Hi Gyorgy,
My husband's doctor prescribed librium along with naltrexone. He wanted him to take 50 ml every day at the start of therapy. This was to help with anxiety as his body slowed down its alcohol intake. The problem with anxiety disorders and alcohol is that alcohol dramatically increases anxiety levels as it leaves the body. There can be great confusion between true anxiety disorders and anxiety one feels with a hangover. If your wife has trained herself to relieve anxiety with alcohol...which will indeed work as it reduces withdrawal, then she is stuck in a vicious circle. I am not a doctor, but my husband found the librium was very helpful in getting through his initial week of Sinclair as he had to bring his drinking down to low levels immediately in order to save his job. If a Dr. will prescribe, you might consider what his Dr suggested. He said take 25 ml in the morning with breakfast. A regular routine. Then take the next 25 if you feel anxiety climb and the urge to drink. Then take nal an hour before drinking in the evening. Repeat. This worked well for him. He does not have an "anxiety disorder" but suffered a temporary high level and this did the trick.

I wish you much luck and all the best.

Hey everyone - do I remember correctly that there was a doctor in New York that would consult over the phone? He was consulted by some people here and charged them for an hour's consult - or am I thinking about a reference on My Way Out? I'll see if I can find reference to this guy -maybe a phone call could help our new friend in Brazil...as Dr. Sinclair and Dr. Escapa may not be available, or not willing to take on a private case like this. Sad but true that their time and energy are limited.

I just had a quick look through Dr. Escapa's posts and he mentions these:

Stephen Gilman, M.D.
Addiction Psychiatrist, NYC
212-717-9138
http://www.gilman.yourmd.com (I think this is the doctor that will take consults over the phone - anyone know this for a fact?)


Neuro Assisted Recovery
8400 S. Tamiami Tr.
Sarasota, FL 34234
Phone: 941-330-2929
E-mail: beverlyrayfield@gmail.com
http://www.addictionnaturalcures.com/index.htm (this was recommended by another person here a long time ago)


This also is from Dr. Escapa and may be of help:

He said: "I have been in Lexington, KY and met two remarkable physicians who are familiar with the Sinclair Method.

Dr Stephen Cox is is a psychiatrist with great wisdom and experience. His office telephone number is 859 269 6648 and email: drcox@insightbb.com

Dr Jim Roach practices Integrative Medicine; His office number is 859 846 4445 and email: jproach@aol.com <jproach@aol.com>

I have enormous respect for these very human, caring,and astute doctors and recommend them highly for those who need the Sinclair Method and naltrexone done correctly.
Roy Eskapa, PhD
Hope fully I will have more contacts coming up in New York City."

I hope this information may be helpful to you even though you are so far away!!! You may be able to get some referrals from these doctors - they may know of someone in Brazil who could help your wife. She's in our thoughts and prayers. Please tell her that we are sympathetic to her plight, and that she is not alone in this battle.

Dear friends, 4abetterlife and BGH,
Thanks for your caring. My main problem is that I find no doctor in São Paulo, Brazil, who has even read about TSM, and therefore be positive to the method. So for the moment I have to keep the Librium advice until I find a receptive doctor. Be assured I will mention it first opportunity.
The supplied addresses are very valuable and I will try to contact all. I will send them the same letter I sent in the beginnig to you all, and hope I get an answer telling that someone has a proposal for a treatment.
I suppose I could get a consultation over Skype, and that would not be so different from beeing personally there.
I could send his fees even before, provided he has a solution or an assesment whether positive or negative regarding TSM for my wife.
But I have to confess you I feel very frustrated that there is no direct access to the organization of Dr. Sinclair or Dr. Eskapa where a secretary could send a standard e-mail with the list of recomended clinics all over the world.
How can somebody write such a book and be unavailable????. At least through a third party, who could keep his privacy. Why don't they consult themselves anyway? Aren't they doctors?
Thanks again to you, friends.

Hi Gyorgy-I'll echo the sentiments of previous posts with prayers for your wife. Hopefully the info St. Vincent, BGH, and others provided you with will help you find the needed resources and assistance to help her. I sense your frustration with not being able to reach Drs. Eskapa or Sinclair, but I'd equate that with trying to reach Oprah. As a researcher myself I can appreciate it is a more than full time profession and add writing and publishing to it and they may not have time to do any consults with the general public (and even if they did it's probably incredibly limited because of time constraints). Hopefully as knowledge of TSM spreads more doctors will receiving proper training on how to implement it and can work with patients such as your wife. I think there is real resistance to TSM in part because of the pharmaceutical industry and also the traditional therapy profession which is myopic to anything that isn't an abstinence based treatment. ¡Bueña suérte!

