Antabuse and Cooking

[MaxRay]

Hi there,

I am new here and had a question about antabuse. I just started taking it and hear mixed things. Well, I have read things, but as with anything online you often get extremes. :-)

I am wondering about cooking and right now particularly about vinegar. Some places say no way no how can you have vinegar and some say it really doesn't have any effect on them. Does anyone have any personal experience with this?

[mollyka]

Antabuse and Cooking

Hi Max
Yeah I have read that too, em I think its probably vinegar as in red wine vinegar , white wine vinegar etc. also stuff like some breath fresheners with alcohol, wine sauces etc. Reading between the lines I'm guessing its the amount you use and the amount of antabuse you are on. At christmas, I was using a tablet a day of antabuse and genuinely accidentaly picked up my friends glass of sparkling wine instead of soda and lime and had a good gulp before I realised what it was, but nothing happened. I'm not medical in any way just passing on my experience, but I am careful about alcohol in food

[MaxRay]

Antabuse and Cooking

Thanks Mollyka! It's such a bummer having to worry about it, you know? I wish I didn't have to take this, but I already know I would be drinking right now if I didn't!

I am going to be cautious and see what other have to say.

For me, I did notice cologne really bothered me even if I sprayed it on my shirt. I felt really itchy. Now, it could have been in my head, but I will just go without for awhile. :-)

[Cinders]

Antabuse and Cooking

MaxRay,

I am an Antabuse loser, it did not "work" for me because I chose to start playing with it and try to get off it long enough to drink for a couple of days, etc, etc, etc.

However, I can answer your question from my experience.

I never got sick from using deodorant, hair spray, cosmetics in any form.

I ate lots of salad with balsamic vinegar, and other vinegars and never got sick.

I did, however, get inhumanly sick when I tried to drink alcohol while taking it.

Not a good idea at all.

Now, I say all this because it was MY personal experience. You just might get sick from deodorant, hair spray, salad dressings whatever.

I did not.

I can tell you from the bottom of my heart and soul. DO NOT DRINK while you are taking Antabuse and that means for 2 - 3 weeks after your last pill.

The body's response is not pretty. I mean, absolutely not pretty.

I wanted to die.

Really.

Don't drink.

Cindi

[MaxRay]

Antabuse and Cooking

Thanks Cindi!

I really appreciate the honest response. I read a very informed article, that I now cannot find that pretty much stated what you stated, but the personal touch of your experience is invaluable. It's good to get those reminders over and over because I can see myself doing this for a week then trying to figure out a way to get off of it so I can drink! Don't want to go there. The two-week lag time is precisely what I need because between my desire to drink and the time I actually can, I will have decided again not to drink. At least that is the theory.

MaxRay

[spedteach]

Antabuse and Cooking

Hey Max,
I've been on Antabuse for months and have been sober for months. The 2 week lag time does the trick for me. I take a low dose, half a pill every other day but I take it religiously. Toss it in my mouth along with the vitamins, calcium, all the other stuff I take.
I have never had a reaction to any kind of vinegar, even red wine vinegar. In wine sauces, they are usually reduced and the alcohol is destroyed thru cooking.
I have drunk a few days after taking A. I became very uncomfortable, flushed, palpitations. shaky, headache. Don't think my dose is high enough to have a reaction like Cinders described. But right now this drug is providing a means to stay sober for longer than I have been in almost 20 years.
Good luck.

[Popeye]

Antabuse and Cooking

I was on antabuse for about 10 months and it worked for me. I was warned to be very careful about what I ate and what I put on my skin (aftershaves and deodorants etc) as a lot of things that you may not think of contain some alcohol and there would be some reaction if any got into my system. Just after I started taking Antabuse I made the mistake of eating some Christmas pudding which contained a little brandy and was quite sick for an hour or so but apart from that little learning experience I was fine. You just need to read the labels and be aware of what you eat, drink and put on your skin. There are substitutes for most things out there, you just have to look (quite hard sometimes).
If you're cooking with wine or vinegar, any alcohol will evaporate and shouldn't be a problem, but I avoid the risk by avoiding the ingredient.

[beatle]

Antabuse and Cooking

Like Cindi, I never had any reactions to food or cosmetics on antabuse. I found this out by my own stupidity (forgetting to check labels) and also because one time I was at the doctor to get a shot and the doctor wiped me with an alcohol swab before I could stop him-- no reaction. But each person is different, of course.

Another thing I did was to abuse antabuse. I tapered down to a quarter of a pill per day, and found I could drink up to 3 glasses of wine at this dose. When my system started to react (I would feel a flush coming on), I would stop drinking.

The problem with this scenario is when you go beyond the 3 glasses... and forget about the antabuse in your system (which is easy to do after 3 glassesuch, well, you end up in the ER.

[MaxRay]

Antabuse and Cooking

Wow! Thanks everyone! All this is so helpful! Spedteach, thanks for the tips about every other day because I was thinking of doing that. No reason to put in extra chemicals that I don't exactly need. Since I prepare vitamins for the week I can toss them into the bunch. Also, on my medical insurance the antabuse is kind of expensive, so any way to save a bit of money is good, too! Of course I keep thinking of all the money I am saving not buying wine every day and am blown away!

This is so helpful. Thanks so much!