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Ghrelin Might Cure Alcoholism

Old 08-25-2018, 07:14 AM
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Originally Posted by August252015 View Post
Most of us around here with some recovery time do not believe a pill of any kind can cure alcoholism. Even the article states this isn't a potential cure. Meds like Campral and Naltrexone already exist and can help curb cravings for some people. They are not intended to encourage people to drink anyway just less often or such, at least by folks around here- generally from our own experiences. And speaking only for myself here, while I do support the use of such meds also believe that use must be combined with action to truly live in recovery, beyond just sobriety.

Respectfully, it is irresponsible and inappropriate to spread this kind of info on a site hat supports sobriety, not reduction of consumption or any similar ways to address a fatally progressive disease.

Okay, that’s your opinion. I don’t see posting the article as irresponsible or inappropriate on a site supporting sobriety. Aren’t there different ways/paths to achieving sobriety/recovery? I don’t know that there’s only one correct way to address or treat any fatally progressive ‘disease’.
I’m not trying to tell someone else what to think or make someone else’s choice/decision on how to go about it.

I just find it interesting and wanted to share. It doesn’t take away from how hard many here had to struggle to achieve sobriety but might lead to a pill or something that helps someone else achieve the same result a bit more comfortably. I don’t see that as a bad thing.

*sorry about sentence structure and so on, I can’t type on my phone
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Old 08-25-2018, 07:16 AM
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Originally Posted by NYCDoglvr View Post
If a cure for alcoholism was announced I'd celebrate by drinking two bottles of champagne.
Ha!
I think many would.
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Old 08-25-2018, 07:25 AM
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Originally Posted by ScottFromWI View Post
As with any medication, seeking advice of your doctor is the best first step. Almost all other “anti-craving” meds also are designed to be used in conjunction with some kind of recovery plan/method..

The promise of a miracle pill to “cure “ Alcoholism has been hawked many times before, time will tell how this particlur drug evolves.

The last line of the article actually states this pretty clearly

Clearly a pill that thwarts alcoholism would be a momentous cultural event. Akhlaghi urges caution, though: “We are looking at the effect of the compound. We cannot say this is a cure; we can say it is a promising therapy.”
Exactly, time will tell.

I ignore most headlines. They’re just bait, right?

I searched for an article instead of waiting to get permission on citing the study.
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Old 08-25-2018, 08:12 AM
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Originally Posted by NYCDoglvr View Post
If a cure for alcoholism was announced I'd celebrate by drinking two bottles of champagne.
Or three.

There's no changing the alcoholic pattern in my brain. Acceptance is necessary.
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Old 08-25-2018, 09:50 AM
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At first I thought this title was Gremlin Might Cure Alcoholism, and my first thought was that those sneaky little gremlins are not to be trusted, whatever they might claim.

Sometimes I think what we really crave is a cure for being human beings. It can be a dirty job at times!
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Old 08-25-2018, 10:09 AM
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Originally Posted by SnazzyDresser View Post
At first I thought this title was Gremlin Might Cure Alcoholism, and my first thought was that those sneaky little gremlins are not to be trusted, whatever they might claim.

Sometimes I think what we really crave is a cure for being human beings. It can be a dirty job at times!
Of course you did... Gremlins. It’s been years since I saw the movie but wasn’t that the one where you couldn’t get them wet? Or not let them out after midnight?
This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten a Gremlin response when using ghrelin in a title.

And yes, I shouldn’t have used that title at all. Hindsight.
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Old 08-25-2018, 10:16 AM
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Originally Posted by SoberCAH View Post
Even if Big Pharma came up with a pill that would let me drink without becoming a chronic drunk and without the consequences I suffered before I got sober, I would still not drink.

I love the life that I have.

Big Pharma will never make a pill that will make me act responsibly and behave like an adult, nor will it produce a drug which makes me closer to God.

I ain't giving back what sobriety has given me.
I don’t see anything/anyone threatening to take away what sobriety has given you.

Perhaps there are ways that others might achieve the same or a similar result and haven’t taken that opportunity yet due to the current methods not working for them?
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Old 08-25-2018, 10:25 AM
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Originally Posted by tomsteve View Post
here,too. i think iffen i took this pill, id just be drunk and overwieght.
Nooooo... lol.
I think the idea is to be sober and skinny? slender? slim? Whatever the current pc term is. Not skinny-shaming as I’ve been slender all my life I so please don’t twist my intentions.

