selincro/nalmefene and alcohol

This is the issue with people buying Selincro online, or having a prescription from a Doctor or Nurse who doesn't look at the full picture including possible side-effects. Medication can be given to counteract many of those side effects if the person prescribing has the insight to think about that when prescribing the Selincro.

I have seen my support worker today who is very keen for me to join AA to give up drinking altogether. I asked if he had taken any time to read up on selincro as I would like some support in that area and he admitted no he hadn't the time to. I am constantly being pushed to give up totally but my plan was always to reduce with the aid of this tablet. If I leave this support my Gp will stop prescribing. I feel confused.

where do you live ? I am in London and had to go through a process in order to get Selincro, which I will explain, if you are in London/England ?

Yes Paul ,that's possible ,but I and as others have found GP's can't be bothered so he have to go the self help route,I think the manuctururer needs to work a bit harder within the medical proffesion.The ignorance is also shown in Linda's reply regarding her support worker.How long would it take for him to read up on Selincro? Can't be ,wont be bothered and to me it sounds like he's copping out,I think Linda should find a different method of support

Linda, go and see your GP and explain that the idea of support is ridiculous when that support consists of people telling you not to comply with the treatment. Tell your GP that you are willing to accept the support if it is relevant.

It drives me mad when you have people are supposed to be experts on addiction who know absolutely nothing about the medical approaches to treatment, don't bother trying to learn more and even have an attitude that people shouldn't use it.

Alcohol Support Workers are often people with very little experience of addiction from the point-of-view of a service provider, Bigbee. Some of them have had alcohol issues themselves which can be really good in some cases but, in others, it can be a bad thing as they expect everybody to overcome their problems in EXACTLY the same way as they did 'if it worked for me, it will work for you' which shows a serious lack of insight into the differences in people.

The recommendation in the NICE Guildelines for Nalmefene is that it should be prescribed along with psycho-social support. As far as I am concerned, what Linda gets in this forum meets that need better than the rigid narrowminded approach from the support worker she has been assigned.

Yes Paul you are quite right he is an ex-drinker who know works for the support service and I know drink gets us in different ways but I'm a binge drinker and ok unles I have the one. I went to my GP last October purely because I had heard about selincro on the morning news and just new it was what would help me from myself. My wish was to drink like a normal person and be happy with just a glass or two not a bottle or two or more. My support thinks this will be impossible for anyone to achieve so I will have to prove him otherwise and be strong about what I want in life for a change. I'd just like him to read up on what it's for really so he works with me and not against. I will keep you posted and thank you for being there. :-)

Yes apaul I will go see Gp but o don't think he will know where to send me or what to do with me!

Hi boo I am in Berkshire and my GP has prescribed selincro for 6 months only and on the previiso that I attend this support that seems to conflict. What type of support do you attend?

It is very very tough to go from having an addiction to alcohol to controlled drinking. That is exactly WHY the discovery of treatments like Nalmefene and, before that, Naltrexone, were so important because they changed all that.

I would tempted to tell your suppirt worker that you need a person who is willing to keep up-to-date with medical developments and ask if there is another person more willing to do a little bit of reading to understand developments since 30 years ago, who could become your support worker. If that doesn't shame him into doing some reading, he needs sacking and I would be tempted to speak to his superiors to tell them exactly why you are unhappy with their service.

It is also worth speaking to your local Primary Care Trust who fund your prescriptions and explaining that the 'psycho-social support' is not available from the people who are supposed to be providing it.

And, as a last resort, tell your GP that you get more support in this forum than from the appallingly old-fashioned people he referred you to. If you need your GP to speak to somebody who can explain the far more relevant support you get here, I can give you my number and your GP can call me!!

*support worker

Hi Paul thank you so much for your advise and support, I will give it some thought. On another matter what are your thoughts regarding the new legislation regarding drug driving with selincro?

Linda, I am not aware of any new legislation regarding driving after taking Selincro.

The guidelines from Lundbeck who make Selincro are:

"Selincro may cause side effects such as nausea, dizziness, insomnia, and headache. The majority of these reactions were mild or moderate, occurred at the beginning of treatment and lasted for a few hours to a few days. These side effects may affect your skills when driving or doing anything that requires you to be alert, including operating machinery."

Many medications affect your ability to drive in different ways, the majority because they can cause drowsiness.

I think that it is important that everybody, whether taking medication or not, acts responsibly and doesn't drive if they feel too ill, too tired or too distracted to drive safely.

The other thing to consider is that the only time a person should take Selincro is if they intend to drink and that automatically says 'don't drive.'

I have done a quick search to see what you are referring to regarding new legislation and can find nothing. If you have a link, I wonder if you could send it to me in a private message. Thanks

Paul, I use my iPhone to access this forum so I am not too familiar with how to send a private message from this comments section. Please send me email and I will reply. Thank you

Paul, I use my iPhone to access this forum so I am not too familiar with how to send a private message from this comments section. Please send me email and I will reply. Thank you

I have sent you a private message Linda. Normall, if you click a person's name, you see their profile and the option to send them a message, but you should get a notification that I sent you one now and be able to reply to it.

I don't have an e-mail address for you

Oh ok because I've been clicking the reply to only. Thank you