Dear new friends

I just found this site and this is my first post. Maybe I am on the wrong discussion group, but I am sure somebody will redirect me.

I have sent the following letter asking for help to ContrAl Clinic in Finland hoping they would send it to Dr. Sinclair. I sent it also to other related institutions in Finland, but I can get no answer. I tried contact with Dr. Eskapa, also without success.

Maybe someone could please help me with advice or directions.

I was so enthusiastic with Dr. Eskapa's book that I wanted to translate and publish it in Brazil, where we live. No need to say, I could not get past the editors, and I could not reach Dr. Eskapa

And now, after 3 1/2 months with Naltrexone for my wife, I fear we are in serious trouble.and we need desperately some guidance.
This is the sent letter:

We need help, me and my wife.
My wife, Ingrid, 63, is alcohol addicted for over 20 years.
She also suffers from panic disorder, crises of anxiety. This panic disorder is 10 years prior to her addiction, and it may have led to it.

We have tried everything to cure her from addiction, with no results, only temporary relief, short spanned.

She takes regular medication against the panic disorder, having taken a lot of different types of medicine combined with antidepressants. Every time she visits her doctor complaining that the given medication brings no stability, he gives her a different prescription. And recommends she has to stop drinking, what she can’t.

I read the book about your method and have to say it was the first approach that makes complete sense. Brilliant! I have searched a lot, and so I came by fortune (Amazon) to this book.

We talked right away with our “Panic” Doctor, who agreed somewhat skeptically to our plea, and prescribed ReVia ( Naltrexone).

It went fine for the first 2 months. She was motivated and relieved to be treated for the first time in years not as a hopelessly sick person with zero willpower. We took controlled drinks every day – She was eagerly waiting for my homecoming for happy hour. I also left some 2-3 doses of vodka for her to be tranquilized that it was a “no suffering – no stress” process.

But she started to recur to this free vodka more and more, saying her panic was latent and she had to take a dose to calm herself.
In fact she was continuing to use alcohol as a medicine against panic.
(She had for the last many years been justifying it to herself and to us, me and 2 grown-up sons, that she needed alcohol to escape from panic and depression).

We reached the end of the third month with ReVia and so I come to the point of my asking dearly for help:

In Ingrid’s case, it seems to be a vicious circle in taking naltrexone for ending the compulsion for alcohol and bring its consumption down to socially accepted levels, and on the other side, through the now freed access to alcohol she is developing a “need” for it as a medicine against panic and reinforcing her compulsion.

So, dear Dr. Sinclair, could you please tell us how to proceed?
Due to her panic disorder is the method effective for her?

She is now in severe depression, drinking strongly, and loosing totally her sobriety if I don’t restrict access to alcohol.

We all received so much hope with your method after this many years of family suffering.
Please help us to find a way out.

In case you yourself are without the time to counsel us, perhaps you could forward this letter to some colleague that could help us. Or some recommendation in Brazil? Whatever help, we would be immensely grateful.

Thanking you very much for your time,

Yours

Gyorgy Troyko

Gyorgy, I am terribly sorry for the struggle your wife is going through now. I hope Dr. Sinclair or Dr. Eskapa are able to answer your question and point you in the right direction. I am someone who has had success with the Sinclair Method. Anxiety was never my underlying problem though. I think I was more addicted to the endorphin rush I get from alcohol and that may be why naltrexone and TSM (the Sinclair Method) has worked so well for me. Calming anxiety/stress was always a secondary reason for me to drink. Your description of your wife repeatedly mentioned anxiety as her underlying problem. I can't help but recognize the similarity to Dr. Olivier Ameisen's story. If you have not read his story he tried almost every method out there for his alcoholism including naltrexone (although he took it for craving and not the Sinclair Method way). He felt that anxiety was always the underlying cause of his "need" to drink. He ended up using high dose baclofen (a muscle relaxant) which can be used to treat anxiety as well. If your wife's doctor has been trying all kinds of anti-anxiety drugs on her to find one that works maybe you could discuss baclofen as a way to treat her anxiety. Dr. Ameisen wrote a book about his experience titled, "The End of My Addiction". It's a compelling read and available on Amazon.com Best of luck to you and your wife

Nothing in this post should be construed as medical advice. Always consult your physician before taking prescription medications.

