Has anyone been given Nalmefene / selincro ?

By now you should start to feel some differences.

Keep on looking forwarts to your future, it's bright and hopefull.

Fantastic news,

Escar

Also I notice when the Selingro is wearing off, I start to feel a lot of tension on my Diafragm (Plexus)

Also do I hyperventilate a lot.

For sure Selingro does give me tension, this stress alike.

All of this still is better than a hangover after consuming alcohol, so I will continue (soft medics create stinking wounds)

I'm on my 68th pill right now ;-)

Hy basil, don't focus to much about how fast and how much youre drinking, the taking of Selingro is different on every person.

For me It worked straight away, with others it takes a while.

20 Units a day, thats about the about the amount you're drinking now.

My advice would be, try to slowly bring it down by one unit every three day's.

Aswell could you try to drink something lighter in alcohol percentage, maybe a stronger cidre or a low alcohol containing drink.

Aswell a glass of water in between drinks or delaying your first drink with a few hours could be the answer.

Good luck,

Escar

thank you for your support, it helps to know Im not alone in this. 

You will succeed, don't try to look at the negative, like things arn't going fast enough.

Selingro needs it's time, so does your body and mind.

Once your mind is set back in order, you'll see the difference clearly.

Every drink less is one step in the right direction.

Good luck,

Escar

The cost of Nalmefene IS about £3.50 a tablet. The cost of a private prescription is the cost of the tablets. This can work out more expensive or cheaper than an NHS prescription depending on the cost of the medication. An NHS prescription costs £8.05 per item. If the actual cost of an item is £3, you will STILL pay £8.05 for it. If you had a private prescription for the same item, you would pay £3. However, when the cost of the item is higher, as in the cost of a month's supply of Nalmefene which is over £100, the NHS prescription cost would still be £8.05 but the private prescription cost would be over £100.

When a new drug comes onto the market, it is patented and only sold by the company develops it, in this case, Lundbeck, who call it Selincro. Nobody else is allowed to sell it and the company that spent all the money on research etc will aim to get back what they have invested. Later, when the patent expires, other companies are allowed to make generic forms of the drug, Nalmefene and, at that point, you will see a much lower price. It's a little like Nurofen and generic Ibuprofen. Nurofen will cost you a few quid and Asda's Ibuprofen can be bought for a few pence. It's EXACTLY the same drug!

I am appalled at the idea of a GP prescribing Nalmefene for one month! Clearly she has absolutely no understanding of the drug. I would take some print outs from the Net with you to show her how it actually works and that you need to take a tablet before you drink FOREVER. Ok, that should be fewer and fewer occasions if the Nalmefene works for you but you will still need occasional prescriptions from her for it.

thank you for your very interesting reply. I now understand much more than I did before. In defence of my GP I think she just wants to see me again before re-prescribing and also needs to check I have been having counselling. I am hoping she will now prescribe it continuously. I drink 4 days a week, at the moment, so a months supply lasts slightly longer anyway. 

I was astounded when I went to my first counselling session and saw the GP        at that practice. He told me that the only reasonable approach to my drinking problem was an immediate 3 month abstinence !!!! What a ridiculous thing to say to someone with a drink problem. I would hardly be there if I could stop drinking just like that! Fortunately when I saw the counsellor she said that she saw quite a few people on Nalmefene and she was generally in favour of it.  When I see my GP next week I will follow your advice and take her some info. Thanks for your help.

Your GP has no choice but to ensure that you are having what they call 'psycho-social support' as that is in the guidelines for prescribing the drug. However, I find this guideline inappropriate since Nalmefene is a medical treatment, the aim of prescribing it, is to take away the need for willpower and determination because the drug works on blocking the reward people get from drinking.

In my view, it would be far better if the guideline said that people should have education about how the drug works, the effect it may have on other pleasurable activities and how to overcome that potential problem and how to deal with the initial side-effects.

Where drinking diaries are normally a waste of time, for a person on Nalmefene, a drinking diary and a craving chart are very useful tools to allow them to see their progress. Unfortunately, many of the counselling services that people are being referred to have very limited knowledge of this new way of treating alcohol problems and some, as described above, totally confuse the drinker with inappropriate advice which goes totally against the treatment method being used.

i am really hoping that my GP will carry on prescribing Namelfene for the foreseeable future. I am really interested to see what happens and if this can really result in the big change I am hoping for. If Namelfene works for me I will certainly want to understand why it isn't literally sweeping the country. I suppose the alcohol industry won't be saying too much about it!

1. Doctors feel uncomfortable telling people to take a drug AND drink with it.

2. Many doctors haven't yet got their head around detox which has been done for decades, possibly because of an attitude towards people who drink excessively and a lack of interest in helping those people.

3. The rehab industry is worth billions of pounds across the world and they rely on repeat business with their less than 10% effective methods.

4. Both drinkers and their families have been brainwashed for so long that the ONLY way to overcome their problem is total abstinence and The Sinclair Method (the use of Nalmefene) goes totally against that, so even those people are reluctant to accept the idea.

5. The NICE guidelines recommend Nalmefene for men who are drinking 7.5 units per day and women who are drinking 5 units. This is basically people who drink a little too much but are not in a serious mess. There is no recognition of The Sinclair Method which can be used to treat people drinking a lot more than this.