My naltrexone isn't working

Are the rest of us supposed to understand your bullshit ploy for attention, fat straight chick?

Take a Midol.

What do you want it to do?

If you want it to help you stop or moderate your drinking, it is possible to drink past it so it has no effect.

You have to want to stop (or cut back).

You idiot, get on Suboxone.

I have no idea what youre talking about but if it cant be cured with dick pics or Hollywood trivia, gtfo!

R2 I did cut back

So how is it "not working," OP/R5?

R6 because I feel like I need a fucking drink? The point of the med is to help with that

FF out of boredom. Offensive, aggressive, tasteless is fine but don't bore me

But you're not taking the drink, are you? The medication doesn't lobotomize you, it just gives you space.

If you have strong cravings, you should add Campral (acamprosate).

I had great success on both. But you have to want to stop drinking.

R8 well, it kept your attention long enough for your fat, arthritic sausage fingers to painstakingly type out your post. So there's that

Maybe you should have been more honest with your doctor.

In the meantime, OP, say you just won't have a drink tonight.

Maybe tomorrow, but not tonight.

Tomorrow, call your doctor or a doctor over telemedicine and tell them what's going on.

R11 how do you mean?

ha! OP thanks for confirming that you are infact a fat chick. those who call others fat on the internet are always fat themselves. youre already blocked so I cant see your fat replies

Learn how to do a spiritual meditation. That will help you more than any medication.

R15 the spiritual and/or religous stuff isn't my bag sorry. I already had a hard enough time with that when I was in a 12-step inpatient program

I'm told Gabapentin is good for alcohol withdrawal. I take it for ankylosing spondylitis.

OP, are you doing the Sinclair Method?

I don't know if you are, but that's what I tried, and it went AMAZINGLY well for about three weeks: I took one, and then would allow myself to drink, and could barely get through one drink. No pain or anything, I just wan't interested in it. Then, progressively I was drinking two drinks on it, then three, then on week three, I broke through and drank more.

After that it failed to work.

I'll add that I've heard that rehabs and addiction doctors are prescribing it as if it will kill cravings outright. It won't. What it does it stop the cascade of hormonal and brain changes that derive from that first drink.

It's useless as a prophylactic and it won't kill pre-drink cravings, although the doctors are apparently pretending otherwise.

Look up the Sinclair Method if you'd like to know how Naltrexone came on the scene for alcohol.

In the end, I just stopped drinking. Moderation was easy in those first three weeks, but then became as hard as ever.

AND it's good to know that Naltrexone interrupts not just the dopamine from drink, but the dopamine from sex, from a nice sunset, from a good joke. When you take Naltrexone, you cut yourself off from a number of routes to pleasure.

I went to AA. Hard, but so far, so good.

I had great sex while I was taking naltrexone, R18. Removing the booze opened up a whole new world.

Good to hear, r19. But if you're able to cum while on Naltrexone, then you're probably in the percentage of people for whom the dopamine rush isn't well-tempered by the drug. Could mean there's only a limited use for you.

Who knows - my experience with it is all I can offer.

Good luck, OP.

An inability to orgasm or reduced sexual pleasure are not common side effects of naltrexone, R20.

Your anorgasmia may have been caused by an SSRI you were on, another medication you were on, some other drug you'd taken earlier to blow out your brain, depression, other health issues, or a shitty partner.

Naltrexone has never worked. Never. Ever.

If you are an alcoholic stop drinking. End of story.

I'm going by the Sinclair research, r21, not my own experience. During those 3 weeks I never had sex, and didn't notice depression. I urge anyone interested in this to look up Sinclair's original studies.

Kinda grateful I knew nothing about this drug before going to rehab and getting medically detoxed and sober.

Almost 5 years w/o a drink. I without a doubt believe I’d not quit had this become an option.

It was an option for me, r24, I tried it, it worked - and then it didn't - and I'm 3 years sober last month. Congrats on 4 years, btw.

What did they do when you were "medically detoxed," R24?

They GAVE YOU DRUGS.

Congrats on four years, but don't piss on naltrexone — it does really work for people.

[quote]OP, are you doing the Sinclair Method?

I was never told about or offered this method during my inpatient treatment. I was prescribed gabapentin 3x daily and naltrexone to take at bedtime

How much Gabapentin? (Mg)

R28 300mg

How much per day (I take 1800 per day)

damn I fell asleep whatd I miss?? how many milligrams is she on???????

r27. I don't think there are any treatment centres outside of Sinclair's home of Finland that offer the S.M.

His research showed that Naltrexone helped stem the chemical waterfall that stems from the first drink, but American doctors in the recovery industry offer it as a pre-drink "crave killer" when that's not at ALL how Naltrexone was first introduced into the alcohol recovery arena.

I think that US addiction doctors are desperate to see if it works to assist the U.S. abstinence model, and so are trying it out on patients such as yourself.

It was only ever seen to be successful in a moderation model in which the reduced rewards from drinking can teach some drinkers over time to stop having cravings by themselves.

