I've been doing the Sinclair Method since June, so about five months now. At first, things seemed to be going really well, at least by my standards. I haven't blacked out since then, when usually I'd black out about once a month.
But lately, I've felt like things have gotten worse. I didn't black out the other night, but I got more wasted than I have since I started, enough to worry.

I'm worried I screwed it up. A couple of times, I waited too late to reorder the nal (I get it from alldaychemist) and instead of just not drinking, I would take half a pill. The first time I did this about 2-3 months ago and lasted only a few days. I noticed no difference, so last month I did it again - this time for a little over a week, taking half a pill a day an hour before drinking. I've felt more out of control since then. I even started carrying around alcohol in water bottles again and just overall acting like an addict. But, I've still been able to stop myself from doing anything crazy.

Did I screw everything up? If I did, how long does it take to correct it? Or am I blowing everything out of proportion?

And another question, because even if I didn't screw it up I'm tired of waiting (even though my life is 100% better after Sinclair, regardless of the fact I'm still drinking unhealthy amounts) I remember reading that every instance of drinking is an extinction event. Usually, I don't drink all day and come home and start drinking right then and drink til I fall asleep. I was wondering if maybe I had a drink in the morning, went to work, came home and started drinking again, would that speed up the process? Two extinction events in a day, 8 hours space inbetween, instead of one? Or would that not work?

I am new to TSM so can't be hugely helpful but you need to follow the GOLDEN RULE. 1 pill at least an hour before you drink. NEVER drink without taking the pill which is really an easy thing to do with all the hell most of us have gone through over all the past years.
If you don't drink (AF Day) then NO Pill. I know it is in the past and has already happened but just don't let it happen again for it to work properly. For some people I hear it takes a while longer so maybe you are on your way and you just don't know it. All I can say is hang in there and follow the rules, keep track of your weekly drinking and post often and I am sure there will people to support you even if this site is not very active, I do!

Any damage you did by taking too small a dose should be reversible if you return to the correct dose and remain compliant from now on. If you responded before, you'll respond again.

Don't beat yourself up too much for an innocent and fixable mistake. Just stay on the right track from here.

I personally don't think it's a problem to take a pill on AF days. Other than a waste of a pill/$. I take mine midday and over the past few weeks I have had days I just don't drink. I mean I could, I just don't. I'm not forcing AF, just don't want to drink. Fantastically strange.

I completely overlooked your second question; sorry.

I strongly recommend that you not start drinking in contexts where you don't already, particularly before you have to go to work. The TSM protocol is to drink as you normally would, and your unwanted behavior will be extinguished--in the case of morning drinking you haven't learned the behavior to extinguish. And let's also not get into the issue of how long naltrexone remains effective.

Hi,

I've been taking Nal since February of this year. Overall, I've seen my drinking drastically reduced. I'm a 5 ' 11" 33 year old man and weigh 190 lbs. For the past few months I've taken 25 milligrams instead of the recommended 50 mg simply due to the fact that if I have a couple consecutive AF days and then resume the recommended 50 mg dosage, the side effects are unbearable. I can't sleep, I get nauseous, etc. Because of this I started taking 25 mg an hour before drinking and FOR ME (I can't stress that enough), FOR ME it does the trick. Last night, I took 12.5 mg at lunch and 12.5 mg before leaving work at 4:30 pm and went home, drank 3.5 12 ounce Miller Lights and then decided it would be better for me to eat than continue drinking. I woke up today feeling slightly lethargic but certainly not hung-over. I find that as long as I keep my alcohol consumption to less 5 or 6 beers/shots in the evening, the next day I feel normal. There are some people on this board who will tell you that taking 25 mg is dangerous and it may be, FOR THEM. It's really individualistic. For me, the 50 mg caused me to have such light sleep that the next day I wouldn't be necessarily hung-over but irritable due to sleep deprivation (I'm unfortunately one of those people who require a minimum 8 hours of sleep in order to feel normal the next day). So not hungover but still moody and treat my co-workers like ****. Just my 2 cents. Hope this helps you or anyone else contemplating lowering the recommended dosage.

JOhn

I agree with this completely, and in fact once the process has started I recommend trying to recognise the signs that you don't want to drink, and acting on them.

So long as it works then fine.

I also agree with this too, I used to take a pill just in case I drank, but if I didn't then it didn't seem to cause me any harm.