Anti-Addiction Pill Gives NO Urge-NO Craving Affect
Anti-Addiction Pill Gives NO Urge-NO Craving Affect
The world of alcoholism rehab and alcohol abuse is about to do a 360…that is according to the new research on a drug called Naltrexone. That is the new drug of choice for anti-addition.
Dr. Mark Willenbring, who oversees scientific research at the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, says alcoholism has reached a point similar to one depression reached 30 years ago. Back when the development of Prozac and other antidepressants took mental health care out of the asylum and put it in homes and doctors’ offices.
Addition is not an easy life. Not for the alcoholic or those around them. I know, I am an adult child of an alcoholic.
Here Are Some Other Studies On Alcoholism:
• A study led by Dr. Bankole Johnson of the University of Virginia found that topiramate or Topamax is already used to treat epilepsy and migraines, reduced the number of days on which alcoholics drank heavily, by 25 percent more than among alcoholics who got just therapy.
• A federally funded study known as COMBINE compared cognitive behavioral therapy alone with therapy along with naltrexone. Patients receiving both were more likely to stay abstinent and drank less if they did relapse.
These studies show that addiction is a brain disease, not just a failure of willpower. Naltrexone and topiramate have slightly different mechanisms, but both seem to block the release of brain chemicals that are linked to pleasure and excitement.
Unlike earlier drugs, like Prozac…used to treat alcoholics, neither is addictive or carries significant side effects.
All results are not the same and it does appear that each might work better in certain subgroups:
Topiramate: for repeat relapsers.
Naltrexone: in people with a strong family history of alcoholism.
It seems hard to understand that you exchange one addiction for a life of pharmaceuticals…but weighing the balance, I know which one I would choose.
For the full story of “Anti-Addiction Pill Gives NO Urge-NO Craving Affect,” go to CNN News.
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