Dear friend,
I am deeply moved by your promt answer and help. It keeps up faith in people and gives hope, now so needed.
Well, we already tried Baclofen a year ago, following the mentioned book from Dr. Ameisen. As we reached a dosage of 90 mg a day, after climbing slowly up, my wife reported increasing nausea - which Dr. Ameisen mentions as a strong possibility, and we abandoned the try.
Although I must point out that Dr. Ameisen's method is for quitting alcohol, and TSM gives you a way of living with it.
I suspect - she would't confess it - that the nausea excuse was very "convenient".
Now, with TSM, the perfect solution for harmony in our lives and an end to her and our (family) suffering, the sun was shining again, but suddenly all went dark.
And I can´t find Dr. Sinclair, nor Dr. Eskapa, so they could counsel us.
Maybe through this life saving site and with help from supporting friends like you, we'll find a solution.
I am not giving up, but presently I don't know where to go.
The Brazilian doctors (3, from which 2 prominent) we have seen didn't know about TSM, and frankly speaking, were not interested in getting knowledge about. I took the book with me, but it did not even deserve a quick look. So...
As you, dear friend, are more familiar with this site as to which groups to share, or where to post my help message, please, if it is not asking too much, orient me.

Thank you, from my hart.

Gyorgy

Gyorgy, there were members on this board who used both naltrexone (TSM style) and baclofen together. They took naltrexone to allow extinction to continue while they drank and baclofen to help with anxiety and/or to try to reduce harmful levels of alcohol intake. Here are some threads that discuss combining naltrexone and baclofen together

http://www.thesinclairmethod.net/community/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=101&p=622&hilit=baclofen+naltrexone&sid=428cec8c01ee67f0b5b87c42c89a138c#p622

In this one Dr. Eskapa addresses adding baclofen to TSM so very pertinent to your wife's case
http://www.thesinclairmethod.net/community/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=101&p=958&hilit=baclofen+naltrexone&sid=e735ba8006d4ebfb8a8fbbd650fe004c&sid=e735ba8006d4ebfb8a8fbbd650fe004c#p958

http://www.thesinclairmethod.net/community/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=130&p=985&hilit=baclofen+naltrexone&sid=e735ba8006d4ebfb8a8fbbd650fe004c&sid=e735ba8006d4ebfb8a8fbbd650fe004c#p985

You will find others if you do a search of "baclofen and naltrexone" There are also people at http://www.mywayout.org using naltrexone and baclofen. Lo0p who used to post here and now posts at mywayout.org used bac and TSM to beat his addiction although his rapid titration up with baclofen would seem a little riskier than most prudent people would want to try and he readily admitted that in his posts. There seems to be more info on baclofen at mywayout than here. I wish you well in your journey. One thing to keep in mind is the 3-4 month cure that Eskapa wrote about applies to Sinclair's sample of patients whose average age was younger than your wife's (less years addicted) and their average drinks/week was only 37. You didn't mention how much your wife is consuming but it seems many on this site who have been abusing alcohol for many years and have high units per week (>50) take longer to see their drinking levels reduce than the 3-4 months that Sinclair's sample patients needed. You also mentioned your wife had access to alcohol to take as needed for anxiety. If she was drinking this during the day without her naltrexone on board it may have been undoing some of the positive effects of TSM although this wasn't really clear from your first post.

I think it would take a very special doctor who would be willing to supervise both TSM style naltrexone in conjunction with high dose baclofen. I only hope you are able to find such a person in Brazil. Boa sorte.

I have nothing to add but my deep sympathy and prayers for you and your wife. I have seen an advertisement for a clinic in Florida USA that uses the Sinclair method for alcoholics at their facility. I'll try to find it and post it here. Would it be possible for you to travel to the U.S. for treatment?

There are also methods of treatment for addictions using amino-acids. You will find information if you google this treatment.

I'll see what I can find and post it - I'm not very good at linking but will do what I can. May Our Lord and Our Lady protect your wife until she can get the help she needs.

