Kudzu as a treatment for alcoholism
You’ve made the decision to cut down on your drinking. At this point, you may be wondering “is there anything that I can take that could help me with my cravings?”
Currently a few drugs are popular for the treatment of alcoholism – Naltrexone, Acamprosate, and Disulfiram. None are always effective or appropriate.
Common side effects include diarrhoea, dyspepsia (indigestion), headache, nausea and vomiting, rash, and itching. More severe side effects have been associated with these drugs which cause suspicion as to whether they are doing more harm than good.
The pharmaceutical industry has little to offer for keeping alcoholics sober. Herbal medicines, on the other hand, have shown more promising and dramatic results. However, for profiteering reasons, it is not likely that drug companies or your doctor will provide herbal alternatives.
The herb Kudzu can cut consumption of alcohol in half perfectly safely without the side effects of drugs. It has been used to reduce drinking in China since 600 A.D. Scientists have found the herb to be effective in reducing alcohol intake in rats.
Recently, studies have shown evidence that Kudzu can reduce drinking in humans. Essentially, kudzu increases blood alcohol concentration so that people need less alcohol to feel its effects. People feel satisfied on fewer drinks.
So, where can you find some? David Lee, a chemist on the McLean Hospital research team did assays on a variety of kudzu herb extracts from stores and websites and found that many of these products contained less than 1 percent of active kudzu, and thus were ineffective. Higher concentrations are needed – around 30-40 percent of one of Kudzu’s active ingredients (puerarin) is advised. Please be aware that the Kudzu capsules available in Holland & Barrett are only 7%. The tincture they sell is of course alcohol based (all tinctures are), at roughly 60% alcohol.
We’ve reviewed a number of online Kudzu suppliers, and this is the best we could find:
Or read some more information about Kudzu.
Alternatively you can try Liv.52 – a herbal supplement proven to protect the liver from the damaging effects of alcohol. It assists in the process of detoxification also, in that it speeds up the elimination of acetaldehyde (which means your hangovers won’t be quite so nasty).
Hi Jen–
I am dark haired so NOT me! I also live on the other end, South of 5th St. I have not drank in about 35 days or so I think. I do not drink often at all anymore. I will be drinking this weekend as I have a date with a really cute 25 year old puerto rican guy. But I WILL be taking my 25mg of naltrexone ahead of time.
As for me and vicodin–well it is kind of like I always told people, I am ONLY addicted to alcohol. I do not have addictive tendencies outside of alcohol and cigarettes (which I have managed to largely stay off of the last few years but for during heavy benders). I always say no to percocet, percodan, vicodin, all opiates really and have panicked the two times I took exctasy (once by choice second time my friend slipped it in my drink and I was so mad). I actually get panicky anytime I get high on anything. I hate smoking marijuana always have, hate cocaine and panic and think I am dying, have taken just about all non-injection drugs and have hated them. I DO like xanax and other GABA binding medication like barbiturates and benzos but that is normal as they affect the same thing alcohol does. I am naturally hyper and nervous so I do wonder if I am not self-medicating and masking a generalised anxiety disorder at times. That said I know I get a rush with alcohol, it is really the ONLY substance I have NO control over once I take it in a quantity that overrides my brain-chemistry.
As for you I am not really sure. I do worry that Naltrexone may not work for you only for two reasons. Firstly your ability to enjoy general narcotics/drugs shows you have an “addict” personality but because you cross-use it could be more a psychological than chemical issue with you. This is kind of what I have suspected with you before which was the second reason, namely you can control your drinking to some degree by sheer willpower. Naltrexone is well worth the try but I do wonder with you. I think you are like where I was at 18 when I was drinking the vodka and perhaps your brain-chemistry has yet to “turn” alcoholic. Then it is all the better if the Naltrexone works you could head it off before it starts.
As to why you no longer get the “high” I think it may well have to do with your alcohol use. Alcohol is a depressant after you drink and over time alcohol abusers suffer chronic depression so something that would make you “happy” by binding to your dopamine receptors as opiates do may not be enough to get you “up” anymore because you are starting at a lower base level. That would be my chemical guess but it could also be that the novelty wore off. I think though, knowing your depression and insomnia, it is probably a chronic depressive state induced by alcohol that causes this.
Anyway let me know when you get the Naltrexone and how it goes!
