well it's been a while since I posted, still on the Nal but my dosage seems to be up - kinda been heavy handed with the poor and no AF nights just yet. In fact, I'm wishing I could just take a weekend off and get bombed but I think I read that the hang-over will be worse b/c the Nal is still in the system to a certain extent. Then again, I don't look forward to that splitting headache either.

Do we loose the effect of Nal if we're taking it for a long time - meaning - does your body need more with time or will one pill suffice for extended periods?

I wish I was back in the early days when this worked so crazy well.

Hope you are all doing well!

Marianne

Hi Marianne,
Good to hear from you and pleased that you're sticking with it, even though the results might be a bit slower than you were hoping for.

Having a weekend off and getting bombed will only slow down the process as you'll reverse a little of the extinction that's already taken place. As far as I'm aware the 50mg dose should be enough to see us through the process and we don't need to increase the doseage as time goes on. Some people on here have tried 75 or 100mg after being on TSM for many months without seeing any success, but I doubt that you're ready for that yet.

"I wish I was back in the early days when this worked so crazy well."

How long have you been doing it now...are you about week 8? From all that I've read, and from my own experience, the honeymoon period does wear off and we're left to plod along for weeks (maybe months) slowly extinquishing the beast. Be patient and keep on going.Have faith, you'll get there...one nal, one drink at a time.

Ruth.

Thanks Ruthy.

So, I'm sticking with it but I've started to look at my drink and the time and calculate how much more I should or shouldn't have - kind of obsessed with the numbers right now. I've also just started to crash at 8 pm just so I don't drink anymore - which is fine b/c I have no problems sleeping and love my 10 hours.

Unfortunately I've noticed that sense I'm not getting buzzed every night that my relationship with hubby is changing - not good. Apparently, that is when I showed the most affection (oops). So now, he is missing that and bringing it up, but as much as I love him it's just not my style to be overly affectionate - sober I guess! We're thinking of seeing a shrink to deal with that and come to a compromise which I think will be a good thing... goodness, I am a completely different personality drunk - poor guy.

Anyway, I'm on week 8 and plodding along with hope for the best. I think it will help me to always remember the ice-pic hangovers and the 20+ daily ounces of vodka I used to put into my system... still at around 6ish shots so considerably down when compared.

I'll be a nal weekend for me

Great to read on your reduction in numbers.

In regards to affection towards your significant other. Same thing here. My wife has noticed the same. However, the decrease in drunkenness far outways a bump in the road of affection drop off. It will come back around.

Per Toby Keith and Wikipedia below.

Keith told The Boot that his co-writer, Carl Goff Junior "came on the bus, and I was writing one night, and he was telling me some story about his wife. He said, 'Me and my wife have been in a fight, and she said she was going to leave me if I didn't slow down, so I quit drinking. I'm not drinking right now. So now I've been having to mow and have been out working in the yard, and I've had to get that car running.' He was telling me all his agony. She came home one night, and he had hit himself with a wrench or something and hurt his hand, and she said, 'What's the matter?' He told her, 'You ain't much fun since I quit drinkin'.' I was writing songs, and I said, 'Let's write this right now.' And we just sat down and wrote it."

We're all different so take this for what it's worth, but for me I felt like it was really important for my numbers to come down without me focusing on the numbers, if you get what I mean. In other words, if I stop drinking solely to hit some numbers goal then I'm not seeing the kind of drop in my consumption that I want to see. It has to come natural. I want to see reduced consumption because I just don't feel the need to drink as much, not because I'm focused on hitting a mark. So with that in mind, I've noted what I'm drinking, but I don't run the numbers until I'm done, sometimes not until the next morning. I don't want to be obsessed with the numbers, I want to be in the frame of mind where it just hits me sometimes, "Hey, I've had enough." I want to focus on how I feel.

Of course, it helps that as a beer drinker I can just set aside bottles and get an accurate measurement the next day. Harder to that if you're pouring glasses of wine or cocktails.

Ultimately, though, it's got to be whatever works for us as individuals. You're seeing your numbers come down and that's GREAT news. Keep doing what you're doing!