anyone on nal/tsm

[bkyogagurl]

anyone on nal/tsm

Good morning- went out last night with a friend. Took 150mg Nal before hand & did pretty well. Had 8-10 drinks 4 while I was at the bar then a few more when I got home. I felt buzzed but not drunk. Went to bed feeling pretty decent & not sloppy drunk. Baby steps.
I am going to try to remain AF until next weekend. I don't want to drink tonight but find that by the time the afternoon gets here I start feeling a craving or desire. I feel depressed about the fact that I can't just have a couple. I wish I could have 2 & be done.
There is an outpatient place near me for women that I had called & made an appointment to be evaluated but I decided not to go because I was afraid they were going to tell me that I would have to be abstinent & I just wasn't sure I could do it. I really am thinking of giving it a try.

[spuddleduck]

anyone on nal/tsm

grrr Friday night didn't work out.why the hell i didn't take pill i don't know..well maybe i do. on he positive side i woke up saturday with half bottle of wine by bed and chucked it down the sink so i couldn't be tempted.hopefully I've got over this recent blip of daily drinkig. i feel fairly confident that ii won't
drink for a good few days..but as I've said i seem to be drinking in reaction to things which is the.worst way.I've been wondering if its worth taking pill more regularly when i feel safe from drink just to get more of a feel for it.it can't do any harm and maybe it could.help. we seem to have black out in common and that was the best thing when i got the nal right to actually.remember going to bed. and to actually be aware of the feeling of being drunk. i.honestly am just not aware of being drunk anymore.now that is a scary thing. i have a planned drink next Saturday and it is in public so i really need to focus and get the nal right. i mean how difficult can it be to just take the flipping pill. its good to be able to compare experiences and get tips on how to.make it work. i think i still have this fantasy that i will be able to drink normally but i know that it is exactly that.. a fantasy.

[skullbabyland]

anyone on nal/tsm

In regards to a couple earlier points- Nal will be much better in regards to SE's (nausea, tiredness, moodiness) if you take it on a full stomach. Ideal situation is nal plus full dinner, then 1 hour later, drink.

And, as UKB rightly reminds us and I've found so hard to do, you really must take the pill every single time, and don't give yourself "cheat nights' as I so often did. Sticking with the plan is crucial!

[spuddleduck]

anyone on nal/tsm

thanks for that skull. Im very much still experimenting with nal so any advice greatly appreciate. it does seem crazy that i have help in a little packet of pills yet i still don't take it every time.. i guess this opens up a whole new issue. Im still making excuses to 'have time off' but as you peeps have pointed out that could well undo any value i.have been from nal. i think part of the trouble is by the time I've hadu all the discussions with myself... an ongoing argument..by the time i make the decision to drink my willpower and resolve are out the window. now the sensible answer is to take pillS SOON AS THE DRINK THOUGHTS COME INTO MY HEAD. Im not totally sure why i don't. ok it makes me feel cap but its a heck of a lot less cap than drinking makes me feel. i just need to persevere..and look into.myself to work out what's holding me back.

[spuddleduck]

anyone on nal/tsm

you may gather Im still struggling with my phone to get the right letters and words on the screen

[YouKayBee]

anyone on nal/tsm

spuddleduck;1593219 wrote: thanks for that skull. Im very much still experimenting with nal so any advice greatly appreciate. it does seem crazy that i have help in a little packet of pills yet i still don't take it every time.. i guess this opens up a whole new issue. Im still making excuses to 'have time off' but as you peeps have pointed out that could well undo any value i.have been from nal. i think part of the trouble is by the time I've hadu all the discussions with myself... an ongoing argument..by the time i make the decision to drink my willpower and resolve are out the window. now the sensible answer is to take pillS SOON AS THE DRINK THOUGHTS COME INTO MY HEAD. Im not totally sure why i don't. ok it makes me feel cap but its a heck of a lot less cap than drinking makes me feel. i just need to persevere..and look into.myself to work out what's holding me back.

Baffles me this then I remember the times when I turned away help, wouldn't let myself change.

I feel like shouting it's one pill how difficult can it be.

Ahhhh the throws of alchyism.

Does raise some interesting slightly off topic questions such as if they did bring out a pill cure for alcoholism, would alcoholics take it?A lot probably not!

[MissIndygo]

anyone on nal/tsm

Ukblonde;1593362 wrote:
Does raise some interesting slightly off topic questions such as if they did bring out a pill cure for alcoholism, would alcoholics take it?A lot probably not!

Uhm I think we have got that with Baclofen Ukblonde....

[spuddleduck]

anyone on nal/tsm

ukb believe me i shout and scream at myself (in my head of course) about how stupid it is. it certainly raises a lot of questions to me. i obviously still have the desire to get drunk..even after all the shit it causes. there is more to not drinking than simply not drinking and i need to work through things.as Im not working (grrr ) i can spend time on myself.if someone could wave a magic wand and i would never drink again would i accept.I BLOODY WELL HOPE SO... but the way i am being winth nal makes me wonder.

[spuddleduck]

anyone on nal/tsm

from what i remember ukb you drank in a similar way to me..all or nothing..so you are a perfect example of how i could benefit with nal IF ONLY I FOLLOW THE FLIPPING RULES

[YouKayBee]

anyone on nal/tsm

Yeah I was all or nothing but I got to a point where I was sick of it and decided I wasn't going to die. Well not from the effects of my alcohol consumption.

Some think TSM is more successful with binge-drinkers.

