In the Seattle area, you’re bombarded with ads for Schick/Shadel Hospital, which promises to medically cure you of alcoholism permanently. Has anyone on the board done this or know someone who has? What exactly do they do? How much did it cost? And did it work for you and was it worth it?
Many years ago, good ol’ Cecil Adams did an entire column on this very topic (the Schick clinic to be exact) and he explains if and how it supposedly works and some other interesting details about the program.
I would bet it is available on the SDMB archive.
Here’s a link to a Cecil column, but it isn’t very in-depth.
I doubt they still use electric shocks. Nowadays they probably use Antabuse, which causes intense nausea when you drink.
Antabuse isn’t used very commonly because it is easy to trigger a bad reaction by incidental exposure to alcohol and the person has to take it voluntarily. It also does nothing to the alcoholism other than enforcing abstinence while it is taken.
There are some promising drug treatments for alcoholism with success rates that are pretty impressive in terms of addiction treatment. One is amcamprosate (Campral) that is a type of opiate receptor blocker that greatly reduces cravings and urges to drink in those that have been through detox and are medically stable. The other is Naltrexone which is similar. Both drugs have few side effects and doctors are generally willing to prescribe them when they may be helpful. Other than the medical detox, and nutrition science, they are some of the more promising treatments in that area in recent memory.
Shick Hospital does aversion therapy. It sounds like they give you something that will make you sick and make you drink.
Well said. Antabuse is an old-fashioned treatment that isn’t really used much anymore. The drugs you mentioned seem to work much better in people who are motivated to stop.
The biggest barrier to stopping drinking is just getting to the part of wanting the help and asking for it. If you’re ready to stop, go to your doctor and ask about these medications.
I remember seeing an article (perhaps in Wired magazine) about an unconventional therapy of inducing a coma until the patient is over the withdrawal symptoms. But I can’t find it now.
Just please stay away from using benzodiazepines because they are cross tolerant with alcohol. You’d be better off titrating alcohol, and I hear that’s really hard to do. The last thing you want to do is trade one addiction for another.
I have personal experience with “The Sinclair Method”. I highly recommend it. It works. It’s easy, cheap, and effective. Do a search, there are a couple of web-sites that explain it. Buy the book, “The Cure for Alcoholism” by Eskapa.
The book explains it, but here is the gist. Take 50 mg of Naltrexone one hour before you drink. Drink as you normally do. That’s it! It does NOT work in conjuction with abstinence from alcohol. You must take the pill, then drink as normal. Take the pill, wait an hour, drink as you want.
The pill blocks your brain from receiving the endorphins you get from drinking. You still get drunk, but you unlearn what makes you an alcoholic. Over time, you just start reducing your intake because your body doesn’t crave alchohol anymore. Read the book for a full explanation. I can’t explain in 100 words or less, all I know is it works.
I was drinking 8-10 beers every night. EVERY night. More on weekends. Within 3 weeks of the Sinclair Method, I was down to 2 to 3 beers a night. Some nights I don’t drink at all which would have been unheard of. I usually throw half of my third beer away because I forget I’m drinking it and it gets warm. I don’t open another. This is with no effort at controlling with willpower. No shame of councelling or AA meetings.
The pill does not make you sick if you drink alchohol. You can drink as much as you want, you just wont want to. There’s minimal side effects. Maybe just a “fuzzy” feeling.
The hard part is finding a doctor willing to prescribe the Naltrexone. My primary care physician would not. There’s no counseling needed and in fact studies show it doesn’t work better in conjuction with counseling. The drug is cheap, mine is $10 for 30 pills. I only take it on days I think I will drink.
The drug can be toxic to the liver, but my thought is it’s less toxic than drinking 10 beers a night. Your doctor should test for normal liver function before prescribing.
If you know anyone who wants to quit or significantly cut down there drinking, I highly, highly recommend this method.
AA frowns on this method because you MUST drink to make the drug work. Again, absitence and the drug will be ineffective. Your body must learn that alcohol is NOT pleasurable by drinking and not receiving the pleasure. (Like Pavlov’s dog not getting a treat after ringing the bell, over time he’ll stop salivating when the bell is rung.) That’s why you have to drink before you stop wanting to drink.
To summarize: Sinclair Method. “The Cure for Alcoholism”. Try it. It works.
(I’ve been reading these SD boards for 10 years plus and never saw a reason to post. I registered specifially to post to this topic because I feel so strongly that this method works. I wish more doctors understood how cheap and easy it can be to unlearn alcoholism.)
I am glad that you got better but you don’t have to do it that way. Naltrexone and acamprosate (Campral) work but they don’t magically fix other issues with alcohol abuse even medically speaking. Most long-term alcoholics have issues with malnutrition and quitting drinking quickly or going cold turkey can be deadly (note to those with alcoholics in their lives, don’t just throw away their alcohol and give them an ultimatum; physical dependence can mean just that and you can’t just stop after a certain level).
I don’t want to criticize the Sinclair method if it worked for you but it won’t for everyone and it could be dangerous or deadly to some. Naltrexone and acamprosate are tools that help people abstain once they are medically stable. It sounds like his method promotes tapering of alcohol which will work for some people but so will a medical detox if someone needs that and medical intervention comes with other types of care as well. It is a horrible disease and I believe it is one by any comprehensive definition of disease that fits what most people think of diseases but it isn’t one size fits all either.
There’s no “cold turkey” associated with the Sinclair Method. There’s no detox because it happens somewhat slowly, although for me it was about 3 weeks. Not sure what is “dangerous” about gradually reducing intake from 8-10 a night to 2-3 on 3-4 nights a week.
If you have read the book and understand the program then explain how it is dangerous or deadly.
The drug is considered easily tolerated and is so safe that it may become over the counter. As long as you don’t already have some liver damage, it should be safe. And, over time many people only take once or twice a month on special occasions when they know they will drink.
It won’t work for everyone, but what will? (very few don’t tolerate the drug and some it just doesn’t work) No other method has higher success rates. Read the book if you want more info and cites. I only can speak to my first hand account that it was easy and worked for me personally.
I don’t want to say it’s a majic cure, but it’s as close as I can imagine. No willpower, no detox, no “cold turkey”, no counseling, no side effects. This is only my personal experience.
I agree with you 100% that “cold turkey” and sheer willpower can be dangerous and even deadly. That’s why AA has such low success rates.
I implore anyone with a drinking problem to look into it before you discount it.