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Originally Posted by alan1 I wanna quit this alcohol habit of mine..tried several times..but couldn't really succeed.
Can anyone tell me about any drug or any other alternative that can help me in quitting alcohol? |
Hi, Alan,
There are three drugs used in treatment of alcohol abuse. Antabuse works essentially by aversion; the other two (Naltrexone and Acamprosate) work on cravings. They are reasonable to discuss with your doctor, probably in conjunction with counseling, recovery groups, and other ways of dealing with the emotional or psychological reasons that you drink.
If anxiety or depression are factors in your drinking, you may wish to discuss those with your doctor as well as there are medications that
might be helpful for those.
Stopping substance abuse involves dealing with the physical effects of withdrawal -- please tell your doctor honestly how much and how long you've been drinking -- and also dealing with the underlying issues. You may find your doctor can refer you to a counselor trained in substance abuse issues. My suggestion would be one using cognitive behavioral approaches. Recovery groups can also be helpful--SMART, AA, SOS, LifeRing. Private programs such as RR might be of use.
This link compares some of them:
http://rrci.net/recovery_spectrum.htm
Here are some items cut from various articles about the three drugs mentioned above:
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Information about Acamprosate.
Why is this medication prescribed?
Acamprosate is used along with counseling and social support to help people who have stopped drinking large amounts of alcohol to avoid drinking alcohol again.
Drinking alcohol for a long time changes the way the brain works. Acamprosate works by helping the brains of people who have drunk large amounts of alcohol to work normally again.
Acamprosate does not prevent the withdrawal symptoms that people may experience when they stop drinking alcohol.
Acamprosate has not been shown to work in people who have not stopped drinking alcohol or in people who drink large amounts of alcohol and also overuse or abuse other substances such as street drugs or prescription medications.
Acamprosate will not cause you to have an unpleasant reaction if you drink alcohol during treatment.
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Comparing the three alcohol-abuse treatment drugs:
Antabuse: "Alcohol is broken down in a stepwise fashion by enzymes in the liver. Antabuse blocks one of these enzyme steps. This causes a build up of a compound called acetaldehyde. Antabuse has very few side effects as long as you do not drink alcohol. If people who take Antabuse drink, they will usually experience flushing, nausea, vomiting, thirst, heart palpitations, and low blood pressure. So, Antabuse does not alter cravings but it produces a rather nasty set of side effects if you drink.
Naltrexone, on the other hand, works to reduce cravings for alcohol. Naltrexone blocks special receptors in the brain called opiate receptors. ....Naltrexone blocks these receptors and reduces the craving for alcohol. Like Antabuse, naltrexone has very few side effects on its own. Because it blocks opiate receptors it does interact with narcotic pain relievers and reduces their effectiveness. Naltrexone can also produce withdrawal symptoms in people who are taking narcotic drugs for a long period of time. Unfortunately, naltrexone does not look like it works for everyone.
Acamprosate works by blocking yet another pathway in the brain and reduces the pleasure of drinking. The combination of naltrexone and acamprosate looks like it is better in reducing alcohol cravings and drinking relapse than either drug alone."
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"Acamprosate works by stabilizing a brain chemical system called the glutamate system," explains Ray Anton, M.D., Distinguished Professor and director of the Center for Drug and Alcohol Programs at the Medical University of South Carolina.
"The glutamate system is one of the most strongly affected by chronic alcohol use," Dr. Anton said, adding: "Following the initiation of abstinence, it takes considerable time for the brain chemistry of this system to become `normal' again. It is thought that acamprosate helps speed this process so that the person has a greater chance of staying abstinent by not ‘turning to the bottle’ to feel normal. Acamprosate is well tolerated but needs to be taken a few times per day, unlike disulfiram and naltrexone, which can be taken once per day."
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Acamprosate works by stimulating the production of the brain chemical, gaba. The irritability and dysphoria that often occurs in early recovery is partially the result of gaba depletion. Since one of the factors that contributes to alcohol relapse in early recovery is negative mood states, it is believed that acamprosate will reduce the severity of these relapse triggers and will contribute to achievement and maintenance of alcohol abstinence in the early weeks and months of recovery.
http://www.counselormagazine.com/pf... Treatment.asp
This article begins with an interesting editorial:
It may be impossible to believe today, but for decades, many professionals vehemently opposed the use of medications for the treatment of schizophrenia. They'd assert, 'You can't undo bad parenting with a pill.' ....
In many ways, the substance-abuse treatment field is where the schizophrenia field was 50 years ago. The understanding of alcoholism and addiction as diseases of the brain is rapidly gaining great acceptance.....
For many years, there was considerable resistance to the use of medications to help alcoholics through alcohol withdrawal. Some thought that if withdrawal were made too easy and comfortable, there would be no deterrent to returning to alcohol use.
However, in the past 50 years, this 'let them suffer, it's good for them' attitude has been deemed medically unsafe, ethically barbaric and grounds for malpractice. It is likely that as science continues to produce medications that have clearly demonstrated efficacy in reducing relapse to alcohol use, these medications will gain increasing application.
Don S