Anabuse

Todd · Member

Anabuse

gonee · MIP Old Timer

Have you tried Alcoholics Anonymous. Look them up in the phone book and give them a call.

Worked for me.

Lexie · Senior Member

Hi, Todd,

Welcome. I do know people that have very temporarily relied on Antabuse and successfully remained sober. I can't say that I recommend it, but I'm not a doctor.

The vast majority of people in AA, who have gotten sober in worse circumstances than yours, have managed without it. The same desperation that makes you want the Antabuse will also help you to get sober in AA, provided you channel that desperation the right way.

Since you are seeing a doctor, be very honest with him or her about your drinking. A lot of us find that our psychiatric symptoms of anxiety or depression go away or change radically once we get the alcohol completely out of our systems. Sometimes that means we go through it a bit more intensely at first, but it then subsides.

Only a doctor can advise you about the safest way to quit drinking. Given your medications, a medically supervised detox might be the safest way. If you go to a detox with good aftercare, including AA meetings, you will probably be off to the safest start.

Keep reading and posting here, in the meantime.

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Hey Todd, welcome to the board. Most of us long term sober folks attended 90 AA meetings in the first 90 days and that helped tremendously to get and stay sober. You can read the "Big Book" of AA here free ~
http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/en_tableofcnt.cfm. I would also suggest reading "Staying sober"
by Terri Gorski. You can find an AA schedule through google AA meetings your location. I'd suggest a speakers meeting first, than beginners meetings. You can also Call your local AA intergroup (google or look in phone book) and you'll be talking to a recovering AA. Ask them about local meetings ect...

Todd · Member

I have been to AA where I used to live. I have the big book and have read it. It has helped me get rid of cravings a number of times, but I think that I will need a little more than that to stop. Im thinking a combination of AA and the anabuse will work for me. I cannot goto a detox, I will lose my job and right now I am just barely making it from paycheck to paycheck. I will be evicted the very next month if I were to do this.

-- Edited by Todd on Sunday 8th of August 2010 01:46:15 PM

Lexie · Senior Member

I would still ask your doctor's advice about quitting--I have no clue how those medications might affect you if you were to stop drinking abruptly. Alcohol withdrawal in itself can be deadly--people can actually die from it. I don't know whether the meds might make it more dangerous.

Aquaman · MIP Old Timer

Hi Todd,

I see anabuse as a muzzle. It'll keep the dog from barking and biting...but only when it's on. A potentially effective tool...but doesn't replace proper training.

Peace,
Rob

-- Edited by Aquaman on Sunday 8th of August 2010 02:02:32 PM

Todd · Member

Sundays are my only sober days because there are no sales here, and I never think ahead on Saturday to get any for Sunday because I have the "I will drink today, but not tomorrow" mentallity which only works when I have no access to it. I have been jittery all day and the cravings are there, but I dont think that I am so bad off that it will kill me if I just ubruptly stop. I dont drink the hard stuff, just alot of beer.

Lexie · Senior Member

Well, it can take 72 hours for DTs to set in. Not saying you will get that bad, just that it bears close watching.

Call for medical assistance IMMEDIATELY if you get any scary symptoms.

zzworldontheweb · Senior Member

I can only tell you what I did. I was drinking more than a pint of bourbon a day and also had jitters pretty bad. From what I've heard, it's pretty rare for people to suceed with "tapering off" their drinking, with antabuse or anything else. The nature of the disease seems to demand complete abstincence for a good chance of recovery.

Anyway, when I'd finally had enough, I marched right into my doctor's office and told her her with ABSOLUTE honesty how much I'd been drinking and that I needed help. She was totally understanding and put me into the hospital that afternoon. I made up some fish story for work about having an ulcer, and it was fine. It was complicated and a little painful, but getting "read into the system" seemed to really work for me.

Good luck.

Reffner · Senior Member

I've seen many people try anabuse with no luck. After all, all you have to do to drink and not get sick is not take the anabuse. I know it wouldn't have worked for me. The only true way to get sober is to stop drinking. I had to experience the "total psychic change" that Dr. Silkworth writes about in our BB. When I finally experienced the right mental attitude toward my disease, the solution became clear. Don't drink, go to meetings, get a sponsor, and work the steps to the best of my ability. I'm not saying that AA is the only way, but it's the only way that worked for me, and believe me, I tried them all. When you decide you've had enough pain and are ready to quit, I strongly suggest you not do it on your own. Get medical help from a qualified doctor. Alcohol withdraws CAN kill you if they get to the point of DT's.

