Yeah, the family dynamic is a curious one. I drink less at family events as I know I have to drive home and fear of DUI is a big one for me. Food is a factor too, food seems to kill my appetite for alch and it's always around when the family gets together. On occasion I'll wipe out a six pack after I get home though...

Please do-- I would love to hear her feedback or at least add another datum to her considerable collection of anecdotes. Binge drinking is really common among people my age but I haven't seen many people my age on the forum.

New Years Eve was the first time since I started TSM that I had liquor available to drink. So it was a new scenario for me and one I don't want to purposefully repeat. My most common drinking experience with hard liquor is shitty tequila on the rocks in a low ball glass-- repeat to blackout. The thought of that now is disgusting. I haven't had any tequila since I started TSM; why do I find my favorite liquor repulsive? Although I probably wouldn't find it repulsive after a couple of beers or glasses of wine...

Overall, I'm very pleased with TSM sofar, and I will continue sticking with it. I think the holiday week was just a spike that I had to ride through, and by next year I won't have to experience it. My family does not drink heavily at all, so my motivation for overindulgence is entirely interior.

keep it up, trexosaur, your attitude toward tequila seems like a really good sign!

Trex -

Joanna replied:

I've just read Trexosuaur's thread in full, and I really don't think he has anything to be concerned about - except for learning to have patience, which the majority of us suffer from

There's only a couple of other little bits he should be aware of:

1. Don't worry about long term compliance at this stage. It is quite hard to explain to someone who is actively in the hold of AUD, but most people's attitude to alcohol and drinking change over time. It becomes far less important and days can go by without even thinking of alcohol at all. If Trexosuar's TSM journey leads eventually leads him to only drinking when out with friends, or with family, then he may only drink once a week perhaps. Taking a pill an hour before he drinks becomes SO easy, especially because the TSM way of thinking (take pill, wait, drink mindfully) is by then a habit in itself. Plus, he will by then also appreciate that the way of life he has, and how he feels, is so much better than it was that it becomes accepted that taking one pill is the thing that stops that old way of life returning.

2. Never, ever only take half a pill, especially in the early days. There is a reason the dosage is 50mg! Dr Sinclair found this to be the optimum dosage to get the job done over many, many years of research and testing. There is no way for us to tell if we are 100% protected if we take less. If T. was only 95% protected by the 25mg nal, then he likely wouldn't be aware that a few of the endorphins released by that 1 drink (or 2 or 3) got through, but his brain will be. His receptors are hyper-sensitive to endorphins, and if ANY get through, then he is potentially making things harder for himself in the long run. Why risk it? So, please ask him to stick to 50mg, even if he is only having 1 drink. He doesn't want to be sabotaging himself, I am sure.

3. It doesn't matter if he is only drinking 3 times a week. In the book, it states to drink as you normally would. This doesn't mean the amount, so there is no evidence to find that moving to drinking 6 or 7 times a week will speed the process up for him. He needs to take the pill, wait, and then drink in the same situations that he was before. Remember that by using TSM we are trying to get the brain to unlearn the learned behaviour. If he moves to drinking 6 or 7 times a week, then he can't really unlearn that reinforced behaviour, because it was never learned to begin with. Hope that makes sense!

You know, it is amazing how so many people take the pill incorrectly in the beginning! I can't tell you the number of times that people get carried away and then feel dreadful the next day. Working up to the dosage over 3 or 4 days, eating first, taking half the pill and drinking lots of water with the tablet just make things easier and smoother.


Of course, feel free to ask him to contact me if he wishes. That is never an issue. Some people like to have some support, others prefer to work alone and then others seem to like a bit of both

Best wishes,
Joanna.

So, she advises against starting out with 1/2 a pill if you think you're only going to have a few drinks. It may be like going into a battle with your bulletproof vest unfastened, eh? Now, I've heard that some folks have good luck breaking the Nal (readers, never break a Selincro / Nalmefene tablet) in half and taking both halves to get your "shields" up sooner, one that made the difference for one TSM'er I know of. Could have something to do with the coating on the pill or one's ability to break down the coating after years of alcohol pounding your GI system. In any case, the recommendation is 50mg starting out, every time. What Joanna said in item 2 I think refers to beyond the first few days of TSM, where you should start out with 25mg for the first 3 or 4 days till you get a handle on the side effects, then you bump up to 50mg and stay at that level unless advised to go higher.

You can get ahold of Joanna at Joanna@cthreeeurope.com

Otherwise, as others have said, it looks like you're right on course and I wouldn't be surprised to see your numbers vector down from here.