Hugs to all!
hey hopeless, yeah i was pretty sure that lady wasnt you just had to ask. maybe the OLD you! i definitely have an addict personality. for sure. but i also think i definitely am an alcoholic, chemistry wise. its all in my family. and ive seen it progress exactly to the tee of the way an alcoholic is described. exactttly. i hoobvnestly feelthe only reason the naltrexone wouldnt work is because i decide not to take it often. i obviosally have issues and crave the high. and im pretty positive naltrxone takes that away. its very immature considering all the harm alcohol gives me. but if i do it right , id see how great i feel and not want to go back to the alcoholic me im SURE. that temporary good feeling wouldnt matter once i get out of the alcoholic mess. im pretty damn low though so i think ill do it right. gosh i hope. naltrexone is my last hope other than that i might have to try aa. i truly hope it works. talk to you soon, and good luck with everything
Jen it is not immature, it is the addict in us. I also have chosen NOT to take Naltrexone knowing full well that it helps me. It is just something you will have to probably do a couple of times and then you will see you PREFER to be ok with drinking than a mess who drank.
hey guys.. kat kat where are ya?! dont mean to complain again, but this friend of mine asked to stay with me for two weeks till she gets an apartment, and i dreaded it because she knows i have an alcohol problem but hadnt seen yet how bad it is. she knows i get to drunk etc like the old me, but hasnt seen the drinking pretty much nightly me. i tried like an idiot to hide it from her one night and kept the drinks in the other room. kept sneaking back for more. the next day woke up in my bed with a foggy memory of the end of the night worried she knew. but nothing was said. then the next night i drank before she came and only a little when she was there. again nothing said. third day i didnt drink but smoked just a tiny bit of pot. i never smoke. maybe once every few weeeks, i dont like it to much, just makes me sleep easier. i said to her, sorry just smoked in case im acting weird. she went on then-saying something like, ” oh please, ur acting normal, i cant even tell your high compared to the way youve been lately! youve been acting weird because your drinking so much, i can always tell when your drinking. you act annoying..etc etc” i then felt so stupid. like the time i tried to hide it from her, she knew im sure. and the other stupid feeling is that she surely assumes not im doing this nightly. like i said, ive gotten bad this year. i was not this bad before this. im just sooo embarassed. to be thought of as an alcoholic and i cannot stop thinkign of what she thinks of me. i dont even value our friendship all that much, shes not the best friend. its just i worry and obsess like CRAZY with the people i know, i have like some type fo anxiety i believe. its like obsessing over things that u shouldnt be that worried about. of course anyone would feel embarassed, but it happened two nights ago and its constantly on my mind, making me feel terrible. thats the other part that sucks about being an alcoholic. you suffer with your own physicak and mental struggles, but you then have to deal with the way people around u may think of you. well yesteday i called her and she actually said she was in the library and found a book i might like, it was titled something like how to stop drinking, and it was memoir s of a lady she said. something like that. it made me feel a little better like she cares a little. she understands addiction as shes very intelligent. which is why shes never said to me, STOP DRINKING USE SOME WILLPOWER. but either way it kills me for anyone to know.
it kills me so much i went home last night and didnt drink. and today feel mostly repulsed by it also. which si rare for mem to feel. im going to call up my sober friend who never drinks and see if i can go to her house tonight to watch some tv. bc lately i have this girlfriend who has bipolar and is going throgh her manic stage we think. shes constnatly i mean daily asking me to go out to either dinner or bars. DAILY. she even said she d pay for me to eat since im cmoing out so often but she doesnt want to go home to her bf and wawnts to just be OUT. i need to get some bals and say no.. once a week maybe but not five nights a week!
thats my problem.. i dont have balls, im to nice, and im a people pleaser. i am very excited for the natlrexone but dont want to get m y hopes up just in case it doesnt work for me for some reason.
talk to ya later!
Jen-people usually know more than we can tell. You realise that when we are drunk people just know and then they attribute it to your problem. I have an extremely good friend and she really does not know she laughs when I tell her I have a problem telling me my problem is that I cannot handle my booze. I have never told her of my week long benders etc but I have stayed at her home and have hit her alcohol stash–and then lied about it. Once I drank nearly a bottle of her cognac, which I hate, but told her that it was “too close to the stove and must have evaporated” and she believed it. That said most people know when you are actively drinking–so do not fool yourself. You really need to get your Naltrexone as it is a relief when you can control it!
As for asserting yourself, well that goes often with alcohol abuse. We tend to have lower self-esteem and as such tend to want to please people so as not to get into confrontations and be insulted so as to further hurt our fragile self-esteem. It takes time and patience to gain that back!
Wow, I cant believe you told your friend those things! its funny but its not right? lol yes i found as soon as i started drinking much more people knew , everyonea round me knew. two people said my behavior was “weird” and then quickly later found it was bc i was drinking. i was surprised when i would be around my dad at night and at first he had no idea, he thought i was on drugs.. he said i dont know coll uve been acting weird since the accident. but the truth is, my alcoholism became worse since then. ( the beginning of my bf where we started drinking daily) my dad has always known i have alcohol problem but didnt know it was daily, just thought it was once or twice a week as he used to know it. been checkin the mail for the naltrexone. wher is katie? i cant believe how no one posts on here. have a good day ,off to my cleaning /house keeping job.
How many pills of kudzu do you take a day?
Thank You, Carol
2 750mG twice per day.