I'm not really following your post, R24. Naltrexone is used as part of the medical detox process. Unless they used different medications on you.

[quote]I without a doubt believe I’d not quit had this become an option

What is the "this" referring to?

Detox from alcohol almost always involves a 3-5 day course of benzodiazepines, to prevent DTs and seizure.

I tried naltrexone, but it wasn't a good fit for me. I'd end up 'drinking past' the trigger point, which defeats the purpose. I eventually ended up hospitalized (not for alcoholism, but for a shoulder replacement), but they knew I would be going through alcohol withdrawal, too. The night nurses reported back to the attending physician that I almost never slept (even with Valium), and she diagnosed a sleeping disorder. She wrote a script for me for Seroquel to help me sleep at night, and after some stops and starts, I've been able to stay off alcohol by taking Seroquel every night, and I definitely feel better (and look better and sound better according to everyone who knows me).

I would binge drink to force myself to sleep every night, but that really had to end. I always knew I had a sleep disorder, but I never went to a sleep lab, since I had no intention of getting one of those machines for sleep apnea. Just getting a full night's sleep every night has made a huge difference. Good luck!

OP here: I ended up having a few glasses of wine.

Of course you did OP/R36. Because Naltrexone is basically a placebo and doesn't do anything at all.

R37 ok so what DOES work, then?

I just popped my first Naltrexone yesterday. (Thankfully only half of one...idiot me took it in the pharmacy parking lot, and I was dizzy by the time I got home 10 minutes later on my short drive.) I ate some salmon I'd already cooked, and literally fell into bed 10 minutes later. Slept like a log for two hours, then woke myself up with my hand rubbing my pillow, which had suddenly turned into a large, velvety African violet leaf. I knew at that point I was tripping (which I've never done in my life), so I got some water off the bedside table and turned up the window A/C so I could enjoy whatever was next. Fell back into a half asleep/half awake state, and I was looking in a mirror to admire my new, tartan dress with a frilly collar, and my bouffant of stark, white hair. The next thing I knew, I was back on the beach as my eight year-old self, visiting my aunt and uncle's beachfront condo. I was breathing more peacefully than I have in years, all the allergies and anxieties of late now just a distant memory. I was now fully awake and breathing in that wonderful, fresh air. Suddenly I was back in the dream state on the beach, and Jesus was there in a white robe, offering his hand to me. Lots of white light, and I got scared and thought sure I was dying. I woke up crying...the trip was over. All in all, it probably lasted an hour.

Is this a normal reaction? I did take the half Naltrexone (25 mg) with 37.5 mg of Effexor, which was my normal dose of Effexor years before. I've always been incredibly sensitive to pills, so the PA had told me to only take half. I've just taken another dose of Effexor and another half Naltrexone and feel fine as I lay in bed reading Mary Trump's book. Perhaps last night was just a fluke.

R1 - Midol is for menstrual pain dumbass, not alcoholism. She didn't say Naproxen Sodium.

Gabapentin made me fat and I am naturally skinny. I took it for mild seizures. However, others who reported taking it didn't gain the weight it took me a whole half year to take off. However, could be that I was working during the day and writing at night and not working out at the time. Once I started working out and dropped all alcohol and no carbs or starches after 5 PM and burned 500 calories per day 4 times a week, the weight melted off.

[quote]Once I started working out and dropped all alcohol and no carbs or starches after 5 PM and burned 500 calories per day 4 times a week, the weight melted off.

Sounds like blood, sweat and tears than a melting.

R42 - seriously about 40 minutes on the eliptical with my headphones one at a good resistance setting was fun. Another 20 I spent doing weight machines. It was at Equinox but it was pro-Trump so don't judge please. And the place was nice. I ate a Caesar salad with chicken, or a bowl of soup, or a sandwich with toasted Ezekiel bread and garlic butter at night and I am telling you, I felt amazing after 6 months and people said I looked younger.

I meant pre-Trump ^^

I really have mixed feelings about going back. I know it works and mine is scrupulously clean but I can't get behind their politics. They do hire a lot of gay men and have nice pride events and sponsor charities for cancer but their recent behavior is disappointing.

I've officially fallen off the wagon!

It's my 2nd day on Naltrexone and I watched the video of Claudia Christian that someone posted on another thread (I'll link it here). I tried having a drink yesterday and the pill did what it was supposed to do...I got no pleasure at all from the drink. I'm not going to tempt fate and continue drinking, but it's nice to know the pill is working. The dizziness has been an unexpected thing to deal with...I've taken plenty of pills that warn about dizziness on the label, but this is the first pill I've taken that has made me uncontrollably dizzy. It kicked in today when I was on the treadmill, so I immediately got off and sat down.

Oops, here's the video I watched.

R47 that's an impressive video. I will pursue The Sinclair Method and Naltrexone. Abstinance is not for me, nor is the methodology of AA - I feel as though I am being punished and that always causes me to rebel. This sounds perfect for me.