Here's some ideas if you are able to travel to the US, or try to find something similar in Brazil:

New Era Health Center in Miami Florida uses the Sinclair Method

Mind and Body Works in Durango Colorado uses amino acid therapy.

As someone above suggested perhaps your wife needs to stay on the Baclofen and Naltrexone dual therapies for a longer period. I would think the nausea problem would be bearable if she really wants to be helped in the longer term, and it may even be of help to keep her from drinking so much. If she doesn't have to go out to work that may be the answer: longer time on both, with an increase of the baclofen very slowly.

Sorry not to be able to offer more help. You might leave a message on the Lightlake site for Dr. Sinclair. That is his company for naltrexone therapy for obesity. I left a message there thanking him for all his work, and one of the company members replied quickly. They may take pity on you and perhaps suggest someone in Brazil who could help you. Worth a try.

Dear friends Saint Vincent and BGH,
I will follow all your suggestions and read carefully all the articles you mention. The remarq on combining Baclofen and Naltrexone makes very much sense, and for me I would immediately go for it.
But I think I should have some medical advice on it because of the drugs Ingrid is taking to fight panic ( prescribed by "conventional" doctors who don't believe in other way out as to completely stop alcohol, and underlyingly think that TSM and Baclofen are bullshit).
Unfortunately is not only about alcohol, and that is why I would like so much to have some advice from Drs. Sinclair or Eskapa.
I am afraid of the unknown consequences of mixing up alcohol and these drugs against panic, which are, in case you can forward this message to someone professional in this field:
Rivotril (Clonazepam) 2 mg = 2,5 tablets/day
Cebrilin (Paroxetin chloridrate) 10 mg = 1 tablet/day
Ingrid can't quit alcohol. All these treatments based on quitting will never work (AA, Faith, Superior powers).
We tried them all, and they ment much suffering from abstaining and even more by the inevitable relapse. Exactly the ADE (alcohol deprivation effect) stated by Dr. Sinclair.
I have no medical/technical support whatsoever for the continuation of TSM, and I am very worried of deciding over so much chemistry on my own.
I must find a name. Please forward freely. It will certaily bring the answers. Thank you very much again.

PS- I am afraid I am not using the communication system of this site correctly. I'm somewhat dumm in these matters. How should I answer correctly your posts and in a way that it is open to all here?

Dear BGH, If I find someone capacitated to help us with our problem, I mean if I feel confidence that we are not walking into another "be my patient for the rest of your life, and come every month to leave your check and get some new tips about other medicine and doses" I would go anywhere. I'll get the money for it. Thank you again for your kind spiritual wishes and compassion.

Gyorgy, I don't want you to construe anything in my post as medical advice. Please talk to your wife's physician about this. Your wife is taking a benzodiazepine and an SSRI. Dr. Sinclair has mentioned that he feels benzos interfere with TSM. Also you should not take benzos and drink which is why your wife's doctor is telling her she has to quit drinking (which of course she can't). Many physicians will give their patients a short course of benzos to help them with alcohol withdrawal. Benzos and SSRI's can also interact with each other. This all needs to be coordinated by a competent physician. I wonder if there is an addiction specialist/psychiatrist in Brazil you can see.


From website http://www.about.com

I wish you well.

Saint Vincent, Thank you for your explanation, which the last Doctor wasn't willing to give, only said that TSM won't work and she cannot drink. He gave the medication but didn't press for immediate alcohol withdrawal. Just said she should think about stopping in the next weeks.
That is why I am looking for Dr. Sinclair or other that is not enemy of the TSM, and who could advise what to do under this combination of anxiety disorders and alcohol addiction.
Can they be tackled together or are they excludent?
Ingrid will stop drinking only by restraints (locking her up - which is very depressive by itself).
Alcohol abuse won't allow her to bring anxiety under control.
There has to be a therapy for that, maybe not simultaniously for both problems
How do I find the Sinclair people?
It is so painful to watch her having those panic atacks and be unable to help. Medications act so slowly that your hart breaks in the meantime.
Some doctor once told me if there would be a quick action drug to stop the panic, it would be addictive very shortly .
That's what alcohol does. I would give an arm to have her addicted to such a drug and not to alcohol.