Not overweight! D
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Old 08-25-2018, 10:37 AM
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this article is interesting to me, I just read it. Thanks for sharing it.

I know that the fact that I cannot stop eating once I start, and that I cannot stop drinking once I start, have always been the same drive. I've always acknowledged both a food addiction and an alcohol addiction. This is interesting and I do wonder how I would respond if blocking my ghrelin production were even possible.

I have accepted the trade-off of overweight with sobriety, I haven't ever been able to be normal weight without alcohol consumption.

Also with enough eating, I can drink moderately. I just never chose that because it made me fat and blunted my alcohol high.
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Old 08-25-2018, 10:46 AM
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Please don't take that statement the wrong way...in fact my marriage has been characterized by my husband desperately trying to get me to eat something substantial with our drinking episodes, and me staunchly refusing to eat over and over, because alcohol moves to the top of the priority list every time with active drinking.

(I'm clarifying this for my addicted voice as well as the rest of you...)
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Old 08-25-2018, 12:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Stayingsassy View Post
this article is interesting to me, I just read it. Thanks for sharing it.

I know that the fact that I cannot stop eating once I start, and that I cannot stop drinking once I start, have always been the same drive. I've always acknowledged both a food addiction and an alcohol addiction. This is interesting and I do wonder how I would respond if blocking my ghrelin production were even possible.

I have accepted the trade-off of overweight with sobriety, I haven't ever been able to be normal weight without alcohol consumption.

Also with enough eating, I can drink moderately. I just never chose that because it made me fat and blunted my alcohol high.

Oh wow... I remember being told not to eat too much before drinking so you get drunk more quickly. At universities of all places. Higher learning? lol

If it interests you something else that occurred in the nineties was that lobbyists were able to influence the medical associations to classify both obesity and alcoholism as diseases.
Both physical and mental.


*** And yeah, Stayingsassy, you’re good!

I’m not trashing medicine or any type of therapy or beliefs here. Not my intention at all. I try to keep my beliefs open and flexible to all possibilities and would prefer that we all do our own research to determine what will work best for ourselves. Sharing our own experiences is all we can really do to help others. IMO



**** editing to add love for The Lorax! Nice signature.
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Old 08-25-2018, 01:57 PM
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Originally Posted by starstarstar View Post
I don’t see anything/anyone threatening to take away what sobriety has given you.
?
Star, you asked about my use of a word like irresponsible for posting this kind of info on SR. This question strikes me as a part of what I was getting at by that comment. The alcoholic mind can convince itself of pretty much every insane thing one can imagine. Like that a pill, and a pill alone, can cure alcoholism. It would be a shame, all the way up to being a possibly fatal tragedy, for someone to jump to that "solution," say, instead of things like working a recovery plan and making good lifestyle choices, etc.

There are people in all stages of sobriety and recovery in here, with all kinds of ways they are doing it. And levels of comfort and trust with what they are doing. The alcoholic brain can be particularly susceptible to looking for an easier, softer way to stay sober (that's an AA reference) and it could be so easy to run from with any new bright idea.

Just my thoughts when I see these articles.
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Old 08-25-2018, 06:32 PM
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Originally Posted by starstarstar
Perhaps there are ways that others might achieve the same or a similar result and haven’t taken that opportunity yet due to the current methods not working for them?
Hi star, thanks for the article. I personally believe that people quitting substances have the capacity to read all types of materials and make decisions about their path forward. They are addicted to a substance, but they're not idiots or children and reading something isn't going to make them implode.

re: the article...I think that even if this pill was guaranteed to stop my desire to drink, I would not take it. That would make my abstinence contingent on this pill, and what will happen then if I cannot get it for whatever reason? My journey has been not focused on ridding myself of desire/cravings, but rather learning that despite the presence of cravings, I am perfectly capable of abstaining permanently and enjoying my life sans booze.
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Old 08-25-2018, 06:40 PM
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if there were a pill that could cure alcoholism and if i had taken it when i first got sober, i would have lost out on a lot of the "work" i did and the benefits doing it brought me.
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Old 08-25-2018, 07:36 PM
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Originally Posted by soberlicious View Post
They are addicted to a substance, but they're not idiots or children and reading something isn't going to make them implode.

