Is there anyone out there who has had good results taking prescribed medication to support abstinence. I have my first appointment at the hospital tomorrow and I am going to ask for this type of help as I am finding it impossible to abstain.
Medication to support abstinence - British Liver Trust
Medication to support abstinence
Written by
candycrowley
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42 Replies
•
Hi There
I was prescribed Campral following 6 weeks in hospital to tell you the truth I didn't want to take them.
I have been sober 15 months I don't know how much is the tablets that are working or my determination never to drink again.
Good luck keep in touch.
Hayley 😊
Thank you Hayley. If i get prescribed anything which i hope i do i shall have to take them as currently i just cant not have a drink in the evening. 
The side effects of those can be pretty nasty. I think people should do what they feel they have to do. I dont endorse them personally. Some people have clearly had success stories with them. I think just like a smoking cessation aid which is short term there also has to be some rehabilitation help as well. In the long term you need to be able to control that on a mental level to prevent relapse.
Kev12564• in reply to
I’ve been taking Campral for 6 weeks now. It has without a doubt lowered my urge to drink, and I haven’t done so since I started with Campral.
The side effects of Campral are minimal, in my case non-existent. The nasty drug is Antabuse which makes you violently ill if you drink alcohol but can also trigger such a reaction if you use alcohol hand cleanser, for example. With Campral, you could still drink alcohol in theory but it will lessen the drug’s effect. Willpower is still required.
Maybe it’s just me but I find taking the tablets as an incentive. I have to pay £8.80 prescription charge and collect the tablets, etc. Why go through that and then drink?
It’s definitely helped. Good luck.
• in reply toKev12564
As I stated a person needs to do what they need to do. If it helps along the journey to where you are trying to be than that's great news.
And certainly don’t feel guilty about finding it impossible not to drink. That’s alcohol for you Well done for admitting to yourself you need to cut down or hopefully stop. Good luck
Hi Candy
Welcome!
Poor you and you have probably guessed that we all sympathise!
Have you got a partner? If so if they could perhaps join you on this teetotal adventure (yes it is an adventure but not a particularly enjoyable one) because if they do it makes a world of difference - well it did to me!!
At times, in the early days of my problems it was “hinted” at that maybe I should give up drinking. Having made several half hearted attempts I then resumed normal service 👎🏻
It was only when I was told bluntly by the Consultant to give up or else that I was so scared that I did! 👍. Blurry hell it was hard but the alternative didn’t bear thinking about....
So Good luck at the Hospital today. If you have been brave enough to come on here (yes, I think it takes a lot of bravery to do this) then I’m sure you can succeed.
Go for it Candy!
Miles
candycrowley• in reply to
Thank you for that Miles. I did'nt get the medication I was hoping for The consultant I saw whilst handling and wording it very carefully stated it could only be considered if I proved that I was going to make effort to engage and attend regular hospital appointments. I expect that it is down to NHS funding. Also I am required to contact a support group and have a counsellor.
I have been taking Campral for about 8 months, I think it has helped and certainly no side effects.
I have not had any alcohol since Nov 2017, I was diagnosed with Cirrhosis I have been so healthy after a few weeks of diagnosis.
Hi my partner had a keep drinking and you will die diagnosis, he's near 8 months sober after decades of drinking, he need a detox as he was physically dependent, he takes campral, and goes to a group. What he would tell you is there is no magic bullet, no tablet in the world that will stop you drinking if your head isn't in the right place, you need support and his peer support has been his rock, ask for help it is out there and good luck I wish you the best on your journey xxx
Three cheers for Campral 
I felt guilty and embarrassed asking for a GP appointment to say I drunk too much (about 40 units a week, which a huge proportion of the U.K. population must consume), but there was no tut tutting or telling off, just support.
I was prescribed Baclofen which seemed to work. Only took it for a few months though. A German doctor who was an alcoholic developed the drug to cure himself. So the story goes. Good luck !
My UK doctor refused to give me anything. Go to AA was her only advice. I never saw that rude and arrogant lady again but I didn’t give up either. I’ve had two detoxes in Australia. The first one was hospital for 3 days with vitamin drips and Valium then two weeks daytime nurse assistance and again Valium. The second time was when I was really ill and spent three weeks in hospital. But again, it was vitamin and thiamine drips with Valium.
