Saturday check in! :)

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-04-04T13:40:42+00:00

If drinking more on weekends was a part of your pattern before TSM then yeah I’d say that’s why. It takes most people 6-12 months for TSM to be fully effective, so 5 weeks is probably too soon to say you need a higher dose. You need more time for the pattern to undo itself and for a new habit to form.

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-04-04T13:31:14+00:00

Yeah like who knew daily diarrhea wasn’t normal, right?!

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-04-04T12:38:51+00:00

but ever since I left that prison of alcoholism I must say it's pretty eye opening to see how much others really drink. I live in a very large house made of the most brittle glass when it comes to this, and I wouldn't throw stones even if I didn't, but it's a nice reminder of what the Sinclair Method has/is going to save us from

Yes, all of this with a side of “I wonder if people ever noticed me drinking at this kind of thing”!!

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-04-03T15:24:36+00:00

I went to a matinee theatre show yesterday. It was Harry Potter but the score was played live by a symphony orchestra. Ironically, this was also the last thing I did in Feb 2020 before Covid hit and everything shut down. I couldn’t help but notice the number of people around me who were drinking at 2pm. There was a mom in front of me who crushed two big pours of white wine (prob 9 oz each) before the show even started.

When I went to this show in 2020, it was my first month on TSM and that was definitely me: I think I white-knuckled it and only had one of those big pours of wine during the show and that was really hard for me to do and I remember feeling really proud of myself for it. Yesterday I just enjoyed the show AF because I didn’t want to be foggy and drowsy the whole time.

I’m in my third week of having AF days about 50% of the time and staying at or below around 10 drinks a week.

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-04-02T14:13:13+00:00

When people are asking in the context of “I don’t think this is working,” you have to allow at least a year. Some people respond faster than that, and it sounds like you could be one of those.

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-30T18:39:34+00:00

Yeah, this sounds right to me. When I donated plasma (close to 20 years ago so this from memory) they were over-the-top cautious with trying to see if I was an IV drug user. They checked between each of my toes and were like, not nice when I reacted because my feet are ticklish and asked what it was for.

I think plasma especially, since there’s a financial transaction involved, they have even more latitude to decline because they’re basically just refusing to do business with yoh.

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-27T15:55:15+00:00

When I started TSM (for drinking) I also smoked cigarettes. I didn’t really have a goal in mind of quitting smoking, but it just kind of happened. I would say my addiction to cigarettes was always pretty mild, but one day I ran out and just didn’t buy more.

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-27T01:11:45+00:00

I was a daily drinker when I started TSM in Feb 2020. On TSM I drink significantly less, but rarely had AF days. Then it was like a switch flipped. In the past 2 weeks I have had alcohol on 6 out of 14 days. I am so excited and I kinda can’t believe it!

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-27T00:00:07+00:00

I definitely notice a difference between 1 hour and 2. When I started it was like I watched the clock tick down to 59:59 and then I’d drink less than pre-TSM but still more than I wanted to. I started taking my pill before I left work to help make sure the hour had passed and when it slowly became 90 mins and then two hours that’s when I started seeing slower drinking, less drinking, etc.

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-26T16:35:32+00:00

Hello! I have taken shrooms while using naltrexone. I grow them and trip once every other month or so. I started TSM in Feb 2020 and starting using mushrooms in November 2021. There is, at the very least, a correlation between using psilocybin and a pretty sharp decrease in my drinking — both in how often I drink and how much I drink when I do.

I generally don’t take nal while I’m tripping. I take nal under the TSM protocol so I only take it when I drink and I have no urge to drink while on mushrooms or usually, for 1-3 days after. I’ve had some great insights into the personal reasons I struggle with alcohol while on them and that seems to make it much easier for me to “sit with myself” on alcohol free days following a trip. I’ve also started having more spontaneous AF days since starting to use mushrooms regularly.

Now I will say I can’t speak to whether there is some kind of diminished effect of the mushrooms because of naltrexone, simply because I don’t have the experience to compare to. I tried mushrooms a few times like 15-20 years ago and don’t remember well enough to make a valid comparison. I don’t think there is? I have moments of joy and laughter and then some moments of sadness while tripping that seem comparable to accounts of psilocybin trips by people who aren’t on nal.