Good luck and God bless Todd...

Brian

FlyingSquirrel · Senior Member

Todd,

If drinking were my problem, I would not be going to AA meetings now. Because I haven't had a drink in almost 18 months.

For most of us, drinking is only the symptom of a much deeper problem within our minds. Take away the drinking, and that deeper problem surfaces. I didn't just need to stop drinking - I needed to learn how to live without alcohol. That is a very long process which I have just barely begun.

I wish you luck with the anabuse, and if it doesn't work for you, remember that there is another solution. It's not an easy one, but it's very rewarding to those who are willing to do whatever it takes to stay sober.

Todd · Member

Thanks for all of the replys. I realize that antibuse is just a crutch really, but right now I think that I need that crutch to maintain sobriety long enough to get to the thought retraining process. After I leave work I get tunnel vision to get a drink, and once I start there is no stopping me, even though I fool myself everytime that I can just have a few beers and be ok. I have done some research on these pills and they stay in your system for a week or 2, and if one drinks even 1 12oz beer they will seriously regret it, which is what I think will steer me away from it. You cant just not take it one day and then go and drink yourself into oblivion later that evening. I do realize that alone will not work, once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. I will have to retrain my way of thinking as well and have some sort of support system such as AA which I am looking into finding the right meeting place in this new location I live now. The other AA place I occasionally attended is over 50 miles from here. It didnt work for me then because my desire to stop drinking was not strong enough. Now it is. I want nothing more.

Todd · Member

Well, I am starting to think this pill might be a bad idea. I work in an enviorment where I have to use rubbing alcohol frequently and I sometimes have to breath in paint fumes. I guess I should reconsider taking this if it is going to make me sick from other things than actually ingesting alcohol.

Dave Harm · Senior Member

I asked this question a few years back because someone asked me...

this is what some other folks thought

http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=42735&p=3&topicID=3812144

Todd · Member

Great post Dave. I suppose there is no miracle drug to stop drinking, but I am not going to dismiss antibuse completely.

zzworldontheweb · Senior Member

Todd,

When you say "tunnel vision", I think we've all been there. If you've been drinking heavily on a daily basis, you'll go into withdrawal symptoms within several hours of your last drink, and over time the symptoms become so frightening that it's basically beyond the ability of any human to abstain (unless maybe you're Lance Armstrong or Hercules or something) . Your body is telling you that it "needs" alcohol when all that really does is suppress the withdrawal symptoms.

A doctor can help with this, there are meds that make the symptoms pretty tolerable, but you might need to stay in the hospital or detox for a few days. It's WELL worth it. You might think about taking some vacation or something, nobody has to know why you're out. Then when you're dry you can think about the whole question of why you're drinking and how not to start again.

Just an alternative to consider. Good luck!

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

I believe so strongly in AA that I will fully say that you do not need antibuse...However, it is your decision to make. All of us were at the point you are at and do not sell yourself, the recovery process. or your higher power short on the ability to get sober. I also was fully addicted to klonopin and have been slowly weening off it and am pretty much done with it now... Yes, it is a horrid combo to take...Klonopin and Alcohol...When I went up on Knonopin I started drinking really crazy style and passing out and being super duper sloppy style drunk. I was always an alcoholic but that just made it so much worse. I would say first things first and work on the drinking. If you can stick to your perscription of klonopin...worry about that later...If you pop the Klonopin like candy then you have a whole nother problem to address. Either way...I can tell you from my experience of having what I thought was the world's most stressful job, what I thought was a serious anxiety disorder, and all sorts of other issues....each has slowly become better or nonexistant though my believing in and attending AA. My anxiety was due to my drinking, my drinking was due to anxiety, my job was stressful cuz of my drinking, my finances were screwed because of drinking and that made me anxious...In other words, a big cycle of having an insane and nutty lifestyle of being addicted to suffering. I surrendered in AA and found freedom. You can do it too. If you want it bad enough and clutch onto the support while you go through some scary changes, you will walk out the other side 100 percent better off than you were. I promise.

