If only you could go to the doctor to get a shot to stop drinking, right? You could skip all those AA meetings, relapse struggles, and cravings outright, pass “Go” and collect your $200, so to speak. It would be as simple as that. Whether it’s recovery from an alcohol addiction or something else, we’re drawn to shortcuts. Anything that can get us somewhere more easily is always the preferred choice. That’s why Vivitrol shots and other medications are becoming more widely used in hopes of helping people become abstinent from alcohol for good.
You’ve heard the old adage, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Does that apply here? If you’re trying to get sober, should you use Vivitrol for alcoholism? Are there really any true shortcuts to alcohol recovery? Let’s find out.
The Temptation (and Eventual Disappointment) of Shortcuts
How often have you tried to take shortcuts in life? Maybe you attempted to take a shortcut on your morning commute recently to avoid traffic or get to a meeting more quickly. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they make your circumstances worse. When it comes to doing something arduous that takes time, sacrifice, and consistent effort, it’s suddenly tempting to look for a shortcut. Why go through the difficult work of achieving a hard-fought goal when you can take the faster, cheaper, or easier alternative? The others over there taking the slow, steady route are just a bunch of suckers, right? You had the guts to jump the line, and they didn’t. Kudos to you … maybe.
Time after time, what seems like a great shortcut at the moment can come back to bite you in the long run. Or it turns into an eventual disappointment, at least, not what it initially promised. Can you relate? Just take a look at some common shortcuts we’re tempted to take in our society today and how they eventually let us down:
- You want to lose weight and get healthy. But instead of eating right and exercising, you turn to diet pills or get that procedure done. However, these come with their own dangers and side effects, potentially compounding your problems. Or they’re not sustainable, so once you stop taking the pills, you’re right back to packing on the pounds.
- You want to shift away from the dad-bod and build muscle. Maybe you even dream of becoming a body builder. Instead of getting a personal trainer, creating a workout plan, and exercising consistently over time, you take steroids or do more than your body can handle in hopes of getting there as quickly as possible. Soon things come crashing down (literally and figuratively) as you suffer the fallout — and resulting injuries — of your “get fit quick” fix.
- You have a research paper assignment for class. Instead of reading the books, doing the research, and putting in the work of writing the paper, you seek out some old-school CliffsNotes to or use AI to write it for you to get you up to speed and save time. As a result, your grade doesn’t make the mark, and you miss out on the long-term educational benefits of doing it yourself.
Vivitrol and Alcohol: Drugs Used for Alcohol Addiction Recovery
When it comes to shortcuts for alcohol addiction recovery, this often looks like taking specific, FDA-approved drugs to try to get sober. These can include:
Vivitrol for Alcohol Dependence
Vivitrol (also known as naltrexone) is a brand-name drug designed to treat both alcohol use disorder and opioid use disorder. But what does Vivitrol do for you in the recovery process? Vivitrol for alcoholism is often utilized for its ability to reduce cravings. When you’re trying to get clean from drug or alcohol addiction, it’s cravings that can often be one of the greatest hurdles. They can even lead to relapse later on if you’re not careful. As a result, vivitrol is often administered post-detox to help prevent relapse.
So, how does Vivitrol work? The drug is typically taken once a month in the form of Vivitrol shots or orally every day. Once you take it, Vivitrol binds to the pleasure or reward receptors in your brain that are sensitive to alcohol. Once bound, these receptors don’t get activated. That means when you drink alcohol again, alcohol can’t bind to these pleasure receptors, so you don’t get high or experience pleasure when drinking. As a result, cravings are also reduced, allowing you to keep your urges in check. However, Vivitrol doesn’t prevent you from drinking altogether.
Antabuse
As an abstinence-based medication, Antabuse (also known as disulfiram) is actually designed to prevent you from drinking. Taken as a pill once daily, Antabuse blocks your body’s enzyme that metabolizes alcohol when consumed. As a result, when you reach for the bottle again, you’ll become incredibly ill after drinking. You may experience what feels like your worst-ever hangover, with symptoms such as:
- Dizziness
- Chest pain
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Severe vomiting
Antabuse helps deter people from going back to alcohol again during the addiction treatment and recovery process. However, all you have to do to get around this is stop taking the medication. After about five days have passed, you can begin drinking again as if you were never on Antabuse in the first place.
