At my wit's end

Yes and yes, with the aid of a sledgehammer.

Often your GP will not want to get involved and will push you towards the alcohol recovery centre who have a one size fits all policy.

I'll be back later to give a more definitive answer.

Joanna

C3 Europe.

I had exactly that experience with my local alcohol service. They really weren't used to someone sober and in full time work, sitting there and coherently asking for help. They said I could have free ear acupuncture in a local clinic!

Luckily I went armed with printed info from NICE when I went back to my doctor and he was willing to look into it and prescribed Nalmefene for me.

I think there is now an official section on here on The Sinclair Method and Nalmefene so I would recommend printing that and the NICE guidelines and either returning to your GP or ask to see another one.

Both Joanna and Paul on here may be able to add to that advice.

Good luck and don't give up, you meet the guidelines specifications!

i know how you are feeling. get to an AA Meeting asap there are plenty around here.

if you let me help I can show you the ropes you have nothing to lose, costs no money, and everything (like your life back) to gain. get in touck. Rob2741

"Went to the GP today who, again, told me I couldn't be prescribed anything it was only the alcohol clinic who can do this."

"I have consequently read up on Nalmefene (Selincro) and am convinced this is the medicine for me but for the life of me am unable to get a prescription."

Well, first off, as you can see, you are not the only person to be caught in this trap, trap of lunacy, where common sense seems to have left town.

And yes, if you don't appear to be going down the offie first thing, you haven't got a problem, but woe betide anyone who dares to turn up drunk, they get short shrift, and they do breathalyse people, as I found out last week.

The best thing to do, is listen to the advice that everyone gives, and take the bits that you find most suitable to your circumstances. First off, whatever Joanna PM'd you will be worth reading, she is knowledgeable on the subject. Nicole may give you some tips for going private if you do really hit a brickwall. Just for the record, nalfemene/naltrexone are very similar and for the purpose of your question, either would do you, unless there are certain circumstances, like liver damage.

First don't be surprised about the alcohol recovery centre, nearly all are like that.

Your doctor is lying when he says he can't prescribe anything, what he meant to say is he won't prescribe anything. if you seem him again, you can tell him that you know that the area prescribing committee recommendations on drugs, are guidelines, the GP can prescribe them IF he wants.

I have a long winded story that I won't bore you with all of it, but I went to see one of these ARC, and they wanted me to wait 2 -3 months before offering me a detox - I'm on 9 prescription meds per day, I don't need to be waiting that long for a detox - my case is slightly different in that I shouldn't be drinking at all.

So I went to see my GP and told him, he gave me some diazepam, which does pretty much the same as the librium that you weren't offered. It is a benzo and it gets you off the alcohol if you have a big problem, without bad reactions.

At the same time I complained to the head office of the ARC (they have branches all over the UK). A director gave me a call back and emailed, Seemed quite genuine and didn't give me the usual corporate BS.

A couple of months later, I was off the wagon again and went to see my GP, I was again given diazepam, a little more reluctantly this time and shoved in the direction of the ARC. It was during the inbetween periods of taking the diazepam, that I realised diazepam would help me short term, but I also needed medication to keep me off the alcohol.

So I emailed the ARC director and said I wanted to try again, but at a different branch. It was like chalk and cheese. Told them what I wanted and why I wanted it, meeting with my case worker, health check with the nurse and an LFT. Then a meeting with the prescribing doctor. I don't know if it was down to what the director told them or they just have a different outlook. But I got the medication.

The moral is, don't give up and don't accept no for an answer. I was one step away from issuing a formal complaint to the local health authority and the Chief Executive of the NHS of my county and I would have told the people concerned, that they had been warned that they were failing me and passing the buck - to see if any of them changed their minds.

If you're not the type to challenge people and we are all different, it makes some people uncomfortable, then the private prescription is probably going to be the path of least resistance. Tapering may get suggested, but that is incredibly hard, because once you have had a couple of pints of glasses of wine, all determination goes out the window, and I think you have recognised that.