August252015

Cajun P....
Info and my experience-
Antabuse is the med that you take daily, and will make you sick (up to dying) if you drink while on it. It is also important to take this medicine exactly as prescribed- because of the fact that you can "play around with it" - ex, stop taking it a few days before you plan to drink, because it will be out of your system- some doctors require patients to come to the office every day for supervised dosing.

I took Antabuse last year- while still drinking- and didn't face severe consequences; I skipped doses, all kinds of junk, and had only one or two episodes of seizures....so that's what I did NOT consider bad. I would not suggest this.

I took it this year for the first 90 days of my sobriety; I religiously signed a paper, also got a witness signature, for each day. It became routine (I took those papers everywhere in my planner!!) and it was a great part of my "tool box." I did not think about drinking while on it and my dr thought 90 days was plenty for that part of my treatment regimen. It was a protective device for me, even when I didn't think (and looking back, don't necessarily think) that I needed it.

I used Naltrexone- you can get a shot that lasts a month, which many insurance plans do not cover and it is very expensive (1000 or more when I was given it for one month free); you can also take it daily. I did not personally find it very helpful - however, I really had no interest in quitting drinking and once I got out of inpatient, just carried on.

At nearly 7 mos, I am still on Campral. My psych plans for me to stay on it indefinitely. I take it 3x/day. I have had ZERO physical cravings and probably only a couple of emotional thoughts of drinking. My case is kind of extreme in that I was on the brink of death and simply cannot ever drink again; I made this decision on Feb 22 and there is no going back. IMO, if this drug helps someone even a good deal/a lot of the time with cravings, it is a good thing; I know that many people struggle well into sobriety with cravings.

My psych describes my rx regime as part of my arsenal and Campral is just one of our aids for me. I don't know that I have experienced any negative side effects because of it or my other meds, individually, per se. I think my "side effects" have been part of a significant detox and now recovery period.

Good luck- keep communicating with your doctors, and IMO, be open to trying things. I am philosophically in the corner of pro-meds when they will help us.