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Alcoholics told to keep drinking

N

not special

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Dec 18, 2006
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REBECCA TODD
The Press
04/11/2010

Doctors are telling severe alcoholics needing help to keep drinking because there is a shortage of acute detoxification beds in the South Island, specialists say.

A Canterbury doctor, who asked not to be named, said he had dealt with several patients who wanted to stop drinking but could not do so safely unless in a hospital or a detox unit.

He said the Kennedy Detoxification Unit at Hillmorton Hospital, which serviced the South Island, was either full or would not accept emergency cases.

Heavy drinkers could suffer from seizures and delirium while detoxing, so if no beds were available he would tell them to keep drinking.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/4305638/Alcoholics-told-to-keep-drinking
 
Well, if it's keeping 'em from dying... then hell, perhaps it's not such a terrible thing? :/

Doctors put recovering opiate addicts on tapering doses of opioids, so why not try the same thing with booze?
 
in the uk alcoholics can claim some money(of the gov) to spend on booze :|
 
smackncheese said:
Well, if it's keeping 'em from dying... then hell, perhaps it's not such a terrible thing? :/

Doctors put recovering opiate addicts on tapering doses of opioids, so why not try the same thing with booze?
Click to expand...

I think you'd probably see a lot of them end up consuming their dose early to get drunk, or continuing to buy elsewhere and drinking on top of it.

Would be good if they could invent a methadone equivelant for alcohol, something long lasting but less recreational that could be administered daily to allow patients to avoid W/D's.
 
Crankinit said:
Would be good if they could invent a methadone equivelant for alcohol, something long lasting but less recreational that could be administered daily to allow patients to avoid W/D's.
Click to expand...

sorta:

combo of
4qsdz.png
ALKS-133 and
220px-%28%C2%B1%29-Baclofen_Enantiomers_Structural_Formulae.png
baclofen. The first is a derivative of naltrexone that I wanna look into a bit more closely.

Anyway yeah baclofen will quench the withdrawal and soothe the jitters. Some people say it's mildly recreational. The opioid antagonist is peppered in to dicky with the brain's reward pathway.
 
smackncheese said:
Well, if it's keeping 'em from dying... then hell, perhaps it's not such a terrible thing? :/

Doctors put recovering opiate addicts on tapering doses of opioids, so why not try the same thing with booze?
Click to expand...

That's pretty much what they do in this situation - off course many people will continue to drink far more alcohol than it would take to prevent them from having seizures or going into DT and there's no way to prevent that in an uncontrolled environment.

And there are various drugs which were designed for dealing with alcohol abuse. Naltrexone and disulfiram are two of them. Naltrexone is available in implant form here as well as in depot form but while it blocks the effects of alcohol (whereas disulfiram produces a nasty interaction when combined with alcohol) there's some controversy about whether it's more effective over the long term if people continue to drink while taking it than if they're abstinent.

The demand for detox/rehab places will probably always outstrip demand, especially while courts continue to order people to them reducing the number of places available to those who are seeking voluntary placement.
 
Lolie said:
That's pretty much what they do in this situation - off course many people will continue to drink far more alcohol than it would take to prevent them from having seizures or going into DT and there's no way to prevent that in an uncontrolled environment.

And there are various drugs which were designed for dealing with alcohol abuse. Naltrexone and disulfiram are two of them. Naltrexone is available in implant form here as well as in depot form but while it blocks the effects of alcohol (whereas disulfiram produces a nasty interaction when combined with alcohol) there's some controversy about whether it's more effective over the long term if people continue to drink while taking it than if they're abstinent.

The demand for detox/rehab places will probably always outstrip demand, especially while courts continue to order people to them reducing the number of places available to those who are seeking voluntary placement.
Click to expand...

neither of those drugs will prevent seizures, they are things to stop people who have given up alcohol from going back, NOT detox drugs for people in withdrawl e.g diazepam/chlordiazepoxide

alcohol withdrawl is very serious:\
 
i think they can be registered as disabled, allowing them funds for more alcohol.
 
droogz said:
in the uk alcoholics can claim some money(of the gov) to spend on booze :|
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Better for a person to get a little government money to fund their drinking and drugging rather than that person having to resort to criminal activity to feed their habit, imho.
 
Even Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob gave some beer to chronic alcoholics in their care who were suffering severe withdrawals. Cold turkey can kill.
 
smackncheese said:
Better for a person to get a little government money to fund their drinking and drugging rather than that person having to resort to criminal activity to feed their habit, imho.
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The two are identical. Instead of the alcoholic directly taking unearned money to fund his or her habit, the government forcibly takes unearned money from the taxpayers, and the money ends up in the same place.

Actually, the latter is worse. An alcoholic has to pull off a crime with his or her own drunk ass, and they're working against the government. The government, OTOH, is backed by an entire army.
 
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