Patrick4935

Thanks in advance.

Dee74

Hi and welcome Patrick

I never used any meds myself, but others will no doubt chime in with their experiences.

D

Rockbottom1964

I don’t think there are any meds for that, Patrick. Some people drink even on Antabuse; it makes them ill as death, but still they do. It has to be a mindset, I believe. Either you really want to stop or you don’t. Note the "really". Alcoholism is not something you can take an Aspirin for. It's not a condition, it's a disease.

Obladi

Hey Patrick, there are medications for that. I've been on pretty much all of them. I've heard that they can be complete game changers for some people as far as cravings go. My experience is that none of these helped me, but I think that's because they did nothing for my underlying issues. So if your challenge is craving, I'd heartily recommend you give one or more a go, under the supervision of a very open-minded GP, or even better working with a physician/psychiatrist who specializes in addiction.

Here's what I've been prescribed:
Antabuse (disulfiram) - does nothing for physical cravings, but sure can help as a deterrent, because I did become violently ill when I drank on it.
Naltrexone - opioid blocker that seems to have initially been marketed for alcoholics, but i believe has turned out to be more effective with opioid addicts. I know former drinkers who say it does the trick for them, too. Didn't "work" for me because I still had a compulsion to drink. Oddly enough, this is the one substance abuse medication I continue to take under the advice of my GP and I haven't had a drink in 7 months+1 day. But there's more to the story than a miracle pill...
Vivitrol - same thing as naltrexone, only injected. It's absorbed better, so it's just one shot every 28 days. Alcoholics I know who have been successful with naltrexone say the vivitrol is even more effective in eliminating cravings for them. I drank on it. Maybe had to drink "harder" to get drunk, but still drank.
Campral (acamprosate) - reportedly works on actually healing those neural pathways we damaged with alcohol. I've read wonderful reports of success with this medication. One needs to be highly motivated because it's two pills three times daily. I've no idea if it did anything for me at all because, you know - compulsion.
A number of "off label" medications not originally intended for substance abuse. Again, I've read success stories, but my case was not physical - it was primarily of the psychological/spiritual variety.

The only medication I remember experiencing side affects with was the Antabuse - that was some stomach upset and a bit of spaciness for the first week or two.

For me, I think the right cocktail is much more complex than a pill, but I'm not about to drop the naltrexone. Why would I? Whether it helps or not is almost irrelevant. I'm not drinking now. Whatever works...

O

Patrick4935

Thank you for sharing all of that and God bless you!

dwtbd

I don't have any experience with medications that work for curbing the 'wanting', but regardless the efficacy of those, I found that realizing( meaning here finding out about the idea and integrating the idea into my 'noggin') realizing that 'wanting' in and of itself isn't the problem with continued drinking, continuing the drinking was.

Deciding to be abstinent ,with the knowledge that the desire for more alcohol would be concomitant with abstinence allowed me to be comfortable with residual desire/cravings/urges.

Before the realization, I'd stop drinking for a time and then start again by talking myself into the idea that wanting , by itself, was a factor I needed to consider. It was odd to hear or feel that quitting didn't mean I would not have the desire to drink , for the longest time I figured quitting meant I'd never want to drink again. Then it hit me, quitting meant I'd never drink again, even if I wanted to .

Learning about AVRT is would lead me to this realization, great threads here on SR in the Secular subforums about those ideas.

Obladi

While I was at the doctor today, I remembered the one medication that seemed to work best for me. I'd completely forgotten because I'd been changed to naltrexone. Gabapentin (Neurontin) was originally created to help people with nerve pain. In the last several years, it's become a credible option for treating alcohol abuse disorder. When I was initially started on it during an inpatient stay about three years ago, it was kind of radical, but it's much more common now.

For me, this medication did the best job of reducing the desire to drink, and I think it's likely because it reduces my anxiety. When I mentioned to the doctor that I was having trouble staying asleep, she said she hears that from a fair number of her patients who are taking naltrexone. So we settled on gabapentin as the better alternative. Apparently some people abuse it, though I've no idea how. (I heard some recipe in rehab, but just tuned it out.) That's not a problem for me as I've never had an issue with pills and show no signs of developing one.

Patrick4935

Thank you for sharing.

Vinificent

I have taken Naltrexone. I had no side effects but I can’t tell if it really helped with cravings because I had already been through the worst of the cravings when I received the script.

My doctor also prescribed Trazodone for relaxation and sleep, which was extremely helpful since the evenings were the challenging times. I could take 50 mg Trazodone and go to sleep almost immediately, cutting off time spent thinking about drinking and give my body time to heal.

Like Obladi, I never had a problem abusing meds so my approach was whatever it takes to just not drink.

Patrick4935

The evenings are also my challenge. The urge to drink is overwhelming.

shortstop81

I've been on Campral a few times in early recovery - I say 'a few times' because eventually I did end up relapsing again for various reasons.

Having said that, I did find it helped with overall with the worst of the cravings and withdrawal. It was certainly no magic bullet for me, and I had to have many other things happen in order to retain lasting sobriety.

I also take Trazodone at night for sleep, and it has really helped me keep a structured, stable sleep schedule. No temptations to abuse it, and I feel fine and rested in the mornings.

Obladi

I take trazodone for sleep as well, and it's really helpful. It blocks the racing thoughts I used to have while sleeping. Switching from naltrexone to gabapentin has made a tremendous difference in that arena. From the first night I took it, I've slept all the way through to morning. That's a relief. (For those who don't know, trazodone was originally used for depression and anxiety. Physicians noticed it helped people with sleep. Which completely makes sense when you think about it, right?)

Nic233

Baclofen helped me get sober, and when I stopped taking it, I eventually relapsed. It’s a fairly new treatment for alcohol addiction although its s getting well known in Australia with Royal Perth Hospital also conducting a long term study on it.
ive been on naltexone and Antabuse before and it didn’t help me at all. Another possible
option?