"Overall, I'm very pleased with TSM sofar, and I will continue sticking with it. I think the holiday week was just a spike that I had to ride through, and by next year I won't have to experience it. My family does not drink heavily at all, so my motivation for overindulgence is entirely interior."

I like the way you think!

Thanks, Joe: Joanna's advice really set me at ease. And no more rationing pills! That was dumb.

It has been a while since I updated:

Week 13: 47 units, 4 AF.

Week 14: 43 units, 5 AF.

Week 15: 26 units, 5 AF. Got a cold this week which dissuaded me from drinking.

Week 16: 49 units, 3 AF. I was feeling pretty stressed/depressed this week and I ended up drinking on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, which definitely breaks my "no drinking two days in a row" rule. I'm pretty annoyed that I didn't have the self control to not drink, but at least I wasn't drinking huge amounts.

Week 17: 22 units, 5 AF. I was travelling this week which helped me limit my intake. It was easy to not drink when others around me were drinking and have AF days. But as soon as I started drinking I found I still have a strong urge to get to the "drunk" stage.

So trending down overall:


I'm finding that if I drink too much too fast (~1 bottle of wine) I'll start to feel nauseous. Previously I could drink 2+ bottles and my stomach would feel great. Do y'all think this is psychosomatic or am I starting to react to alcohol like a regular person?

In my head, I'm finding that alcohol takes up less and less "room". It's like a puddle is drying up, and other thoughts and worries are filling up to take alcohol's space in my brain. AF days are a breeze. However, I am still binge drinking when I do drink.

Trex -

I've read others saying that about the quantity, I think as the volume goes down it's harder to get back up to the same levels as before. I'm at the 4-5 drink per night level and can't imagine going back to a half-rack of beer per night. I think you're correct about that, it's just Nal beginning to restore your drinking levels back towards what most folks can tolerate and I've seen it reported by a number of people.

Don't worry about breaking the drinking two days in a row rule, just don't break the "No White Knuckling" rule. If you crave a drink, follow the Golden Rule as you don't want to waste an opportunity to show your brain that booze isn't worth the trouble of pulling the cork. When the craving shows up, that's the prime time to take the Nal and have an extinction session. You don't need any more than one drink for that, so perhaps focus your efforts on asking your body if it really wants that next drink. If so, go ahead and have it, otherwise leave the cork in the bottle. See if you can also work a glass of water in between the glasses of wine.

How many hours does the binging cover? If it's over 12 hours from your first dose of Nal, you might need to take another.

All in all though, it seems like you're coming along fine for your style of drinking and you're working in some great Harm Reduction too. Keep on pushing on the upper end of the drinking to see if it "gives way", seems like that's the part of drinking that bothers you the most right now. Eventually, the Nal will bring that down, but you might be able to overpower the beast while it's weak and have it more the way you want it to be for a change.

Are you planning a nice experience for yourself on the 3rd day of no Nal?

Well, so far so good, Trex! You're making it happen!

=====

Trex,

Your graph really does show the roller coaster ride we all seem to go on. But it also is starting to show the lows are getting lower and that should be exciting to you. I think your progress is going great and that NAL is working in its slow and steady pace. Great job

Week 18: 29 units, 4 AF.
Week 19: 14 units, 6 AF. I went a whole week without drinking (Friday to Friday)! I haven't done that for at least a year and a half.
Week 20: 22 units, 5 AF.

I've made great progress the last couple of weeks! My work changed over to full time, so I am much busier and have much more responsibility than I used to. This never would have been possible without TSM! I wish I could tell myself back in October that I would be able to put my life back together. The responsibility of having to get up and function at work has given me motivation not to drink (or not to drink heavily) during the week. I'm mostly able to control my urges to drink if I need to.

I don't think I'm "white knuckling" anymore when I fight off the desire to drink. It almost feels more like thinking about eating a bag of chips or vegetating in front of the TV: a bad habit that I have to push against to try and better myself. That being said, I'm still drinking pretty heavily on Friday which leaves me hungover for the weekend.

Hopefully I will follow in Jaba's footsteps: I'm really looking forward to the day that I don't want a drink at all. I feel consciously that I am at that point, but there are times when I'm impulsive and I make the decision to drink. Then once I start drinking I still haven't been able to gain much mindfulness over slowing how fast I drink or drinking glasses of water between beers. I still drink to get drunk. But I'm optimistic that will fade slowly over time.

Wow Trex! That chart is vectoring down like Enron's stock price!

Keep on and Nal is going to help you get those weekends under your thumb, for sure!

Have you tried delaying your start time on Friday, like take the pill an hour later and start 2 hours after that (or kinda like that)? I've been working on that and I feel like I just can't go back to a 5pm pour time anymore.

Steady as she goes in any case, cuz you're getting there!