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3 months sober

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Paper_fairy
Paper_fairy

hi sue, I've never heard of 3 month cycle re craving. Who told you this? I'm 3 months this week so will have to be extra careful! Also never heard of Kudzu root, sounds interesting. Let me know how you find it. I've tried antebuse, hated it and even drank on it with side effects. Tried naltrexone( Dr put me on it). It helps to some extent though I did have a couple of relapses on it. Does stop cravings most of time and/but it makes me tired. Helps me sleep though I feel groovy in mornings.

hi Angela. It's horrible where you're at, I've been there so many times. Life does get better though once you are determined to stop. The first week is hell but stick with it and it just gets easier and better. You must find fellow alcoholics,struggling alcohol dependants who understand you. Join groups like local alcohol groups(ask Dr), aa( I hated aa at first but after several years of trying I've found 3 groups I love and have made lifelong friends there), Smart recovery is very good too as you're not labelled an alcoholic!!! It's all just trial and error really. Don't give up because  you're worth it and your family need you. Bye for now pf x

2 likes, 19 replies

19 Replies

  • Paper_fairy
    Paper_fairy

    Posted

    Haha..meant groggy not groovy!!!!
    • tim081952
      tim081952 Paper_fairy

      Posted

      It's kinda funny in a way 'cause I read groggy the first time, had to go back to-read that.

      Also it's seems to me that Paul mentioned awhile back about the danders of antebuse.

      Kudzu is a native plant from south-east Asia and it helped people for thousands of years with alcohol addiction.

      Thanks for your post.

    • PaulJTurner1964
      PaulJTurner1964 tim081952

      Posted

      Yes, Antabuse is extremely dangerous and I am always shocked when I hear that it has been prescribed in the last twenty years. Most doctors would never take that risk, although they are quite entitled to as it is still licenced for use.
    • charles54091
      charles54091 tim081952

      Posted

      Hello Tim

      I thank you for the tip.  I live in Kudzu Country, east Tennessee, USA and we have it here.  It's now an invasive species in the USA, but there's lots of talk about it.  I heard about using it in a similar fashion to make medicinal cannabis cookies.  I thought, wow, this is a natural, clearing an invasive plant and making medicine from it.  From another article I learned a young man used Helium to somehow kill the Kudzu roots without harming nearby plants, and is getting that patented.  Here's the whole story:    "These results prompted us to test an herbal extract of it on humans," notes Scott Lukas, professor of psychiatry at McLean, a psychiatric hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School. He and his colleagues recruited 14 men and women, average age 24 years. The "laboratory" was an apartment where each person was allowed to drink as many beers as he or she wanted, up to a maximum of six. After determining how much each person drinks normally, half were given a capsule of kudzu or an inactive pill or placebo.

      After a so-called "washout" period, treatments were reversed. Those who had gotten the kudzu received a placebo and vice versa. Researchers who evaluated their drinking behavior did not know who received what or when.

      The results were dramatic. "Those who took kudzu drank significantly less than those on placebo," says Lukas. "Everyone took that first drink when they came to the apartment after work. But the kudzu group was slower and less likely to reach for the second or third beer. They downed an average of one or two beers while the placebo group finished three or four. Alcohol consumption was almost cut in half." 

  • angela31316
    angela31316 Paper_fairy

    Posted

    Thanks paper fairy i too have reserched this kudzo tablet on the internet and it geats good reviews it takes away alcohol and nicotine cravings i have ordered off a popular web site thanks for the advice keep you posted when i try them cheers x
  • PaulJTurner1964
    PaulJTurner1964 Paper_fairy

    Posted

    Naltrexone is not designed to stop cravings in the same way as Acamprosate, Paper Fairy and you have been badly advised if you were told to take it and abstain. Naltrexone is an earlier drug which has the same function as the new drug Nalmefene (Selincro). It blocks the opioid receptors so that you don't get the same reward from drinking, resulting in you drinking less and, with some people, sometimes stopping drinking altogether. Taking either Nalmefene or Naltrexone WITHOUT drinking is a complete waste of time, a bit like sitting in your car with your seatbelt on and not even starting the engine smile Nalmefene is gentler on the liver and is considered to be more effective than Naltrexone. It's like an 'upgrade.' smile

    It drives me mad when doctors prescribe drugs that they don't understand!!

