go read about his progress in the weekly progress section.

Here, I found a link for you. He has a really cool chart about half way down the page. I benefited a lot from reading his story from the start though.

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