Craving Reduction
Medication Overview
The treatment model used by the Awakening Recovery Center recognizes
that a patient’s chemical dependence is likely a result of
neurobiological, physiological, and environmental (social) issues
that will need to be addressed in treatment in order to develop
positive outcomes and move from simply being abstinent into early
recovery. Awakening
offers the choice of addressing the neurobiological component with
the use of nutritional supplementation and if medically indicated,
the use of craving reduction medications; the physiological with
individual and group cognitive-based therapy, and environmental
(Social) with learning new ways of living life when freed from the
yoke of physical cravings.
Alcohol and other drugs negatively impact the brain's
pleasure/reward system and create brain neurochemical imbalances.
One of the reasons that humans like to drink is to obtain the
high created by endorphin release and related subsequent dopamine
release. Stated in
another way, “When a person drinks, this begins a neural cascade
leading to the release of dopamine”. Dopamine release is associated
with the pleasurable, reinforcing and rewarding effects of alcohol.
When a person drinks, their brain releases morphine-like compounds
called endorphins that bind to opiate receptors
and with the subsequent release of dopamine ”.
These endorphins seem to create the need to have another
drink and cause the pleasurable effects of drinking.
Opiate antagonists, such as Naltrexone, bind to the
endorphins centers in the brain--the same parts that are stimulated
by endorphins--but do not activate them.
As a result, cravings are reduced and if the alcoholic
drinks, the sense of being “high” is greatly reduced.
Removing alcohol and/or other drugs i.e., being abstinent can, and
usually does, produce overwhelming urges and cravings due to
chemical imbalance. It
is important to know that
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This chemical imbalance can be corrected with medications
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FDA-approved drugs, such as Naltrexone (Vivatrol),
Suboxone,
and Campral control cravings.
Other promising medications include Nalfene, Toprimax, and
Modifinal (Provigil) for cocaine cravings.
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Unlike older alternatives, these medications are non-mood
altering and do not cause sickness or physical discomfort.
Awakening encourages each patient to sincerely evaluate the
use of medications because long-term experience has taught us that
when a client is free from the physical and mental discomforts
created by cravings, they can focus on relapse prevention counseling
and long-term recovery.
We’d like to emphasize
that these medications are helpful tools that assist in the recovery
process; they are NOT cures in themselves.
These medications will not solve relationship, family or
legal problems created by drinking or using substances.
The craving reduction medications are vitally important new
tools that can help each individual by “leveling the playing field”
(by eliminating urges or cravings) so that other issues
can begin to be addressed.
With the use of these effective medications, cravings are
removed from the picture making the most difficult part of recovery
learning how to be happy in life without the use of substances.
Conquering the Craving:
Pharmacotherapies to Treat Alcohol Addiction
By Leah Shafer
Rx.com magazine, 2000
(http://rx.magazine.tripod.com/ph_20000501.htm)
Overcoming the tremendous hurdle of alcohol addiction usually means
a overcoming a period of “white-knuckled” craving which is difficult
to do without taking a drink.
Of the one million Americans treated each year for
alcoholism, almost 50% start drinking again in the first few months
of sobriety. Naltrexone,
among a class of medications called opiate antagonist, appears to
offer hope to alcoholics and is garnering the attention of the
medical community. When
compared with a placebo in clinical trials, Naltrexone consistently
reduced the rate of relapse to heavy drinking as well as the
frequency of drinking.
Researchers are excited about the potential of these medications.
(See
the COMBINE study results)
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/295/17/2003
“The use of craving reduction medications makes it possible for even
the most hardened-core users to stop in relative comfort”