One of the best things of living in this day and age is the almost daily advancement in medical treatment.
For the sake of brevity and to stick with the subject matter of the website I’ll only address some of the new medications and the approaches being used in conjunction with these drugs to help individuals who face substance abuse, and the inherent addiction that results.
If you are an adherent to the “12 step process” which to be sure is a tried and true methodology that has worked for thousands upon thousands of people for decades these drugs are not a replacement, but an adjunct and a new option for addicts. I may be somewhat remiss in that there is a part of me that feels I should write up a more comprehensive article on the history and the mechanisms on the use of drug therapy in addiction. Drugs such as Antabuse andNaltrexone have been around for years and have proven effective for many physicians treating addiction but they do have some significant drawbacks. It may seem simplistic to say it, but the one that seems to prove the most difficult (alas it’s the case with most medical treatment) is the patient simply stops taking the medication. Antabuse is a perfect example of this. Why take medication that makes you sick or gives no buzz when the booze/opiate makes you feel so much better? More often than not an addicted individual has to hit a very low point for this approach to have even a remote chance of working.
This brings me to the gist of this piece. The advent of new medical imaging modalities such as PET (Positron emission scanning) and FMRI (Functional magnetic resonance imaging) has given physicians new insights into the human brain, it’s chemistry and how it functions, thus assisting in ushering in a whole new breed of drugs that are helping substance abusers find another way out of their personal quagmires. On the forefront of these are Suboxone (Opiates)Campral (Alcohol) and Chantix (Nicotine). What makes these drugs different? Without getting technical (Something I’m ill suited to do) they tend to target the craving mechanisms. What this accomplishes is giving the user a less stressful mindset when trying to get back into a normal day to day existence. These drugs more or less work by balancing brain chemistry that has been thrown out of whack because of the substance abuse.
A good friend of mine (Ahem) who drank for close to thirty years has been completely sober for 10 months now and accomplished this with help in the very beginning using Campral. It didn’t hurt that the individual wanted to stop, as in all addictions, but the drug was a Godsend. With the help of a physician it was first required they be alcohol free for at least five days. There was a small detox using an anxiolytic, Serax specifically, and then the required course of the Campral. The desire to drink literally vanished within twenty-four hours. The drug was taken for the duration of two months and then gradually stopped. All these factors of course will vary from patient to patient as will side effects, which in this case were very minor. Everything including sleep patterns returned too normal. And never once did they feel the need for AA. Not that there is anything wrong with AA it’s simply been a personal choice.
Chantix is next. I’ll, err they’ll let me know how that all goes.