SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the Stopping-is-easy...-I've-done-it-many-times! dept.
A new study published by the scientific journal Addiction has found no reliable evidence for using nalmefene, naltrexone, acamprosate, baclofen or topiramate to control drinking in patients with alcohol dependence or alcohol use disorder. At best, some treatments showed low to medium efficacy in reducing drinking, but those findings were from studies with a high risk of bias. None demonstrated any benefit on health outcomes.
The study pooled the results from 32 double-blind randomised controlled trials representing 6,036 patients, published between 1994 and 2015. The studies compared the effects of oral nalmefene (n=9), naltrexone (n=14), acamprosate (n=1), baclofen (n=4) and topimarate (n=4) against placebo.
Many of the studies provided unreliable results due to risk of bias (potential exaggeration of the effects of the drug). Twenty-six studies (81%) showed an unclear or high risk of incomplete outcome data due to the large number of withdrawals. Seventeen studies (53%) showed an unclear or a high risk of selective outcome reporting, as they did not include a protocol registration number, which would allow another researcher to check whether all outcomes were reported.
Clément Palpacuer, et. al. Pharmacologically controlled drinking in the treatment of alcohol dependence or alcohol use disorders: a systematic review with direct and network meta-analyses on nalmefene, naltrexone, acamprosate, baclofen and topiramate. Addiction, 2017; DOI: 10.1111/add.13974
Back to the drawing board.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Friday September 22 2017, @08:37PM
Yeah, I've seen AA work, but I'm pretty sure the actual "steps" have nothing to do with it -- and I've seen some studies that back that up -- it works for some people, doesn't work for others, isn't much more effective than other methods. And frankly, I'm not sure how much of the improvement I've seen had anything to do with AA, other than perhaps providing some semi-mandatory socialization that gets you used to leaving the house.
The critical piece IMO is just finding something else to do -- and sticking to it. You can't just replace drinking with sitting around the house watching TV, because then you'll be sitting there thinking about drinking every night. An AA meeting once a month or even once a week is good, but it's not nearly enough. And that's part of why the religion stuff can perhaps help -- IF it makes you add in mass or whatever once or twice a week too. Volunteer a couple places, that gives you a couple more days a week. Start going to the gym every day. Keep piling more crap into your schedule until you just don't have time to drink.
So if the AA steps look like something you would be willing to do, great, do that. If not, find something else. What you're doing matters less than the fact that you're doing something. But merely taking a pill just won't occupy enough time...it might help reduce the cravings, but it's not solving the primary problem.