Posted on 09/11/2015 1:25:51 AM PDT by UnwashedPeasant
For many people, the drug Naltrexone is an instant cure for alcohol cravings.
It is available cheap as a 1-pill-per-day generic drug or as an expensive 1-injection-per-month specialty drug. If you or someone you know is an alcoholic, check it out.
It is an opioid receptor antagonist.
Its effectiveness depends on whether you have a specific expression of an opioid receptor gene. For some people, it works instantly and there is zero craving. For other people, it is less effective or does not work at all. It appears to work for most American Indians, Asians (60-70%), some whites (30%), and very few blacks.
It is not habit-forming (unlike methadone). It does not induce nausea if you drink alcohol (unlike Antabuse/Disulfiram). It is safe for impaired livers if taken at the standard dosage (excessive doses may be risky for the liver). The side effects may be lower than the side effects from consuming alcohol. In general, side effects seem to be mild headaches and nausea for the first several days, but this can be reduced by starting at a reduced dose of 12.5mg tablet for a day, then 25mg for the next 2 days, then 50mg per day thereafter. It might render some pain killers ineffective, so use it with caution before surgery.
Look at the astonishing user reviews:
webmd.com reviews
drugs.com reviews
There is another similar drug called Nalmefene. It also is an opioid receptor antagonist. Compared to Naltrexone, it has a longer half-life, greater oral bioavailability and no observed dose-dependent liver toxicity. Nalmefene and Naltrexone have different receptor activity, so if one does not work for a particular person, the other one might.
Not sure why you’re pinging me but please stop. I did not ask, and do not want to be on your ping list.
Ibogaine...is I believe what you’re thinking of but unfortunately it’s it’s illegal...which is too bad
thanks, but my alcoholic husband is dead now, these past seven years.
To me, the poison ivy analogy means this:
SCENARIO #1: Someone has no mosquito bite or poison ivy. It is easy for this person not to scratch. This is like a non-drinker or a social drinker with no drinking habit. He can take it or leave it. He can apply his will to “just stop drinking” and quit entirely.
SCENARIO #2: Someone has a mosquito bite. This person has a normal itch, but he can apply normal will power to stop scratching. If he does not stop himself from scratching, there is a weakness of will or psychological disorder separate from the mosquito bite itself. This is like the drinker who has normal brain receptors but still is compelled to drink.
SCENARIO #3: Someone has poison ivy allergy and is exposed to poison ivy. This person gets an itch that is not normal; it is a whole other level of compulsion. He can not apply normal will power to stop scratching. If he takes a Benedryl tablet and responds to it, the overwhelming itch goes away. If the Benedryl works for him and he still scratches, there is a weakness of will or psychological disorder separate from the poison ivy itself. This is like the drinker with opioid receptors that cannot be satisfied. The more he drinks, the more he craves. He needs it like he needs oxygen. If he takes Naltrexone, the opioid receptors will be blocked and the abnormal receptor craving will be blocked. If he still desires alcohol, it will be due to weakness of will or a psychological disorder.
For someone in Scenario #3, “just stop drinking” is as difficult as holding your breath until you pass out. It is possible, but it takes extraordinary will power. But this is the person who will respond to Naltrexone.
Ibogaine is legal in Canada, Mexico, Bahamas and Costa Rica, all of which have clinics that cater to Americans.
For example:
http://ibeginagain.org/<-- Costa Rica
http://bahamianoasis.org/ibo/
http://ibogainebahamas.com/
My first choice would be Costa Rica, but that one requires a lot of travel. That is a very old and respected clinic. I do not endorse any of the others, but I am sure many are fantastic.
So the way it works it that you get to accuse anyone you want of being an alcoholic, and if they deny it, that is just further proof, in your mind, that they are in fact, an alcoholic. Do I have it right?
What I'm getting at is: Is you or someone you know having a booze problem, hence your interest in naltrexone, or (and it's fine) is this just an intellectual discussion about the nature of the cycle that causes alcoholics to not be able to stop?
I am researching for an American Indian relative who has been an alcoholic for 50 years or so.
I do not like alcohol. I can drink it and get no pleasure or craving at all.
“A functioning alcoholic is like a paraplegic pole dancer.”
The difference is the alcoholic had control, at least at some point, and chose his fate.
As a recovering alcholic, thanks for posting this. Haven’t had a drink, or a cigarette, since 1999. WILLPOWER... the only way to quit.
I haven’t had a drink of alcohol in 34 years, I’m still an alcoholic though, don’t think I’m interested in a cure, I quit thinking about drinking years ago. I don’t miss it at all.
Ever hear RFK Jr.’s Voice? That's the way I talk, due to an essential tremor that effects my diaphragm. I can feel it "jumping" as I speak. I'm trying various drugs, one at a time, from my neurologist. I've just recently started seeing him. Hope we find something that helps. I'm sick of sounding scared to death by whomever I might be talking to.
The best neurosurgeon in the world (My opinion) recommended him to me (My g/daughter and F.R. member).
