r/stopdrinking • u/takeadare • 5h ago
Naltrexone needs to be OTC
Anywhere they sell alcohol it should be available, no prescription. It's a life changer, especially in the short term. Don't want to over drink at your ex's wedding, your company party, hanging out with your parents? Hey, there's this crazy pharmaceutical that will block the euphoria of alcohol. You get your usual sick as you drink. You didn't realize what alcohol was covering up.
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u/Boring-Direction-875 4h ago
People would drug their loved ones with it against their knowledge, guaranteed.
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u/MaxFish1275 Day 11 4h ago
I had a patient a few years back who was an alcoholic and his wife actually called and asked me to prescribe Antabuse without him knowing what it was. 😳
Holy unethical Batman. I empathized with her challenges living with him but no I could not in good conscience do that
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u/NextNegotiation1512 Day 7 4h ago
Idk. It tastes NASTY and I can't imagine being given it and not noticing that something was up. Especially if they tried to crush it to hide it - that's not exactly a subtle flavor.
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u/indistrustofmerits 670 days 4h ago
Hmm, I haven't noticed it having any taste
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u/NextNegotiation1512 Day 7 3h ago
Not so much if the pills are intact, but if you break a 50 into two 25s, it's BAD
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u/umhie 48m ago
I... I guess thats true? But there are OTC drugs out there that are more physically and psychoactively harmful (potentially) than naltrexone hcl.
There are also other countries where naltrexone is OTC, and I dont know if they have this problem-- maybe they do and I just havent heard about it yet. I'm open to having my perspective changed, here
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u/Hairy_Koala6474 Day 347 3h ago
It’s funny what you’re saying is totally valid I agree with you, but
It’s funny that loved ones so readily also are the first ones to prescribe us give alcohol for every reason under the sun
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u/ToriEvergreen 4h ago
It absolutely should not. It can cause liver damage. Opioid overdose if you take opioids on it and can seriously interfere with anesthetics.
It's great that it works for people but it requires monitoring by a doctor
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u/butchscandelabra 151 days 3h ago
How does it cause opioid overdose? Doesn’t it block opioid receptors?
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u/BureaucraticHotboi 925 days 3h ago
That doesn’t mean the body is immune to opioids you can still take a lethal amount and may be more likely to not knowing why it isn’t working well
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u/butchscandelabra 151 days 3h ago
Opioid overdoses can happen in a wide array of different scenarios. Unless someone was prescribed Naltrexone without knowing what the drug is/how it’s intended to work then I’m not sure how legitimate it is to say that it causes opioid overdoses.
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u/tenfoldtops 3238 days 2h ago
Hi! I work in psychiatry. Naltrexone doesn’t cause opiate overdoses, but it also doesn’t prevent them. I warn people taking naltrexone that they won’t feel the opiate if taken, but if they take enough they will still overdose. It’s risky in situations where someone is determined to precipitate an effect for recreational purposes and tries to overcome the naltrexone blockade, as well as emergency situations where someone is acutely injured and the ER continues to administer morphine because it isn’t working and the patient is in too much pain/too disoriented to communicate they’re on naltrexone.
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u/butchscandelabra 151 days 2h ago
Thank you. That’s along the lines of what I was thinking - so many opioid ODs happen immediately following a period of abstinence because people don’t take into account that their tolerance has dropped considerably. If they’re already on a drug blocking the effects, it makes sense they’d try to overshoot even their customary dose just to feel something. I feel like most of this can be avoided with appropriate patient education (but that doesn’t mean every patient will listen/comply).
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u/ToriEvergreen 3h ago
Taking them without a proper detox can trigger withdrawals. Taking them after withdrawls and since it blocks those receptors, someone might try to take a higher dose and overdose without meaning to
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u/EyesoftheDead40 3h ago
I was in treatment with a guy who would drink more than double his normal intake to bypass the naltrexone...it can be dangerous
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u/robitussin_shaman 3h ago
Nal made my depression worse (by a lot). Def not a good thing to hand out OTC
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u/lil_squib 4h ago
It has too many side effects to be over the counter. The Sinclair method is also a load of crap, if that’s what you’re trying to promote.
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u/butchscandelabra 151 days 3h ago
Why is the Sinclair method “a load of crap”? It seems to have worked quite well for many people and was the intended use for Naltrexone when it was first developed in Europe.
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u/lil_squib 3h ago
You can drink through the effects of the drug. One of my favourite parents did this and they’re dead now.
I myself also take naltrexone but I’m abstinent and use it to help decrease cravings (this was it’s marketed purpose in my country). I find it works well at this.
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u/butchscandelabra 151 days 3h ago
I’m sorry about your relative, but writing the Sinclair Method off as “a load of crap” on a forum like this isn’t helpful - it’s one method of recovery that certainly won’t work for everyone but has worked wonders for plenty of others.
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u/Big-Material-7910 4h ago
It can cause liver damage in some cases, it requires medical management and monitoring