Looking for a conversation about Naltrexon. I have used it off and on for years and love it when I take it but I feel better for about 5 days and stop taking it. Then drink again.
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Heyyyaa!
I just ran across this post and I take that!
Well, I get a shot of vivitrol, every month which is the same as naltrexon!! It just last a month so you don't have to remember to take the pills.
it works exactly the same as the pills! (I took them before I started getting the shot)
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I can second that. Been getting the Vivitrol shot for about 3 years now, the pills didn’t cut it. I’ve found the shot to be less craving reducing more buzz ruining and I’m not really interested in a hangover without a drunk attached. I guess it’s indirectly reduced the craving and taken the human error factor (not wanting to take it) out of the equation:)
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I used the vivitrol shot for the first three months out of rehab. Life changer.
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Samezies, I take it for opiates.
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Three years? Nice, I was wondering about long term use. I've just taken my 12th shot so 1 year.
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Been on naltrexone for about a year. I have found it super helpful.
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Yuuup.
Same here.
In some studies, it even says it helps cravings for stimulants as well and if you were to do coke or meth, you don't get that euphoria feeling from it either.
I haven't tested it though..not even with alcohol and don't plan on it Lol
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And what happens when you start to feel again and you don't like the way life feels and so you want to get that fix/drink but the fix/drink doesn't work under Naltrexon?
You simply stop taking the Naltrexon. For me, no drug is a long term solution.
There was another drug that people were taking and I can't remember what the name of it was. If you drank while you were taking the drug you would simply get sick. People got tired of getting sick so they stopped taking it.
Same principle.
I think it was Antabuse?
Anytime I've ever set out to recover they gave me Benzodiazepines. Of course I was having a lot of acute withdrawal symptoms too.
As it states In the Doctor's Opinion In the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous,
Unless this person can experience an entire psychic change, there is very little hope of his or her recovery.
The change begins to happen inside of us when we start to go through the steps.
Just my experience!
It, (for me) cuts down the craving for alcohol to no cravings at all. If I am on it and go out with friends I might have one drink and it's no big deal. Doesn't make you sick at all.
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I get it Chris
To each their own. I just don't understand why we have to drink at all if there are no cravings?
For me, what alcohol promises me is a Big Lie. I guess I have found the freedom and happiness that is promised in AA. The obsession has been removed.
In the beginning, after a thorough detox, it was simply a matter of going to meetings everyday until I got it all figured out.
Any cravings I had were short lived. But Hey, if it helps you in the beginning to achieve complete abstinence then more power to you as long as its not long term, serving as a replacement.
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I've had two 4 year stretches of sobriety with no medication help, just working on myself, which like you said, is the root cause. I always say that the drugs are only a symptom. But it doesn't hurt to have something to prevent you from getting cravings or getting high while working on yourself right? I would never just lean solely on the medication to keep me sober. You still have to do the work, it's just sort of a buffer for me and also a comfort for my family as well.
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Naltrexone didn’t work for me. I took it with a glass of wine. The only thing that worked was campral. Now I have 27 months.
Sounds like you're on top of it.
Good deal Dan
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Im just trying to understand more clearly here. Some of you say that you've been on this stuff for longer than say 3 months. At what point do you stop taking it?
What I remember about quitting drinking was that once you are say like 2 weeks sober, you're as sober as you're ever going to be. If after that time you have a desire to pick up a drink, it's not because you are still chemically addicted. It's usually because you don't like how you feel and you want to suppress those feelings.
So I ask again, at what point do we start handling life without alcohol or any other mind altering chemical?
I was on it for 6 months and stayed sober the whole time. Stopped taking it for some stupid reason, and relapsed. Now I’m back on it and will be staying on it for at least a year!!!
We have a question in AA.
What do you get when you get a horse leave sober?
A sober horse thief.
You see, drinking/drugs was but a symptom of our problem. We have to get down to causes and conditions. This is done by taking the 12 Steps. The obsession eventually leaves us without the use of pills.
My experience.