I've been eating Ibuprofen like sweets the last 2 weeks. I've been getting constant headaches throughout the day. I never get headaches so its definitely the process I'm going through with TSM. Small price to pay though.

Tee, Have you drastically reduced your alcohol consumption? (I read your thread a while ago but have forgotten the details now). When I went from being a daily drinker to stopping cold turkey, I had a number of terrible headaches....part of the detox process, I gathered. Hope you feel better soon. P.S. I just bought another 1000 capsules of ibuprofen at Costco yesterday so am set for another month or two

Another week behind me. I principally didn't drink except when I was marinating some meat in cognac, I took 2 TB for myself and boy that was tasty; that's my .5 for the week. No Nal beforehand. Most evenings there are a few moments when I think I'd like a drink but that feeling usually doesn't last long. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the drink at night; I still do miss it. I don't have much going on other than part time work and supporting my family. Hopefully when I solve the problem of making my own life "richer", I'll miss the drink less.

Another week behind me and I'm knee deep into dodgy holiday times. Even more dodgy as I've stopped taking the Nal in order to avoid the crummy side effects and not feel lousy during the holidays. 3 days I stuck to my 1 drink rule but Christmas eve I ended up having 3 units...a rum egg nog, a glass of wine w/ dinner and some port w/ dessert....giving me a total of 6 units for the week. Christmas dinner was another 3 unit evening (but that goes into this next week's count.)

The test will be whether I can comfortably have a few AF days ahead before new year's eve or if I start thinking a lot about drinking again in the evening. I am contemplating Sailorbox's approach of just taking a small amt of Nal everyday so that I am used to it and maybe can minimize the bad SEs. I continue to take this journey one day at a time.

Wishing everyone on this forum a happy holiday and success navigating the season.

Wow, tasty choices! 6 units is great for the holiday week, well done! You didn't go off the rails and I hope you enjoyed every drop, and didn't feel "watched" by your family. I'M impressed, my friend. I'm very sorry for your continuing struggles w/ the SE's...you've not let them deter you too much.

I suspect a lot of people here had higher than usual #'s this week - I know I did - but we will regroup and move on after the holidays. I'm always so glad to get back to "normal", boring January...

Chrissie, your posts are oh so appreciated! You manage to help me relax about all this.

Yes, so far I haven't gone off the rails and my husband has not been scrutinizing my intake. In fact, he's been opening the wine and pouring w/out showing any apparent apprehension. Maybe he doesn't really know much about alcoholics and how we often are wired. It's up to me not to blow it. Just get thru this season w/out the strong urge to go back to Jan 2011.

Thanks to everyone on this board, I feel I have good company...and am not alone in my goals...which many on this forum have shown are achievable.

Thank you all for your support and here's sending all my support right back your way!

2 more holiday weeks behind me; the week b/w Christmas and NYE I had 11.5 units w/ only 1 AF day and the week after that 7 units w/ 3 AF days. All this w/out taking Nal and I could feel my self-control slipping away going into this week. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), I then had a migraine for a couple days w/ no interest in drinking whatsoever so I've gotten 4 AF days in and now feel a comfortable distance b/w me and the drink; the last 2 days it barely crossed my mind so I feel like I've dodged a bullet.

I am wondering what to do about the Nal tho going forward; the last couple times I took Nal and drank (just one unit) I felt terrible the day after. I'm considering just taking the Nal and not drinking...to see if I can avoid SEs and, if that works, try having 1 unit w/ the Nal. I'll wait for a day when I'm feeling particularly good w/ nothing pressing the next day before I try this.

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year to you GG,

I think taking nal everyday might be a good way to keep your body used to it. I can attest to how nasty it can be if you don't take nal for a while. I'm going to start taking a little each day too. Please keep me posted on how the rest of January went. You seem to be so consistent with your posts especially during the holidays. So let me know how you are doing.

Best Wishes,

So much for consistent posts eh Nalwayout?!

I haven't posted b/c I have not started taking the Nal. I never felt really good on a particular day where I was willing to feel lousy if I had a bad reaction from the Naltrexone....

During the rest of January and early into February, I started having 2-4 oz of port every evening and then it became hard to imagine not having a port, sherry or 2oz of kahlua just before bed. For a 'normal' person, this is no big deal at all. I did continue to resist wine w/ dinner (what got me started on this alcoholism road) but essentially I was having .5-1.5 units / day....again, no biggie for a normal person but I was back to having "something" every day.

Then Ash Wed rolled around and I've made a concerted effort to give up alcohol for lent. After about 3 days, I rarely think about alcohol and can say so far I don't have any cravings at all. As of today, I'm 11 days AF and so far this time is much, much easier to maintain AF than when I first went off alcohol for 30 days last August.

I've been posting on this forum and tracking my alcohol units for just over a year now. Even tho TSM didn't exactly work for me, it did help me reduce my intake and compared with where I was a year ago, I'm a hundred times in a better place. I think this forum and the support here was just as helpful to me as the Nal. The problem for me was when I stopped taking the Nal every day, b/c I wasn't drinking every day, I just became too sensitive....being prone to migraines anyway.

I believe that TSM and the use of Naltrexone can be helpful to many people out there. I bought mine from ADC and am a little wary that maybe the quality of the drug isn't the same as that purchased here in the US....I just don't know. I am thinking of purchasing Imitrex from ADC to do the comparison w/ that drug vs what I get here in the US.

Anyway, I'm not a TSM success story but I can say Nal was helpful in getting me part of the way to my ultimate goal of drinking "on occasion" like a "normal person". And even tho my DH would think I've pretty much beat my alcoholism....I've been either abstinent or a very moderate drinker since late August 2012....I think I need another year of this to say there is any cure or long-term optimism that I've got this puppy fully under control.

As I close for now, I just want to say "thank you" to all of you who posted on my thread and gave me your support. It meant A LOT. I wish you success with your own efforts. I will continue to check in and post as well. Who knows, maybe once lent is over, I'll give the Nal a try again. Stay tuned.

All the best.

Hi GTG,

Best if luck with your lenten abstinence!

Curi