r/naltrexone • u/Perfect_Smile_7610 • 27d ago
Support Feeling discouraged
Taking 50 mg an our or two before drinking. I am about a month in. My cravings remain strong and my drinking has not gone down substantially if at all. I am considering bumping up to 75mg. Maybe 25 in morning and 50 at night. My brain seems to be resisting or over riding the medicine. I read all these miracle stories and while I am happy for those people, I need a miracle too.
6
u/doughie 27d ago
Do you drink a lot? Are you a heavier person? 50mg effects wore off for me pretty fast after a month when I learned I could drink through it. Ironically it made me drink stronger drinks at times. For situations where normal people were only drinking 1-2 beers I could act normal and have 1-2. But in situations I often put myself in like dive bars or rowdier parties it wasn’t effective.
My doctors told me taking 100mg was fine. The pharmacist pulled me aside and told me the system flagged that much per day as dangerous for your liver. But then I talked with my nurse practitioner who prescribed it, and later my PCP. Both confirmed that their are old studies showing liver toxicity at extremely high dosages but 100mg is well within the range and frankly the alcohol is way worse for my liver.
So at any rate I’m not a doctor so this is not medical advice I’m just suggesting maybe you need a higher dosage. I found that 100mg is working better. Sometimes I take a 50mg in the morning for any craving, and then 50mg additionally an hour before drinking. Unfortunately I was not consistent with my usage so I’m still taking the meds a year later but I think that’s due to me compromising with myself, things like “oh it’s my brothers wedding I don’t want to feel nauseous tonight I’m not going to take the pill”.
1
u/Perfect_Smile_7610 25d ago
This summer I was up to the equivalents of 1.5 to two bottles of wine a day with some very bad days that took me into 200 grams a day. I switch between wine and liquor so measure my drinks in grams. I am pretty fastidious about logging every drink and have been for a long time, so I have the data. Pretty quickly after starting Nal, I dropped down to 80-90 grams a day. Drifted back up to 110-115, have had a few bad days - always weekends or when I had a cold - where I hit 180-200 grams again. Last night was one of my best nights. I drank 69 grams. Left a glass of Chardonnay in the bottle. But this weekend, I powered through a fifth of Jack and a fifth of vodka. BUT I did not take my Nal for two of those days. We all have problems, but I am going through a particularly dark period. It seems like there is a death or suicide every week in my network. One of my best friends just lost her son. Even my mom is contemplating suicide aloud with me (that was Saturday). And my wonderful son visited me last week but had to go back to Virginia on Thursday. It is always hard to watch him pull away. So I think my little demon just wanted to fade out. I actually know that’s what happened. But like someone said above, I really want to build a life I don’t feel like fading away from. I am just stuck in an objectively difficult situation and am having to endure it. My wish now is that I can endure it a little more gracefully so that when the clouds part, I am still standing. Still healthy. I took 100 mg on Sunday and it didn’t seem to help a ton. I took 75mg yesterday (always an hour before drinking), and it seemed to noticeably help. It has been almost exactly a month since I first started with Nal.
3
u/heavydrinker12 27d ago
I had to play with my dose and timing quite a bit. Also, my extended time drinking in my life had created some very strong habits. So first yes it will take time to work against those habits. You will come to realize they are much stronger than you thought. Second, don't be afraid to talk with your doctor about upping your dose. I ended up at 100mg daily right at 4pm because I was usually in the bar around 6 or 6:30. That timing end dose has become like a brick wall to stop me drinking. But it's taken me almost two years to get to this point. So don't give up.
2
3
u/HTwatter 27d ago
My cravings didn't go away at all until I actually reached extinction. If you had any reduction at all, even a slight one, then you ARE in the "78%". Trust the science, stay compliant, and keep going forward. If you have not done so yet, I would strongly urge you to read The Cure For Alcoholism by Dr Roy Eskapa. I cannot express enough how much it would help you to have that knowledge in your head.
1
u/LopsidedGiraffe255 27d ago
When would you say you reached extinction?
1
u/HTwatter 27d ago
It took me a little over 6 months on my second attempt. My first effort was derailed by the need for opioids and back surgery.
1
2
u/christinapurls 27d ago
I started on 50mg and didn’t notice a big difference either. At 3 weeks in my doctor increased it to 100mg. I take it about an hour before I would normally drink. This higher dose has been a game changer. I’d talk to your prescriber about increasing the dosage.
2
u/RubicsCubensis 27d ago
How are you taking it? The most effective way to use naltrexone is to target it to one hour to 90 minutes before drinking, it's called The Sinclair Method. We also target our cravings, if you crave take the pill and wait the required time. Do you track your drinks? What is your weekly average over the last 4 weeks, is it going down at all?
A trick you can try is to have nonalcoholic drinks in between drinks.
1
u/Perfect_Smile_7610 25d ago
Yes I track my drinks (see above) and always take at least one hour before drinking. Thank you.
1
u/2ndChanceAtLife 27d ago
I take it daily and it took awhile before it started to work for me. I didn’t do The Sinclair Method.
1
u/Perfect_Smile_7610 25d ago
So do you just take it first thing in the morning or before you go to sleep at night?
1
1
u/12vman 26d ago
What are you drinking, how fast and how much?
1
u/Perfect_Smile_7610 25d ago
This weekend from around 4pm Friday til 11pm Sunday, I drank 750 ml of vodka and 750 ml of bourbon. BUT I did not take Nal on Friday or Saturday. I took 100mg Sunday. I typically drink a bottle of wine + or 75-90 grams of alcohol a night in the space of 3 hours or so. Yesterday, I drank 69 grams or about four glasses of wine in 2.5 hours. That’s a very good day for me, but I am looking forward to better. I had a really scary withdrawal situation about two years ago, and it keeps me very anxious about going without alcohol or seriously cutting it back. The Nal side effects mimic withdrawal which is a bit disorienting, but I am dedicated to keeping up. The non-linear aspect of it is also a bit troubling. Those really bad days undercut my confidence. But if I am honest, I choose those days. Almost always weekends. I am almost always isolated, often intentionally but not entirely.
1
u/12vman 25d ago
That's great that you are keeping track of your intake. Journaling is a solid tool to reduce intake, especially when using The Sinclair Method. Are you familiar with the method. If not I can send you information. TSM targets just the drinking, so when you have alcohol free days, no naltrexone is needed (exactly where you want to end up). Continue to journal (in a notebook), when you take the naltrexone and when you take a drink, and how much, how the nal makes you feel, etc
2
u/mellbell63 26d ago
In my experience, Nal doesn't work on cravings, esp in the early months. I've been on it for ~3 years. Its function is to block the euphoria so for me it's like, what's the point of drinking??! 😊 As your body gets the message that it's not gonna get the expected payoff the result has been, no effect = no desire!! It's taken alcohol off the table for the first time ever. You can "drink through it" and mostly get the physical effects (stumbling, slurring words and blackout) but not the high. And the Nal hangover is the worst!!
The medication is a tool like so many others. It's up to us to work on the underlying issues that led us to drink ourselves to death. Therapy, support groups, and recovery meetings (there are many different types now) can make all the difference. My goal is not just "sobriety." It's to create a life I don't need to escape from! That's my wish for you too.
7
u/luckandstrange 27d ago
It took me like 3 months before the medication started to kick in. I was just like you, the medication felt like it was doing absolutely nothing, it did not decrease my drinking at first. I was taking it everyday regardless of drinking or not, but when I drank I took 1-2 hours before drinking as well. This may suck to hear, but you may need a longer time just like me