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Campral/Naltraxone...I'm freaking out

Posted , 9 users are following.

Misssy2
Misssy2

I have been taking Campral....and I feel like it has helped me TREMENDOUSLY with cravings...I am not even taking the prescribed dose...which was 3x a day for me and 2 pills each time.

I am taking 2 pills a day.

I have been gaining weight like crazy...so I started looking up pills that I am taking and the side effects.  AND found "weight gain" is listed as a SERIOUS side effect.  

I also have been more short of breath lately..and "shortness of breath" is also listed as a SERIOUS side effect.

I'm frreaking out because I think I have to stop Campral and it is helping me.

So I looked up other drugs that stop cravings and Naltraxone was one of them. 

Has anyone here that has stopped drinking using Naltraxone continued to take this pill and noticed they are not craving a drink?

Joanna and Paul...if you read this....what are your thoughts on the craving aspects of Naltraxone?

I am going to call my Dr. today but it is only 7:30 here and I wanted to get this off my chest.

Also..interesting reading I copied..while researching Campral:

Patients in the European trials tended to be more severely alcohol dependent than those in the U.S. studies, and most patients in European studies had been abstinent for longer periods before starting Campral, two factors that could account for the difference in the findings, according to the NIAAA.

"We use medicines to help detoxify people, but even after detoxification occurs the neurochemistry is still not in very good balance, and probably even more importantly, when your brain thinks it's going to get alcohol, that elicits these compensatory neural changes so that the body goes through the equivalent of a little mild withdrawal, and [Campral] blocks that," Volpicelli explains.

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  • Paper_fairy
    Paper_fairy Misssy2

    Posted

    Hi Misssy. I'm not a survivor at the mo. As you realise from recent posts. Some how I have to get out of my pity party and find a way to stop. Naltrexone was working for me a month or two ago but I messed up. Abused it because of major depression. It did not stop cravings but it really helped me to cut down to under a bottle of wine( it was once 2 1/2 once). 

    Baclofen was the first anti craving drug I tried . It made me put on a lot of weight and because I was going through a lot of mental health stuff the dr would never prescribe this drug to anyone again( enough said).

    Now I've read that campral also makes you put on weight, no way do I want to take this drug either.

    So when I'm well again, if ever, I will go back down the naltrexone route. Xx

    • Misssy2
      Misssy2 Paper_fairy

      Posted

      I'm not sure CAMPRAL makes EVERYONE put on weight since it is a SERIOUS side effect...and not one of the less serious side effects.

      RHGB takes it and is not complaining of weight gain...you can try it and if you gain weight..I just read that stopping it suddenly does not cause any problems.

      Just NOW you know it may make some people gain weight...and you will be aware...its worth a shot...because if it doesn't make YOU gain weight...and helps with cravings as much as it has helped ME...than its a postive thing.

       

    • Paper_fairy
      Paper_fairy Misssy2

      Posted

      Misssy. Dr won't give me campral..have to go through addaction that will only prescribe Antabuse. The only reason my dr prescribed naltrexone was because a private rehab put me on it. I'm so sad that in Chesterfield the only drug prescribed is Antabuse. And I now know 4 people who have died from alcoholism because they did not get help. One was a lovely girl that was suffering from post natal depression, 3 month old twins, jumped from John Lewis car park. Another, what a lovely guy, but Derbyshire stopped half way houses, he was 6 months sober and on the streets again. Dead. Sick and tired of NHS failing us
    • vickylou
      vickylou Paper_fairy

      Posted

      Hello paper fairy

      just to let you know misssy is quite right, different medications effect people in different ways. I took campral for 12 months and can honestly say I didn't put on any weight. In fact as I wasn't drinking I generally ate healthier and no side effects when stopping.

      I too was only offered Antabuse by addaction and also ADS. Disgusting isn't it. My old GP prescribed campral, but when I wanted it again, my new one wouldn't. Which is why I ended up at addaction. Stay strong and keep posting. Depression, along with other things is horrible. Xx

    • Paper_fairy
      Paper_fairy Misssy2

      Posted

      Got enough problems in my life without being obese. No way will I ever go down that route. Kills more people than alcohol, drugs or smoking. Xx
    • Paper_fairy
      Paper_fairy vickylou

      Posted

      so why Vicky can you get campral? I live 30/40 mins from you and no way can I get it? Xx
    • nicole36330
      nicole36330 Paper_fairy

      Posted

      I know what you mean about being obese.

