..for use in alcoholics, to stay abstinent or to reduce volume of alcohol intake? Personal experience or a friend or family member that has used the monthly injection would be gratefully received. Looking for any advice, good or bad. Thank you!
Hi, has anyone got any experience with Vivitrol/Naltrexone injection?
Question posted by Delila on 14 Nov 2014
Last updated on 8 June 2021 by RayCharles
7 Answers
I got 1 Vivitrol injection last year, then stopped because of Insurance. When I was drinking, about 3 months after the single injection, I noticed that I wasn't feeling the euphoric effect that I previously had with Alcohol. I wasn't getting drunk! Which led to drinking even more, and then back to the hospital.
Begged the doctor to give me Vivitrol, got it approved and Its been 7 months... I have ZERO urge or desire to drink alcohol. I should probably go to a meeting at some point, but so far, I've just been living my life without alcohol and not really even thinking about it.
I wonder what the long-term effects of this medication will be? According to their website, it includes all the same ones that ibuprofen does. Where can I find real people who have taken it for a year, then stopped... and how has it effected them for the next several years?
I have had this shot as well. It is my understanding that this shot will not allow alcohol the same effect that alcoholice desire, hence it is possible to overdose quickly. It is meant to help the cravings for the drug. I do not seem to have relief(at least not yet) from the cravings..but I just wait and do not act on the urge and it has gotten me through 3 1/2 months without drugs or alcohol. I wish you the best with the shot. I am switching to the Naltrexone in pill form. I have had 3 weeks of a severe pain in my buttock from the injection and it is very uncomfortable to sit for long periods.
I know two alcoholics that love it! No withdrawal when they stop the injections either
I love Vivitrol! It's a wonderful drug if you can find a provider and get insurance to cover it. I can only speak from the opioid dependence aspect. You still have to really want to stop using. I work a program and Vivitrol. As they say it works if you work it. Just don't use if you get the injection. I know people who've died that way because it can only block so much then your system shuts down
Thank you for sharing your experience and advice : )
I received my 1st Vivitrol shot by injection around Sept. 10th. My 2nd shot 30 days later , my 3rd shot 30 days later, my 4th shot 30days later, and my most recent shot Jan 4th. I am on a one year plan. I can honestly say I have not had any cravings for alcohol since the very first day after my shot up to to today, Jan. 8th.If there is ever a miracle drug this has to be one. I had relapsed several times before. I have been an alcohol for over 30 years this is the first time I have felt serenity from alcohol.
Hi jackrice, that is fantastic news! It really gives me hope! I haven't started on these injections yet but am hoping to. With the information you have given, it makes me more motivated to get this treatment started...
Delila,,, This is one copy and paste from a website I would like you to read first then check ours,And others I know with Opiates it has proven to be very effective and the best about the shot is once in most cases you go through a program and are clean Its very hard to not follow the program because you get no benifit off the drugs Or Alcohol with the shot in the butt for 30 days I have seen many people years ago in these programs that are still clean today.But you really Should read this along with what you google It's next to impossible to back slide with the program and the INJECTION.
Your best bet is to educate yourself once this is in your system they monitor you to and you really get no benifits from the alcohol.So you have to be dead serious about stop drinking.This after the injection you can't get any benifits from alcohol and many other drugs..Hope this helps some I have seen miracles for alot of people that are in a drug or alcohol program when i was still working.And yes you have to stick with it (program) and once you start this you can't get any effect off of alcholol which this also protects liver problems because the alcohol is not allowed or filtered in the liver..Good luck look for more stuff online and also they have sites just for this Chuck1957 good luck this copy and paste did not seem to hard to understand what the injection well do I wish you all the luck and support in the world Chuck. Vivitrol (Naltrexone)
Vivitrol (Naltrexone) is an alcohol anti-addiction medicine for the treatment of alcohol addiction, delivered by injection once a month. It helps to prevent addiction relapse by decreasing cravings for alcohol by up to 90%. If one does drink alcohol, Vivitrol blocks the desired effects. Drinking alcohol while taking Vivitrol may create some symptoms of intoxication, like driving or walking poorly, without any of the seemingly pleasant effects of alcohol.
Enterhealth utilizes alcohol anti-addiction medicines like Vivitrol because with them, our patients are more likely to stop alcohol or drug use and addiction for good. Patients who require the use of Vivitrol can continue receiving the alcohol anti-addiction medicine injections once a month from their own private physician.
The FDA approved Vivitrol in June 2006 for the treatment of alcohol addiction, but the anti-addiction medicine within the injection – naltrexone – has been approved for use in treating alcohol addiction for over 13 years. However, the problem with taking Naltrexone orally is that patients with any chronic illness, who have to take medications on a daily basis, many times forget or stop taking the anti-addiction medication for a variety of reasons. Therefore, it is important that individuals who take anti-addiction medications monitor and closely adhere their medical treatment plan.
