selincro/nalmefene and alcohol

Selincro will naturally help you to reduce over time. Each time you drink (after taking a pill) you will get the benefit of the drug blocking your opioid receptors, retraining your brain with the ultimate aim of making your addiction 'extinct.'

Side effects can be difficult to deal with initially. They DO subside over a period of about a week for most people. It's worth persisting because of the ultimate reward.

BUT...it does wear off I promise. I am now sleeping much better and feel very well. Enjoying the total alck of hangovers and so happy to have easily cut my drinking down from 1 half bottles of wine , drunk very quickly and balcking out, to 3 glasses drunk slowly over a few hours and remembering everything ! So hang on in there, it's worth it. Just kep up the mantra to yourself...that you just have to get over this horrid couple of weeks and then you will start to be super well !

Jan, it is important that, if you are going to take Selincro, you do it properly. It IS a waste of money if you take it SOMETIMES when you drink.

It works like this:

You MUST take it EVERY time you drink, 1 to 1.5 hours before you drink. You NEVER take it if you are not going to be drinking. The cost of one Selincro tablet is about £3.50 so that is about one to one and a half drinks in the pub or a bottle of wine in the supermarket. I accept that it can work out quite expensive if you drink a bottle of wine at the most, doubling the cost of drinking that one bottle initially, but the point is that, over time, it helps you reduce how much you drink and, over time, you will be able to have days off from drinking because the Selincro takes away the reward from drinking which occurs as endoprphins attach to the opioid receptors in your brain.

It is a false ecomomy to take Selincro sometimes when you drink, use it ALWAYS when you drink (forever) or it's not worth wasting your money on. The way to cut down on how much it costs you is to have days off from drinking when you don't take a pill.

The most important B vitamin to replace is Thiamine. A deficiency of Thiamine is the main cause of alcohol induced dementia.

I would be tempted to admit how much you are drinking to your GP in order to get the appropriate treatment. What is the point of seeing the GP if the GP is not armed with the information needed to give you the correct treatment? If you pay for your prescriptions, you find it is cheaper to buy Thiamine in the chemist. No prescription is required.

Don't ever feel bad that you are using the NHS, that is what it is there for. You have health needs which should be addressed by the NHS, go and talk to your GP, he/she will appreciate your honesty as it makes their job a lot easier.

Maybe one day I'll pluck up the courage to tell my gp. I did try about 10 years ago to another gp and his response was "am i supposed to act surprised what do you want me to do about it" it had taken so much courage to tell him that I lost faith in trying to get help. Luckily i think gps are more understanding these days but am still reluctant. Thanks for always being on here Paul and I'm sure a great many more members are thankful for your help.

Jan

Jan