MATANE

My husband has just started anabuse medication a couple of weeks ago.
I still don't trust that he might go off of it and plan a binge.
Does anyone have experience with this drug? How long does it take to get out of your system before you will have a reaction to alcohol?
How sick does one get, sounds pretty serious. I worry it being dangerous for him, he is 63 not a kid.

shil2587

Depends on his metabolism. It's supposed to take 3 days, so if they stop taking it, it gives them three days to reconsider why they stopped and to get back on the wagon before they fall off (if that makes sense).

However, my partner has drunk after only 1 day stopping taking it and just turned rather red and felt a bit weird.

For others, it can be much more serious.

It's not a fix, it's more an early warning system designed to delay the drinking by scaring the alcoholic enough to refrain while on the drug and shortly after stopping. It's just a tool some use to help handle cravings. Like any tool it is only as effective as the person using it.

hopeful4

It can and will make you violently ill. I would say if he does so once he will learn not to repeat. Most who are not going to stick w/it plan on when they are going to drink and don't take the medication before.

I am very sorry. I hope it all works out for both of you.

XXX

loopylou64

My mum takes this. She says it takes a full 2 weeks to get out of your system before you can take a drink. You have to be alcohol clear 48 hrs before you can start taKing it ... I assume that means it builds up in your system. It can kill you if you drink on it or at the least make you seriously ill. She stopped taking it so she could have a drink Christmas Day, messed up Boxing Day & se

loopylou64

Went back in it 48hrs later. She doesn't want to be an alkie anymore.... But can't not drink without it

Godismyrock

Hi Matane,

My AH has tried anabuse on several different occasions. He was never successful at getting recovery while on it. Generally, he either drank within a day or two of taking it, or he just quietly stopped taking it in anticipation of that drink(s) he really wanted to have in a few days. I was requiring him to take it to live with us, but that just backfired in my face.

As to how sick, yes he would drink within 24 hours sometimes of his last dose. He would get about double the sickness of a hangover. Not life threatening sick, but definitely sick. After he threw up, then he would just keep drinking. He drank through the sickness to where the drunk outweighed the effects of the anabuse.

Anabuse is only a tool for a person who is actively seeking recovery. For me, it made my control issues even worse. I now stay completely out of his recovery/non recovery. That's his life. When I get involved in his recovery, he gets worse and I get worse.

INgal

My son is on it and we were told it lasts 2 weeks. He has not had any reactions from vinegar-based foods or cologne. He has not had any liquor in 5 weeks. I am very pleased thus far.

Rosalba

I don't have a problem with alcohol, but a few years back I had a dry socket after having a wisdom tooth removed. I was given antibiotics, and warned not to drink alcohol under any circumstances whilst taking them because they contained a substance given to alcoholics to stop them drinking.

Dry socket mended, I finished the course and forgot about it. Then about ten days later, it was my sister's 21st birthday party. I had perhaps three glasses of wine over a seven hour period, and wasn't remotely drunk.

But the following day...! I was so sick I could hardly get out of bed. Kept drinking water to avoid dehydration but couldn't even keep that down... and that was ten days after I'd stopped taking the antibiotics. I was a robust 24-year-old; I can see that that degree of sickness could be very dangerous for a more fragile person.