Should, I shouldn't I???

Goin4More · **Posted:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 8:53 am

soberwithin wrote:

Thank you all so much for your fantastic replies. I still have a few questions.

Has anyone found a correlation between decreased anxiety and the SM? My problem is I cant get to sleep now without a valium tablet because of the anxiety, and correct me if I am wrong, I cant take valium with nal, it will make me ill - is that right? Any other suggestions for a sleeping/anti-anxiety drug in the meantime.

I don't think Naltrexone/SM is an antidote for anxiety or depression, per se. You may be right regarding the alcohol contributing to this but hey - you had a father who committed suicide. That is a huge trigger for anxiety and depression - and for the self-destructive tendencies you describe.

There is a book out that I highly recommend for you. It's called The End of my Addiction, by Olivier Ameisen, a prominent French Cardiologist. Here's a quote from a previous post:

Have you heard about the breakthrough use of baclofen, used in high doses, to eliminate addictive cravings? There's a book out now, The End of my Addiction, by Dr.Olivier Ameisen, a highly successful French cardiologist who practiced in New York, and decided he had to quit his medical practice due to severe alcoholism. He heard about some success with Baclofen and alcohol abusers, and self-prescribed the drug to try for himself. When he upped the dosage, he discovered he was almost miraculously cured of cravings. Five years down the road, he can now have a glass or two of wine, or a vodka tonic, and not even care for a second. (An excellent excerpt from the book is here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... olism.html)

For some reason the link shortens when this is posted. You can go to the page it takes you to and do the Google search bar for the name Ameisen. . .

This doctor had family who died in the holocaust, which he believe created his life-long anxiety disorder. He believes this type of situation is commonly the cause for alcoholism, and if the anxiety is cured, the addiction disappears. I believe As Reality Turns may be doing a Naltrexone/Baclofen combination? In any event, it's well worthwhile to request that your doctor read this book, and see if you can get a Nal/Bac prescription. Since it seems she just wants to use meds to treat your problem, perhaps she'll be open to this. If not, you may want to check around the Boards here, and communicate with those who are having to try this combination on their own. I suspect you're a good candidate.

Quote:

The refined sugars/carb thing. I was on Atkins for a while but my doc said it was extremely bad for you, especially if you have high liver enzymes, because it puts you into ketosis, which can damage your liver, and even worse if you drink whilst in ketosis. Anyone get any thoughts/knowledge of this.

Absolutely right! I'm not suggesting a completely carb free diet, but only a cut-back on refined sugars, flour, etc.

Quote:

I cant go to my docs, because when I went a few weeks ago with crippling anxiety and couldnt stop crying at all, she basically told me to go back on anti-depressants and stay on them the rest of my life and wanted to send me to a french psychiatrist who doesnt speak English (what use is that). I have done various forms of counselling, with varying results, and recently had a course of analytical hypnotherapy, which cost me a fortune and made things much worse.

I really do believe that the alcohol and the worry over it, is the main cause of my anxiety and that if I tackle this, I will be more than half way there. I am kidding myself.

Also,does anyone else here have what I call, self destructive tendancies, ie not just the drinking, but if I diet after a few days I always sabotage it, I promise I will exercise and after a week, I stop. It is almost as if I am addicted to failure where looking after myself is concerned.

Anyhow, thanks so much for all your help. Ordered the book today, but it will be a couple of weeks before I get it, so any help would be appreciated.

You're still very early in this journey. . .most of us are. Take a deep breath. And another. Be patient with yourself, and have faith in the process. We're all here for you!

marbella · **Joined:** Thu Feb 05, 2009 12:50 pm **Posts:** 255

Sober,

When I first heard about the Sinclair method back in September I got my naltrexone without a liver test- I was slightly worried because during spells where my drinking has been particularly heavy my eyes can go quite yellow.

If I had been offered a liver test I don't know if I would have wanted it anyway due to fear. Well to cut a long story short I aborted that attempt because I was the only person doing it (That I knew off!) and did not have anyone to compare notes with- I felt pretty nauseous and my eyes were yellow, although my drinking was less.

This time I nearly stopped again because one day I noticed my urine was very dark- but it could have been that I was drinking lots of fresh red grape juice. Anyway I persevered and all seems well, my eyes are white, and my skin has a healtier tinge than it has had for years.