I would simply continue to take your wife's therapy into your own hands. Find the links to Indian pharmacies that will mail order the naltrexone. Have your wife take it daily if her liver functions are normal. Inform her regular doctor of the therapy and ask if they would consider trying librium for her anxiety issues.

I wish you luck!

Dear Friends 4abetterLife, BGH, StJude
We have Success!
First I started with the advice of 4abetterlife and took the medication into my hands, after reading very carefully the bularium of them all. So I took instantly off Zolpidem 10 mg, which is a very powerfull Hypnotic drug that was prescribed for insomnia. The very next day, all by herself Ingrid came out of bed and started do exercise on the floor!!! Can you imagine?
Then we focused on reducing slowly Clonazepan, and keeping only the sub-lingual pills, which are less strong and act quicker in the panic attacs. Continued taking Paroxetin - as an anti depressant and panic preventer.
And then Heavens opened: I got a message from Dr. Roy Eskapa, saying he is at disposition to examine the case. I sent him my reports and very soon after he called on Skype. He is a very open-minded Doctor, a gentleman. He got interested to help Ingrid, and accepted no Honorarium. He suggested Mirtazapine against depression, breathing exercises and keeping the sublingual Clonazepan to minimum limits and suggested other drugs as also possibles. And that we check his advice and get the prescriptions with our Psychiatrist. So we did, and this psychiatrist accepted fully his suggestions, and we started a new life.
Next day with Mirtazapine the depression disapeared. And panic atacks became milder in a week or so. She regained confidence, and started to work again. She is a Dressage teacher. And we renewed our faith in the Sinclair method. We changed the daily vodka for Rosé wine (11% alcohol instead of 44%), and only at the happy hour. She has to try everything not to drink during the day - and she has succeded (touch wood!). Saturdays and Sundays she can have it at lunch too. So it is an enormous improvement for someone who was always alert to drink while without restriction, because at home we would control her and argue if she was not sober. So it was alcohol (vodka) in unknown quantities and hours. She woke up at night to sneak downstairs and have a shot.
Now the wine is under control by her own will. It makes her talkative and relaxed. And knowing she will never be forbidden to drink - if under reasonable control - certainly reduces the anxiety. That is the Sinclair method in work. She certainly would not have reached this level without Naltrexone. And Dr. Eskapa gave us lot of confidence to keep on persevering. That it might take longer for some, but we believe again in the treatment and I can say we are back to normal life. Besides the precaution not to overdrink and not create unresistible circumstances, we live now a normal life. Thank you from my heart for your help, dear unknown friends. I am, of course, ready to share more information, and to offer also whatever help in my possibilities. Yours, Gyorgy

Wow. I am so happy for you and your dear wife. How amazing is that! Dr Escapa must be comended for his humanitarism for taking personal interest and trying to help. God bless. I hope things continue to improve!
Dave

Gyorgy what wonderful news. I was wondering what had happened to you and your wife. A very good turn of events. Keep us posted on your wife's progress and enjoy some good times.

Keep us posted Gyorgy. The Sinclair Method takes a different amount of time and plays out in each of our lives differently, but there are common experiences. It helps to share and get feedback so that you know you are not alone in this journey and that it can work over time. I am amazed at the number of chemicals swimming around in your wife's body and relieved that you are under the counsel of qualified Drs. You are an amazing person to work so hard for your wife. Cornerstone to making this method work for me and my husband is remembering we are not rats. We have a thinking mind to aid us through extinction safely and manage our lives. Your rules about timing of consumption and switching from vodka to wine are exactly the types of decisions we must make in order to preserve our present lives while we work on a future that is free from addiction. My next suggestion is to encourage your wife to insist on a nonalcoholic drink in between her wine drinks. I have found this SLOWS down my rate and decreases hangover issues and lowers the withdrawal/craving affects the following day. White knuckling until evening is no fun. Waking up hang over free, there is less of that urge for the hair of the dog.
Best of luck!