Anyone on or starting a naltrexone journey?

[ohthejoysoftoddler]

I'm hoping to start naltrexone next week, I'm nervous but excited to get started. Anyone else on the journey and wants to share?

Agree, it's totally up to you, I suppose Xmas day is a boozy day to start. I didn't feel six after taking straight away, it was more the next day.
I wish I'd started on a half, but the pharmacist didn't mention.

Why are GP’s unwilling to give naltrexone?

I took a half yesterday and honestly did notice any kind of effect at all.
Maybe the booze was kind of tasteless but it didn't stop me drinking far too much in all honesty.
No sickness either!!
I'll take another half today and if no difference I'll try the full dose next time.
Hoping this is going to work otherwise I've wasted nearly £600 that I can ill afford and nil only sent me 28 tablets
I need to follow up with them tomorrow about that I probably read the details incorrectly

I think people react differently to it (much like WLI). I get a significant effect from a quarter tablet. I stepped up to a half last week and felt so unwell I had to leave the event (that's one way to avoid drinking I suppose!) So if you're not feeling much effect from a half then try stepping up to a whole one.

I'm having a night off tonight but will take the other half tomorrow
Then a full dose the next day
Still have high hopes

Sorry I read through the nil stuff again and they send the tablets out monthly so that's all ok.
I forgot the half tab today as was out but drank far less . Three glasses rather than a bottle so although I know that's a huge amount it it still less,
I was very tearful last night but I'm not sure if that was the medication or my own circumstances- possibly a combination of both.
Will try again tomorrow and will report back .
Good luck everyone hope this is helping all of you xx

I'm just reporting in to really keep myself updated!
Yesterday I took 50mgs then had three glasses of wine then switched to tea.
I honestly can't say whether that was the tablet or not. I would usually just keep drinking but am so mindful of wantythis to work I wonder if it just made me think rather than trot out to the fridge?
No side effects at all as yet.
I'm going to a stressful party today so definitely going to take a tablet hoping to do A free tomorrow .
Hope all of you are doing ok this time of year is especially difficult

Great that you aren’t having side effects. And it probably was the pill working its magic last night :-) really important you take it every time you drink though… read up on the science behind it. I started on Nal November last year and have not touched a drop of alcohol since without first taking the pill. Think I reached extinction recently but that’s only because I have taken the pill EVERY time. Good luck!

Thankyou! Yes I can see the whole theory behind it and ultimately I want to abstain altogether for lots of reasons.
I stilll take a weight loss injection but only really once a fortnight. Am on my last pen now so was thinking of stopping I wonder do they work on similar receptors?

I am not sure this drug is having any effect on me at all?
Tonight I wasn't going to drink at all but a friend came over with a bottle of wine and I just didn't want to explain anything to her so I took the tab an hour before she came.
Had three glasses (half the bottle ) still a lot , then stopped so perhaps that is better.
I did open another bottle for her benefit really but I didn't have any of that. That bottle is almost empty so if I'd been drinking as well we would have probably carried on opening and drinking more. So perhaps it is working but slowly and subtly .

There is a really good support group on Facebook you might find it helpful to join. It’s called The Sinclair Method UK info/peer support group. You will find lots of helpful articles there and people experiencing the same as you.

But it sounds like you drank a lot less than you would have without the pill so that sounds like a win to me! It takes time and is not an instant fix. Stick with it!

Thankyou that's really useful I've joined!!

I’m very close to signing up with them. Do you know if the group sessions are compulsory and if they are at set times? I’m not sure how I’ll manage getting privacy for those.

They're not compulsory and the time changes every week. I've not managed one yet due to the problems getting privacy to join in!

Can I join you all? I’m a few weeks in. Rather than sign up with one of the more well known monthly schemes I got a private prescription; weekly group sessions would be really difficult for me, so this was my preferred route.
I’ve done a lot of counselling, hypnotherapy, online courses, white knuckling, you name it, but I knew I hadn’t really got to the bottom of why I was drinking so much, other than that there is a lot of addiction in my family. Inspired by other threads on MN regarding therapy I’ve actually been checking in daily and exploring the reasons behind my drinking with AI, using ChatGPT. I know lots of people will find that crazy, but people use it to stay accountable when they’re trying to lose weight, or to process grief, so I thought why not? I asked the AI to be completely truthful with me (if you don’t set that then it’s default is to be agreeable rather than truthful), and checking in daily along with religiously taking the nal when I drink has been revelatory for me, the nal is taking away the ‘wine hunger’, and the AI is helping me uncover so many of the buried reasons I’ve been relying on alcohol.
I think this combination is working for me partly because I’ve carried such immense shame about how I drink, and I don’t have to worry about that with an AI, meaning I can be completely truthful. I can feel it’s already making a real difference not just to how much I drink, but why I drink, and how I feel when I do- I know it won’t be for everyone, but I just wanted to share it as an alternative experience

Thankyou for that it's really interesting.i also come from a home where my dad was an alcoholic.
I'm just a few days in but it's making me think more and I'm now under a bottle a night. Might not seem a huge achievement but to me it is.
Can I ask how you got the private prescription? That is how I'd like to carry on

@SnowShapes7 I’m also interested to know how you got a private prescription. I thought even most private GPs are reluctant to prescribe without ongoing support and supervision.

@notanotherroast I think I’m in a similar boat to you. I’m still drinking quite a lot by most people’s standards, but I know it’s definitely decreasing, and like you, I’m thinking about it much more consciously. It feels like I’m heading in the right direction. While I know it won’t all be plain sailing, for the first time in a very long time I feel positive and hopeful.
@notanotherroast and @kohlrabislaw I found a really lovely, understanding private doctor. We had a consultation where the treatment was discussed in detail; I needed to provide the results of a liver function test and was given some literature to read before starting. I’ll also have a follow-up appointment. I’ll PM you both with a bit more information.

Thankyou that's so good. I'm just worried that this is clearly a long process and that I won't be able to keep funding it

I'm just waiting for my meds to arrive. Yesterday I had a chat with Bruce at Rethink Drink, and it was the first time I have been completely honest with anyone about my drinking. Same day I signed up, had video appointment with doctor and the prescription was issued.
An initial info chat with them is free, if anyone is considering it.

I've just taken my 14th tablet
Thought at the beginning it was having an effect but honestly now no difference at all .
I'lve had half a bottle of proscecco and will now definitely have a white wine
Was really hoping for a miracle that isn't happening so far.

Have you all tried your local
addiction charities for naltrexone? Certainly mine were happy to prescribe it for me when I was drinking between half and a whole bottle of wine a day.

From what I've read @notanotherroast this is normal - you take the tablets, you don't get the buzz and initially you drink less than you did before. But your brain is not that easily deterred and those neural pathways KNOW that if you pour that white wine eventually you will get a buzz, because those pathways have been trained to that belief over the last however-many years - decades I think for most of us here. So your intake might even increase slightly while your neural pathways get used to the idea that this thing doesn't work any more and they will have to look elsewhere for their dopamine.

Had never considered this!!

mine were great about alcohol. They helped me do a home detox and called every day for a few weeks. Prescribed naltrexone and then had weekly appts for a good few months.