Antabuse Experiences

[Michael_25]

I just got this prescribed by my GP. I told him I want to sober up and he agrees that my 2-nights-a-week binge drinking is fucking my liver over. He told me even taking a sip from a beer will have me keeling over the toilet, puking my fucking brains out. I just want to know other BLers' experience with this anti-alcohol drug.

 

[Lobsterbutch]

It'll give you incentive not to drink when you take it, I've been told its painful as all hell if you do drink on it, or at least try to drink on it.

The main problem with antabuse is: If you really want to drink, all you have to do is NOT take the antabuse and wait. Its success is mainly based on the idea that you take it regularly or whenever you're going to be around alcohol or tempted to drink. You can drink with no problem if you dont take it.

I guess it kinda goes with the saying that all addicts will hear, "you wont be able to change until you really want to change". If you don't really want to change and stop drinking, antabuse wont keep you from it. It might for a little while, when you do take it, but all you have to do is not take it and you're clear to drink.

It'd work best if you take it, for example, before going out to see friends at a place that will have drinking or a strong temptation to drink, like a ball game at a buddy's house or restaurant that serves booze, or a family dinner where people are drinking, or whatever. Times when you don't want to drink, but you're worried about the situation tempting you to drink, and you're worried that the temptation will be too great and you'll cave. Take antabuse before it, and you'll have the ghost of violent sickness haunting each thought you have of taking a drink. And in the event you say "fuck it" and decide to take a drink, you'll be puking until you're dry heaving. The hangover without the intoxication. I guess its a shot at negative reinforcement, every time you drink you get violent pukes so eventually you wont want to drink.

But it'll only work well if you take it. You can beat it by ignoring the pill bottle in your cabinet.

Also, Antabuse isn't going to do anything about cravings or other psychological urges to drink and seek out drinking/excuses to drink. It also wont really do anything about physical aspects of drinking/alcoholism, but since you're a weekend binger I really dont think you'll have any withdrawal. It just makes drinking painful, but you'll still want to, and you'll still think about it.

 

[Volsam]

I highly recommend to add Acetylcysteine and Taurine daily in larger dose in addition to Antabuse.
I have been trying to help couple of my friends with their alcohol problem and it helps with cravings they say. Also addition of low dose Memantine might work but its questionable.

Interestingly enough there is also a mushroom that grows wildly pretty much everywhere and is known as Coprinopsis atramentaria (also Ink Cap) and contains Corpine, which also work in the same way as Disulfram (Antabuse) by blocking the acetaldehyde dehydrogenaze enzyme, converting booze into toxic, irritant and possibly carcinogen acetaldehyde pretty much right away, only giving you nasty hangover.

For quicker alcohol detoxing I cannot recommend enough Emoxypine - really does wonders and makes you sober and ready to go a lot quicker. May be taken prior to alcohol consumption as well to reduce the toxic effect afterwards.

 

[xivixive]

re: emoxypine ....when the wiki page says "not approved for medical use in the usa", does that mean it can't be prescribed or ordered legally in the states?

re: antabuse ...does it help with the physical part of detox if you're an alcoholic? or is it just a preventitive measure to stop people not yet there.

sorry if this is derailing, at 18-24 beers a day been thinking i should cut back myself.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Antabuse is only for keeping people off alcohol after they have detoxed. DO NOT take it if one is currently using or detoxing booze.

Baclofen is something that is worth looking into, as is naltrexone. Antabuse is a fairly antiquated treatment now. It’s good for the people it works for, but it’s a pretty barbaric treatment and naltrexone is almost certainly preferable. Baclofen works different from both, and has its own pros cons and limitations, but it’s also fairly effective given its scope.

Given what you shared with us OP, look into naltrexone/Vivitrol.

Gonna move this to SL. Ftr SL doesn’t require not using or total abstinence to be a part of the community, we only ask for people there to take an interest in their health and wellbring, to orient around recovery.

OD->SL

 

[aihfl]

I got prescribed Antabuse at one point. I took it and still drank on it even though it made me sick. It does absolutely nothing to help with AUD except make you sick if you drink. It does not help with craving and it does nothing for the underlying psychiatric issues that often underlies AUD. OP mentions that he binges two nights/week. In context, that's actually not all that bad (when I binged I would be drunk for weeks on end), so perhaps Antabuse can give you that extra incentive not to drink. But for someone who is physically dependent and/or self-medicating symptoms of other psychiatric disorders (rendering the person incapable or unlikely to not drink), Antabuse can be dangerous.