Silk Road forums
Discussion => Drug safety => Topic started by: topia on November 20, 2012, 09:41 pm
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been looking into naltrexone for quitting drinking. anyone know if this a viable option for someone who still wants to use other drugs?
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Hello,
I'm not a doctor or anything, but I'm fairly knowledgeable on the subject and maybe I can help you out.
The consensus is that opioid antagonists are usually not very effective in treating alcoholism. I'm not saying they have never helped anyone out, but in general I wouldn't recommend it. Firstly, they can block your own endogenous (natural) opiates from working properly. I'm not sure why more doctors don't bring this up, sometimes it's an honest mistake but other times it's frankly borderline malpractice in my opinion. The general idea is that alcohol is a "dirty drug" that binds will-nilly to all kinds of receptors and can cause an opiate like high in certain individuals. However, you depend on these natural chemicals for your general well mental well being. Everything from having a conversation with a loved one, to getting a runner's high, to eating foods release these chemicals and they are,suffice to say, very important. In fact, this isn't well documented, but it's pretty well known that people that don't even use opiates or alcohol can have anything from acute to long lasting negative reactions to resembling withdrawal while they take these medicines. In my opinion, any doctor the gives an opioid blocker without the patients consent (not counting OD's of course) is violating his Hypocratic (spelling?) oath and is a quack.
Also, people that are put on these meds can just stop taking them, so they aren't very effective long term.
If you are battling alcoholism, please don't despair and try to get yourself some help. I have seen some people come back from the abyss so it is not hopeless. Good people are doing excellent research into this area and are making some very valuable findings all the time. This isn't the 1940's and we know a lot more than we used to.
Here is an excellent link: www.biopsychiatry.co.uk (https should work I think). It's not always easy reading though.
Good luck and god speed my friend. If you have any more questions feel free to ask.