I certainly can't see it hurting. In my experience, though, and knowing a lot who have had the experience ... at that stage of things - after 50 years ... the only way out is to find a way physically to prevent yourself from drinking anything long enough (including sending yourself somewhere where it's physically impossible, after, if necessary, getting medically detoxed) such that there is enough control to not take a first drink.
It seems like a tall order, but knowing what I know, if I were seeking a solution in this case, the perfect solution is to remove all alcohol from the planet, and everything will be fine. Since that won't happen obviously, you'd have to find a way to recreate those circumstances. If his will is not enough, and group support is not enough, and a religious conversion is not enough or can't be had, and there are no medicine's (such as we're discussing) that do the trick ... then the solution is literally to get him in some environment where he physically can not drink.
And ... there is Antiibuse ... which would put him in the hospital or kill him if he drank (or she). If he/she does not have a strong desire to quit ... or at least until that happens, the situation is totally hopeless until that happens.
It sucks to watch / hear about ... you feel totally powerless. But the solution is totally simple, which is not to say easy. (By simple I mean, it's the not-doing of a single thing, once s/he's past the medical detox.) If he or she is incapable of that ... there is a reason one of the chapters in the Oddysey is Ulysses' sailors/fiends tie him to the mast of the ship to keep him from following the Siren's. Also, this is a Christian site ... AA has worked for millions and whatever the criticisms of it might be, well .... it will work if someone is committed to its program.
Where is your relative at with it? Is s/he committed to finding a solution? It can be done ... but not without him/her, and not without some faith, or at least an openness to the notion, that life will actually be better, quite amazing in fact, once through the physical addiction and psychological illusion.
Why are you pinging me?!? Oh, sorry. ;’)
Thanks UP for the ping!
Ain’t nothing new. Antabuse has been in use for years. I know a bunch of alkies who are on Naltrexone and by the way they drink I would say it didn’t inhibit their cravings. even IF a medicine could stop the cravings, t sure won’t fix the restless, irritable, and discontented feelings and thinking that an alcoholic suffers from.
There is a way out
Thank you. The subject is certainly germane to me, as my screen name indicates. I pray for self-control in all things, including alcohol intake and any behaviors that may result. In the end, whether I partake of this substance or not, I depend each moment on the mercies of God in Christ Jesus, without Whom all is naught. Lord, have mercy on me and all who struggle under every affliction in this life.
Naltrexone does not work for everyone. An alternative is Acamprosate:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acamprosate
According to Wikipedia, the mechanism of action of Acamprosate is unknown and controversial, but it appears to work as well as Naltrexone.
Yes, someone close to me used naltrexone to first reduce his alcohol intake, then end it altogether. Get the book “The Sinclair Method,” which goes into exhaustive detail about how to use naltrexone to end a drinking problem. (And you can get the drug itself from River Pharmacy in Canada if your doc won’t write you a scrip. Look them up online.)
The catch is, the naltrexone must be taken one hour before you intend to drink (to let it get into your system) and then the patient continues to drink in their normal pattern. After some time (from days to weeks — usually weeks) the patient’s desire for alcohol is substantially weakened. Some people are aiming to get back to “normal” alcohol intake, while others want to get off it altogether, but it can work in both scenarios. The drug will NOT work if you don’t drink while using the naltrexone. (The book goes into the reasons in detail.)
The reason U.S. doctors won’t touch naltrexone is not because it doesn’t work, but because for it to work effectively, the patient has to continue to drink while they take the drug. Now, any doctor who *tells* a patient, “Yeah, go on and drink,” runs the risk of all kinds of problems if that patient goes out and gets a DUI or worse, hurts or kills someone. U.S. doctors do NOT want that liability. But that doesn’t mean the drug doesn’t work. It works for about 85% of people who try it using the Sinclair Method. Best of luck!!
There was one guy at the group meetings that started to get the shots. He was sober for three weeks, the ended up in the hospital the 4th, so started the shots, seemed to work for him.
BTW, heard at my wife's Fibromyalgia support group meeting last year, someone is looking into seeing if Naltrexone might help w/Fibro.
This runs headlong into the old, cruel argument. But one that should not easily be dismissed.
“Does alcohol make us weak, or do we drink because we are weak?”
It has been noted that before the age of 21-25, the human brain is not mature, so is able to adapt to many things by, in effect, rewiring itself. The younger you are, the more “flexible” your brain is.
And this especially applies to addictive chemicals. Exposure to them in youth has been proven to make addiction in adulthood easier to get, and harder to get rid of. Plus, addiction to one substance makes it easier to become addicted to other addictive substances.
Very young children might be somewhat less susceptible, because while their brains might be rewired, they might also be naturally re-rewired to prevent addiction. So the real danger time is from about the age of 10 to the ages of 21-25.
This all matters because a drug that is even a miracle cure for alcoholism will likely still not prevent addiction to other substances, because different chemicals use different mechanisms to become addictive.
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