Here's the scary bit, even now I do wish I could go get drunk but I am able to fight it and I put that down to whatever Nal did to me plus my own stubbornness. I have days when I miss not being able to write off days, disappear down a bottle and instead I have to face things. I get loads of things wrong, don't know what to do half the time but am constantly learning all the time. Somedays I am like F this I've had a hard day, lots of stress, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs and I'm tackling my binge eating. There's F all for me to do and at that point I hate anyone who can drink. I hate it when I know Mr UKB is enjoying some wine BUT I also know my life would be F'd up if I drank, went back to the way I was. People are trusting and having faith in me. Think I need to put this in my own thread!

I'm trying to say that it is hard Spuds but if you have the guts to carry on drinking, and it's a shit way of living, I think you also have the guts to stop.

[bkyogagurl]

anyone on nal/tsm

Miss I- I didn't know that baclofen was a 100% cure. I have talk with some here who said they couldn't handle titrating up so they had to go off of it. I've heard the side effects are brutal and consider what it is truly meant to treat I can see where it could get hairy, I will have to research that.

UKB- well put. I think it's natural that you are still having to deal with the day to day stuff and basically feel the same way as you did when you drank but now you don't run to the bottle for reprieve. It's hard to ride the wave of emotions without wanting the escape. I know I really enjoy the escape.
Did you ever change your dosage of Nal?

Spud- I don't know if you are interested in counseling but it does help. It kind of muddy things up at first but if you start working on what's really bothering you.. You will start notice that drinking might be a coping mechanism or escape. My counselor always asks me to think about the function of my drinking. What do you feel or think right before you drink, when I started thinking about it I could see some issue's that were bothering me & have a chance to write them or just recognize them and yes I still drank but it made more aware.

[YouKayBee]

anyone on nal/tsm

MissIndygo;1593389 wrote: Uhm I think we have got that with Baclofen Ukblonde....
I don't know if you have followed my story but I did try baclofen without success.

bkyogagurl;1593603 wrote: Miss I- I didn't know that baclofen was a 100% cure. I have talk with some here who said they couldn't handle titrating up so they had to go off of it. I've heard the side effects are brutal and consider what it is truly meant to treat I can see where it could get hairy, I will have to research that.

UKB- well put. I think it's natural that you are still having to deal with the day to day stuff and basically feel the same way as you did when you drank but now you don't run to the bottle for reprieve. It's hard to ride the wave of emotions without wanting the escape. I know I really enjoy the escape.
Did you ever change your dosage of Nal?

Spud- I don't know if you are interested in counseling but it does help. It kind of muddy things up at first but if you start working on what's really bothering you.. You will start notice that drinking might be a coping mechanism or escape. My counselor always asks me to think about the function of my drinking. What do you feel or think right before you drink, when I started thinking about it I could see some issue's that were bothering me & have a chance to write them or just recognize them and yes I still drank but it made more aware.

BKYG I did try baclofen myself, some members here remember it well - I found the side effects terrible, made my life just as unbearable as drinking. Many here told me to push on but I couldn't take it any more - not the baclofen pills, but what it did to me. The consultant I saw who is doing some research with baclofen then confirmed it wasn't for me and agreed to prescribe Nal(at the time I had gone to see him to ask for his help with baclofen). I tried baclofen because I was told here that it was a cure, for sure, 100% but all that did was make me feel worse when I realised it wasn't helping me. I know I'm not the only one to have reported a change in mental state when taking baclofen. I started TSM against the advice of many here, and I saw mega changes right from the start.

I know baclofen does help many people but it's not for everyone.

Regards doseage I tried lowering to 25mg after cure point, but saw signs of reduced effectiveness. There were nights when I did take 100mg, 50mg to start then another 50mg part way through the night when I thought I was drinking too fast, or thought the drinking session would go on for many hours. Didn't see or feel any different to taking 50mg, so I stuck at that.

Once you go very high 200mg+ you are into the territory where it has been supposedly found to possibly cause liver damage - although that study was with obese subjects and obesity can also damage the liver in the same way alcohol does.

I also found taking nal for several days in a row gave me a strange feeling in my mouth, and my body as whole and as I regained control this acted as an incentive to have AF days.

[MissIndygo]

anyone on nal/tsm

I should have put a with it, as of course their is no one pill fit for all. Here's hoping that Bac is for me tho. There are some other ones now too though (e.g. Ondansetron and Gabatrin [i think it's called]).
Each to their own.
Good luck!

[YouKayBee]

anyone on nal/tsm

MissIndygo;1593683 wrote: I should have put a with it, as of course their is no one pill fit for all. Here's hoping that Bac is for me tho. There are some other ones now too though (e.g. Ondansetron and Gabatrin [i think it's called]).
Each to their own.
Good luck!

That's ok you just touched a massive nerve in me because it's what people were shouting just about 3 years ago, painful memories and interesting to experience after all this time.

[spuddleduck]

anyone on nal/tsm

ukb.. i remember you were not a happy bunny at all on bac
. the change when you started on nal was instant. different pills for different peeps
bkyoga had counselling a couple of years ago for both drinking and after a crisis hospital stay. it did bring up some issues which i knew anyway and still work on. i found it really difficult to open up and got so stressed i wanted to drink (hmm more excuses ). i find it better to read self help and stuff like that.
odd conversation with Mr spud today.on about this planned drinking on Saturday and how i am determined to take nal at right time. his response was WHY.. why not just drink and enjoy as it is planned. WHAT THE #@%*. looks like he's not quite getting it. i suppose its like me wanting the fun bit of drinking without the crap. as we know that just isn't possible for peeps like us.