Medication: Acamprosate/Disulfiram (UK)
 

Hi

Does anyone here have experience with being prescribed medication to treat alcohol dependency like Acamprosate or Disulfiram? I don't know much about the upside or downsides of these drugs so I would love if anyone who has taken them could give me their personal experiences.

Also, how did the process of getting prescribed look for you if you're in the UK? Because I'm very young and haven't been hospitalized for withdrawal (yet, lmao) I kind of wonder whether they would refuse to prescribe them to me out the gate. :/

Thank you, everyone!

We are not allowed to give medical advice on these forums. If you think you might have severe withdrawals when quitting, you schedule an appointment with a doctor. They may refer you to a specialist (not sure how it works in the UK). In my case, they prescribed librium on a 7 day taper, thiamine because alcoholics are usually deficient in this vitamin, and then naltrexone for cravings after. I eventually went off naltrexone because it is not allowed in my line of work.

Members can share their experience.

We just ask they make no recommendations, diagnoses, dosages, or treatment plans that should be made by ones medical professional.

Dee
Administrator
SR

Yeah I don't want medical advice, I just wanted to know what people's experience was if they have taken these before

Hi justin, I have experience with a good number of medications prescribed for alcoholics. I didn't 'want' to try them all - that's just the way it worked out for me.

The way I understand it, there really isn't any medication to treat physical dependence, aside from those used to provide medical support during withdrawal. The medications you mention are both intended as deterrents - is that what you are looking for? Or do you need support to safely detox?

Here's my experience with the two medications you mention:

• Acamprosate (Campral) is intended to reduce cravings. For me, it seemed to help a bit to begin with. I took it for at least several months, but it didn't keep me from drinking. I don't really understand the concept of cravings, though - so maybe I'm just not that variety of alcoholic? When I went back to drinking at the end there, I realized it was more of a psych thing than a physical thing. If that makes sense.
• Disulfiram (Antabuse) is intended to keep you sober for fear of what will happen to your body if you drink. And if you do choose to drink, you experience a walloping dose of aversion therapy. This medication was required for the first 30 days of an outpatient program I attended. There were a few people in the group who said, "I love the stuff - I'm going to stay on it forever because it saved me from drinking." I didn't mind taking it at all. Until I decided that I needed to drink. The first time I made that decision, I stopped taking the medication for two weeks, then drank. All was well. The next time I made the decision to drink, I did an 'experiment' first. I drank one drink and experienced some pretty unpleasant effects, but it wasn't "that bad." The last couple of times I drank on antabuse were absolutely horrific. Unless you want to be scared straight, I won't tell you the gory details. It was bad, man. Really a crap-show.

So my personal experience is that neither of these medications prevented me from drinking, though both of them were helpful in the short-term when my motivation was really high. I know other people have had really good results with these same medications. My final approach was to throw everything I could at my addiction, including any medication offered. Eventually something stuck, but I wouldn't chalk it up to medication. For me, in the end, it was an inside job that required sort of scraping my guts out and starting on the rock-solid platform of "I Never Drink Now."

I suspect that your GP would be happy to prescribe either of these medications - have you set up an appointment to meet with them yet?

I'm really glad you're here looking for solutions. I promise if you are relentless in the search, you'll find yours. :)

O

For the most part, these drugs ( and others like them ) are intended to be supplement to a solid program of recovery, and only used temporarily. As great as it would be if there were a magic pill to just wipe away all the cravings/withdrawal symptoms, there unfortunately is not. As others have said please speak with your doctor for prescribing info.

It's great to hear that you are making an effort to get sober at a relatively young age, you will not regret that decision.

Yes, that was not my perception of them and I did know that they are used on a short-term basis. Thank you, I'll try my best

This was really, really helpful. Thank you so much :) Yes, I meant to use them as deterrents! For some reason, they are listed as 'medications to treat alcohol dependence' on the NHS website, which is a bit of a confusing title for them. I haven't set up an appointment with my GP yet, but I need to. I seriously hate talking to them about this so I admit I have been procrastinating haha.

You're quite welcome. I live to serve. :)

I've read and seen stories of people who experience miraculous success with one medication or another, but my unscientific study has concluded that these are rare instances, indeed. My notion is that those medication miracles are actually more attributable to the person than to the medication itself. On the other hand, my perspective was - if the doctor suggests it, why not give it a shot? Maybe one of those medications will miraculously interact with me in a positive way. Didn't happen.

Now as to that, "if the doctor suggests it" bit - take that with a big grain of salt. The first doctor I saw had absolutely no idea what she was doing. She would not prescribe antabuse, but did prescribe benzodiazepines, which are referred to in addiction treatment programs as 'freeze-dried alcohol.' She then offered to write more scripts way sooner than I would need them if I was taking them as prescribed. That was a careless mistake, and I didn't take her up on it. But what if I was a pill person? That could have been very bad news indeed. I have a great GP now, though.

Yeah, I know the procrastination thing - it's a kind of effective way to avoid anxiety, right? Until I become anxious about how much I've procrastinated. That is a barely tolerable level of anxiety and I sure don't like getting to that point. ("Don't like" = wild understatement.)

Don't think about it. Just rip off the band-aid and make the appointment. Then we can talk about how you can talk with your gp about this. One step at a time helps...

As others have said, the medications are really to help break the cycle. I remember finally finding a place that did intensive outpatient therapy. Everywhere wanted 90 day inpatient with no contact to the outside world other than visitor days. In a perfect world, I guess that would have been ideal. but there was no way I could do that with my responsibilities. The outpatient clinic was reluctant at first because of the seriousness, but I told them I'd sign any waiver they wanted met to, I just wanted OUT. I remember when the DR. asked me what my goals were with their program, and asked if I wanted to quit for good. I looked at him square in the face and said, I JUST WANT TO STOP... when you're ready, you're ready! It was difficult, but I wanted out soo badly and lo and behold I stuck to it and got out. Life is immeasurably better without the stuff!

I took antabuse personally, it helped because i wanted to quit i knew i was going to die that winter if i didnt quit drinking, but i couldnt get past the liquor store. My upbringing was actions had immediate consequences, belt, whip, or boot. So antabuse fit right in. I know its not for everyone but for me it gave me that last bit of help to get over the first couple of months. There is always sometime during the day when a persons resolve is strong that was the time i always took it. then i couldnt drink without puking my guts out. I would drink extra hard over the weekends so when i was weaning myself off of it i would take one on thursdays and Fridays just for extra support for several months
just my story with it.

How’s it going Justinmyroom?

D