Crazed

I have a very successful neighbor that, unbeknownst to me, is a multi-year sober alcoholic/crack addict. Never would have guessed it. He told me in the beginning of his recovery, he had his GF (now wife) administer Anabuse. It was his idea, not hers, which he stated is very important. He really wanted to be sober.

I also heard about an experimental vaccine on the radio yesterday:
New "Alcoholism Vaccine" Gives Drinkers Instant Hangovers After Just One Sip : Drugs : Medical Daily

Smoke and mirrors? Or do these things have a place in an alcoholics recovery?

Crazed

(I realize this my efforts need to be focused on MY recovery, but old habits die hard...)

Just curious really.

Justfor1

Antabuse can help but there is ways around. The alcoholic can simply stop taking it & eventually drink. They can switch the pills for vitamins or aspirin and they can still get high on illegal
drugs while on it. The drug is also very hard on the liver so should be checked every 6 months. It can be used as a tool to sobriety but is far from the single answer to alcoholism.

PohsFriend

Don't apologize :-)

I think the key part of what your neighbor said was the part about him asking for it. My wife is afraid that if she relapses I won't catch her and asked for Soberlink so that if she were to slip it would be caught before she got out of control.

If only it was possible to convince another person to do the galringly obvious best thing for themselves....

Of course then we would not obsess over someone else's problem because someone would convince us that doing so is self-destructive, right? LOL

Hang in there buddy. It sure would be nice if modern medicine ever figures out how to truly shut off the addiction centers of the brain.

Amisi

My husband tried these pills once. It helped for about a month, then fell apart. When he checked into rehab he told his doctor there that he had tried those before with no success. She wasn't surprised and compared it to a shock collar for a dog(not in any way to diminish addiction to the simple problem if a barking dog. It was just the analogy she used). It may help with the surface problem of barking, but dost address any of the actual issues causing the barking.

LexieCat

Never used it, but from what I understand, it is, at best, a crutch for VERY early recovery--might help keep someone sober long enough to get through the first couple of weeks or so, but of all the sober alcoholics I know, I've never heard anyone recommend it.

dandylion

Dear Crazed, several years ago I worked in a medical rehab program and the patients who were willing to take it were prescribed this medication. They had been detoxed and very carefully physically screened--especially liver function testing. These people were in early recovery and were in the ongoing outpatient program for up to three months. This included attending AA, also.

It seemed to be a useful tool for those who did not want to slip. Early recovery is a time of constant struggle to resist the temptation to drink for most recovering alcoholics. In my opinion, any tool that can help resist that impulse, safely, is a plus.

Also, sometimes, patients who had been in longer recovery would come in and ask for a prescription when they were going through a very vulnerable period and were afraid of a relapse.

Of course, there are ways around it. It is for the truly motivated who wanted to achieve/maintain sobriety.

Sincerely, dandylion

dollydo

My cousin had a stroke, he neglected to tell the doctor that he was an alcoholic. Well, I didn't hesitate to tell him, so he prescribed Antabuse. My cousin had no idea what he was taking, finally about 6 weeks after he was released from the hospital, I asked him if he was
taking his meds...Oh yeah, except that one pill that made him sick when he drank...he had
stopped taking "that one".

So, it only seems to work, if one wants to stop drinking and go into recovery.

dandylion

Dear Dollydo, your story is almost funny (my perverse sense of humor)---if it weren't so serious! An alcoholic can always figure out how to protect their drinking--if they aren't ready to quit. Your story is a good example.

sincerely, dandylion