To help things along, I do take Milk Thistle supplements (from the health shop) and try to eat some raw leafy green vegetables everyday.

http://www.gmhc.org/health/nutrition/liver/food.html

In the past I have also suffered terrible anxiety attacks due to over drinking. I am happy to say that I have not experienced one since starting TSM...and they have been VERY severe in the past- rendering me even unable to talk. I knew they were caused by the alcohol, and I was right.
Maybe during the first few days you can dose up on Valarian, Calms, or other natural sleep remedies? As you drinking slows down your sleep will also improve, I am sure.

Nal hasn't stopped my "happy senses" either. I feel far happier these days than I have for years.

Remember it will only be for the first month or so that you need to take the Nal everyday- then you will be experiencing days off, that will become more and more frequent as time goes on.

Robert Rapplean · **Posted:** Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:28 am

The Sinclair Method, in and of itself, doesn't do much for anxiety. What it does is put the urge to drink back in the control of your normal reasoning. Right now, your ability to decide for yourself whether or not you want to drink has been overruled by endorphin reinforcement. This is immensely frustrating, and a ready source of anxiety for a lot of people. Being back in control will result in some decrease in anxiety.

I couldn't find anything that suggested valium and naltrexone are incompatible. Valium and alcohol are a really bad idea, though. They multiply each other's effect, making ODing on the combination pretty easy.

soberwithin · **Joined:** Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:59 pm **Posts:** 22

Well here goes. My book arrives tomorrow along with the one about using Baclofen. I think I have decided my way forward, I will follow TSM, but will take baclofen in addition. I suffer from severe anxiety and this seems to help with that.

I am going to buy online, so can anyone tell me if there are any contra-indications that I need to know about, like on antabuse you need to have a SOS bracelet because of the interactions with any type of alcohol. Is there anything like that we need to be aware about with Naltrexone.

Thanks for all your help

Sober

Goin4More · **Posted:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:21 pm

Sober,

Somewhere on here is a thread with information about how to go online, put information into a form, and have something printed out that you can carry with your wallet alerting medical/emergency personnel to the fact you're on Naltrexone. This is b/c if they need to administer pain meds, certain ones will be ineffective when used in conjunction with Nal.

Thread. . .????

Greg · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:40 am

Hey Sober,

From what I know, anyone taking naltrexone will not respond to normal doses of opioid pain-relieving medications if they are unfortunate enough to be in an accident, or need relief from severe pain for any other reason. These medications include morphine and most of the others that doctors and emergency service people would use to treat pain in an emergency. Codeine is a milder drug that will also not work normally after naltrexone has been taken. Carrying some sort of message about this would hopefully alert medical professionals and prompt them to administer alternative pain medications if you were unlucky enough to need emergency help. Other than this, naltrexone seems to have no emergency reactions of any sort.

I have a lot of issues besides my alcohol addiction, and I have had doubts about whether the Sinclair Method is right for me, but I have decided to try it because I have nothing to lose and potentially a lot to gain. The method does not rule out other medications or treatments that may also help. Regarding Valium and naltrexone, I agree that there is no problem in combining the two, but combining Valium with alcohol can be dangerous since they are both sedatives. The Sinclair Method involves the use of alcohol with naltrexone, and I think using any sedatives could react dangerously with the alcohol.

Good luck, I hope you find freedom from addiction, and remember that this program does involve strict compliance (always taking naltrexone about an hour before you drink) over a number of months in order for it to work successfully. The people here who are actually practicing the Sinclair Method have weeks/months of experience, whereas I'm still a beginner who should have stopped procrastinating ages ago. I'm sure they will have a lot of practical advice that I just can't give right now due to my inexperience.

AsRealityTurns · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:42 pm

Goin4More wrote:

Sober,

Somewhere on here is a thread with information about how to go online, put information into a form, and have something printed out that you can carry with your wallet alerting medical/emergency personnel to the fact you're on Naltrexone. This is b/c if they need to administer pain meds, certain ones will be ineffective when used in conjunction with Nal.

Thread. . .????

HERE'S THE THREAD:

On the forum Questions for Dr. E.
Medical ID necessity
I did this and printed it up, what a great service! Easy to use and follow.

Here is the link: http://www.medids.com/free-id.phd

Should, I shouldn't I???

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