Mark

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Todd, working on the 1st step "We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives were unmanageable" is crucial in moving forward in recovery. Writing a first step, with the what, where, how, why, and when you drink and the consequences would help you a lot. You need to have strong reasons for quitting and the consequences firmly in the front of your mind to repeat each time you get the urge to drink, you should see in your mind the end result (play it through in your mind) and say "no, I want to live". Taking a pill (anabuse) imo detaches us from the responsibility and the problem. The problem is us, drinking is the symptom. Treat the problem, not the symptom. Going to AA meetings and working the steps, with a sponsor, treats the problem.

Larry_H · MIP Old Timer

Todd

I am with the others who say that antibuse is not the answer for most Alcoholics like me. AA works best for most. A big problem with antibuse is that unless you are in a treatment facility that uses it you will be taking the pill your self. If you are like me and reading your postings I see my old thinking in most of them, sooner if not later I would stop taking the antibuse. Then I would find myself drunk again wondering how did this happen.

I suggest the AA program starting with an AA meeting or more EVERY DAY for the first three months. You have to want it more than anything. If you are at that point it will work for you. If you are not there yet you will be someday if you are one of us.

Larry,
----------------
Having a lot of knowledge of our Steps, A.A. and our Traditions is not really worth a darn if not put into practice.

TwelveSteps · Senior Member

pinkchip wrote:

I can tell you from my experience of having what I thought was the world's most stressful job, what I thought was a serious anxiety disorder, and all sorts of other issues....each has slowly become better or nonexistant though my believing in and attending AA. My anxiety was due to my drinking, my drinking was due to anxiety, my job was stressful cuz of my drinking, my finances were screwed because of drinking and that made me anxious..

Mark -- I can totally relate! I was managing multi-million dollar deals and needed to be available (at least by e-mail) pretty much 24/7. My job was extremely stressful. I told myself I needed my wine to calm down in the evenings because who wouldn't? But funny, once I got laid off and couldn't blame the stressful job anymore... I found that I still "needed" that alcohol. My new job is much lower-stress but I have to believe that abstaining from drinking, something that has really decreased my overall anxiety levels, is helping make it that way.

Todd, I'll be interested to hear about your experience with Antabuse if you decide to take it.

GG

barisax · Senior Member

I have no experience with anabuse, nor with court-ordered AA, nor with treatment programs in or out-patient, nor with prison. But I know quite a few sober alcoholics who got their initial push from one of these things. Many say they wouldn't have gotten sober without it. But these things are certainly no guarantee of sobriety, otherwise everybody would be sober.

Regardless of where you are in terms of your drinking, a visit to a doctor couldn't hurt *if* you are honest with him about your drinking. In my early sobriety, the first person I told outside my immediate family was my doctor, simply because I wanted a note on his chart not to prescribe me any medication containing alcohol - at the time, most cough syrups did still contain a hefty proof. I've never been addicted to narcotics, but have no intention of getting started, so I've scratched that off my list too. If I were to ever have major surgery requiring Rx pain meds, I would certainly be apprehensive about it and I'd be using every tool in the book, meetings, steps, and of course my Higher Power, to "use as directed" and get off them as quickly as possible.

Anyway - all's fair in love, war, and sobriety. I don't think there's a wrong way to get sober, IF it leads to staying sober. I don't think anabuse, treatment, or even prison is "cheating". Sure, being locked up and unable to drink isn't the same as a conscious decision to not drink today. But it can at least begin the physical benefits of sobriety, and lead to clearer thinking. Whatever gets you there. Unfortunately - as we who are also in Alanon learn - there's no button you can push or program you can go to that will guarantee results. 90 meetings in 90 days is a good start. What worked for me was to just put one foot in front of the other and see what happens. As I was told, I could alway go back to drinking and double my misery back. So far I haven't found it necessary to do that. As we discussed in another thread - I don't like "fake it till you make it"; most of us are skeptical and non-believers starting out. I like "Work it till you get it". Take the action, even if you don't believe - yes, the miracle will happen even before you believe.

Barisax