CNN did a good story on the science of addiction. Dr. Gupta discussed the medications available and followed some people. The scientific community is clearly accepting the brain chemistry explanation. On April 15th, CNN did a story where Dr. Mark Willenbring of the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse stated the following: “Alcohol has reached a point similar to depression reached 30 years ago when the development of Prozac and other anti-depressants took mental health care out of the asylum and put it in homes and doctor’s offices. There will be a Prozac moment when primary care doctors start handling functional alcoholics.” Overall, it seems that the experts are critical of the standard treatment centers for not using the brain chemical medications. The argument against is that it is “not very effective”. Well, if it helped even 2% of the people who need it (26 million Americans), that’s a lot of people. I personally prefer proven natural alternatives to a drug.
Jen
heres the link to the brighteye forum or theres a link near the top of this page on the right hand side under “List of all articles”
theres lots of people posting who can help and support you. They are a fantastic bunch. good luck xx
http://www.brighteyecounselling.co.uk/alcoholic-forum/
thanks tara, checking it out
hi guys..finally took 25mg of naltrexone this morning. i know your supposed to take it before you drink hopeless, just had a terrible driking weekend and soon as i gotup took the pill. and i am pretty shocked at how it seemed to lessen my desre to drink tonight.. BUT that could be bc i was drinkining all weekend. we’ll see over the next few days. im not doing well.. went out with my girfirends last week and bf just couldnt take it anymore. ehs controlling, so if i go out to a bar it bothers him. it bothered him more bc i told him we were just gonna be at her house and not go out, and then we decided to, and he was sitting home as he says and hedwant to know ahead of time if i was going out so he could go out and not think about me out… yes controlling, but yes he broke up with me as that being the last straw in his mind. im simply devastated and crying and fearful. thinking of wishing iwas in his arms, etc. i took the damn ignition interlock out of my car because it was such an annoyance, and i thought i wouldnt drve drunk again, i simply couldnt. and have just as much. the other day i drove drunk after sitting at cheesecake factory having wine and i hit a car in front of me, almost totallingmy car… it was horrible but my fear of that i could have hurt someone or got another dwi is overwhelming.. its bound to happen!!! im soo scared! the cops came to the scene, but they didnt suspect alcohol.. it was daytime, and i look like an innocent little girl. im so scared, so scard whichis why i am hoping naltrexone will work, as my last resort or i really would have to try aa! im hurting so much right now..all my problems in my life are from my drinking..asikde from that jerk i was with..=( how long do u think ill be in this crying state? hope all is well with everyone.
just an update.. been taking the naltrexone and it IS working. been a few days now..af the one day, the second day just wanted to try what its like to drink on the nal.. first and imjportantly my cravings have decreased alot.. i could go af pretty easily, and if i DO drink its much much less.(yeah honesty dont get the same feeling as before-supposedly some feel nothing good from drinking and others feel no decrease in the feelings, but for me its somewhat in between. still feel kinda good but not great) so i m hoping this is the answer. sorry to whine and bitch in my last post. i also feel better about the ex situation..today anyway..not sure whtas going to happen. ( whether we will meet soon and get back) that isnt the right thing for me in my life. i just have trouble letting go. now i dont know if naltrexone is the answer.. its to early to tell, but so far there looks like alot of hope with it.. thank GOSH For these medications.
the one thing that was a problem was i was nauteous and vomited when i took it..however, i didnt eat a meal with it, plus i ate vitamins. i figured having some chips would be good enough but i really doubt it.
Hi-It has been ages since I posted as I had a family situation come up and had to travel so I apologise. Jen–wow so much has happened to you! I am glad you seem to be ok with the break up and need not tell you how good I actually believe it is for you! You know most people here were routing for you to break-up! As for Naltrexone, yes it is a miracle is it not?
On that subject I do want to address Allen–I disagree that Sanjay Gupta’s report was good. It was NOT good in my opinion because it only showed 12 step abstinence only models and then ONE man who took Naltrexone as a ay to abstain (not what it is for nor how it should be used). They never mention Naltrexone’s best use which is in the Sinclair Method using Naltrexone to do what it is meant for; namely moderate drinking and extinguish addiction. The whole premise that Naltrexone is a “craving fighter” is false. Naltrexone works by quelling brain chemicals that give pleasure during alcohol consumption, not consuming makes it moot to even take Naltrexone. Naltrexone taken while drinking lessens desire, amount and ability to drink. Naltrexone taken without drinking may make you nauseous, queasy, headachy and ill. It will therefore lessen your desire to drink because you feel unwell! It has no inherent effect on drinking desire in the absence of alcohol.
Jen I am very happy for you and knew it would work! I have a friend visiting (the same one whose Cognac I drank!) so this is a short one but I had wanted to check in!
Jen–just to address two of your issues—yes you need to really take it with a meal or JUST before you drink. I find that any nausea when I am drinking works in my favour and further serves to reinforce that I cannot drink too much. I also find that drinking on Naltrexone is pleasurable still but I do not get into the “overdrive” feeling that I used to have where one drink led to benders etc. It is like a normal pleasure, not an alcoholic pleasure. Anyway let us know how you are doing and hang in there with the bf—everything in life gets better!
thanks hopeless, so far im simply so happy with this last resort working.. ill keep u updated, as its only been four days.. but im sooo happy its working!!