Cheers,
Brett
Sorry to hear that. Was your doctor unwiling to help or unable to do so? My GP was helpful enough but unable to prescribe any medication. Instead she referred me to counselling who then prescribed Campral.
Maybe doctors aren’t allowed (financially?) to help with alcohol addictions. I’m sounds like your doctor could have been more approachable, though,
Librium for 8 days on a tapering dose plus B1 and B12 got me off booze.
Most important was 1 to 1 and group therapy though!
That kept me off it.
That evening urge to drink continued for a while and I had to white knuckle through it.
Once you deal with the physical withdrawal (can be dangerous so get medical help for that part) the mental healing can start.
I had to keep reminding myself that nobody dies from NOT drinking and nobody wakes up in the morning wishing they had a hangover from yesterdays binge!
700 days later and of course I would like a drink, the difference is that now I dont "need" it.
• in reply toRoy1955
Hi Roy
I was more worried about the thought of counselling than giving up alcohol, honestly! I must have been a lucky lucker because no one warned me about the dangers of cold turkey but yet I had no medical problems at all 👍. And did I drink a lot - yes I did. If I said to cocunut water ONLY 40 units a week!! You’d get the gist...
Miles
• in reply to
I hear you PiloBob, the thought of coumceling for some reason was more of the dread back then to me as well. Perspective is weird in the moment sometimes. There were times I could be at 40 units in a single day. If I had a week back then of 40 in a week I would have considered myself doing fantastic. 🙄 My metabolism was so fast for it. I remember a friend of mine who was a cop would for fun let us blow into the breathalyzer and I remember a couple of times being around 6 pints and a couple of shots of whiskey into it and still didnt get close to blowing over. It was truly of my demise as far as "units" (which back then I didnt know a damn thing about) because it would take me 8 pints just to get a buzz and about 18 to 20 to get drunk. Never realized that till I looked back on it and compared the amount it was taking me compared to the others around me. Cirrhosis is a horrible damn thing and I would of made some better choices if I could go back. But I gotta say there were some goddamn good memories back in the days of bliss and ignorance no doubt. Young guys pissed loaded and enjoying life. We were all gonna be rockstars and noone was gonna tell us otherwise. Lol ah to feel young and invincible again. But alas some things must stay in the rearview.
• in reply to
Thanks for the honesty Phoenix. I reckon I was over 100, that’s units not years 😁. I wasn’t young like you though so had no excuse except stress ☹️. Ah well, I also had lots of good times, but lots of times I don’t remember. But I do what times prefer now! And that is indeed Now 👍😁
Miles
candycrowley• in reply to
Is this a stupid question... but what do you do with your time guys... the time spent enjoying the drinking!!! I am completely at a loss at what I am going to do to fill my time! And do you feel healthier for giving up?
• in reply tocandycrowley
Hey up again Candy
Firstly not stupid questions at all!
Second first 😁 Do I feel healthier? Absolutely no doubts at all 👍👍. Even when I was ill in the early stages of Cirrhosis I felt much much better after I had stopped drinking, once the shock of not drinking had worn off! Yes that was hard but inexorably ithings got better and better. Until I got more ill of course, having said that, I hate to think how I would have felt with full blown Cirrhosis whilst still drinking. Doesn’t bear thinking about.
Then, after my TP a whole new world has emerged with life returning to its fullest 👍 and double 👍.
Well I occupy myself with my hobbies. Radio Controlled planes - oh joy oh rapture 😁, and buying, repairing and selling Scalextric cars on eBay. Was meant to make me some pocket money but eBay charges kill that!
And in a couple of weeks or so I’m going to be driving patients around on an electrc tricycle in our second hospital here in Derby. Unpaid of course but sometimes just feel like I have to something properly useful at last hehe 😁.
You won’t be bored if you can find some hobby or group to join, I’m sure!
Good luck
Miles
• in reply tocandycrowley
candycrowley, now I do all the things I stopped doing for the drink. I always wish I had more hours in the day. Between my music and my studies and my love for all things plants and growing I keep quite busy. Especially because now I have so much more energy than I did before I quit. With the exception of the last couple months as my kids have given me every back to back cold and flu available. But even then I try to keep momentum.
Plenty to do or just go to bed earlier as you’ll sleep a lot better. I go to the gym or use the time to cook a nice meal. I know what you mean, though.
