If you are new to sobriety or maybe just coming back you might have a medical professional recommend that you take Antabuse as an aid to prevent relapse. The medical name for this drug is disulfiram; it was first discovered in the late 1940’s and started being used to treat alcoholism in the early 1950’s. In my layman’s understanding of how it works, the Antabuse blocks the normal metabolism of alcohol in the liver and causes some nasty side effects; basically it makes you very sick if you drink while taking it. You might be wondering if it is safe, does it work, and what happens if I take it and decide to have a drink? I am going to share some of my experiences with you and try to answer those questions. One thing to remember is that we each have very different metabolisms and just as we react differently to a cold medicine or any other elixir we will all respond a bit differently to the effects of Antabuse.
I have been trying to maintain sobriety for about two years, while at a rehab facility about six months ago my doctor suggested that I take Antabuse as part of my recovery program. He explained how it worked and I was more than happy to give it a try. I started taking 500mg every morning to start my day. In the beginning I was not sure if it was working or not but the horror stories I had heard about ingesting alcohol while on Antabuse kept me in a healthy fear. About a month after I started the medicine I got ill after dinner, my stomach was very upset, I had a headache, and I got nauseous. I just felt bad all over! It turns out that the pasta salad I ate was made with wine vinegar. Wow, a little bit of wine vinegar in a pasta salad made me sick; the Antabuse must work.
I stayed sober for five months when a case of head crazies combined with my “forgetting” to take my medicine for a few days lead me back to the bottle. I had been off the Antabuse for three days and even though the doctor told me it stayed in the system for fifteen days I was willing to test the boundaries. I had my first drink……about five minutes later I was a little light headed, but not so bad, so I decided to have my second drink. Another five minutes and my breathing started to get very shallow; I am thinking to myself, “where is my buzz?” Five more minutes and my face is flush red, I have severe stomach pains, my head is pounding, and I can’t stand up. I fell into my bed and the only way I can describe how I felt is to say it is worse than the most horrible hangover I can ever remember and trust me I have had some bad hangovers. Being the crazy alcoholic that I am I decided that maybe I can drink through it; that was a big mistake. The more alcohol you ingest the worse you get. It took me about 36 hours to recover from that incident, I blew five months of continuous sobriety, and I felt really, really physically (and mentally) bad.
Bottom line, in my experience, take it and it will work. The biggest challenge is taking that pill every morning, I have been back on track again for about a month and I force myself to take it as soon as my eyes open in the morning. I bought a pill holder for my keychain and I keep a couple of extra in reserve, if I rush out in the morning and forget my meds I still have the Antabuse. I have not suffered any side effects to date and Antabuse has been a positive force in my recovery. Do I still get the head crazies and want to drink? Yes and yes, but the Antabuse gives me the extra line of defense against alcohol. Regardless of if I call my sponsor, go to a meeting, or seek help the disulfiram is in my system – all I need to do is take a pill! I can do that and I would bet you can too.
Alcoholism is a miserable disease for many, many reasons; if you suffer from it know that you are not alone. Be strong, ask for help, and use every resource you have. Good Luck.