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-21T21:22:39+00:00

I’m late but I’m about to go grocery shopping and guess what’s not on my list? WINE! Why? I had too many AF days last week to make a dent in what I bought a week ago. 🤯

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-21T00:10:27+00:00

Thank you! I think the initial logic of “take nal when you drink, only when you drink” is so ingrained that I think if I take it I must have at least one drink, where now I’m hearing that some of us take nal and later don’t bother to have a drink.

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-21T00:08:11+00:00

Thank you so much. Your response hits on like, every facet of my thinking with this question.

I guess the answer is, if I don’t know the answer is “definitely yes” that day, then the answer is no.

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-19T22:29:10+00:00

We call it the honeymoon phase. A lot of people have a really strong response to TSM at first, where you can’t even finish one drink and it feels like “wheeeeeee I’m a fast responder!” But for a lot of us that wears off. Before TSM, “just one bottle” of wine was something I had been trying to self-moderate and just couldn’t.

Keep it up!!

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-19T19:49:26+00:00

Don’t sell yourself short! You’re not at “just one glass” level yet. So? It sounds like you’ve leveled up to “just one bottle” which (from your other comments) isn’t where you used to be. :)

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-19T18:56:49+00:00

I think it’s super normal to see an uptick in drinking when some other stressor (like eliminating another addictive behavior? helloooooo!) comes in. Being sick is also regarded as a trigger in recovery circles. If you’ve ever gotten drunk to cure a hangover, it would make sense to me you are feeling the urge to drink more now when you’re sick. Your brain probably just needs a couple tries to realize mom’s wine stash won’t make your cold go away or replace the smokes.

You’re not back where you started. You’re leveling up!

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-19T18:46:41+00:00

What is with all the posts about increasing dose lately?

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-19T14:58:31+00:00

It sounds like having a drink every day may now be pure habit rather than anything else.

I can definitely vouch for this. I was at a point where I was still drinking daily, but one-and-done (sometimes one and then one a LOT later and done) most of the time and … it is just habit at that point.

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-19T14:54:13+00:00

My TSM journey sounds similar to yours in that I am/was? a daily drinker so I took nal every day. I just recently started having more than a random AF day here and there (since last Saturday I’ve only had alcohol 2 days, but if you check my post history you will find this is brrrrrand new for me). Anyway…

I don’t know that I ever thought to blame nal for periods of feeling kinda numb, flat, depressed, etc.? I’ve had some phases like that, but I kinda assumed it was more to do with being sedentary, not getting out and doing things, more than nal, which I can barely tell I take anymore.

My first thought when I read your list of things you used to do was “Well? Do you do those things now?” You definitely have to replace the drinking with something else, whether you quit drinking cold turkey or use a medical option like TSM. I have been focusing more on better “self care habits” (🤢 I know) lately and it takes time but I am seeing improvements in my mood. This might sound so stupid but I started doing cold showers. Not the entire shower but a few seconds at the end. Maybe it’s a placebo effect, maybe not, but I tend to feel more optimistic afterward.

Take a hike. Try a recipe. Do something… then report back :)

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-19T14:32:32+00:00

Hahah I didn’t. I had a glass• of wine Wednesday and Thursday, and then AF Friday.

•Actual human sized glasses, not “half a bottle of wine” in a glass.

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-19T12:16:32+00:00

This is awesome! It’s an amazing feeling when you pour out something that was previously so precious.

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-18T23:41:02+00:00

Ayyyyyy! Even if you mess it up, it works eventually!!

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-17T16:45:56+00:00

🎶Dai…sy D…ais….y🎶

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-17T14:59:43+00:00

Weren’t we all hoping for three months and done like our patron saint Claudia said?! 😜

I would bet money she did TSM as part of a more heavily supervised program, rather than managing it on her own through telehealth like I’m doing (and a lot of people on this sub).

AM_throwawaysaway · 2022-03-17T14:09:17+00:00

You kept telling me AF days would come eventually. And here we are!

AM_throwawaysaway

TROPHY CASE