Stopping without support

You could sure ask but like RHGB has mentioned, it is very rare for a GP to prescribe detox-related medications.  There are complications that can happen so GPs tend not to prescribe it but refer you to the ARC for them to prescribe and monitor your progress.

Even if you could stop dead, the issue is more about staying stopped.  So few people can manage it, hence high relapse rates.

An alternative that your GP can help you with is nalmefene (for TSM though your doctor will just know it as nalmefene to help lower your alcohol consumption).  You are very lucky in that Gloucestershire is one of the very few areas that have nalmefene (and hence TSM) listed as a medication that can be prescribed by your GP without referring you on to the ARC.

Nalmefene can help you continue your reduction gradually and at the same time, weaken and breakdown the pathways in your brain that has learned the reward associated with drinking over the years.  You can slowly reduce down to abstinence if you wish and then remain so without cravings.

The criteria for this medication for a woman is around 5 units a day so you have probably now reduced your drinking enough to meet the criteria for it.

If you wish to try this route, let me know and I will PM you the link that shows your local health authority have instructed GPs to assess and prescribe this medication, so that you can take it with you to a GP appointment.

TSM is the Sinclair method, which you seemed to indicate you had tried, in your first post?

Stopping is the easier part, staying stopped is the difficult part. It might be worth approaching your GP, you have a better chance if you have another responsible adult in the household, to watch you. Your GP will already know, because the ARC will have contacted them - you would have signed a bit of paper.

The issue with reducing and stopping, is that your brain is now used to its daily 'fix' and it won't just let go that easily. Which is why medication is recommended to reverse the changes.

I know what you mean about ARCs, the first one I went to was in the nasty part of town and seemed to have rather a lot of unsavoury characters and mostly druggies.

Sorry, poor communication on my part.....I tried reducing to either stop completely or do TSM but no joy with either as I did not reduce enough for TSM. I am going to try this route now though as I have reduced already so I will pm Joanna as she has suggested. 

Many thanks 

I would thoroughly recommend campral. I’m one of the lucky ones whose gp is happy to prescribe campral.

The percentage of AUD sufferers who succeed in remaining abstainant without medica, is very low. 

I could never taper successfully, as once I’d had a couple, common sense went out the window and I’d just carry on.

Campral is an anti craving drug which helps reverse the changes in the brain. It takes 5/7 days to kick in and it really worked well for me. Hard to describe, but you stop thinking about alcohol.

As has already been said, stopping is the easy bit, remaining so without medication is the hard bit.

I agree with the comments regarding ARCs. Far more help for drug users and usually in a ‘rough’ area. However, if that’s the only way to get help, then you have to swallow your pride and go. Not nice, I admit. My first time of using campral was through an ARC and prescribed by my gp.

My gp would NOT prescribe any drug for TSM, and the staff at the ARC hadn’t heard of TSM!!

 

Good idea. You are lucky to live in one of the few areas that an ARC doesn't need to be involved.

Joanna will give you good advice, my own advice is please listen to it and follow it, it's amazingly simple, but it is amazing how many people don't follow it and things go wrong and they are then surprised by this.

She will probably give you advice on how to deal with your GP, plus she will most likely send you something to print out to take. If she does, please print it out, it is important, so many don't bother and then get fobbed off by their GP.

If/when you are successful in getting the medication, Joanna will give you guidance in taking it. Please follow it, it is quite simple and it will make life a lot easier taking it and it ensures a high success ratio and it minimises chances of any side effects.

Hi Rachel.....I have a story for you...but first I want to say that if your Dr. is aware of you having prior seizures...I think they would prescribe for a brief time but then again..your in the UK.

You mentioned that drug users take you out of your comfort zone:

Story: I have had a severe drinking problem for years. When I was working I would look out the window in the morning and see all the cars going by to make it to work on time and I was already drinking at 7am and had probably called in sick at 2am.  I did this MANY mornings.

One morning while doing this...I saw the girl across the street from me (a well known person in the neighborhood...and well known for doing drugs. I actually caught her in my driveway one year asking my oldest SON if she knew where she could buy some drugs. 

I kindly TOLD (not asked) her to NOT ask my son to do something like that, she was completely wasted and stumbled on her way.

I always looked at this girl as lower than me...."what a drug addict".  

But, one morning looking out the window drunk...I saw her walking in her pajamas...to the corner...I watched her...she was cold...she looked ragged....and I saw the car pull up and deliver her drugs and I watched her walk back home.

That was the first time I realized...I was no better than her...just because I had my drug of choice in the house...I was still in my pajamas...I looked ragged...I was home from work.....and I was hooked...as badly as she was.

Addiction is the same....it changes us...drugs or alcohol...or gambling or sex.....its the boss.

That girl died...she was sent to prison for a long time after being caught selling drugs again. When she got out...like 2 years later....the first night out she over did it and overdosed.

We are no better...drugs in my opinion only kill quicker now due to all the "unknown" chemicals they are laced with. 

They were all in the hopsital wanting the same thing you wanted....Recovery

Hi Missy

Thankyou for your response.  The reason it takes me out my comfort zone is exactly because of what you say.....I am an addict and that brings it home to me which is what doesn’t sit comfortably with me because I already know this. I didn’t mean to imply that dug users are below me - as I am aware that we are both addicts but just with a different drug of choice!

Thankyou for your replies Missy - is much appreciated. 

Kind regards 

Rachel

Rachel...like me...when you get sick of being sick and sick of battling with addiction...you will DO ANYTHING you can to stop...including going out of your comfort zone.

12 years ago..I had enough....and was willing to do ANYTHING to get better....went to a detox/rehab facility for 2 weeks...and I did not drink for 8 years.

I was ready...I was really ready.....there were years and years that I thought about BEING READY....and you will know when you are ACTUALLY READY...cause that is the point that you will not care or think about anything else except getting better.

Misssy that is a very valid point. Yes I hated going to an ARC, but the thought of losing my three kids was far worse. Paled into insignificance compared with losing my kids. I had to get better, I wanted to. Therefore however unpleasant attending was, police were called daily, was offered drugs, propositioned, harassed by drug users for money, I had no choice. The worst that could happen was having my purse nicked or verbal abuse.

I soon got used to going, report to reception, sit down, spoke to no one, didn’t make eye contact with other addicts, read a magazine until my name was called. I had a taxi door to door each time so I could avoid being followed or mugged or harassed.

Says a lot about how addicts are treated in the uk, and the lengths we have to go to. Remember RHGB’s saga of what he went through to get campral.

If you want to get better, as you rightly say, you’ll do what it takes, no matter how unpleasant. Depends on how badly you want to get better. At the end of the day, for the majority of addicts in the uk, ARCs are the only way to get the medication needed to succeed. It’s not a quick fix, they don’t hand out drugs like sweets. You’ll have to fight, stick up for yourself, and above all, go armed with as much info as you can, printed off. Joanna will help and advice, it just depends how badly you want help. It’s not an easy journey. 

Misssy, I might be wrong, but from what I understand from Rachel, she hasn’t had seizures before. She’s worried about the risk of having them without any medication. That’s why she wanted Diazapam, just in case.

Mind you, as you rightly say, the potential crisis would have passed by the time she got a script lol!