Campral
Campral (also known as acamprosate) works similarly to Vivitrol for alcohol dependence. It reduces the pleasurable feelings you receive from drinking alcohol, which helps to reduce cravings when you’re trying to get sober. Some will use it as a way to help prevent relapse, and it often works best after you’ve gone through the detox process. Dosages will vary and be prescribed by your doctor. Typically, adults will orally take two tablets three times daily, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Do Shortcut Medications Like Vivitrol Shots Actually Get You Clean?
Because these medications are FDA-approved to treat alcohol addiction, it’s tempting to see them as shortcuts in the addiction recovery process. Like some of the other scenarios mentioned earlier, overcoming an alcohol addiction is an arduous, lengthy process. It takes work. But because there are drugs that can help you reduce alcohol cravings or respond poorly to alcohol consumption, they are often viewed not as short-term tools to help as part of a complete recovery program, but sadly as an easy way out of alcohol use disorder, leading to disappointing results.
When you get down to brass tacks, there’s no cure-all for alcohol addiction, and there are definitely no shortcuts in alcohol recovery. You may want to speed up the process and try to rush through things, but you can’t. These medications don’t provide such a fairytale ending. You can still drink alcohol even when you’re on Campral and Vivitrol, for example.
Drinking on Vivitrol doesn’t prevent you from feeling its aftereffects, including poor coordination, slower thinking, and reduced response time, according to Drugs.com. And if you also struggle with opioid abuse, getting Vivitrol shots can make you susceptible to opioid overdose because it can keep you from feeling the effects of opioids. Taking Vivitrol for alcoholism can also lead to some serious side effects, according to Drugs.com, such as depression, pneumonia, and severe allergic reactions.
Is Vivitrol for Alcoholism Actually Helpful in Recovery?
The benefits of Antabuse, Campral, and Vivitrol for alcoholism only work as long as you’re taking the medication. They don’t last once you’re off of it. For these reasons, AA sponsors and leaders have been skeptical about their usage in recovery in years past. AA has traditionally shunned medication-based treatments for addiction, reports Newsday, believing that taking such medications means members are still technically using.
Today, however, attitudes within the AA community have shifted toward Vivitrol, since it’s not opioid-based and doesn’t cause dependence. A study by the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs actually didn’t find any strong or widespread negative attitudes toward medication for preventing relapse among AA members. That’s because Vivitrol, Campral, and Antabuse work best as a supplemental tool in the addiction recovery process, not as a standalone shortcut.
The Importance of Doing the Hard Work of Recovery
Because there’s no magic shot to stop drinking or become abstinent from alcohol, what’s the best way to overcome alcohol addiction and finally get sober for good? If you want to achieve, lasting, lifelong sobriety, you’ll need to make time to gain the tools needed to navigate recovery. And this starts by viewing recovery as an “inside job.” That means internal work is required on your part to become what we at Discovery Place refer to as “unthirsty,” so that drinks or drugs are no longer necessary in your life. Thankfully, such an outcome is possible through practicing the 12 Steps.
Many people who struggle with addiction may be resistant to the idea of attending 12-Step or mutual-help programs, according to Psychiatric Clinics of North America. After all, committing to AA meetings and walking through the 12 Steps aren’t easy, nor are they a quick fix. However, they do provide a step-by-step guide — that actually works — for learning how to get clean from alcohol and finally take back control of your life. Medications may be used with clinical supervision during the detox process or for a limited period to help with withdrawal symptoms in early recovery, but they are not a replacement for comprehensive treatment. Working through the 12 Steps alongside an intentional sober community can bring about profound change, restore healthy well-being, and promote lasting personal growth. That’s why we embrace the 12 Steps in our alcohol rehab program here at Discovery Place in Burns, Tennessee. Staffed by actual men in recovery, our approach takes you on a spiritual retreat that helps you learn to stay sober and find a life of meaning and purpose. To get started on your recovery journey, contact our team today.
