Quit Alcohol Use with The Sinclair Method

So I'm talking about alcohol abuse disorder. And what are your options and some of the newer options that are available to you now? So there's different definitions of alcohol abuse disorder, generally defined as somebody has a problem with alcohol. So let's say there's a problem with alcohol and you have a few options. One is live with it, which might not be your best option. Another one is to go on Abstinence and Alcoholics Anonymous, where you never drink again for the rest of your life. That's been successful for a small number of people. And then there's another method that I'm going to talk about today called the Sinclair Method. The Sinclair Method, there's been books about this and doctors really preaching this, but it hasn't caught a lot of traction because there's so much institutional bias against anything other than all or none. So the normal approach where your doctor will have is either all, you go abstinent, never drink again for rest of your life, or none, and don't do anything, Just live with it. So the Sinclair method involves a process called extinction and a drug called naltrexone. So naltrexone to diminish your cravings for alcohol or your interest in alcohol. So the way it works, in a nutshell. And again, there's books about this and papers on it, and I'll talk to why it's been controversial and why it hasn't been widely accepted. So the concept is, when you're doing something that's pleasurable, like drinking, you stimulate certain receptors in your body, and these receptors are receptors of pleasure, and it reinforces the behavior of continuing to do that over and over again. Now, some people have a low threshold for those receptors to become overly triggered, and they eventually develop addictions. And these addictions are both physical and psychological. And over time, they get to a point where it's very hard to go without drinking or whatever that habit is. It could be a narcotic or something else. And there's some people that do just fine by drinking occasionally, never getting overly dependent on that. The Sinclair method uses the drug naltrexone, which blocks those pleasure receptors while you're engaging the activity that you want to extinguish. It's typically 50 milligrams, about an hour or so before you're in a situation where you might be drinking or consuming alcohol. You take the medication 50 milligrams. It's oral. And when you're drinking, you won't get as much euphoria or pleasure out of drinking. You'll still enjoy the alcohol, the taste of it. If you drink wine or some other beer, it's fulfilling into something that's social. And over time, people find that going to Sinclair Method, they find that over time the cravings reduce. Typically at between three months and a year, cravings reduce and then they no longer have as much of an addiction to alcohol. In fact, the, the book is called Alcoholism Cure the Extinction is where over time, your body loses that desire for the, for the drug, in this case alcohol, even though this works for other drugs as well. And after so many months of drinking the alcohol along with the naltrexone, your cravings for it diminish. Now, if somebody does this for a year or two and they're no longer having a problem, then they discontinue the medication and start drinking in. It's believed that they generally would develop the same habits again. So this is considered a lifelong treatment. And people have done this, have done it for decades without relapse. People I know personally that have been on the Sinclair Method have found that about six months to a year they lose their addiction to alcohol. On year two, they bring the pills with them on vacation and they'll pop them before they're taking, taking a drink at a family gathering or event. And year three, they're really not drinking much. And they can drink, but they always have the pill in the pocket. The cost is pretty inexpensive. Less cost than say, drinking every day. It's available from your family doctor. Some of our doctors here can prescribe that as well. My sister Amy Mok, who's a nurse practitioner in Seattle, she's really focused on this, very passionate about it. She was in a situation where she was dealing with psychiatric prisoners, prisoners in jail who had a lot of recidivism because they had drug use and alcohol abuse. And so they get out there in the same social environment and they, you know, relapse and get back, back in jail. So this is really an option for her patients to get off their addiction and have a tool that gives them a little, little edge over just doing it on their own, just white knuckling it on their own. So Sinclair Nag Method, if you look it up, you kind of be quite surprised that your doctor hasn't talked to about, told you about it or you haven't heard of it. But this is widely available, really started in Europe and UK and it really is not caught much foothold in America because American doctors really do believe in the all or none other words, you do what I say and never drink. Again or you're on your own. This is just an option. Your doctor can prescribe it. It's inexpensive medication. If your doctor won't prescribe it or other medical professionals that will. And I suggest that you do some reading about it. Understand it. It's good to really understand how this works. It's really a lifelong commitment that you're going to be taking this medicine before you drink pretty much not pretty much every single time. And give it some time takes six months to a year for most people. And then when you start feeling the cravings for alcohol diminish, you can start finding yourself in a situation where you're just not drinking as much. Next thing you know, alcohol is no longer a problem in your life. So this is something you're interested in. You can talk to us and we'll walk you through, maybe give you some help in finding somebody that will prescribe it for you. Need to get this in conjunction with the doctor's consultation. Understand what you're getting into and good luck. Thank you very much.