Hello all! I am doing good!

[Scandinavian]

Some of you remember me from some drunken emotional and too long posts when I was sad about my GF leaving me and so on

I just wanted to say that I have been on Antabuse for months now, and I feel great. I had to up the dose pretty much so that I could not think about "if I do not take it today, I can drink in only three days maybe". Now I take it two times a day, and a high dose too, so I know it will be a minimum of 5-6 days before I can drink, and thats just long enough so that its not tempting.


Anyway, I worry a bit about Antabuse side effects. Should I be worried? I take about 800mg/day and I do not dare to go any lower.


And as always: Thanks a heap for helping me out when I was a total emo-wreck

[Scandinavian]

Hello all! I am doing good!

Socializing however is still on a bit of a low. I watch more TV and stay more home during weekends. I also go to bars and pubs to meet friends maybe once or twice a month in stead of every weekend. I would say my life in general is much more stable. I dont have crazy much fun with my friends like you have when drinking, and I have to say I miss it a little bit, but the positive aspects of not drinking outweigh that by a darn big far.

I also am much more keen on being out in the nature. It really is great to spend time outdoors, especially on long hikes (with sober friends of course), and come home real tired and relaxed. I also cycle a lot, go to the swimming pool and other "sober" things.


Any other sober activities you people can recommend?

[Struggles 106]

Hello all! I am doing good!

Hey Scandy

You sound great amigo! But 800 mg is a bit much IMHO
125/day works for me. Depending on body size etc there will be effects if you drink alcohol

[Alcoholic]

Hello all! I am doing good!

I'm glad to hear that you are doing well. Your Antabuse dosage is being monitored and prescribed by a reputable physician, I hope?

[Scandinavian]

Hello all! I am doing good!

If anyone know about the potential adverse effects of 800mg Antabuse every day then please advice me.

[Alcoholic]

Hello all! I am doing good!

Potential liver problem

[Scandinavian]

Hello all! I am doing good!

I also read about liver problems from Antabuse. But how big is the risk? Its potential liver problems on 50mg/day also. The potential is always there, but how likely is it? If its 1 in 10.000 then I am willing to risk it. If it is 1 in 500 then not so much so.

[Alcoholic]

Hello all! I am doing good!

Since the FDA only recommends up to 500 mg, it's difficult to know what the risk is for 800 mg.

Plus they never studied it w 800 mg plus alcohol intake of 4 beers.

However, consider the risk of continuing to drink your baseline amount of alcohol without Antabuse.

If I were you, I'd just frequently have my doctor check my liver enzymes then whenever the enzymes increase you may need to make a decision w your doctor about what to do. But the more frequent you have your enzymes checked, the better.

[drinkingal]

Hello all! I am doing good!

Hi scandinavian, I have wondered for ages what happened to you so I am so glad to hear how well you are doing. Are you taking the antabuse under a doctor? I don't know a lot about antabuse but I think you need to find out if the high dosage is really necessary. Some medications can be damaging to the liver and usually the higher the dose the higher the risks for problems so I think it's important you work with a doctor and only take the dose that is needed so you don't put your health at risk.

[Scandinavian]

Hello all! I am doing good!

Problem is I have "experimented" a bit about pushing the limits as to how soon after discontinuing Antabuse I drink, and the effects have not been that terrible at all. Warm feeling, redness of the face, heavy but not fast heartbeats etc. And the effects seemed to lessen due to the anaesthetic properties of alcohol as blood alcohol levels arose.

But on 800mg/day I would not touch half a glass of cider any sooner than at least after five days, so for me a high dose is very effective psychologically.

[Scandinavian]

Hello all! I am doing good!

Drinkingal: Its nice to be remembered! How are you doing lately? I got my Antabuse from my doctor, but I was prescribed 200mg/day and not 800. I have not noticed any adverse effects yet, and I check my liver etc. every year.

[drinkingal]

Hello all! I am doing good!

Scandinavian;1398376 wrote: Problem is I have "experimented" a bit about pushing the limits as to how soon after discontinuing Antabuse I drink, and the effects have not been that terrible at all. Warm feeling, redness of the face, heavy but not fast heartbeats etc. And the effects seemed to lessen due to the anaesthetic properties of alcohol as blood alcohol levels arose.

But on 800mg/day I would not touch half a glass of cider any sooner than at least after five days, so for me a high dose is very effective psychologically.

Hi scandinavian, I'm doing pretty good, I've cut down my drinking a lot but still working at it and trying to make progress, I'm not at my destination yet.

What you are doing really worries me though, you are taking 4x what your doctor prescribed. Is there a way you can commit to taking the 200mg a day, every day without excuses? because even having to delay a day to drink gives you time to reconsider it. Have you been back to your doctor to see if he will increase the dose a little higher?

[Scandinavian]

Hello all! I am doing good!

Drinkingal: When I was on 200mg/day I was constantly thinking "if I do not take my dose today, then I can drink during the weekend and have a blast". But on this high dose which I am now I will have to wait out at lease one weekend, even if I stop on a monday, so its real effective.

I also used to think of "cutting down my drinking" as a way of trying to clear my consciousness a little. Like drinking one less beer than the day before would make a big difference Do you consider Antabuse treatment yourself at the moment?

[drinkingal]

Hello all! I am doing good!

Hi scan, I know what you are saying but I think it's risky to increase your dose like that without your doctor. Look at it this way, now that you've given up drinking, do you want to risk liver damage taking too much of a medication?

"When I was on 200mg/day I was constantly thinking "if I do not take my dose today, then I can drink during the weekend and have a blast"."

But that's like looking for the way out, and when you feel that way I think you need to grab that pill, stuff it in your mouth and say "well, it's done, that option is off the table now". Remember why you are taking it, it's because deep down you know you want to be sober, you wouldn't have gone to the doctor to get it if you wanted to keep drinking, try and hold on to that thought?

I haven't considered antabuse for myself, if I told myself I couldn't drink it would just make me want to drink even more to be honest. I'm just like that, if you tell me I can't do something, then I really want to do it!

ps. Please don't think I'm critizing you scan, I know it might seem like that but I think you are doing really fantastic, and you should be so proud of yourself. I'm just concerned about you, like I would be if I was talking to a friend, I just hope you at least talk to your doctor about the dose you are taking and get his/her opinion on the risks. They may say it's fine and just do liver tests more often, or they might say it's too much but increase your dose to something above 200mg you know? I think it's best to find out if it's risky, or how risky it might be just to be on the safe side :l

[K9Lover]

Hello all! I am doing good!

Hi Scand!

I remember you and wondered what happened...I'm SO glad you're back and that you're doing well. I'm a little concerned also about the high dose of AB, does your doctor know? I'm glad you're staying sober, but please don't ruin your health in other ways. Are you taking anything else that might be making AB less effective? I know high doses of vitamin C can do that.

I'm still taking AB too. I only take 125mg a day. It's enough to deter me from drinking. The couple of times I've experimented it's been complete hell, and I won't do that again!

Please stick around and keep us posted on how you are!

K9