eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

[hangingon]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Keep up the good work eight. Glad to see you posting again.
hangin

[eight days a week]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Thank you so much hanging

Well, we won the football 3-1, but we were 1-0 down at half-time, and had played so poorly, I was pretty upset. I spent the second half drowning my sorrows...by preparing the lovely stir-fry. And so missed most of our incredible fightback and victory :H

I didn't write about the Nal under TSM, so here it is, some of it copied, though edited, from a message I've already sent to a friend (who I hope doesn't mind):

Naltrexone Well, seven months in on TSM, and I long ago lost the endorphin pleasure of drinking, but still I drank, and just a couple of months ago was in such a bad way again that I urgently added Baclofen to the mix.

Now that alcohol's lost even more of its allure, I don't know quite if it's the Bac in addition, or whether (as I wrote before) I just needed some more patience with TSM. It's going to take quite some tinkering in the future to work out what's what!

TSM's been/is being looked at for other addictions. I used to love video games and the internet, and they appealed also to my element of OCD as well as being welcome distractions from an unpleasant reality (my parents' ill health and my lack of control over it, as well as losing my career and all my income and savings to care for them). I would say I was addicted to both, but recently they seem like a chore to me.

Could this be TSM working on other, equally 'unnecessary', addictions? I have a strong suspicion that it might be.

I am also starting to wonder if the Nal is worth it, just at the stage when I appear to be losing interest in alcohol utterly. I'm acutely aware that I've been taking this stuff daily for seven months now, and my endorphin receptors have, I think, been more or less completely blocked for all that time, I wonder if it's healthy. I personally think a key part of the Sinclair Method - at least for some people - is to have the Nal 'wash out' days (days off Nal being AF), with endorphin re-uptake, and positive reinforcement of other, healthy activities. And I just haven't had that, so far. I think I'll give it a few more months, or try to, before I risk it and stop for a while. Ideally I'd have a few months off the daily benzos, as it's been speculated they might hamper TSM, whilst still taking Nal one hour before any drinking. And the rate I'm going, if I can keep it up, I could be off the daily benzos in as little as a month

So, that is the situation of the world of eight fully up to date in fascinating style :H

Too long, didn't read? The short version: onwards and upwards!!

eight

[hangingon]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Glad to hear it eight! Keep up the good work!
hanging

[Lion]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Keep doing as your doing 8! i follow your posts and i see the sun coming out! hugs, Lion

[aurora borialis]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Eight days. U mentioned that Nal could be working on other unnecessary addictions. I am intrigued by this because i was in great shape two months ago but got side tracked by a freaky intense relationship and now am working to get back to where i was before. If it can help my smoking as well as alcohol consumption then I am "all over that". Keep me posted. Thanks

[konbrot]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Hi eight, just thought I would introduce myself. Not really one to contribute, I've been lurking for a month now. However I learnt a lot reading the posts here and feel its time I put something back. I hope you do not mind me doing so in your thread.

I've read your posts with great interest, you have put my drink problems in perspective. I probably drink as much as most when I'm on a bender but I do not think I have the accompanying anxiety/depression problem, other than those induced by the booze. I really wish you all the best in your efforts to free yourself, I'm sure you will do so.

I have embarked on a BacNalian course of self-medication. Not sure if it is a good idea to try to work both methods in conjunction. I want to be rid of the desire to drink sooner rather than later and Dr O's method seems to offer the quicker and more decisive outcome than Drs S&E's. Maybe the Bac will stop the booze before the Nal shrivels the superhighway down to a dirt track.

On a final note, keep up the writing, you have a fine, expressive style. Stay optimistic.:goodjob:

[craving]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

konbrot;829285 wrote: Hi eight, just thought I would introduce myself. Not really one to contribute, I've been lurking for a month now. However I learnt a lot reading the posts here and feel its time I put something back. I hope you do not mind me doing so in your thread.

I've read your posts with great interest, you have put my drink problems in perspective. I probably drink as much as most when I'm on a bender but I do not think I have the accompanying anxiety/depression problem, other than those induced by the booze. I really wish you all the best in your efforts to free yourself, I'm sure you will do so.

I have embarked on a BacNalian course of self-medication. Not sure if it is a good idea to try to work both methods in conjunction. I want to be rid of the desire to drink sooner rather than later and Dr O's method seems to offer the quicker and more decisive outcome than Drs S&E's. Maybe the Bac will stop the booze before the Nal shrivels the superhighway down to a dirt track.

On a final note, keep up the writing, you have a fine, expressive style. Stay optimistic.:goodjob:

Hi.

I searched for "BacNalian" and could not find anything on the web? Who is he?

Thanks!!

[pompeyman]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

hi

pompey lost again ...... oh well ....... started drinking again ...... but nal def makes it less so ....... thanks for the posts ..... really helps ..... take care ..... play up pompey !!!

[konbrot]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Hi Craving

I made it up from Bac and Nal as a pun on bacchanalian.

[eight days a week]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Many thanks for the encouragement Lion!

potato;829225 wrote: Eight days. U mentioned that Nal could be working on other unnecessary addictions. I am intrigued by this because i was in great shape two months ago but got side tracked by a freaky intense relationship and now am working to get back to where i was before. If it can help my smoking as well as alcohol consumption then I am "all over that". Keep me posted. Thanks
Potato, unfortunately my smoking addiction is one that Nal has done absolutely nothing for. As I understand it, nicotine targets completely different receptors in the brain to the ones Nal works on. The addictions/obsessions that Nal seems to have affected for me are also endorphin related - the video games and internet. But, interestingly, I have become more disinterested in smoking since I started Bac! And I'm definitely smoking less

konbrot;829285 wrote: Hi eight, just thought I would introduce myself. Not really one to contribute, I've been lurking for a month now. However I learnt a lot reading the posts here and feel its time I put something back. I hope you do not mind me doing so in your thread.

