Experiences with Anti-Craving Meds?

[BelladonnaTheWitch]

Hello

NC for this thread for obvious reasons. Sorry that it’s going to be a long post but I wanted to explain my background.

I’m 51 and have been an alcoholic for about 3 years. I had my first medically supervised detox as a private patient a year ago. I had no onward support after I left the clinic and have spent the last year in a pattern of relapse/cold turkey/relapse.

Following some pretty big health scares since Christmas I have ended up in hospital 4 times so far this year and was finally offered some NHS support (my GP had previously told me there wasn’t much they could do for me). I had an 8-day stay in hospital and what proved to be the most horrific experience in terms of withdrawal symptoms - delusions, hallucinations, out-of-control behaviour towards the people who were trying to help. - you get the gist.

Anyway. Having been finally discharged I’ve had tons of help from local community support organisations (I-Access, SMART Recovery etc) and am pleased to say I’m now 6 weeks sober.

What’s bothering me is that I have not yet experienced any physical cravings for a drink since I stopped. This is mostly because the memory of those dark times in hospital seems to make me dread getting like that again, unsurprisingly. I feel fine, my sleep is much better and my energy is coming back. However, my key support worker thinks it’s only a matter of time before I begin to experience the cravings (mainly because of the massive amount I was drinking), and I’m really scared about how to deal with them. He’s suggested two different kinds of anti-craving medication, and I was wondering if anyone has taken or is currently taking these, and did they do any good?

Thanks if you’ve stayed with me to the end of this ramble ❤️

[Ravageur]

I think there's one user @2023forme I think? I'm sure she mentioned taking these meds. Good luck 🙂

[2023forme]

@BelladonnaTheWitch @Ravageur Ive taken Acamprosate which is supposed to help with cravings but it gave me such bad diarrhoea I literally couldn’t leave the house so I had to stop it.

also went private for naltrexone (I’m U.K. and difficult to get on NHS) which was doing the Sinclair method - you take an hour before a drink and it’s supposed to stop the buzz so you don’t want any more - I just drank anyway knowing I would end up drunk. I’m not chasing the buzz - my problems is I seek to be unconscious and stop thinking about stuff. I’m on another website with a lot of Americans who say they use naltrexone for cravings but that’s different to the Sinclair method.

currently I’m taking disulfiram (Antabuse) which means you cannot ingest any alcohol at all without being very ill- the reaction can be so bad there is a risk of death so it’s quite tightly monitored. It’s working for me as I really really really want to stop drinking and it totally stops all the “should I drink” thoughts as I know I cannot even have one drink without being ill. It takes about 2 weeks to get out your system after you stop taking it so it helps with the “fuck it, I’m drinking” nonsense.

good luck 🙏💪💐❤️