    • tim081952
      tim081952 PaulJTurner1964

      Posted

      AND this why we are so glad to have you onboard Paul !!!

      The medical profession and councellors have tried to help me quit for years. It seems they really don't understand...

      As I have mentioned in a previous post to several folks on here, Kudzu Root sounds very promising. PLUS, a whole lot cheaper than the other meds previousely mentioned...PLUS it is organic - thus very little chance of side-effects.

      Have you done some research yourself on this "miracle"  herb?

      Maybe The Sinclair Method will work for those that chose that route.

      And to all reading this, find the right thing that is best suited for YOU.

      I will keep you posted as to how I make out with Kudzu.

      The Campral & Naltrexone aren't doing what I hoped.

    • PaulJTurner1964
      PaulJTurner1964 tim081952

      Posted

      I mean to do some reading about Kudzu root, Tim, but have been so busy lately, I haven't had much time at home to get around to it. I WILL be doing so though smile

       

  • sue08
    sue08 Paper_fairy

    Posted

    Hi Paper fairy ... it was the counsellor I am seeing that told me about 3 month cycles

    Is she full of it ???

    I had never heard of it either, was just sharing what she had told me incase it was right and others would know and prepare for it

    • tim081952
      tim081952 sue08

      Posted

      From my personal experiences, there is no 3 month cycle. Maybe 3 weeks or less. You will know it when it happens, first you seem to have gotten over your cravings - then think you can just do one drink - then whammo. Right back at it. Been there many of times.
    • sue08
      sue08 tim081952

      Posted

      Thanks Tim, I have been there myself. I am now on week 9 and know if I was to have a drink I would be right back where I left off or maybe even worse. So I just stay away from it smile
    • PaulJTurner1964
      PaulJTurner1964 sue08

      Posted

      From research, craving actually increases the longer you go without a drink. People who succeed in staying abstinent simply learn to live with their cravings.

      Despite direct experience working with people with alcohol problems since 1988 (on and off), I have never heard of this three month thing smile

      Google 'alcohol cravings 3 month cycle' and see if you can find anything (apart from maybe the odd person posting on a forum) to show that this 3 month craving cycle exists smile

       

    • tim081952
      tim081952 sue08

      Posted

      Pls try the Kudzu, mine hasn't arrived yet. Sure looking forward to loosing the cravings.
    • tim081952
      tim081952

      Posted

      PS: time to seek out a different counsellor sad
    • PaulJTurner1964
      PaulJTurner1964 tim081952

      Posted

      It really is very unfortunate that alcohol counselling services tend to consist of people with very little training who pick up bits and pieces of information along the way from either clients or colleagues and then treat those bits of information as facts.

      The other problem is that some alcohol counsellors are people who have had problems with alcohol, themselves. While that ought to be a really positive thing, and is in some cases, unfortunately, some know how they sorted THEIR problem and believe that EVERYBODY should use exactly the same method which, of course doesn't work as everybody is different.

    • sue08
      sue08 PaulJTurner1964

      Posted

      I agree with you, alcohol has kelled hree people in my family, when I went to her I told her and also said I want to figure out why I drink She did not touch on that instead signed me up for a group counseling and did not book another apt with me sad 
    • PaulJTurner1964
      PaulJTurner1964 sue08

      Posted

      Because that is the level of knowledge in many of these organisations, Sue. And much of that limited knowledge is 30 years out of date.
    • charles54091
      charles54091 tim081952

      Posted

      Pssst.... Tim.... you wanna buy some kudzu?  I gotta couple of bags.....

      I must be one of the few reading this who lives in the middle of hundreds of acres of kudzu, and it is a strange feeling.  Never had I heard about using it to stop drinking, but had I known back then I certainly would have tried it.  Which of course makes me want to check into getting it into the hands of those who can use it.  I'll check with the Plant people here in East Tennessee and see what it would take to ship it.  Can you tell me Tim how it's handled.  I'm looking for an old-age business venture......

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