Jen–that is exactly how I felt when I started it. I was amazed that this pill could suddenly let me drink and get buzzed and feel happy but not go too far. It was like being a “normal” person and was such a relief I was just so angry when I thought that the medical community largely ignores the actual use for Naltrexone from those of us who suffer so much!
yeah i agree. so how is everything with you?
hi guys,
i am finally connected to the internet after what appears to be years so yippee. haven’t really read everything just wanted to say keep it up jen and fh and anybody else that is on here
hugs
katie
Katie how is it going? Are you living on your own now? Have you been able to use the Naltrexone with success? Hope you are well was wondering where you went!
Jen I am great now. A bit worried about my liver from previous binges as I had some very strange symptoms a week ago when I ate some very fatty food (I usually eat really healthy) and I got symptoms in line with liver damage and it has scared the life out of me. I have started taking SAM-e in addition to all the other things I take in hopes to normalise my liver then get it checked out. I also developed what I think is a calcification (this is like a little hard growth) in one of my fingers after that episode which also is in line with liver problems so I have been worried. I know people will say I am crazy but you know when you eat really healthy then eat fatty food it can do as much damage to your liver or highlight liver problems as much as drinking can if not more (as my body is used to alcohol abuse just not fatty food abuse!).
Other than that I have not really drank anything in a while and am doing quite well. I do have to admit though certain things I am just not accustomed to doing without being wasted and have had to really work at it. Not to be graphic but sex is one of those things. I never realised I have invariably been drunk most of the times in my entire life I have had sex barring during long-term relationships and I actually worry I am inhibited and crap in bed without being wasted! I know that sounds ridiuclous but I guess I really am an alcoholic in that sense (I have heard this same thing from many alcoholics). I also am not used to standing around a bar relatively sober. I also feel like I am inhibited then too. I used to be the life of any party and on bars dancing etc but now I just stand around!
How are you and how is your situation with your break-up? Hope you are better and I know it does not help but you are better off without that guy and I think the break-up may have had a lot to do with your attempts and perhaps even success at drinking more controlled. He is clearly an alcoholic and you were not only his partner but also his drinking buddy!
hey hopeless, it is interesting what you said about sex and the inhibition at bars thing. yes alcohol really makes me feel more sexual and inhibited. I m sorry about your liver issue, I heard that also that when you eat healthy for some reason if you eat fatty foods you feel it. my friend is a healthy eater and has said similar things. hopefully and probably you’ll be fine..
katie tell us how your doing! details details! with the naltrexone, with your ex girlfried, etc, how often your drinking. dont be embarssed if your drinking alot still. we have to be honest on here and not try to make ourselves look better right? hehe we all have the same problem. but your probably doing goood bc i reember you saying you were the last time andt aking the meds.
the ex is still the ex, however we are communication almost daily . mostly fightng him blaming me and me defending myself… the other night he told me he was with his family. then the next day says, “i lied, i was really with this girl alicia i used to be friends with and we went out for drinks” Now i said “are you KIDDING? i dont care if your with her but how hypocrritical can you be ” He would be fuming wanting to kill me if i ever met a male friend even in a group with my gfs, at a bar. he would be so mad. but i rarely even met male friends because i “obeyed” him. He would be mad if i went to eat dinner ( at a restaurant/bar with my girlfriend-hed say your alwas out! there must be guys yur meeting there. he would just get mad that i would go out with my gf twice a week or so, just to eat dinner at a bar and have a few drinks.everyone around me knows hes wrong and its not me. of course im not PERFECT, but for the most part he thinks all these things are bad and it angers him. everyone around me says hes crazy and to stay strong and dont dare take him back. not tha hes begging for me back, but i can tell that he misses me and definitely doesnt want this. which is not good for me bc theres that chance id see him if i get weak. i know i know, im not suppsed to be talking to him so often or at all. it just seemed easier to be speaking.. but i think the healing process may be delatyed then right? i do know that if i ever met up with him for coffeee, id have a hard time having sex with him bc of the pain ive been going through and its as if im taken steps forwarded to being over him. so having sex is like putting you right back where you started-and you’ll have to d it alll over again.. the crying daily, trouble sleeping, sick feeling in the stomach, fear.
talk to ya guys later!
Jen sounds like you are deeply conflicted over this guy. I think you have some codependency issues to be honest. I think getting over him is the best idea for you really. I know this is dramatic but when I ended it (on good terms) with the last guy I really loved I also told him we could NOT keep in touch because it would not help either of us get over each other. You really should think of it. You say some things that show you still have an attachment for him, such as saying that “he would kill me if I ever met a male friend”–WELL he has no right since you are not together! Anyway proceed with caution!
How are you doing on the Naltrexone Jen? Katie how are you??? I echoe the questions and sentiments of Jen!