Vivitrol (naltrexone) is an alcohol anti-addiction medicine that works by blocking the interaction or the stimulation of the dopamine system (your body’s main rewarding system) by the alcohol molecule. When you drink alcohol, the alcohol molecules get into your blood stream through your stomach. The molecules, which are toxic to your own cells, travel throughout your various organ systems, killing all kinds of cells as they go. It is when these molecules reach the brain that they stimulate a variety of neuroreceptors with each different set of receptors basically causing different effects. Activation of some receptor systems cause you to get sleepy (or sedated), yet others cause you to stop breathing resulting in death (alcohol overdoes or poisoning). Vivitrol (naltrexone) is thought to block the link between your dopamine system (pleasure or reward system) and your internal endogenous endorphin/enkephalin (opioid) systems.
Vivitrol is made up of molecules that are called microspheres, which are dissolved in a liquid and injected directly into one cheek of the buttocks. The major scientific breakthrough of Vivitrol delivering this very effective alcohol anti addiction medication for 30 days without stopping is a huge advance in battling the devastating, life-threatening disease of alcohol addiction.
An alcohol addiction patient's response to Vivitrol can usually be seen within the first 2-3 days of starting the first injection of alcohol anti-addiction medication. Patients on Vivitrol are overwhelmingly positive about its alcohol anti-addiction effects. In theory, those suffering from alcohol addiction should not be actively drinking when you receive your initial injection of Vivitrol, having already gone through medical detox or alcohol detox. Vivitrol should be used as part of a comprehensive alcohol addiction treatment program, and that’s why it is utilized at Enterhealth’s residential treatment center. Taking alcohol anti-addiction medicines while in a treatment program emphasizes the appropriate coping skills needed to deal with everyday stresses rather than using alcohol or drugs as a primary coping skill.
Another critical success factor for the use of Vivitrol for the treatment of alcohol addiction is that family or support systems can significantly influence compliance. Once a patient has been prescribed Vivitrol and received the injection, their family now knows that for the next 30 days the patient will not be able to feel intoxicated.
Vivitrol (Naltrexone) – Dosage and Effects - Alcohol Anti Addiction Medication, Medical Detox, Alcohol Detox
Vivitrol is an injection of alcohol anti-addiction medication that you receive in the gluttial (buttock) muscle once a month. During that month period, it slowly releases alcohol anti-addiction medication called naltrexone into your blood stream. The Vivitrol (long-acting naltrexone) basically helps to prevent relapse to alcohol addiction use by causing three things to occur.
Consequently, Vivitrol works very quickly and has very few side effects. The primary side effects of this alcohol anti-addiction medication are nausea (which only occurs sometimes, and usually only during the first 2-3 days of the first injection), occasional headache, some tenderness at the injection site for a short time afterwards, and some drowsiness. All of these symptoms are mild in most cases and much less toxic or evident than are the side effects alcohol addiction. Consequently, Vivitrol is very safe, well tolerated (meaning it has few side effects), and is not addictive.
One of the reasons that Vivitrol has few side effects is the unique way that it gets into the blood stream. By being injected into the muscle and then released into the blood stream from the muscle, the naltrexone alcohol anti-addiction medication initially avoids going through the liver before it goes into the rest of the body. One of the liver’s main functions is to break down different substances (including medications). When any medication is able to bypass the liver initially, less of it is destroyed, so more of it is available to be used by various parts of the body. Therefore, theoretically, you need a much lower dose to be effective.
Fortunately this is the case with Vivitrol. Remember that Vivitrol is just a time-released naltrexone. If you take naltrexone by mouth (orally), you need to take 50 mg/day for 30 days. At 50 mg/day oral naltrexone is safe, well tolerated, and has the same types of side effects as described above for Vivitrol. Because Vivitrol bypasses the liver, you only need 380 mg/month of Vivitrol to treat alcoholism. Consequently, the fact that you need almost a 70% smaller dose of naltrexone through the use of Vivitrol in your body each month, may account for the minimal side effects experienced by most patients on it.
In addition to the nausea issue mentioned above, there is what the FDA calls a “black box warning” on the package insert for both Vivitrol and naltrexone alcohol anti-addiction medicines. This black box warning merely suggests that you might get significant medical problems if you use Vivitrol or naltrexone for a long period of time without appropriate monitoring of the liver’s functions with blood tests. In fact, the black box warning for Vivitrol specifically states that there is no evidence of toxicity with Vivitrol.
Hi thank you so much for all of this information & the research you did. It is extremely interesting to read this through! Thank you for your well wishes also, very much appreciated!!
I have never used it myself, but i know my counselor has ordered one for someone else in therapy, and he swears it diminishes the majority if not all cravings of alcohol.
Thank you so much for this information : )
Related topics
vivitrol, depression, alcoholism, alcohol dependence, naltrexone, alcohol, borderline personality disorder, injection
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