I know someone who may benefit from the use of this drug. Does anyone know anything about it? It seems that I don’t hear much about it recently, but years ago, it seems as though it was widely used. Is it effective? Does it cause the symptoms in everyone who takes it, and is it ok to use for the long-term and/or in an elderly person? Thanks for your help.
AIUI, it makes the person violently ill if he partakes of any alcohol. The reason you don’t hear much about it nowdays is that there are better ways of treating alcoholism. AA and rehab clinics generally work better than medication. Antibuse is a last ditch effort to get someone who is psychologically addicted to alcohol to learn through conditioning to break the habit. It is often not used for long term, as it is combined with other methods to keep the person sober.
SSG Schwartz
I have never met a doctor that suggested it although I know there are some out that. It is very easy to inadvertently be exposed to alcohol by other means like someone else’s cooking or through household products. The allergic reaction Antabuse creates is pretty severe and it could cause problems on its own. It is also very easy for the alcoholic to “forget” to take it when they want to start drinking again.
It’s not used very often anymore because it’s not that effective.
It can be a useful adjunct to other therapy for a highly-motivated patient who is willing to run the risks of consuming alcohol (accidentally or on purpose) while on it, but its success is pretty dismal when court- or employer-mandated for a problem drinker who really doesn’t want to stop.
I remember visiting one county courthouse where the health clinic there dosed alcoholics with their daily liquid dose of antabuse. The steps of the courthouse were discolored yellow where all the clients had spit out the stuff as soon as they got out the door.
Well, I guess it doesn’t sound too promising. This is something that would be a last resort for a person who has been in 4 rehabs. They are not very effective, as far as I can tell.
The person’s gotta wanna.
QtM, clean and sober since my 4th rehab, back in 1990.
Good for you, You must be a very strong person. I don’t know what is to be done as far as my family member. He does want to stop, but he is just too far gone. Is it your opinion that a person’s age is a factor in their ability to quit alcohol? At the age of 62, I wonder if his body isn’t just too alcoholized for any will power to win out.
A gal I know was recently given the choice between taking antabuse and going into a full time treatment program.
Having been through treatment sevral times already, she chose the antabuse.
However, what her docs called antabuse was in fact Naltrexone, an opioid receptor antagonist which supposedly works by ‘taking away the desire to drink.’
The stuff is dispensed in a once a month form, and has kinda worked for her, but I wouldn’t write home to mom about it.
Nothing really seems to beat a self generated desire to stop drinking.
Naltrexone is a legitimate treatment but it isn’t remotely related to Antabuse. I was in a clinical study once that combined Naltrexone with acamprosate (Campral) in order to get acamprosate approved for use in the U.S. I still take Campral and it seems to help but it doesn’t fix everything. You won’t get violently ill if you manage to encounter alcohol while on it. It just reduces urges.
Contrary to popular media depictions, rehabs are not an instant cure-all for the vast majority of people in the short to medium term. I consider four to be a fairly low number. Professionals always tell me that the average is about 5 - 7 and some people go much, much higher and still make it out the other end. Rehabs are necessary and effective but this stuff is deadly serious and takes work on everyone’s part. I am a 36 year old, upper-middle class professional with two small children and I have done about seven rehabs over the years plus every other single resource that I can find and the only thing I ever did was drink too much. If your relative doesn’t go to AA, he needs to. Once you get exposed to that underbelly of society that affects everyone from the richest to the poorest, it helps put everything in perspective. It is free and there are way more meetings out there than the rest of the society can even imagine (over 3000 a week in the Boston area alone) and people will fall all over themselves to help even for simple things like routine chores or driving you some place and introducing you to other people.
Yes, I know that.
I just wanted to point out that a) there are other drugs being used, and b) sometimes even the docs’ll call them antabuse when they are in fact no such thing.
The gal I was speaking of would’ve been up for her 10th rehab, if she hadn’t gone with the naltrexone.
I was on Antibuse for about six months. It made anything with alcohol in it taste like vinegar. Also, the stuff gave me a heavy face flush, but no stomach problems. After about three months I started drinking (beer) again.
It tasted awful, but I got the same high as it did without the stuff. Getting drunk with Antibuse in your system is quite interesting. 
One can’t use mouthwash, certain salad dressings, or anything with alcohol in it. Get some after-shave on your lips, it’ll make you mouth taste awful.
I gave antibuse up after that, called it a valiant try.
BTW, I also tried AA but found them to be (in my opinion) a religious cult. Just sayin’
I agree that AA seemed to be a very religious organization, even though everyone says that god can be whatever you want. It was so dependent on religion that my brother was turned off and will not go to the meetings anymore. If that’s the only answer for alcoholics, he is a hopeless case.
Would it be reasonable to assume that with stem cell research ( way down the road, I know) this problem could be licked?
Only if you are easily mentally controlled 
People in AA always just helped me sometimes in very concrete and practical ways. I know it varies greatly from meeting to meeting and even from one area to another. I don’t want to get into a Great Debate because we have done this one several times. If AA is a cult, it is the worst one ever because they don’t want your money, they don’t want anything from you, and there aren’t any true leaders. Lots of people get value out of it and no one has ever come up with such an extensively available substitute. I will leave it at that.
There are other groups like Smart Recovery that try to appeal to people like your brother. The only problem is that they are only a tiny fraction of the size that AA is and there may be few meetings in his area.
Threads like this make me seriously thankful I am not an addictive personality … and grateful that people can get help from various associations and the medical community when they decide that they need help …
Did anyone else expect a thread about burning up insects with a magnifying glass?
What?
It’s just me?
Crap. I’ll be over here.
Could you possibly send me a link for the smart recovery? I went to a site with that name, but it seemed to have the christian thing going on.
I’m not particularly strong, I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Will power doesn’t help alcoholics stop drinking.
And one is never too old nor too addicted to quit.
AA isn’t religious, but if the patient steadfastly refuses to give their principles a try, the Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS), or Rational Recovery are out there too.
Part of the problem of addiction is that the brain chemistry is very abnormal, especially after all the years of drinking. It literally takes up to 2 years of abstinence before brain functioning normalizes. Many erratic, inconsistent behaviors need to be expected during early sobriety (by early, I’m talking 18-24 months).
Naltrexone is a much better pharmacologic adjunct to recovery than antabuse, but I’d not depend solely on it to get an alcoholic to be abstinent. I’ve seen many patients drink on it, and even use heroin on it (sometimes with fatal results, using opiates with it in one’s system).
Smart Recovery isn’t Christian at all (neither is AA for that matter in the purest sense but I understand the complaint). Here is the Wikipedia link with external links to meetings in it.
The problem is that there just aren’t that many meetings. Recovering alcoholics usually need daily help for a while and AA is often the only game in town for that. I know for a fact that alcoholics and other addicts often overly critique different programs as a way to avoid fully facing up to their problems. That may or may not be the case for an individual person but it is part of alcoholic behavior.