      Why can't I at least be a skinny alcoholic

      But at least it's one of my motivations for stopping drinking,I can easily diet when I'm not drinking

    • vickylou
      vickylou Paper_fairy

      Posted

      Paper, the first time I heard of campral was when my old GP suggested it. I'd never heard of it before. I'd previously had Antabuse and ended up in hospital as I drank two days after stopping it.

      It must be nearly five years ago when I started on campral, prescribed by my old GP. No alcohol services involved and it was successful. As you know I've had a few binges since when really anxious. 

      My my old gp's retired early at 52! so I changed dr's. Big mistake. 18 months ago I wanted campral again, but new GP wouldn't prescribe it and referred me to  addaction and ADS, both in town. Addaction only suggested Antabuse and ADS just wanted weekly diaries and hadn't heard of campral, naltrexone or nalfemene! So like you I can't get anything now.

    • RHGB
      RHGB vickylou

      Posted

      I'm going to send you a PM Vicks, that shows my prescription from Addaction. If PMs allow links, I would appreciate you coming back here and posting that it is actually possible to get a prescription out of them for Campral.

      I'm not pretending that it is easy, I just want to say it is possible.

    • vickylou
      vickylou RHGB

      Posted

      Thanks for the PM.  Just to say that I now have definite proof, having seen your prescription, that addaction will prescribe campral. I should have been stronger with them.
    • vickylou
      vickylou RHGB

      Posted

      Thanks for the PM.  Just to say that I now have definite proof, having seen your prescription, that addaction will prescribe campral. I should have been stronger with them.
    • RHGB
      RHGB vickylou

      Posted

      It's not about being stronger Vicks, it's about knowing how to deal with them. And if you ever find yourself in front of them again, and they tell you they don't prescribe Campral, you can say, that isn't actually true and I have evidence to the contrary. Puts you in a much stronger bargaining position. Right, must go, I'll give people one guess where I have to be at 9:30am.
    • vickylou
      vickylou RHGB

      Posted

      Good luck at addaction. Take it that's where you're off to lol!
    • vickylou
      vickylou RHGB

      Posted

      Good luck at addaction. Take it that's where you're off to lol!
    • vickylou
      vickylou RHGB

      Posted

      Good luck at addaction. Take it that's where you're off to lol!
    • vickylou
      vickylou RHGB

      Posted

      When I said stronger, I didn't mean I just gave in. When you're told, "we don't prescribe campral" there wasn't much I could do. However, should I need it again, I won't be fobbed off, so thank you.
    • Misssy2
      Misssy2 vickylou

      Posted

      Hi vicky..,.maybe personalities come into play...I learned about communication skills in "group" today....I knew about them...but we had to determine what we were...When I am angry, pushed or feel any negative emotion I AM AGRESSIVE.

      When my psychiatrist told me the other day she discontinued ALL my Anxiety medication...I lost it....I did not just say OK.

      I said WHY?  WHY did you DO THAT!?

      She said because you DRANK.

      I said I understand that you work for drug treatment facility and that benzo and alcohol do not mix.  And I was a little louder than usual..and I said...PLEASE DO not put me under that umbrella!

      She shrugged her shoulders...I stared at her and I said NO.....I said I take a baby dose..have been for 12 years and I have never asked for more.

      She says..maybe you haven't drank on them yet...but alcohol is progressive and you may someday.  I said NO, I won't...PLEASE do not do this to me...

      So she FINALLY said..she was going to remove the night time ones because I am taking too many others for sleep.  I agreed with her...and she is prescribing the daytime meds...NOW.

      So, take the copy with you and go AGAIN...and don't give up..

      You have to be your own ADVOCATE.

      Tell the person...you have heard...very bad alcoholics....are doing very well with this drug...show the evidence RHGB gave you that that service DOES prescribe it and don't give up!

    • Misssy2
      Misssy2

      Posted

      I forgot...at the end...I thanked her for giving me the respect.....even thou she had doubt.
    • Misssy2
      Misssy2

      Posted

      I don't even get the issue with CAMPRAL...not even addictive.

      What is the problem they have with it??

    • vickylou
      vickylou Misssy2

      Posted

      Misssey

      it was about 18 months ago when I wanted it again.  If I want to take it again, I now know they do prescribe it, and I have evidence of that.

      well done for fighting for your meds, I would have done exactly the same. Surely anxiety medication shouldn't just be stopped just like that. I'm slowly reducing my night medication, but my dr told me it could take a while, even though I'm on a low dose.

    • Paper_fairy
      Paper_fairy RHGB

      Posted

      Hi RHGB. Can you send me the link(pm me) that you sent to Vicki please ✉️
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