Do I feel healthier? Have you got an hour whilst I bore you? In less than 12 months, I went from a 110kg (BMI 32, obese) slob to 88kg (BMI 26). I go to the gym, run 5km in around 28 minutes and people don’t recognise me. My jeans went from 40” waist to 34”, and I can tuck shirts in to show off my lack of belly.
I could go on but it must sound terribly smug. However, I already ate healthily and not much. All the weight loss came from cutting down/stopping drinking (I was drinking 800 calories a day, easy to do) and going to the gym.
I said I’d bore you, but you did ask 😀
• in reply to
The end of my drinking career I was drinking only to deal with depression and anxiety. The fun stopped. Those were the dark years and not much of good memories in those times. Your a man of steel though Miles. You have made it through and have reclaimed your life. That's always the important thing and your still here which is even more important! 🙂
• in reply to
Thank you Phoenix, but if you had seen me in the dentist’s chair on Monday you wouldn’t have called me a man of steel I can assure you 😁😁
• in reply to
Lol! Your secret is safe with me.
alfredthegreat• in reply to
oooooh no it's not!!!!………….Bob
• in reply toalfredthegreat
😅 I swear PiloBoB I said not a word!
Kev12564• in reply to
Off topic, but any reason for the user name, PiloMilo? Milo is an Asian drink (non alcoholic) similar to horlicks, just curious 😃
• in reply toKev12564
Hehe coconut I would love to say it was partly due to the association with a non alcoholic drink but it isn’t 😁. Pilo rhymes with Milo and Milo is what I sometimes used to get called 👍. I used to be twosmiles until I fell out with Admin over the fact they deleted one of my posts - they don’t like honesty, or someone didn’t like honesty 😁- so I left. Threw my toys out of the pram. But came back because I missed my toys 😁😁
Miles
Kev12564• in reply to
Yes, it’s amazing how “little” 40 units is. I would buy two 187ml bottles of red wine, gulp them down in less than an hour and want more. My willpower stopped me going to a very nearby shop and buying more. Likewise if I bought a better value 750ml bottle, I’d have drunk the lot that day.
Half a bottle of wine a day seems very genteel and respectable, but regardless of what doctors say and the 14 units limit, etc, I’m way healthier now without the booze.
• in reply toKev12564
Good on you. I didnt even ever see such small bottles of wine, or maybe my eyes were focused on bigger things! Lol. 😁
Miles
Kev12564• in reply to
Buying two 187ml bottles for £3.80 instead of one 750ml bottle for £5 seems daft, but it sort of worked for a year or so to cut down my drinking.
If I could get by on one 187ml bottle a day, that’d be fine for anyone (except of course those advised not to drink), but for me one 187ml bottle wasn’t enough. I had the willpower to stop at two but wanted more, and that was what worried me.
Hello... Did you have to pay for your librium? I have been offered a five day at home detox for £1800 through the Alcohol and Drug Rehab people who I was referred to by the consultant at the hospital. I was'nt really expecting to be charged so much. Is this normal?
If your in UK your being ripped off!
That's private treatment but it's available on NHS.
Google CGL for a local group that will not charge you.
I had an NHS prescription for librium/vitamins and that was the only cost.
This is who helped me.
If they dont cover your home town they will point you to the help you need.
Hello Roy
Thank you for that it certainly did sound a bit strange. She very quickly mentioned the £1800 requirement and was not offering anything else. Sorry to sound a bit thick what is CGL?
Best Candy
click on the link
CGL is short for Change Grow Live.
its the organisation that helped me.
Part charity Part NHS funded.
I wish you the best of luck with your journey (not an easy one ) but doable.
I ended up in hospital with liver failure and on drips and with the doctor saying in the morning good lord your still hear ⛪️.
I agree with all that the other people have said, but the only way you will give up is find the way that works for you, you have been honest with yourself about drinking now look deep and be honest with yourself about the way you want to give up.
I was lucky to have a specialised nurse Nicky and she sat down and put it to me, do you want a bottle of Vodka or see your Grandchildren?????
I didn’t go to counselling,AA or take drugs I just sat through it 🤮.
I had great friends and family so a lucky man, that was 15 years ago September last year.
IT CAN BE DONE
I wish you the best as I said
Olly15
• in reply toDogbot
GJ Olly.
My partner had acamposate for 9 months he's a year sober next week, it can help but mind set is everything xxx good luck xxx
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