As for my liver, yes I have noticed that when I am very healthy then do something unhealthy I feel it more. I feel great now as I have been eating healthy again. I think I just got very scared after watching this show Intervention where this 34 year old guy died of cirrhosis–I am a hypochondriac. Anyway I will continue to be healthy and no drinking for the time being or foreseeable future, even with Naltrexone as I want to see about my liver but need to wait until I go to UK or otherwise have to get health insurance in USA which is a pain!
Hope you all are well!
hey hopeless, no hearing from kate.. so far everythings great with naltrexone. i couldnt be happier right now.. even with this break up! have made the mistake of not taking it last weekend and i didnt have a bender, but drank to much, so i was much more upset about the ex situation then i would have beenif i took the nal. (drinking causes me to feel depressed the next day if its i drank a LOT the night before)i took it again monday and honesti didnt drink monday, tuesday, and today at just two beers when i went to eat. its so amazing and im so happy with it i just truly hope it contiues. i havent yet began the sinclair method way of doing it really..when im ready i will, want to make sure im committed and ready. right now im happy taking it on average twice a week and im just good for those next three days after so far it seems. its very early on so i dont know if this will last.
so this past weekend with the drinking i did feel terrible about the ex. friday night went to the city and drank to much along with a few lines of cocaine, which REALLY didnt help the depression. the followig day friends asked me to go to an outdoor type water bar, drank there.. then at night went out and drank more at a restaurant.. so way to much drinking. so my depression got bad and sunday i felt terrible and needy and really missing him. i realized i cannot let myself drink like that again ESPECIALLY bc of this sensitive time im going through. so the past few days ive felt good. but u know, im still sad over it of course. and i agree that no contact is essential n order to really get over an ex. we have been talking very briefly whether its online or through phone texts. we wanted to meet and have closure and say goodbye.. and thats when i plan to completely stop the contact. maybe this is a bad idea. we planned to meet in the city at dinner, not at his or my house.. i never got to say goodbye bc we got into a fight over the phone and it ended like that.
well i hope everythinhs well with you liver. im sure it is.. i watch intervention to all the time..
hey one quesetion about naltrexone. why is it that you must take it on hour before drinking and not just say, that morning ? bc either way its inyour system in blocking the “high” etc.. as i said for me it even seems to last towards the second and third day afte taking it.. so why must you take it an hour before?
and have you had any new experiences with it hopeless?
an interesting thing i noticed also.. i tended to have binge eating disorder a bit(more in the past) and im not sure if it was just that i was not in the mood but i felt the urge to not over eat taking nal.. but i still have to see if its just whatever or if it may have some effect on binging etc. i goggled it, found some information. i hate my keyhboard sorry for the messiness.. its broken.
Jen–overeating can also be something that is an addiction and can release endorphines so it could help. This will be fast because I have been on the computer working ALL day and am exhausted.
OK—you do not have to take it one hour before, I do for one reason, the side effects like nausea and stuff kick in fast so I would rather be buzzed and not notice them than take the pill in the morning because you can end up feeling so sick from the Naltrexone that you do not drink so you defeat the reason you took it, namely to drink normally. The thing is that it largely stays in your body for about 2-3 days so you can take it in the am if you want as well.
YOU ARE doing the Sinclair Method! It says to take Naltrexone “whenever you enter a drinking situation” and it sounds like that is what you are doing. You do not have to sit and drink on it excessively for it to work, BUT if you are taking it automatically every day then you are doing it the American/Western European way which is just wasting expensive Naltrexone pills!
I am glad you are ok and I think you will be healhier after the break up but the thing is you should ask yourself if you want to meet? I mean I have done this and they are always depressing meetings and sometimes they lead you back into a relationship because good-bye is a very hard thing to say to someone you cared for!
Anyway I am so proud of you and happy for you!!!! I do wish we would hear from Katie and really wish the others would check in, it is kind of sad everyone disappeared. I actually checked this today for the first time in days and oddly you had just posted! I guess I have a psychic-like connection to this site!
My liver seems MUCH better but I have not drank alcohol on it for a long time now. I have been taking a lot of SAM-e and it seems to be a great help too. I think it was just the fatty food but it panicked me because I had seen that thing on Intervention and was like–OMG I have drank like that and I am going to die too!!!! It is scary!
hey hopelss, thanks for the reply. I will update you on how its going again soon, hopefully as great as it is now! So happy i found this pill! hehe
Im glad your livers doing better.. Im sure its fine. eating healthy is great to. You must have a great bod! Talk to you soon =)
ps-this is the first time in a long time ive gone AF for a few days, except if i took te antabuse. but im much more happy taking the nal-in case i want to drink, i just wouldnt go overboard. those few days i was af this past week i realize the naltrexone does help with my cravings as well. not amazingly but enough where i m not obsessing over drinking that night. i also read the book by allen carr about drinking which is really good. if i wanted to drink i thought “why put poison in your body? would you choose to make ur body feel bad?” that along with taking the nal helping my cravings made it very easy to not get some wine. he talks about how alcohol does nothing good and why would you choose to drink? its a great book.
as far as the ex i know what you mean. and how i b risking going back to it.. at the momen i feel good and wouuldnt wanto go back..hopefully it will all last ttalk to u soon
Jen-
Am so glad you are doing well. I think for me as well the Naltrexone makes it so I just do not think about drinking. I never had “cravings” per se just would get the urge to have a glass of wine and then would be off and running. With Naltrexone I think the fact you do not get “high” you tend to say, WHY BOTHER? At least I do!
