OK guys, this is exciting! CNN did a mainstream report that says naltrexone may turn the rehab world on its head.

Here ya go: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/15/addiction.cold.turkey.pill/index.html

Darn. Why does this board cut URL's in half? I put the link on separate lines, you can join them together, methinks.

Unfortunately, the report doesn't include The Sinclair Method. . .but I've left a comment and hope it will be approved.

G4M,

Well spotted and what an interesting article! I truly hope your comment gets approved.

All the best,

V.

FYI,

Another encouraging event: a couple weeks ago on our local nightly news broadcast, the use of Naltrexone to sucessfully treat kleptomania (the urge to steal) was reported. It was brief, but just getting the word 'Naltrexone' out there - to treat addiction in general - is a good thing...

Kris,

Snap! In a free London newspaper published on Friday 3 April, there was a brief article entitled Compulsive thieves may be 'cured' by taking pill. The article went on to say that there was a 'significant decline' in stealing behaviour among those who took naltrexone. 'It gets rid of that rush and desire', Dr Jon Grant, from Minnesota University medical school, told science journal Biological Psychiatry.

It's all good stuff.

V.

I'm sorry, folks, but this is REALLY old news. Like 15 years old. Even worse, they're prescribing it to enforce abstinence, and all of the clinical studies state pretty clearly that this is a short-term solution for alcoholism. It cuts into the craving for some people while you're taking it, but the addiction stays and grabs you harder than ever the moment you stop taking it.

That's always been a major obstacle to letting people know about TSM. It's been demonstrated to anyone who wants to examine the studies that it really doesn't work as a treatment for alcoholism when combined with abstinence, and no doctor would even consider administering it in combination with actual drinking, much less normal drinking habits.

A friend of mine saw this information broadcast on CNN this morning, so I went on their site to search it out, and this article came up.

It is odd that the man in the article used Naltrexone without drinking, and was successful. Ultimately this kind of false information may do TSM, which is the only effective way of using naltrexone, a great disservice.

Which is why I sent in a comment. . .I think we need to be as pro-active as possible to overcome all the rehab dogma that hinders this information from being correctly disseminated.

I have in my hands a draft of a research paper authored by Dr. Sinclair going into why Naltrexone + abstinence is ineffective. At the heart of the matter is the fact that there is no mechanism by which Naltrexone could ever be expected to reduce cravings. I can't share copies of it but once it's published I'll get permission to post it here.

The CNN article now has comments posted (they moderate comments over there). There's the usual AA drivel and one lady said this is great but that she hopes it isn't covered by insurance because drinking is completely elective. I wonder if she has kids and used insurance to pay for her-prenatal care and the babies' delivery...? Idiot.

Testing links in new window (just added to the forum): http://www.wwwdotcom.com

Test successful

Yea, sorry for the confusion. I didn't mean that the article was 15 years old, just the news that naltrexone works for alcoholism.

There was a huge study in (I want to say Pennsylvania U) where they tested the effectiveness of naltrexone on alcoholism in the early 90's. This study was what caused the FDA to allow naltrexone to be used for alcoholism in the first place. I'll have to look up the specifics. It demonstrated NAL to be effective, but the part where it only worked if people disobeyed the instruction to stay abstinent was brushed under the table.

The article rather pointedly doesn't state if Walter Kent drank while he was in the study on naltrexone. I find that to be significant.



For clarity, you might want to say "naltrexone without drinking". I'm reviewing that paper, too.