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).
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