The Alan Carr book and approach is true but on the other hand how many alcoholics tell themselves sober–”I am only going to be sick, sad, miserable and drunk”–I know I always did but it was not the rational that controlled me, it was the desire for that “relaxing, normal drink” that got me started! I know these books are “motivational” but the problem with them is they appeal to our intellect and rational thinking and as soon as we go on from reading them we slowly become normal people again, vulnerable to our irrational thoughts!
For me the Naltrexone is a real godsend!
Anyway hope you are ok and doing better with the BF situation!
hey hopeless yeah i agree with the why bother which is what helps me be af when im taking the nal, but i truly believe it does somewhat help with cravings. very slightly. normally i m in a miserable wanting al mood when i try to be af and i go home and its all i think about. but when im taking nal its definitely a bit less of an obsesssion and feeling sorry that im not having it that night. just a bit less. for the past few weeks ive taken it once on a mon or tues and one time on the weekend. iits always been good when i take it as ive said. lasts from that night and the next two nights.im either af for a few days or if i drink its not much. however ive drank and not taken it. so i promised myself im definitely taking it on friday for the weekend. cant skip it because the weekends are when i really must take it or fri i get drunk, then saturday night get drunk, and then usually sunday will go eat lunch somewhere at a restaurant or something and start the drinking. way to much. which is what i did this weekend. so i just have to really make sure i take it. i never have those to drunk embarassing nights anymore obvousally bc of my tolerance. but the drinking effects my depression and on monday im usually pretty down and then cravings are up again since i had a weekend with alot of drinking. so my rule is i must take it on fridays. its all new to me so i just have to stick to it and realize life is much better that way.
the allen carr book was great, he was a great writer. and its helped me sometiem when i try to be af. thinking of what his main point of the whole book-”putting poisin into your body. why would you ever want to do that?” and also us problem drinkers barely get much of a high out of alcohol, but we are so down when we’re nto drinking from all the drinking so we drink to feel “normal” thats another thought, and also like if we see a heroin addict suffering in pain goign throgh withdrawels, why is he sick? BECAUSE of the heroin not because he cant have ther heroine. if he never had the heroine in the first place, he wouldnt be going through the withdrawels. allen carr tries to explain how there is just nothing good that comes from alcohol either. the ony thing i did disagree with a bit is that, sure alcohol brings devastation and causes hell for people who are alcohlics, however it gives you some type of a good body brain feeling or we wouldnt have liked it. but it was a good book.
im really interested in how katies doing. wish ud write katie..
anything new with you hopeless?
so this lady asked me about what site i got naltrexone on, and stupid me doesnt have it saved-plus im gonna need to ordr some for myself. so i apologize for the third time asking you, the name of the site? hehe sorry.
Hi Jen-
There is a new better and cheaper site–www.alldaychemist.com it is much cheaper.
I need to make this a short one but yes, I think Fridays are a must do for the Nal.
As for your BF–well he sounds really manipulative if you ask me. He sounds emotionally abusive–like a teenager really. I think you are better off without him to be honest. I am a lot like you, I am VERY picky about guys. I need them to look perfect, be smart, have lots in common with me etc. It is hard and yes I see people all the time just “fall in” to relationships and I am like–NO WAY–I want much much more!
I wish Katie would also write. I miss everyone really–wish they all were back.
OK need to run as it is a Swedish holiday so I need to go prepare!
Hugs-
Formerly Hopeless
hey hopeless, yes the ex is like a teenanger, sooo immature. its so funny you would recognize that just from what ive said. thats exactly how to describe him. except he has brains and has a good computer job. which is how he knows how to track me down on everything i write! i basically think he or i will meet someone, but i m pretty sure its gonna be him bc hes not as picky as me. im positive its gonna be him actually. i meet someone every two years i really like. he meets someone the second hes at a bar. well im glad your doing well! talk to you soon.
