Alcohol Abuse and Dependence

Medicines can be used to help treat alcohol abuse and dependence. Some medicines reduce withdrawal symptoms during detoxification. Other medicines help you stay sober during the long process of recovery.

Medication Choices

Medicines most often used to treat withdrawal symptoms during detoxification include:

• Antianxiety medicines (benzodiazepines such as diazepam), which treat withdrawal symptoms such as delirium tremens (DTs).
• Seizure medicines to reduce or stop severe withdrawal symptoms during detoxification.

Medicines used to help you stay sober include:

• Disulfiram (Antabuse), which reduces the pleasure alcohol produces and makes you sick to your stomach when you drink.
• Naltrexone (ReVia, Vivitrol), which interferes with the pleasure you get from drinking. Vivitrol is a once-a-month injection used to treat alcohol dependence.
• Acamprosate (Campral), which may reduce your craving for alcohol.
• Topiramate (Topamax), a medicine used to treat seizures. One recent study shows that it also might help treat alcohol problems.⁶ Experts are studying how this medicine, and medicines like it, might help with recovery from alcohol abuse and addiction.

What to Think About

Alcohol abuse can cause your body to become low in certain vitamins and minerals, especially thiamine (vitamin B1). You might need to take thiamine supplements to improve your nutrition during recovery. Thiamine helps prevent Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, which causes brain damage.⁷

You also might need supplements to help replace fluids and electrolytes.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an advisory about injectable forms of naltrexone. You may have a skin reaction at the injection site, the place where the shot is given. Call your doctor if you notice any skin change at the injection site, such as swelling, tenderness, redness, or pain, that does not improve or gets worse within 2 weeks.