Some success stories please
Posted , 10 users are following.
Good morning everyone
Is there anyone that can guide me to a link that describes some success stories with TSM. Maybe that will encourage me further. I worry that I am in the 20% for whom it does not work and that really scares me. I did so well in the beginning, the first four weeks and now I can't see much progress. I know about the honeymoon, but what happens after?
I am the kind of person that gets inspired by other people's successes.
Please guide me here.
Hugs CK
2 likes, 16 replies
robert40917 sportyfiftysix
Posted
Hi CK, wishing you well and support, guidance from this kind group will come soon I'm sure. You are not alone.
alex01280 sportyfiftysix
Posted
The 20% failure rate is open to some debate. It might be because the pill doesn't work for 20% of people or it might be that if you ask drunks to self-medicate then 20% are going to mess it up!
So it might be 100% as long as you keep on taking the tablets.
?I'm on week ten and am drinking 66% less than I used to. I seem to have levelled out as well but I was drinker for 30 years, a heavy drinker for 10 years and a complete maniac for 1 year, so expecting a complete recovery in under three months is being over-optimistic, I feel.
?I have seen some posts/blogs on other websites where people don't reach 'extinction' after 12 months or more, but they are drinking a lot less and maybe that's as good as it gets.
?But certainly don't throw in the towel after 4 weeks! Give it at least 6-9 months.
Joanna-SMUKLtd alex01280
Posted
Approx 78% success - extinction reached.
Approx 10-12% unsuccessful - non-compliant and/or drop out from trials
Approx 10% that reported full compliance, but no improvement in drinking. It is felt this might be down to the type of opioid-receptor that the person has. Those reporting no improvement tended to have the rarer of two types of opioid-receptor, but this was no means conclusive and exclusive to all the 10%. Dr Sinclair reasoned that for those 10%, their dependency might be based in a different part of their brain.
Interestingly, the rat trials gave 100% success rates, and one particular private doctor here in the UK reports almost 100% success rate in those he treats that remain fully compliant, as well as 100% failure rate in those that do not remain fully compliant.
sportyfiftysix alex01280
Posted
I am certainly not going to give up. I give myself a year, but hope it will work earlier.
I am also on week 10, but I have not made such amazing progress as you have done.
Great stuff.
hugs CK
Joanna-SMUKLtd sportyfiftysix
Posted
Google 'C3 Foundation Europe From The Trustees'
My story is listed in full under 'Joanna's Journey'. I wrote the entries as I was actually going through TSM so some of what I wrote is quite raw and emotional, but it also gives a number of ways the best hints and tips of using TSM. I started TSM in October 2013 and after 8 months, reached extinction, and now drink only occasionally - perhaps once a month or something.
sportyfiftysix Joanna-SMUKLtd
Posted
I will go and read it.
hugs
CK
Joanna-SMUKLtd sportyfiftysix
Posted
Lovely!
And I can tell you that the English guy featured in the documentary One Little PIll has not touched a drink at all since beginning TSM and reaching extinction after about 13 weeks (I think about 13 weeks). For Gary Bell, it has now been 5 years. And he has gone through a number of very stressful and upsetting times in the past couple of years especially, but he still hasn't felt the need to go back to alcohol - just goes to show how strong TSM is!
sportyfiftysix Joanna-SMUKLtd
Posted
Thanks for your story. Very moving. Thank you for sharing. I did a few things wrong.
I was so involved in a trauma that I did not count my units.
I did not do conscious drinking.
After work all I can think of is my wine. My lover.
You inspired me. I will from now on keep a diary for those that will struggle after me.
Hugs. XX
Joanna-SMUKLtd sportyfiftysix
Posted
The great thing about this treatment is that there is only one thing that someone can do wrong - and that is drink without taking the medication and waiting the time first.
Science has shown us that as long as this is done, this treatment is highly likely to work.
All the rest can be referred to as 'best practises'. They simply make the process go a little smoother for most people. For example, logging units has less to do with actual numbers but more to do with spotting high-risk times. If, say, you consistently drink more on a Thursday, then what is it about a Thursday that makes you feel the urges to drink more fully? When you see a pattern, rather than just bobbing along day to day, then you can do something to make a small change and interrupt that pattern.
:-)
sportyfiftysix Joanna-SMUKLtd
Posted
Robin2015 sportyfiftysix
Posted
What great replies I see between Joanna and CK. This is nice 😀
Joanna-SMUKLtd Robin2015
Posted
sportyfiftysix Joanna-SMUKLtd
Posted
I know all my triggers and I completely dwell in them.
1. Have a successful day at work.
2. Have a bad day at work.
3. Had a lousy day of exercise
4. Had a good day of exercise
I am sure you get my drift. Highs and lows make me drink. When I am at peace, then it is OK.
I really hope that the pill will help me.
I am so weak when it comes to wine. Everything else I am super strong with.
Thx for being there for me.
Hugs
Joanna-SMUKLtd sportyfiftysix
Posted
Don't worry. As long as you respond to those triggers with taking the tablet, waiting the time and then drinking, the association will eventually weaken and then break down completely.
All that has really happened is nothing to do with weakness - it's your brain's normal learning mechanism! All it has done has learned to drink in response to these triggers because it knows that it gets a chemical reaction that way. It's got used to it, that is all.
Over some months, not receiving the chemical reaction means that the brain will 'unlearn' it in the same way that it originally learned it. When there is nothing in it for the brain - no chemical reward - then it will stop associating alcohol with those triggers.
Rest easy - with full compliance, this is around 80-90% chance of working. It just takes time in the same way that it took time to learn it.
Winkle1979 Joanna-SMUKLtd
Posted
I am completely new to this forum so please excuse my ignorance!!!!
Can you please explain TSM to me, have looked on the website but I don't really understand it (prob cause I am hungover). Do I need to see a doctor for tablets and in very simple terms what is this method?!
Thank you!!!!