The primary focus of substance dependence management is to reduce or put a stop to the strong and compulsive cravings to use the substance. There are several medications provided to help an addict and an alcoholic stay sober in conjunction with the behavioral and modification therapies, detoxification and drug treatment in applicable cases.
Alcoholism
Disulfiram or its brand name Antabuse acts as a blocker of alcohol oxidation at the stage of the body’s metabolism of alcohol causing an increase of 5-10 percent in the acetaldehyde blood concentration than ordinary alcohol ingestion. This drug action results to obnoxious symptoms if taken together with alcohol.
Some of the side effects of using alcohol while on Antabuse medication are hypotension, respiratory problems and dizziness. The severity of reactions depends on the amount of alcohol used and the length of antabuse treatment. The longer the user is exposed to this medication, the more alcohol-sensitive he becomes.
Naltrexone reduces alcohol and drug cravings when taken orally. It is also an emergency intravenous medication to treat opiate overdose.
Campral is a drug used to help an alcoholic stay sober from alcohol. It acts as a restorer of the damaged chemical balance in the brain of an alcoholic. Its effectivity is only proven in people who abstained from alcohol and undergone the detoxification treatment.
Topimarate (Topamax) is also effective in alcoholism therapy.
Opiate addiction
Methadone is a synthetic opiod used to aid an opiod dependent to remain abstinent from opiod use by mitigating opiod withdrawal and by providing the same analgesic effects of other opiods like heroin and morphine.
Suboxone is a drug used to help an alcoholic abstain from substance use. Its naloxone component causes severe adverse reactions when alcohol is ingested during the therapy. Its Buprenorphine component also serves as analgesic and sedative and an effective drug to treat alcoholism.
It is essential to recognize that the recovery drugs are merely supplementary tools to the recognized therapies for alcoholism and drug addiction and are not projected to replace them.
Below are commonly prescribed addiction recovery medications: