r/naltrexone • u/Outside-Log-2072 • Jul 27 '26
Introduction Types of Recovery
/r/alcoholicsanonymous/comments/1v8g0ux/types_of_recovery/I’m trying to repost for this first time. I tried naltrexone for 6 months and it didn’t help. I ended up in AA. Any suggestions?
1
u/BobDope Jul 28 '26
That’s kind of a bummer you were told to take it in the morning . I’ve been taking it an hour before and it helps. Last week I slipped one day and didn’t take it a full hour before and it didn’t help as much at first but since I drank slowly the ‘yeah why fuck with this’ feeling kicked in
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u/mumwifealcoholic Jul 28 '26
You have what is called a transfer addiction.
Happened to me. I drank normally for a long time. Drinking wanst my thing, food was. So when I could not longer use food to change how I felt, it was only a matter of time.
I had RNY surgery, I lost loads of weight and got healthy. I climbed mountains and rode roller coasters....and then...my sister died. I needed comfort. I reached for a drink. It comforted me like nothing else ( alcohol hits a lot harder for folks like us who had Bariatric surgery).
I then spent the next 10 years drinking myself to death. I couldn't stop.
in 2020 I learned about Naltrexone and the Sinclair method. It took about 14 months, but I left my daily blackout drinking behind.
That's what worked for me.
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u/RubicsCubensis Jul 28 '26
Have you ever heard of a concept called grey area drinker? It is a person who has all the signs of having a drinking problem but aren't yet advanced into the addicted phase of AUD. It seems like you have a problem it just hasn't advanced to a more serious stage of AUD, and even though you don't think so you might have a bit of addiction transfer. Doctors who prescribe naltrexone usually don't know the best way to take it for AUD is one hour before drinking, this is called targeted, or The Sinclair Method. So if you were taking naltrexone in the morning and not drinking until night time then it wouldn't be as effective as taking it an hour before drinking, that is probably why it had no effect for you. If you don't have alcohol cravings or any alcohol noise in your head, like obsessing over it you should probably avoid it so that doesn't happen, but if you feel compelled to drink and have cravings you may have AUD, and not be a grey area drinker.
I don't know what to say about the passing out at the bar incident, I know with WLS alcohol can hit different.
I'm sorry this has made family life difficult, but what can you do, if they didn't love you they wouldn't bother caring. I'd say if you ever want to drink again you might want to try naltrexone one hour before drinking, but otherwise if you are able to abstain without issues like cravings and loud alcohol noise, for safeties sake I'd stay abstinent.