GlasgowSteve

Hi Guys

I live in Scotland and have been using antabuse (Disulfram) for many years off and on to act as a deterrent and works very well. The only downside is when I want to drink I stop taking them for 4 days then end up back on the booze again which rather one day now ends up being months at a time. I go to AA and now willing to throw myself into the steps but I dont trust myself...

I have been looking at having a surgical procedure where they implant into your body an antabuse implant which lasts for 12 months. That way I know I can never drink unless I want to take a knife to my body and rip it out..I would probably do something that stupid if I was drunk but hey, I cant get drunk....

Has anyone had this implant or know of anyone who has had this procedure done??

I would need to go to Eastern Europe to have this done as it is not registered in the UK. Many other countries do this but Poland seems to best for quality of clinics and cost.

Im very close to booking my flight as Im fed up with getting 3 months, 6 months, 1 month sobriety etc....I just want to get a year under my belt, do the steps with AA / CA and hopefully after that one year has passed I can go it alone without an other implant as I will have the program in my life!!

I know this is a drastic step to take but Ive had 2 strokes because of alcohol, liver is a mess, BP, Memory problems,this is life or death to me... After my last relapse my liver Gamma GT count was 2,700...YES TWO THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED. My consultant asked for another blood sample as he had never seen anything this high especially when the normal level is around 40-70. The next blood came out the same, I almost died then and for some miracle Im still here but cant seem to fight this bloody illness. My last hope!!

Thanks Steve

Forward12

Have you looked into inpatient rehab? That sounds like a pretty drastic step with an implant, and even then, no pill or implant will magically stop you from drinking, it comes from within to stop the drinking.

biminiblue

Right, I'm with Forward12 here - I would spend my money on therapy or rehab instead of plane tickets. The Antabuse doesn't stop you, ultimately it is a decision you have to make every day, every minute, every time you think of having a drink.

You aren't broken. You can stop.

GlasgowSteve

Ive been in 2 residential rehabs one in the UK for 4 weeks and one in South Africa for 8 weeks. Ive tried CBT, I have a clinical physiologist, Ive tried Community rehab for 12 months (along with Antabuse tablets) but I relapsed after a few months as I stopped taking my tablets..

I go to AA, CA and do 1 or 2 meeting a day as I live in Glasgow with so many meetings every week.

ScottFromWI

I'm with the others Steve, to me Antabuse - while effective - is somewhat of a bandaid on a larger problem. You are only treating the symptoms of addiction by taking it, not treating the addiction itself. Sounds like you are doing a lot of the right things already by doing all the meetings and such, keep working at that for sure. Perhaps spending some time here on SR might help too?

MarkTwain

Steve, you are not giving up alcohol, you are trying to control it (antabuse). Won't work.

To put it another way, you are not surrendering to the fact that you are powerless over alcohol, you are looking for a foolproof (implant) way of controlling your drinking. Won't work in the long run.

To put it yet another way, nothing on earth can ultimately stop you from drinking until you recognize you have no control over alcohol.

You don't seem like the kind of guy who needs to have things sugar-coated, so I'm giving you my opinion straight: start hanging out with other guys in Glasgow who have the same problem you do and do what you are told. You can't tell me there aren't recovering alcoholics in Glasgow in those meetings you go to who don't know what they're doing! Do what they do!

biminiblue

Steve, why do YOU think you keep picking up a drink?

What thing about you is different from alllllllllll the other recovering alcoholics out there?

Because it is really quite simple. Don't put alcohol in your mouth.

No pill or program can force you until you make that decision and back it up with daily commitment. The power was yours all along. You are no different from me or anyone else who stopped.

DesertDawg

Agree with everyone else here. I think Antabuse is designed to supplement a sobriety program, not be the basis of it. If you're going to drink regardless if you don't have it in your system, it sounds like there are bigger problems that need to be dealt with.

Rooting for you.

anew

I'm of the opinion that you need to 'stop the bleeding', so to speak. If getting an implant, or monthly injections, or whatever is needed to keep one from drinking while being followed by a doctor and working a program then I don't think it should be discouraged. Sometimes some folks just need that extra safety net until they can gain solid footing.

