Alcoholic rats 'cured'

Interesting.

There is a drug on the market right now that makes a person vomit when thier bodies have alcohol introduced to it.

It takes less then one average size glass ( about 3-5 ounces) of an alcoholic b everage for the person to vomit.

At that amount , supposedly, the alcoholic is not supposed to be able to ingest enough to REACH the high that alcohol gives.

Doing that ( vomiting ) a few times, is said to help reprogram the body and the brain to not want alcohol.

Im guessing it works like food poisioning.
You ever get sick from chicken? You know how you never want it again for a long time....
I think that is the basis for this medicine.

Sounds wonderful to me, but...

How can one insure the alcoholic will TAKE thier medicine?

Even if it doesn't make them sick, just blocks the high, if they stop taking it, it stops working.

What I think needs to happen is , if these kinds of medicines are available, they need to be long lasting.

One pill should effect someone for several days.
Like the Z pack of antibiotics.
You only take 3 or 4 of those, but it is in your body for 10+ days.

Breaking my anonymity here (well, I've done it before so it's not a shock)...
As an alcoholic with years of experience (drunk and sober) I can only laugh at this entire article. Okay, maybe laugh is a bit harsh. There are indeed drinkers who drink mainly for the purpose of feeling euphoric. Sure they exist and in vast numbers. However there are the others, of which I am one. I drank for the sake of drinking because I did not know how to stop. I did not drink because life was grand or because life sucked or because Daddy was mean or Daddy was nice or the economy was A or B or because a sports team won or lost a game or championship. My drinking was not restricted to celebrating a good test score or bemoaning a failure. No, I drank for both sides of every event and then I drank some more. Many alcoholics drink because they no of nothing else. This is not to say they do not see other parts of life out there. Sure, I could see there was a world outside of my glass enclosure, but I had no way of breaking the glass walls I had built. I didn't even think it possible.

For me, alcoholism is not something which could be cured by a magic pill. I wasn't drinking to feel good or bad. Sure, I felt terrific when I downed the first glass of gin...and sometimes still had that feeling on the second. Then it would turn ugly and I felt like crap. I would then feel miserable and turn on a dime into a raging lunatic.; although, in general I would just set to the side a depressed blob. I drank because it was there. Even knowing the side effects...blackouts, grayouts, brownouts, vomiting, memory loss, job loss, etc. I could not stop. I would find myself going to buy the booze and I would be in tears, knowing what was going to happen. For many alcoholics the change needs to be of a more internal nature. Getting the brain to understand and accept that the idea of killing ones self must stop. Especially, when considering that the slow suicide of regular drinking is not going to be particularly enjoyable and unless a Mack truck happens along, the suicide run is going to be very long lasting indeed.


There are pills...antabuse...which are meant to stop a person from drinking. Take it from me, an alcoholic will drink even knowing the painful gut-wrenching, feel like I'm going to die- side effects of mixing the booze with the antabuse. A pill is not the answer for all alcoholics.

I drank until I had reached my limit. I got a moment of clarity in which I decided and realized and somehow momentarily comprehended the simple fact that A)I was not happy with what I was doing and B)that there was a way out and onto a better paved road for life.

I was fortunate in the fact that I drank for all reasons and that with the exception of gin, I didn't particularly care for the taste of most booze. (there were occasional exceptions). By not being connected to happy memories of drinking, my continued recovery has been somewhat easier. I cringe whenever I see these cure-all pills being pushed out as a solution. Sure, it may help a handful of alcoholics but it doesn't change the insides and get at the heart of the matter and address the internal demons which caused the person to drink.

I agree, srurgis.

Antabuse, btw, has been used AND people drunk as long as it's on the market.

I think, "pills" might help you to get sober, but if you don't go the path on your own, you'll always return to the stuff.

Good post Sturgis

Blocking the euphoria.

Oh, if it was only that.

Yeah, every so often some article like this comes out with another "cure". I wonder who's inventing these drugs who thinks a drunk drinks to feel euphoric.

Jesus, if it was that, we'd only have a couple or 3 drinks.

Oo..

I didnt mean for my post to sound so supportive of the story.

I too know what it is like battling addiction and think it is pure bullshit to think a pill can cure someone of alcoholisim , drug addiction, etc.

It was more of a sarcastic responce to the story and the scientists then anything else.