.
With a mental age of 13 and an IQ reduced to my shoe size. I was both a child and an idiot when i got sober. As such I was easily attracted to and distracted by any idea that looked like an easier way of solving my problem which, at that point, was about escaping the misery that was my life. I got hooked into an allergy kick which horrified my sponsor. It distracted me from what was important for recovery, and all the time the clock is ticking. I did not have unlimited time to go about recovering.

The alcoholic mind can do strange things with seemingly benign bits of information. Even relapse can be infectious. The experts tell me that relapse can be fatal and often is, but all aroud me I see the revolving door alcoholics coming back from relapse. Idiot child alcoholic mind says if they can get away with it, I probably could too.
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Old 08-25-2018, 10:47 PM
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Originally Posted by Gottalife
The alcoholic mind can do strange things with seemingly benign bits of information.
An addicted person's mind does strange things even without any bits of information.

My thinking was certainly skewed from addiction, but on some level I knew that. I always knew I had a serious problem with alcohol from a young age. Even when I read things or people told me things that I was able to use an excuse to keep drinking, I knew it was just that. Lies and excuses to keep drinking, maybe a way to buy some time to keep from quitting. I've never been an idiot. I've known the score about myself and drinking from the get go.
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Old 08-25-2018, 11:15 PM
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Short term fixes are just that.
Some say round 5% suffer from alcoholism: and those should best join AA.
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Old 08-26-2018, 05:38 AM
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Originally Posted by August252015 View Post
Star, you asked about my use of a word like irresponsible for posting this kind of info on SR. This question strikes me as a part of what I was getting at by that comment. The alcoholic mind can convince itself of pretty much every insane thing one can imagine. Like that a pill, and a pill alone, can cure alcoholism. It would be a shame, all the way up to being a possibly fatal tragedy, for someone to jump to that "solution," say, instead of things like working a recovery plan and making good lifestyle choices, etc.

There are people in all stages of sobriety and recovery in here, with all kinds of ways they are doing it. And levels of comfort and trust with what they are doing. The alcoholic brain can be particularly susceptible to looking for an easier, softer way to stay sober (that's an AA reference) and it could be so easy to run from with any new bright idea.

Just my thoughts when I see these articles.
Thank you for replying and sharing your thoughts!

I guess I like to give people more credit than that, I have a hard time understanding how anyone can really not know, even somewhere deep inside that the way they’re living when addicted is not good for them. That something needs to change.

Isn’t that why people search for sites like this? Because they’re questioning their ability to continue on with drinking and realize they might have an alcohol problem?

I see nothing wrong with an easier, softer way to stay sober. Once sober they can move on and take action to address things with a clearer mind. Isn’t doing whatever it takes to get sober the priority when actively addicted?
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Old 08-26-2018, 05:59 AM
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Originally Posted by fini View Post
if there were a pill that could cure alcoholism and if i had taken it when i first got sober, i would have lost out on a lot of the "work" i did and the benefits doing it brought me.
Why would you lose that? What you accomplished doesn’t disappear. You achieved it, it’s yours. Much to be proud of!

Wouldn’t becoming sober make it easier to move on more quickly so that you can accomplish other great things? I’m sure there’s so much more to do in life, to get out of life. Or maybe you’ve already accomplished many things in life that you’re proud of and will continue to do so! No need to limit yourself or define your life just by staying sober, right?
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Old 08-26-2018, 06:08 AM
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IMO and IME .....Addiction is a disease of insanity, Star. So knowing what we should do and actually doing it is familiar to most of us alcoholics, and at some point we do act on the knowledge that our insane choices have to change, or we don't and we keep going and roll the proverbial dice on what follows.

I don't define my life by just being sober as you phrased it. I do, however, define my life by my recovery, as it enables me to do great things daily. If I didn't have hat backdrop, I would be a fraction of the person I have become and want to keep growing into, just being sober. Moving on quickly isn't the right thought for me, because my disease is at heart not about drinking itself. There is so much more to the addicted brain and mind and emotions and....those are the things I began to develop and restore once alcohol was gone.

Easier and softer is a longer concept than I hav energy to delve into this morning!
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