Vivitrol®
Vivitrol helps drastically reduce the patient's heavy drinking
The FDA approved Vivitrol in June 2005 for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Vivitrol is an injection that you receive in the gluttial (buttock) muscle once a month. During that month period, it slowly releases medication called naltrexone into your bloodstream. The Vivitrol (long-acting naltrexone) basically helps to prevent relapse to alcohol use by causing three things to occur:
- It decreases your cravings for alcohol by 90%.
- If you do drink alcohol, Vivitrol block the euphoria or the “high” that you get from alcohol; therefore, when you are on Vivitrol, you can’t get drunk. If you do drink alcohol, you still have symptoms of intoxication, like driving or walking poorly; however, you do not benefit from any of the positive (pleasant) effects of alcohol. Consequently, because it is a very frustrating effect for you to continue drinking when you are on Vivitrol, you are more likely to stop. Of course, you, along with most alcoholics, are going to test whether you can get high (drunk) on alcohol or not. When you find out that you can’t, you’ll say “Okay, the doctor was right. I’ll go listen to my counselor. I’m not going to test it anymore, so now I’m just going to go learn how I can stay sober.”
- The Vivitrol prevents the first drink from “priming the pump” for more alcohol, and unlike alcohol use without Vivitrol in which you will have one beer which then seems to set off a “cascading compulsion” to have five more beers or 12 more beers in that sitting, the Vivitrol blocks that “priming” effect and you may only have half of a beer in total. By only having half of a beer, which does not even give you a buzz, you are able to keep your judgment appropriately and stop drinking, leave situation where you used and call your sponsor to ask for help. This “new” healthy behavior greatly limits the severity of use after the attempted sobriety and frequently allows you to keep the relapse to a “slip” rather than it causing a full-blown relapse.
Enterhealth Life Recovery Center uses Suboxone in conjuncture with best-in-class addiction therapies including eLearning behavioral modification and one-on-one coaching support, to create a personalized addiction recovery treatment for every individual. Enterhealth offers you the ability to learn, understand and put into practice the coping skills necessary for long-term sobriety.