Yep–I am like you, it takes me ages and can be years between people that I really like. He seems very immature that is why I can tell. How is the drinking going??
hi
sorry to not come on but i am having difficulties getting ‘her indoors’ of the computer
she is a total addict of ‘otalia’ not sure of the spelling, but it is american and an off shot of ‘guiding light’…spends hours watching the same shight over and over again, In fact it is difficult to even have a conversation with her she is so obsessed with this program and the story. and if we do have a conversation it comes back to oh olivia said that to nathalie so that makes sense!!**??”"!!
as for me, well we have moved into a big house so i am happy with the space. we are having money problems which is causing a lot of problems and basically i have been told that i am not allowed to buy the tablets because we cant afford them( i did get them from my doctor for a month and then they said if i have stopped drinking then i dont need then so basically ‘f’ off), i have to stop drinking (or she smashes up the place) and if i do fall down and drink the car keys are taken away and i am locked out of the house ………so i am not in a good place……….basically no support but much worse than that !!!
anyway when i did have the tablets they did seem to work, i did drink but put the drink down often and forgot about it for hours, so do keep up the good work Jen, i really think the Nal is the answer.
Glad to hear that you have left your boyfriend, try not to dwell on the fact that he may go out and find somebody tomorrow, it is a man thing, my ex husband did exactly the same thing but tracked me down after a few years and said it was me he really wanted but just couldn’t stand to be on his own. So it is not about you being easy to replace and everybody out there is more attractive, it is just about their bloody insecurities and the fact that they cannot survive without somebody, in fact anybody, to make them feel secure.
It is not about quality, just about having a plant to fill up the space.
we gals are better than that thank goodness:-)
anyway glad to hear that you are both doing ok, FH seems to have it sorted and you jen are about to join her i feel it in my waters………keep me a space, i am not there yet, but i have my eye on the ball.
hope all of the others are ok, erica and co and all of the new guys that came on and posted a few times and then disappeared……..would be nice to hear from you all
love and hugs to all of those on the path
katie
hey guys, kat im not there yet. i took the naltrexone on a wednesday and went out the following thursday. it had previousally worked for a few days it seemed, but when i wentout thurs it didnt work so well. well honestly, i started to feel like eh, yucky from drinking after awehilse. but i went out with this girl who is an all nighter-and i refuse to go out wtih her again-shes not a good friend or anything, so i dont feel bad not going out to bars with her. but she was my ride and i tol her eh im kinda drunk i wouldnt mind going home.. and shes like well can we just try these bars first? ( farther away from my house) and i was like eh… i guess. so in a way the naltrexone was working. i was semi drunk though. not thinking right. so we went to the other bars and she started talking to thsi guy and he bought us HHUUUGe shots. like in a cup. and i drank it and that was it. at that point i just was to drunk. so i cant say the nal doesnt work, it was a weird situation. and the other problem with th naltrexone for me is i dont always take it.. and the other problem is that as you said hopeless it doesnt really take the cravings away. it did at first. ive read alot about naltrexone and they say that when pople start taking it they go through the “honeymoon” period in the begining where it actually doies take away cravings and works well with driking. well either way its at least something. to help with cravings i ordered baclofen. i cant find anythying about it on the net hough, its like a new thing i guess. i heard about it on the mywayout message boards. well good luck, talk to you all soon.
i re read what i wrote, im not saying the nal doesnt work, its still a godsend. i even believe it did work that night, i wanted to go home and go to bed… but it was a weird situation. but it didnt work to the point of me saying ill just drink water .. lol but it def works. i also shouldve taken it that night, not just the day before.
Hi jen,
after having read the sinclair methord and after looking at FH……..and more importantly for me, looking at my own experiences, i definately think that FH is the better way to go, i.e. lock yourself up and dont drink for months and then use the nal when you venture out. I have tried doing the sinclair methord , as in take it and drink normally and althought the drink tastes like shight i can still drink. However, when i did not drink for about a month and took it and then drunk i really did not /was able to drink more that two drinks.,. I do think the nal works but really better if you have a period of abstenence.
anyway we are all finding our own way so just keep doing it and posting and sharing
totally grateful to all of you guys
hugs katie
Hi All–KATIE!!! So nice to see you!
OK–I have to say I have not even had a drink in two months and really do not even want one. I would love a glass of Champagne at some point but have not had the desire to go buy alcohol for the sake but rather would have it if I was in a situation that I was to drink.
Jen–I think the Naltrexone is really not understood by most. It IS NOT for cravings and I think that all the people who talk about “honeymoon” periods or how it takes cravings away are full of shit to be honest. The fact is that the medication is an opiate blocker and IN MY OPINION what we all suffer from when we are alcoholic is an opiate surge that most drinkers DO NOT get. So this actually blocks that. Can we get drunk? HELL YES! It does not take our ability to enjoy it away it just makes us get the same high as anyone else who drinks. The difference is that we no longer have the SURGE that makes it impossible for us to stop drinking when we start. I have absolutely drank too much on Naltrexone BUT never drank as much as I would if I were not on it. I drank too much like a normal drinker drinks too much not like I used to with BOTTLES around me days later after my “glass of wine”. It is just a mechanism of stopping that insane desire to continue drinking at all costs.
Katie the fact they would not give you more pills is also down to the misconception that Naltrexone helps people “off” alcohol or “to stay” sober or “to stop cravings”. It amazes me that these are medical professionals and they know the fact that Naltrexone is an opiate antagonist BUT do not seem to get the fact that alcoholic drinking is down to an opiate mediated response.
