Vivitrol

Vivitrol, also known as naltrexone is an opioid antagonist medicine used in the treatment of alcohol and opiate (most commonly heroin) addictions.

Vivitrol medicine decreases cravings for alcohol by reducing the effect of the brains natural opiate-like chemicals, which causes the feeling of pleasure created by alcohol consummation.

The jury is out on exactly how vivitrol promotes sobriety, however it is well known that it has the ability to block the emotional rewards felt when alcoholics drink. It is hoped that by doing so it can reduce alcoholics yearning for more drink.

Studies have shown that vivitrol works just as well as campral, and can lessen the amount of alcohol drunk by people who do not quit drinking.

Vivitrol does have side effects like other medicines and it may cause dizziness, constipation, sleeplessness and nausea.

It’s useful to see Vivitrol as one component of a more holistic alcohol recovery program as it deals with the physical craving only. It’s crucial for alcoholic patients to seek a more comprehensive approach that can deal with underlying causes & conditions as well as look at re-integration of the whole person back into work & home life.

Learning to live clean & sober and staying happy long term, having the ability to work, love & play is not going to be brought about by swallowing a tablet.

Some addiction treatment consultants say that seeking an answer for alcoholism in a tablet only pays into the alcoholics delusion of finding an external chemical solutions to their problems when their recovery journey’s must in into their interior / emotional and mental lives.