I've read about its use in the mid 1900's, but not of its use in recent times ... ... ...
As I understand it, it was quite effective in preventing you from drinking ... Cause if you drank alcohol while taking antabuse, then you got 'violently' ill ... so much so, that there is a "high" risk of death ... and a 'real' alcoholic is going to drink whether they've had antabuse or not ... (I've heard some share on 'speaker tapes' about taking antabuse, wasn't pretty) ...
I think it's rare now, to hear of anyone taking antabuse ... I may be wrong ...
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
I was put on anabuse back in the 1970's and it was pretty common back then, at least in the geographical area I was in...on the other hand, I was sent to a treatment center that still thought shock therapy was a pretty neat idea too so maybe that area was just behind the times. Tales of antabuse in the meetings back then were pretty common and most alcoholics had stories of taking antabuse and drinking - most likened it to building up a tolerance for the combination though I don't know if that's an accurate way to describe it. I never drank on antabuse myself but I had decided to give the program a chance before it was ever prescribed to me (against my will).
No more qualified on the issue of Antabuse than any one else here. It's really not a first recommendation of mental health or substance abuse professionals. I think the medical community may still embrace it somewhat but In my expereince - most folks get it because they ask for it.
Standard practice would be recommending AA, rehab, another program of recovery....
Personally speaking, nobody I know in AA credits antabuse with helping them get sober. Not to say it doesn't help or couldn't. I haven't heard good stories though.
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Keep coming back. It works if you work it. So work it. You're worth it!
When I wanted so badly to quit drinking, but failed day after day after day, I didn't know of any way but this. I had heard about it somewhere in my life when I was young, and in the end of my drinking, before I knew anything about aa other than that it was a religious cult I would never consider attending, I wanted antabuse, and my husband researched it and found out it was a bad idea... spoke to a friend about AA, told me more about it, and to at least give aa a try before going on antabuse, and the rest you've seen here : )
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Thanks for everything. Peace and Love on your journey.
Alcohol is changed, though not directly, in the body into acetic acid which is harmless. The middle stage, in which alcohol has not yet become acetic acid is called....yup, forgot... something-hyde. It is this chemical that creates hangovers. Antabuse is a drug that doesn't allow the process to reach completion, stopping the metobolic process in the middle stage.
Incidentally, overseas it is used much more than in the United States and is credited with a 50% abstinence rate.
-- Edited by Angell on Tuesday 7th of August 2012 05:22:52 PM
Alcohol is changed, though not directly, in the body into acetic acid which is harmless. The middle stage, in which alcohol has not yet become acetic acid is called....yup, forgot... something-hyde. It is this chemical that creates hangovers. Antabuse is a drug that doesn't allow the process to reach completion, stopping the metobolic process in the middle stage.
Incidentally, overseas it is used much more than in the United States and is credited with a 50% abstinence rate.
And when Antabuse is stopping that metabolic process, not allowing the body to create acetic acid, the result is unpleasant effects such as sweating, headache, dyspnea, lowered BP, flushing, palpitations, nausea and vomiting.
It's an aversive agent--meant to affect behavior, while doing nothing to affect the condition of alchohol dependence.
Angell wrote:
Incidentally, overseas it is used much more than in the United States and is credited with a 50% abstinence rate.
Yes, I'm looking for that kind of info. Thanks for the post, Angell. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts.
-- Edited by Tanin on Tuesday 7th of August 2012 06:55:15 PM
I could go into the pharmaceutical reasons that Antabuse is very rarely prescribed. It's an old drug that hasn't shown much efficacy in helping people stay sober.
I am not aware of any physician that still prescribes it for sobriety.
I've never heard of antabuse being prescribed, either. I always thought it was like an " urban legend" or something hahaha.. I DO remember an old " twilight zone" episode where the dude with a drinking problem was given a pill (my memories hazy on this) that caused a worm to grow in his belly every time he drank.. He winds up with the worm " taking over" his body lol. I do know that I had been seeing a therapist specifically for my drinking and she never once (except during withdrawals) suggested I be prescribed anything at all. Though she did strongly push the aa thing to which I was very resistant for a while. What exactly IS Antibuse?
