Naltrexone and odd SE's ???

[stumpy]

Hi Everyone, I have been sober for a few weeks and now my Doctor wants me to try Naltrexone, well I tried one eight on Saturday, that's half of a fourth. I had aweful side effects the next day, a little dizzy, some anxiety, headache and I was irritable. Has anyone else gone through this? I'm not sure I want to try it again.

[dexterhead]

Naltrexone and odd SE's ???

Hi Stumpy: I've been on Naltrexone (the standard dose, 50 mg I think?) for about 3 weeks. The main thing I noticed at first was some nausea, but that went away. For the first week or so, it did decrease my intake, which I understand is a "honeymoon phase." Now I'm pretty much back where I was.

[stumpy]

Naltrexone and odd SE's ???

Hi Dexterhead, I haven't been drinking so I asked my doctor why he wanted to put me on this med? he said for extra reinforcement..I thought that you need to drink in order for this med to work, right? Thanks for your answers. As for your dinking creeping back up, that's normal from what I read. The first week or so is called a honeymoon period, that's actually promising for you. Read about it.

[YouKayBee]

Naltrexone and odd SE's ???

stumpy;1389479 wrote: Hi Dexterhead, I haven't been drinking so I asked my doctor why he wanted to put me on this med? he said for extra reinforcement..I thought that you need to drink in order for this med to work, right? Thanks for your answers. As for your dinking creeping back up, that's normal from what I read. The first week or so is called a honeymoon period, that's actually promising for you. Read about it.

Depends, some Drs prescribe it with abstenance and some people do find it helps, I have recently seen something which suggests in 17% of cases it's better than placebo. The Sinclair Method is supposed to be much more effective long term in that it teaches control and eliminates the cravings. Sometimes to the point where the person decides they can actually go AF.

Dexterhead yeah going back to original levels of drinking is all part of the process I'm afraid, but initial honeymoon is a very good sign.

I get headaches and feel ill after drinking with Nal, and my tolerance for alcohol has come down markedly but if I take it without drinking I don't notice this. Generally the 'Nalover' puts TSMers off drinking full stop, which is a good thing in a way!

[StuckinLA]

Naltrexone and odd SE's ???

Never tried nal myself, so perhaps I should be sitting quietly instead of chiming in... But yeah, docs in the US will prescribe for craving-reduction during abstinence. They will not prescribe for the Sinclair Method (TSM), as they don't think it works or they don't know about it. Docs here do like it for "harm reduction," though, as that's kind of a new direction for treatment these days it seems. And I guess it's been shown to reduce the risk of a slip turning into a relapse or a bender or whatever.

Some people do feel like it decreases cravings on its own, even without TSM. Others not so much. But a couple issues either way:

It blocks a lot of pleasurable rewards from a lot of things, and just me personally I don't like the sound of that. But like I said I have no experience with it so please correct me if I'm wrong.

You'll need lots and lots and lots of pain meds if you're ever in a car accident or break your leg or something. It blocks opiate based everything.

I believe, and again correct me if I'm wrong, but it's only prescribed for alcoholism. Not anxiety or depression or anything like that. So it would then go on your record, and that's one of those things you don't want as a preexisting condition when it comes to insurance companies or even the healthcare system in general.

Hope this helps. Or at least raises questions that you can raise with others who know more than me. All the best.

[YouKayBee]

Naltrexone and odd SE's ???

StuckinLA;1389558 wrote: Never tried nal myself, so perhaps I should be sitting quietly instead of chiming in... But yeah, docs in the US will prescribe for craving-reduction during abstinence. They will not prescribe for the Sinclair Method (TSM), as they don't think it works or they don't know about it. Docs here do like it for "harm reduction," though, as that's kind of a new direction for treatment these days it seems. And I guess it's been shown to reduce the risk of a slip turning into a relapse or a bender or whatever.

Some people do feel like it decreases cravings on its own, even without TSM. Others not so much. But a couple issues either way:

It blocks a lot of pleasurable rewards from a lot of things, and just me personally I don't like the sound of that. But like I said I have no experience with it so please correct me if I'm wrong.

You'll need lots and lots and lots of pain meds if you're ever in a car accident or break your leg or something. It blocks opiate based everything.

I believe, and again correct me if I'm wrong, but it's only prescribed for alcoholism. Not anxiety or depression or anything like that. So it would then go on your record, and that's one of those things you don't want as a preexisting condition when it comes to insurance companies or even the healthcare system in general.

