I asked jeff if he thought I was hypomanic and he said no. I don't think so either.
I am thinking she will probably want me back on the higher dose of geodon...which I don't want to take.
I read some where that one of the potential side effects is insomnia, well if that happens then that is a deal breaker. Also it talked about possibly reducing pleasure in general which would suck. I guess I will never know until I try it.
I read that it is ok for people with bipolar, wish I had saved some of those articles/ links.
bizi

I hope that you're at least allowed to give it a try Bizi.

I think mental health disorders are so prevalent among substance abusers that most providers focus heavily on identifying and treating a dual-diagnosis. I think in general, it's just a matter of finding a quality professional.

I know you're not interested in AA, but my counselor recommended if I go to AA I try to find meetings that have a dual-diagnosis theme. Perhaps, there are support forums that have the same focus.

well the office worker called me back.
She said that studies show that it is effective when combined with AA.
I told her that what I had read did not read that way. She wants me to ssend her the articles that I found supporting etc.
I will give her the "The Sinclair Method" web sight and let her read that a bit.
She was not happy with my increased drinking.
She was not used to prescribing this. Something about a drug and alcohol abuse group...or something about that.
WEll this is what I was afraid of. These out patient therapy programs are very expensive....mostly group therapy which I hate.
my pdoc said that I should include the frequency that I would agree to seeing her, I would go monthly.
70-80% chance of being alcohol free in 6 months would be worth it!
bizi

The Sinclair Method (TSM) is a treatment for alcohol addiction that uses a technique called pharmacological extinction—the use of an opiate blocker to turn habit-forming behaviors into habit erasing behaviors. The effect returns a person’s craving for alcohol to its pre-addiction state.

TSM consists of taking Naltrexone 50mg one hour before your first drink of the day for the rest of your life as long as you continue to drink. Naltrexone chemically disrupts the body’s behavior/reward cycle causing you to want to drink less instead of more.
The Sinclair Method has a 78% long-term success rate.*

Studies have proven that TSM is equally effective with or without therapy, so patients can choose whether or not to combine TSM with therapy. The physical results will be the same.* Extinction usually occurs within 3-4 months.*

About one quarter of those on TSM become 100% abstinent. Those who continue to drink will have to take their medication prior to drinking for as long as they continue to drink.

Hi, Bizi,

I believe it could work for you.

Here is a link to the full pdf from the FDA:

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsa...932s017lbl.pdf


M

Hey mate, how are you? I had a minor habit(only in comparison to allot of the people I had to interact with on a daily basis, at the end of the day a $50 -$100 drug problem problem is the same as a $500 a day habit it destroys family bonds and trust, same with partners and friends) after many detox in private hospitals and using oral naltrexone I finally got cleanfrom heroin with an eight month implant(approx, size of patient, so 6-8 month implant etc) then I thought great I can go back to how I was before drugs and go to live music and have a big night here and there, I had a drink on the Friday after implant and by the Monday was drinking by lunch time and have battled it ever since. With the implant I drank no problems, I've tried the trex,campral and I just drank on them. It's got to the point where I have to take antabuse and for the first time I have more than a week, it's actually very close to 3 months. I hope I have posted this in the correct place on the thread. I'm very new to this site as I have post concussion syndrome(from a car accident and it's scaring me but I digress. I unfortunately(but wouldn't be the person I am today) have allot of what I'd maybe call real life experience due to my own and other people that I've become close to, they aren't from AA (a few are but I have never found AA a thing for me as I get anxiety, which I'm working really hard on), the friends I'm talking about are more from the different private rehabs I've done in the last ten years(close to 30) and had a drink in my hand after doing detox within the week of a discharge. So if you have any real life people and not doctors questions don't hesitate to ask, I'm NOT a professional. I can only give you answers from personal point of view and observations and chats with good friends who are also in recovery, some more so than others. I'm going to have a better look at this doctors findings as I know lots of people who have also been on the trex(naltrexone, I'm sure you didn't need to be told that). But good luck and I'll follow your findings if you do it. Don't hesitate to ask a question if it's something that may help. Take care and I hope it works for you.

welcome stui,
thank you for taking the time to type this all out.
just wanted you to know that there is a post concussion forum here at neurotalk that you might be interested in participating in too. look at the general listings of the different groups, i will see if I can find the link for you:
bizi
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum92.html

I read about the Sinclair Method when you first posted. From what I've read, it's the only successful way to use naltrexone to treat alcohol abuse, and it appears to be very effective.

I'm not surprised your pdoc would be pushing therapy/AA/substance abuse counseling in conjunction to it because she's not used to prescribing it, but she seems like she's pliable and is open to a discussion about different options.

Did I read right that if you see her more frequently, monthly, she'd agree to prescribe it?

If she requires more, you can look into what what your insurance covers. They may provide benefits for individual/group substance abuse counseling if you get a referral. You may only have to pay a co-pay. I'm paying for my substance abuse counseling out-of-pocket and I pay $95/visit.

I'm very happy to see you so motivated to try this

Thanks kay.
She charges me(pdoc) $95 for a med check when I am stable. not sure what she would charge me if I asked for monthly visits now I see her every 3 months.

I meet with the drug and alcohol people on friday of next week. I will get an idea of the expense involved. they said I would need at least 25 sessions, the meetings last 3 hours and I can't imagine them costing less than $100 a session so that is $2500 at least right? We pay out of pocket because our deductible is $4K.

IF I see Susan again she would charge me $80 for an hour of individual therapy. But she is a big AA therapist. And she has been doing groups I think don't even know if she would see me again.

We are going to a concert tonight, young kids playing strings with the orchestra. It is called strings day.
Should be good.

Was going to stop by after working today to have a beer at whole foods but my friend Nicole needed to talk so I sat in the parking lot talking to her for 45 minutes and then decided to just come home with out stopping for a beer.

Jeff is cooking pork chops for dinner.
yum
bizi

Bizi read the link in the thread I posted about the genotype testing and the list of medications it can create to your body DNA. We had great success with this and my youngest. I never heard of it before the Tdoc suggested it after varied side effects for meds.