ALCOHOL ADDICTION AND MISUSE
OUTPATIENT OFFICE BASED MEDICAL MANAGEMENT
When alcohol becomes your obsession, quality of life and relationships are affected.
Frequent binge drinking or persistent alcohol misuse can increase your risk of serious health conditions as well as social problems- unemployment, divorce, domestic abuse, and homelessness. You can be involved in an auto accidents and sustain injuries, show violent behavior, and lose consciousness. Long term effects can result in liver disease or cancer, heart disease and stroke, bowl cancer, and pancreatitis. A dependent drinker can experience physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms with sudden cessation of drinking. This can result in hand tremors (“the shakes”), sweating, hallucinations, depression, anxiety and difficulty sleeping. To avoid withdrawal symptoms, the alcoholic engages in “relief drinking”.
• We offer medical treatment of Alcohol Dependency. We provide an outpatient office based treatment protocol that includes medication and counseling.
• VIVITROL- Once monthly non-addictive injection of extended-release Naltrexone. Naltrexone prevents relapse by blocking effects of alcohol as well as blocking opioid receptors in the body. Vivitrol is FDA approved for alcohol addiction treatment. You should not take Vivitrol if you have physical dependency to opioids, have opioid withdrawal symptoms, or are allergic to Naltrexone.
• ANTABUSE (Disulfiram) for deterring alcohol usage. Disufiram works by the avoidance principle, causing unpleasant reactions when drinking alcohol such as nausea, vomiting, chest pain, and dizziness. The medication comes in pill form of 250-500mg daily
• SELF HELP GROUPS- Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). The belief of AA is that alcoholic dependency is a long-term progressive illness and total abstinence is the only solution. Treatment involves a 12 step programme designed to help overcome alcoholic addiction
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and psychological counseling helps identify triggers that cause drinking such as stress and social anxiety. Family therapy is also provided because the impact of alcohol abuse affects the whole family.