tay-lyn

I'm looking for feedback on Antabuse. If you've tried it, could you share your opinion? Thanks.

caitlin666

hi tay-lyn

im on antabuse, i started it when i was in detox a few months back

ive found it really helpful as i can be very impulsive.

it also freed up those endless hours id spend debating (no..Torturing) myself with....will i?...wont i?

now i can spend that time on the rest of my recovery,

but i must say for me this is only a crutch, my biggest help in this battle has been AA (which i thought wild horses couldnt have got me into) and of course SR

i hope this helps :ghug3

CarolD

Hi...

I too used Antabuse in early sobriety.
I did drink whith it.... became so violently ill
I quit the Antabuse.

The catalyst for my reaction was a single split of
champagne ..18 hours after 125 mg of Antabuse.

Be sure and check out the afterlife of Antabuse
I kinda remember it stays in your system 4 or 5 days
after the last pill. Also...you do need to have your
doctor monitor liver enzymes if you take the med.

I do think it can be a good start for sobriety.
I took it each morning along with my birth control pill
for the same reason....Prevention!

It gave my mind time to clear so I could begin my goal
AA Recovery....

tay-lyn

Thanks Caitlin and CarolD: I am hoping it will relieve me of the whole 'will I...or....won't I....' as well. I know from experience that no matter how strong my resolve is to quit, I always end up drinking again. Today is day 5 and I am already feeling my brain washing away all logic, and telling me over and over again to pick up that drink. I am hoping Antabuse will take away my OPTION to drink. Any side effects from it?

Tazman53

Tay-Lyn best to ask your doc about side effects, I also highly reccommend you read the directions on the antabuse and follow them closely, among the directions you will find that it explicetly mentions that antabuse is meant to be used in addition to a long term program of recovery.

I have no direct experience with antabuse, but I know of folks who tried to to use it as their only means of not drinking and wound up doing one of 3 things:

1. They wound up drinking even though they were on antabuse.
2. Quit taking the antabuse and drank.
3. Got sick as a dog drinking on antabuse and quit taking the antabuse.

In a nutshell the folks I know who used antabuse without a recovery program wound up drinking again. Those who used antabuse as directed which includes a long term program of recovery like AA found antabuse to be very helpful.

tay-lyn

I can feel 'my other self' in the back of my mind, preparing me to drink again because:
1. I don't want to ask my doctor for antabuse because then he will know I have a drinking problem and will want to follow up with me.
2. I won't go back to AA for whatever reason...I have a bazillion of them.
3. I won't call my friends from AA because I don't want to be accountable again.
4. Now that I am feeling a bit better since my last drunk....5 days ago....I'm thinking 'the problem wasn't drinking, the problem was how I was FEELING when I was drinking....and I'm feeling better now, so.......
BUT....I am hanging on, and I DO have 5 days and want so very much...am desperate for.......sobriety. I have a doctor's appointment next week, so I am hoping that by then I will have convinced myself to ask for the antabuse. At least it is another step.

Tazman53

Honesty will set you free! Lies are what kept me drunk for the last 10 years of my drinking, when I became honest with myself and the world around me is when I became free.