New Miracle Drug??

[johnnyh]

Hi Guys,

My dad who is an alcoholic as well (we could actually start our own AA meeting just consisting of family members ), told me yesterday that he had read about some new drug that that completely negates the effect of Alcohol when drinking. IN other words you drink but don't feel anything and hence helps you kick the habit.

Now I don't know if a) it's bollocks or b) if not whether this has been covered before. (I tried to check through the past 3 pages of posts). Anyone got a clue? It doesn't seem to be one of the regular meds and relatively new? Excuse my ignorance.

Cheers,

[Otter]

New Miracle Drug??

johnnyh;829230 wrote: Hi Guys,

My dad who is an alcoholic as well (we could actually start our own AA meeting just consisting of family members ), told me yesterday that he had read about some new drug that that completely negates the effect of Alcohol when drinking. IN other words you drink but don't feel anything and hence helps you kick the habit.

Now I don't know if a) it's bollocks or b) if not whether this has been covered before. (I tried to check through the past 3 pages of posts). Anyone got a clue? It doesn't seem to be one of the regular meds and relatively new? Excuse my ignorance.

Cheers,

Yes, it is Baclofen in high dosage. It is said to stop craving of alcohol so that you become indifferent to alcohol. You need to look at the Baclofen threads and particularly the consolidated baclofen thread. A doctor called Olivier Ameisen published a book last year called "The End of my Adddiction" in which he describes how alcoholism ruined his life and his career and after doing a lot of research he discovered that Baclofen effectively cured him of alcoholism. Look his name up on Wikipedia. The dosage is important. You have to start low and go up to a high dose at which point you become free of craving and then reduce down to a suitable maintenance dose. The medication has been around for a long time but doctors are not familiar with treating alcoholism with any medication and most don't know anything about baclofen. You can get it over the internet or in some European countries where you can get it without prescription. I don't know what the situation is in South Africa. Follow the threads on Baclofen and you will find where to get it online and the dosages. Since most doctors know nothing about it you will get more information and help on this web site than from your GP.

Hope that helps you get started. People who are using it are saying it works and I spoke to someone in a rehab clinic in England and he says his patients are finding it works.

[johnnyh]

New Miracle Drug??

Hi Otter,

Thanks. I understood Baclofen in terms of reducing craving. I didn't understand that it basically allows you to drink without getting drunk, which was what my father was implying (and seemed physically impossible to me).

But maybe he just read something and interpreted it in the wrong way.

Well thanks!!

[lenaleed]

New Miracle Drug??

He may have been reading about naltrexone. There is a misperception in the medical community that naltrexone works this way. While, for some, the "first drink effect" is diminished, this is not the important mechanism of naltrexone. If you take naltrexone one hour before each drinking session, over a period of several weeks or months the neural pathways that cause addictive drinking are weakened. If you are interested, look for threads on the Sinclair Method here.

[Henrietta]

New Miracle Drug??

I agree with Lenaleed, they are probably talking about Naltrexone. I've actually seen some reports in the media that refer to it as a miracle pill. And it is often prescribed the exact wrong way that it should be. Patients are told to take Naltrexone and then NOT to drink. For some, their cravings are diminished enough that they can stay sober. But for many more, the effectiveness of Naltrexone only works for a week or two, then they drink on it and are playing a chaotic cycle of slip ups and guilt. For those who are further instructed not to take it if they plan to drink, the drug actually starts rewarding your brain when you slip up. Sinclair is definitely the way to go if you choose Naltrexone. But just be cautioned, success it not guaranteed and it's certainly not a miracle. The method takes several months and is supposed to work through a process called extinction. Many people, including myself, did well on Sinclair but never progressed beyond a certain plateau. I went nearly 7 months on Naltrexone and never completely kicked the cravings. Baclofen finally did that for me.

[gyco]

New Miracle Drug??

hi john,i beleive there are a few of them out there,toprimate,campral,antabuse,naltrexone,vivatr ex injected,rimonabert,odansetrin,kudzu,and antidepressents which are commonly used,from the depression ,brot on by chronic use of Al and drug abuse,not counting the over the counter abuse of drugs,it is a vicious circle we bring on ourselves, but i beleive like long term Al abuse,there will be side effects eventually with log term use,of these so called cures,i think the old saying is playing devils advicate,dammed if you do,and dammed if you dont,like drinking and drugging,the feeling to use,one has to find the same feeling without,hope it helps,gyco

[johnnyh]

New Miracle Drug??

Thanks guys for the responses.

Guess I should challenge my dad to actually find out where he got the article and find out what the name was so I can give him some more insight. Naltroxene I thought as well could be it. But I actually mentioned that (I think I did) to him and it didn't ring a bell in relation to the article.

Gyco, I so agree with you. Using Antabuse but am thinking as well, surely in the long term this has got to have negative effect on my body as well and so do all the other "miracle" and "non miracle" drugs. Hoping in the long term i'll get a plan together to stay sober without supplements. But would only contemplate that once I got over the 1 year hurdle or so. And i'm on 16 days at the moment so talking about even 30 days seems ambitious at this stage

Thanks for posting and please continue to shed light on the above issue!!!!