4 ms·

After struggling with alcoholism for decades I used Naltrexone to stop drinking five or six years ago. It wasn't a simple taper but when I had my last drink it

After struggling with alcoholism for decades I used Naltrexone to stop drinking five or six years ago. It wasn't a simple taper but when I had my last drink it was easier to walk away from than anything I could have ever imagined before I did it.

toomuchtodo 9y ago
Thank you for posting this; it'll help me help someone who is a self destructive alcoholic.
- Quequau 9y ago
  If it helps I used the treatment program outlined in the "sinclair method" which I found online and bought his book off Amazon. In the country I now live in, using Naltrexone in this way isn't exactly unheard of but it was definitely not the status quo treatment program. The docs that I found to prescribe it for me really wanted me to subject myself to antabuse (Disulfiram) which is a profoundly sadistic strategy that creates a major sensitivity / negative reaction to even small amounts of alcohol that can be incredibly distressing and even life threatening. Naltrexone on the other hand simply took away most of the euphoric experience I was getting from drinking and after a 4-6 weeks of using it every time I drank, I quit after a night of heavy drinking and morning of regret. After decades of quitting only to find myself drawn back to it, it was a profoundly liberating experience to actually be sober and not want a drink at all. It still is actually (though in a different sort of way). I have to say that drinking while taking Naltrexone was a pretty weird experience because many of the signals I'd grown accustomed to for gauging my intoxication were muted... so I "felt" kinda sober but at the same time clearly was not. I think if there is a major risk in this it's possibility of deciding to drive because of "feeling sober". So that's the thing I think people need to be really cautious about.

4 ms·

After struggling with alcoholism for decades I used Naltrexone to stop drinking five or six years ago. It wasn't a simple taper but when I had my last drink it

by Quequau 9y ago

toomuchtodo 9y ago
Thank you for posting this; it'll help me help someone who is a self destructive alcoholic.
- Quequau 9y ago
  If it helps I used the treatment program outlined in the "sinclair method" which I found online and bought his book off Amazon. In the country I now live in, using Naltrexone in this way isn't exactly unheard of but it was definitely not the status quo treatment program. The docs that I found to prescribe it for me really wanted me to subject myself to antabuse (Disulfiram) which is a profoundly sadistic strategy that creates a major sensitivity / negative reaction to even small amounts of alcohol that can be incredibly distressing and even life threatening. Naltrexone on the other hand simply took away most of the euphoric experience I was getting from drinking and after a 4-6 weeks of using it every time I drank, I quit after a night of heavy drinking and morning of regret. After decades of quitting only to find myself drawn back to it, it was a profoundly liberating experience to actually be sober and not want a drink at all. It still is actually (though in a different sort of way). I have to say that drinking while taking Naltrexone was a pretty weird experience because many of the signals I'd grown accustomed to for gauging my intoxication were muted... so I "felt" kinda sober but at the same time clearly was not. I think if there is a major risk in this it's possibility of deciding to drive because of "feeling sober". So that's the thing I think people need to be really cautious about.