I am very seriously thinking of leaving here and setting up a clinic in Thailand and working with some doctor there to set up a place alcoholics can come and get Naltrexone, get medical care to detox, learn to live again and eat right, excercise and go home with a prescription and even a note to their GP’s (personal doctor in USA Jen) explaining Naltrexone and how to use it!
Anyway enough rambling on my part. Yes Katie, now I am in control for once BUT as Jen and you know I have had some lapses even during this period. I have slipped with taking the Naltrexone which is one reason I actually favour the implant which I do not have but do think it is even safer. As alcoholics who have experienced that AMAZING ride we go on and the mental glamourisation we create around our drinking we do tend to purposely go off the meds to “be able to party” for a longer time and then in turn slip into a good old fashioned drunk.
Jen–what you did is pushed on which is what many people who are normal drinkers do. For example when you speak to people who have gone out for work, or to a wedding, party or happy hour–you always get people who are hungover but are normal drinkers. What happens is that you “party on” even though you do not need to but you do it to be social. For me this has happened on Naltrexone but the difference is that early on I did not “need” more I chose more whereas before I would have NEEDED more once I started and rather than being the one pushed into “another bar”, “another drink” etc I was the one doing the pushing. On Naltrexone if it happens it is to be social NOT because I need or am in a craze for more. This is why normal drinkers also get drunk!
I have concluded that Naltrexone takes the override opiate reaction away but leaves the endorphine reaction everyone else gets intact, specifically the GABA relaxation mechanism of alcohol. This relaxes you, lowers inhibitions, makes you more outgoing, talkative then more sleepy and relaxed. The opiate reaction which we have changes our personality completely and goes far beyond the normal relaxed state into an almost trance state.
OK all missed you Katie and yes I would love to know whatever happened to the others!!
Hugs-
FH
hi
just touching base, I have got into the habit of not looking at the computer which is not good and i think for people that need support it is better to come on and talk crap than not to post.
at the moment i am in the in between state of waiting for some more medication to come from america so i am drinking without meds, but in my defence i have had no choice. I have to say since my periods of cleaness i have not gone overboard, before it was two bottles minimum of the strongest stuff + anything else that i could get my hands on.
Now I can drink a bottle and be nicely fuzzy, now i know that this will begin to increase if i do nothing so as soon as the meds arrive my plan is to get back on track. I think times without alchoihol and the nal have redeuced the amount i need to take in to feel pissed but my intention is to stop and onlyu drink on the nal. You know the crazy thing is that without it i am in a panic mode, when i have it i really have less need to drink….total co-dependent paranoia.
anyhow tell me more about the clinic you want to set up in thailand FH, it sounds good but are there any implications about giving people medication to take home in the US, over here we are riddled with regulations, part of me is wopndering if the nal will get through customs………li am fairly sure that you are not allowed to post drugs through the post over here, but we will see,……if not i am afraid i will just have to come abnd live in either jen’s or FH’s spare room (or anybody else that is fool enough to open their doors) until i can build up a stock of med’s
))
life is bloody difficult for a recovering alchi is it not??
love and hugs
katie
bloody hell excuse the spelling……….i didn’t bother to put my glasses on …i think you can tell:-((
Kat–YOU CAN import drugs into UK with relative ease. It is easier than to get things into USA actually. For Naltrexone try this site just add .com to it: alldaychemist they are the cheapest and best.
As for bringing drugs home–well it would not be a problem. You CAN bring anything prescribed abroad home to almost any country. Then you can also have a note explaining what you need and why and a doctor should prescribe it and call the clinic with any questions or write an email etc. That is more or less my idea in terms of the clinic. I would actually view it more as a retreat where people would go to get OFF heavy drinking then get on a Sinclair Type programme. I would work with a local doctor and also offer peer counselling and groups as well as nutritional and holistic support (Thai Massage, acupuncture, yoga, chinese herbs etc). In addition people would basically be on a holiday and encouraged to relax, enjoy and get healthy and emotional issues would be addressed as well.
The biggest complication for me would be the start up costs as it would take a great deal of money to get the property and develop it as it would need to be purpose built with bungalows or in the form of a proper hotel though bungalows would be best. The pharmaceuticals are relatively easy in Thailand and the doctors relatively cheap so having initial lab work-ups done and problems addressed with health issues would be easy as would it be to get the meds and the distribution of meds are not as controlled so simply having an on-call physician and night staff able to monitor intake patients during the first 72 hours.
Exciting thought but as per so many great ideas I have dosh stands in my way of realising these dreams!
What is it you are drinking Kat? I can tell you a trick I used at the end before I got Nal—eat a TON and then drink. It is harder to get drunk, harder to drink too much and you get full before you get too drunk.
Why were you waiting for meds from USA??? All day chemist gets the meds to you in days!
is this forum dead or are we all banned? no posts have been allowed to be posted for months …………..what is going on