I've read your posts with great interest, you have put my drink problems in perspective. I probably drink as much as most when I'm on a bender but I do not think I have the accompanying anxiety/depression problem, other than those induced by the booze. I really wish you all the best in your efforts to free yourself, I'm sure you will do so.

I have embarked on a BacNalian course of self-medication. Not sure if it is a good idea to try to work both methods in conjunction. I want to be rid of the desire to drink sooner rather than later and Dr O's method seems to offer the quicker and more decisive outcome than Drs S&E's. Maybe the Bac will stop the booze before the Nal shrivels the superhighway down to a dirt track.

On a final note, keep up the writing, you have a fine, expressive style. Stay optimistic.:goodjob:

Thank you very much for your kind words konbrot, and of course anyone is welcome to post here, I am very glad indeed to see you felt you wanted to post and share some of your story! As a fellow BacNalian I'd be very interested indeed to follow your own progress, please keep us updated! It seems to be a path more and more people are taking. As you so correctly identify, there's a real balancing act taking two meds at once, this is something I really struggle getting my head round at times. I got myself into such desperate straits a while back though that I was keen to add Bac to the mix asap. Fingers crossed for us all

pompeyman;829308 wrote: pompey lost again ...... oh well ....... started drinking again ...... but nal def makes it less so ....... thanks for the posts ..... really helps ..... take care ..... play up pompey !!!

Sorry to hear that my friend. I'm a Spurs fan so quite enjoyed the game, and we really needed those three points, but you guys had nothing to play for. In the semi things will be completely different, I'm pretty worried about it! I do hope things improve soon on the drinking front, it sounds like the Nal is really helping :goodjob: By the way, I have a soft spot for Pompey, and remember going to Fratton Park when the stand was still wooden, it was quite scary, a real flimsy old thing it was!

I had a big blip at the weekend myself A huge surge in anxiety led to my drinking going way up. The problem is it still works to calm anxiety, even if I don't really like the stuff anymore Bac doesn't seem to have much extra anti-anxiety effect at this level any longer, I need to increase, I know. But the dreams are so unpleasant that I have to take it well away from bedtime now, so I'm trying to fit more in in a shorter time which increases the SEs. Still, that is where I've got to head!

Best wishes to all for hopefully a great week :-)

eight (UK units on Saturday more than I should have had)

[wort]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Hi 8,

I've enjoyed reading your thread. Thanks for posting. I too am trying TSM + baclofen. I did TSM for 6 weeks without much success; although this was a short time in my case I think it was correct to introduce baclofen when I did. I'm about 3-4 weeks into the combination approach with still not much success to report.

I think you are up to 70mg or so. I'm currently at 100mg+ per day. I plan to titrate up to 140mg/day (20, 40, 40, 40) and hold there to early May.

I'm convinced that TSM + baclofen can result in enhanced extinction that neither alone can acheive. I hope you will hang in there.

Very Best,
-wort

[aurora borialis]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

thanks for your reply Eight Days. I wondered if that may have been helping but it is interesting what you said about Bac. I am thinking of looking into that.

[konbrot]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Hi eight, Thanks for replying to my post. When I found this forum, I had heard of Bac, I had tried it at low doses, but the Sinclair Method was new to me. Both methods seemed to offer something. I ordered both the Bac and Nal together. The Bac arrived first. I am comfortable taking it. Currently I am taking 90mg a day. I have had no really bad side-effects up to now, initially just some special-effects in my dreams. I cannot say I have had any bad SEs with the Nal either, however I am not as happy taking it because of how it works. Last night I was AF and it was not so difficult, the Bac must have helped but I really did not want to take the Nal and preferred to have a night off.

My drinking has slowed right down for now. I would normally put five pints away in an hour. It took three hours to do the same on Saturday, though I noticed a compulsive element creep back in on Sunday. I know I said I do not have anxiety issues but contemplating contributing to these boards, and the consequences thereof, caused me some anguish. And I declared no anxiety problems. I think reading the posts here has made me look more into my feelings and how they may impact on my drinking.

As for the drink: a usual week would see me put away 100 plus UK units, usually in the form of lager, mostly at weekend, when I had time on my hands. Monday would also be a heavy session, I call it medicinal, in order to de-frazzle the brain. The rest of the week would see a tailing off of consumption. But come Friday: it would all start again. Some Mondays I could not face work and I would embark on a week/two week long binge, involving, for at least three days, ? bottles of vodka, mixed with Coke, 50/50, gulped down at the kitchen sink. Bringing the image to mind churns my stomach. I am lucky to still be in a job. Units during these episodes would easily exceed 200. Last week I was down to 60 units. I have had bouts of abstinence. These can last a month or two and always end in a full blown binge, or a rapid descent into one. I have wondered if my drinking is just self-indulgence. And, like all of us, I have searched for reasons, experiences impacting on personality, that caused me to become a problem drinker.

Anyway that it me up to now. Sorry it is a bit long, I realise this is your thread. I will update future progress on the progress thread. Keep up the good work.

[craving]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

8 are you ok???

[red67]

eight days' intro and Bac and Nal (Sinclair Method) progress

Hey 8, haven't seen you post in awhile. Hope you are doing ok - please post and let us know.