johnw4
(09-29-2017, 12:55 AM)MrFussbudget Wrote: Hi all,
I was just given a prescription for naltrexone today to prevent alcohol relapse. The list of side effects are daunting to say the least. Anyone here have any experiences? I'm getting ready to take my first dose and feeling nervous.
~M
Hi MrFussbudget,
I am in the UK and have been 'dry' for a decade now, but have forgotten the name of the meds I was prescribed at the time.
But if naltrexone is the same as I was prescribed at that time it was great for stopping me lapsing.
I was (am) a 'functioning alcoholic' and as soon as I started taking the meds (and started going to meetings) I just didn't feel the compulsion to carry on drinking. It also makes you feel very ill if you do lapse...apparently.
I just did as I was told...I really had reached rock bottom and I really did want to stop what drinking was doing to me and my relationships...and so I finished the meds and never went back.
It really is a cliché I know, but you really do need to really want to stop.
Wishing you the best of luck.
John
Hi John!
Thank you for the response. It was good to read about your experience. I am also a "functioning alcoholic" but I haven't reached rock bottom as so many people discuss in meetings. My family and closest friends don't even know about my addiction, because I've always drank alone or on the sly. I've been able to drink "normally" at social/family gatherings. But I'm definitely addicted and had been drinking every day for a long time. Though I never liked getting drunk, I was losing control more and more lately and had some bad episodes. I have been sober for a little over a week and the cravings have been intense. I started the naltrexone today and the only side effect so far is sound sensitivity. (I didn't even know that was a thing, but everything is hurting my ears today.) But no nausea or anything else. I'm still craving alcohol so far, but it's only day one. I'm officially on more medication than I ever have been in my life now with the naltrexone, trazodone and ambien. It makes me nervous, but I'm sure it's much better than drinking...
Thanks again for sharing your experience! Congratulations on your decade of sobriety.
~M