Hope this helps. Or at least raises questions that you can raise with others who know more than me. All the best.

Yes it does block opiates but actually pouring lots of pain relief in after an accident is not the right thing to do. I have a card I carry with me with instructions for medics which says to use non-opiate based analgesia where possible and if not then careful titration is required to avoid overdosing(because otherwise they'd just use too much before getting a response), which would shut down respiratory system.

It isn't only prescribed for alcoholism, it's original use was with drug addicts to prevent them feeling anything from cocaine or heroine.

It can leave your mood a bit flat, but I've still been able to enjoy most things in life most of the time - prior to nal alcohol meant my life was rubbish, and it depressed me, left me unable to enjoy the things I do enjoy(like I couldn't even do them, or was hung over/depressed from the alcohol, or my taste buds were affected by alcohol) ten times more than Nal's effects. With time under TSM you tend to drink less and less so you are no longer taking Nal daily. On the days you do not take nal the opiate receptors recover and you can actually have a rebound effect where you feel more pleasure from doing things you enjoy during this time. In this way you can retrain yourself. I did hear someone say it affected their enjoyment of food but it hasn't done that for me, in fact I'm now trying to sort out a binge eating problem seems just having Nal in my system from drinking sessions hasn't stopped me from going crazy on chocolate or icecream regularly.

I personally wouldn't like Nal in my system 365, but like I say it's not required and it's not that bad. I've yet to see someone report that it made their life a misery, I have heard of a guy who found it broke his porn addiction and I'm trying to directly break my binge eating using it - but that's being very direct with it. I drink once every 7-8 days, do sometimes take nal on other days if I think I might drink but most of the time I don't.

[dexterhead]

Naltrexone and odd SE's ???

It's so hard to know what is caused by Nal, what's caused by alcohol abuse, and what is caused by depression. My mood is very flat and blah. I am still somewhat unclear on the differences between why U.S. docs prescribe Nal and the Sinclair Method.

[YouKayBee]

Naltrexone and odd SE's ???

dexterhead;1390024 wrote: It's so hard to know what is caused by Nal, what's caused by alcohol abuse, and what is caused by depression. My mood is very flat and blah. I am still somewhat unclear on the differences between why U.S. docs prescribe Nal and the Sinclair Method.

hmm, I really started to notice once the number of days drinking reduced. Nal gives me a sort of 'flatness', alcohol in excess (and sometimes now in combination with nal) gave me crippling depression, self-hate and paranoia. Some of that is still there but it's manageable without the gallons of booze.

[stumpy]

Naltrexone and odd SE's ???

Hi Everyone, thank you so much for your answers. Is it wise to just take Nal if you know that you are going to be in a tempting situation? Or must I start low and ad more every couple of days and then pop my dosage when out and about? it's so confusing because the on eighth of a pill that I did take made me feel spacy and really weird the next day. Thank you again for the replies.

[YouKayBee]

Naltrexone and odd SE's ???

stumpy;1390292 wrote: Hi Everyone, thank you so much for your answers. Is it wise to just take Nal if you know that you are going to be in a tempting situation? Or must I start low and ad more every couple of days and then pop my dosage when out and about? it's so confusing because the on eighth of a pill that I did take made me feel spacy and really weird the next day. Thank you again for the replies.

It's up to you some people like to start low and increase up to 50mg, I went straight in no problems - others get sick drinking on it first time. The sickness side effects appear to go away fairly rapidly.

If I think I'm going to drink I take the pill, some say you MUST then drink on it. I don't take that approach, often I find I don't actually want to or don't end up drinking and that's fine because any AF time in my books is good. It hasn't harmed my success.

Sometimes just having to wait the hour can make you realise you don't actually want to drink that much.

[stumpy]

Naltrexone and odd SE's ???

UKblonde, thank you, I have read your story. I was hoping you would answer me. So, I've been AF for about three weeks now and many on and off weeks before that. I tried one 4th of Nal on August 27th Dr.'s orders and I couldn't stomach the wine after one glass. I also didn't think of having another one the next day, maybe because that was suppose to be my quit date. I'll try it again. BTW I'm a smoker and the Nal made my desire to smoke go away as well. I just remember being dizzy the next day, I hear that's normal. If I only take the Nal once in a blue moon, how will my body get used to it? I'm sorry for the ramble.