August252015

This.

Also . . . I sure know that I didn't give a d*mn about my health no matter what drs told me - or what side effects anything, including drinking on Antabuse (which I did) could have. What's truly to keep you from drinking with this implant? Only your choice not to - which is the same exact choice you have now.

Antabuse was one of my tools for the first 90 days of sobriety. It was really just a clock-work thing that got me in the habit of doing one more thing at the same time every day to build and protect my sober armor.

Also.....I know there are different rules/laws/requirements in every country, but I wouldn't choose something not approved in the US, for example. Just my opinion.

I hope you decide to quit drinking for good - and stay quit, without letting yourself buy into the fact that it's anything but that simple.

Good luck.

BullDog777

I agree with anew.

For me, I tried for years to get sober to no avail. i'd get short bouts of sobriety, but seldom anything long term.

if this will keep you from drinking for a year...i'm all for it. it says in "how it works" in AA's big book...."and are willing to go to any length to get it...."

it looks to me like this might be a situation that saves your life. Desires to drink-cravings...whatever you call them are a lot easier to deal with than they are at 4 months, 6, 8, etc.

I would suggest a follow up program like therapy to help along with AA. Imo, you can't get too much help for this.

slaterleduc

Hi Steve,

Your story sounds so familiar. I've been on Antabuse for two years but try and play games with it. I've never fully accepted that I can't drink again (can't bear AA, tried it) and so every few weeks have a planned weekend off the Antabuse. It never works out as planned though - often I'll start drinking before it's fully out of my system, then be really unwell. Usually 2 nights of a planned good time extends into much longer and everything starts to crumble again.

I appreciate the advice that people give about Antabuse only stopping us from drinking but not solving the underlying problem. The trouble is that I don't think my underlying desire to drink will ever go away and I need to be physically MADE not to drink. I don't think that some people get this, they have more willpower, better friends, enjoy AA meetings. I don't know.

I desperately want the Antabuse implant and if I could afford it would get on a flight to Poland or wherever tomorrow. I'm so tired of this illness, of my weakness, and how it causes me to behave. I've lost so much, and hurt so many people. I can't imagine a life without alcohol but want it so desperately.

Would you be kind be enough to send me any details you have if clinics abroad that perform the Antabuse implant? I don't need a detox program as I can go weeks without drinking, just don't!! I probably can't afford it and I'd have to go alone in secret, but if I have some idea of costs I can have something to work towards. I do feel for you, and as much as some of the people were just being supportive and speaking from personal experience of recovery, I do understand that for some of us it just doesn't work like that. I wish you lots of success in your determination to get well.

Sara

ThatWasTheOldMe

Antabuse only works as a supplement to your recovery plan. It's intended to prevent impulsive drinking.

If you drink around it, you're defeating its purpose.

ThatWasTheOldMe

Antabuse is NOT a bandaid. It's a COMPLEMENT to your recovery program.

When you leave that AA meeting and someone said something you don't like, and you think, "Oh screw it, I'll just drink." If you're on Antabuse, you can't.

Antabuse is worthless without a complementary recovery program.

Gottalife

Steve, if you are an alcoholic of my type, the difference between you and the recovered alcoholics out there is that they have found an effective 24/7 defence against the fatal first drink, and you have not.

At certain times we are without defence against the first drink. Neither we nor any human power can provide such a defence. It must come from a higher power. This is my experience and also described in the big book.

Like August above, I used Antabuse for the first 90 days as part of going to any lengths. Another part of that was taking the steps and by 90 days I was well into step nine. At that point I realised the alcohol problem had been removed, so there was no further need of Antabuse.

The Antabuse implant I have seen used in this part of the world is a drastic step taken as a harm minimisation measure with people who are so hopeless there is not believed to be any chance they will become abstinent without an element of compulsion. This is something that would be done under the mental health laws, not necessarily a voluntary thing.

So it is a useful aid, but not a means in itself to permanent sobriety. An implant may prevent you from drinking for twelve months, but its effect is only temporary. Unless you take drastic steps to recover, 12 months on Antabuse will have no more lasting effect than if you had taken it for just one day. Nothing will have changed.