Poll of the Day > Anyone here ever take Naltrexone?

(+) Yeah! (+)

How is it? Got prescribed it, it's for alcohol cravings he said. Worried it'll make me feel terrible or something. Wanted to get some opinions as I know there are others here who have struggled.

You should really be asking your doctor about side effects, what to expect, and worries you have about any new medications he prescribes you. He's going to be able to offer significantly more comprehensive, accurate, and useful information than you're going to get by relying on the opinions of a handful of Internet strangers who are under no obligation not to lie to you.

adjl posted...

You should really be asking your doctor about side effects, what to expect, and worries you have about any new medications he prescribes you. He's going to be able to offer significantly more comprehensive, accurate, and useful information than you're going to get by relying on the opinions of a handful of Internet strangers who are under no obligation not to lie to you.

I know I can trust you, and ConfusedTorchic at least. Others who I cant think of by user handle atm but, at least believe I can, although not sure who is experienced on this subject.

And that's really the problem: To get useful information, you need to find people who are trustworthy and have had experience with the medication in question, and on top of that you need to find quite a few of them to get an accurate picture of what the risks are (2/2 people saying "it made me feel nauseous" is not enough to conclude that nausea is a common side effect, nor is 2/2 people not mentioning blood clotting problems enough to conclude that it can't cause clotting problems).

Your doctor has ready access to literature discussing the medication, has likely prescribed it before and managed the prescription for other patients, and knows enough about the broader picture of your health to make guesses about how this medication will fit into that picture. Personal anecdotes often feel better than a formal professional opinion based on statistics and whatnot, but they're decidedly less useful for risk analysis than accounts that look at the bigger picture.

Your pharmacy may have packaged a medication information sheet with it, or can provide one if you ask for it (pharmacists can also be a good source of information about what to expect from the medication, sometimes even more so than your doctor). That can provide you a high-level summary of what to expect/watch out for, though it won't capture any of your personal nuance.

adjl posted...

And that's really the problem: To get useful information, you need to find people who are trustworthy and have had experience with the medication in question, and on top of that you need to find quite a few of them to get an accurate picture of what the risks are (2/2 people saying "it made me feel nauseous" is not enough to conclude that nausea is a common side effect, nor is 2/2 people not mentioning blood clotting problems enough to conclude that it can't cause clotting problems).

Your doctor has ready access to literature discussing the medication, has likely prescribed it before and managed the prescription for other patients, and knows enough about the broader picture of your health to make guesses about how this medication will fit into that picture. Personal anecdotes often feel better than a formal professional opinion based on statistics and whatnot, but they're decidedly less useful for risk analysis than accounts that look at the bigger picture.

Your pharmacy may have packaged a medication information sheet with it, or can provide one if you ask for it (pharmacists can also be a good source of information about what to expect from the medication, sometimes even more so than your doctor). That can provide you a high-level summary of what to expect/watch out for, though it won't capture any of your personal nuance.

Oh thank you! Yeah he usually just says what's good about medications but when the pharmacy mails them, there's only the receipt of everything costing $0, no medical advice on pills.

I read earlier on a search it can make you sick, so it concerned me to ask here. Maybe not the most appropriate of locations, but I know you guys have useful info. so I like asking with concerns. Gamefaqs has been my home, the majority of my life lol.

By and large (this applies to any medication), if it makes you sick, talk to your doctor about it. He'll be able to either tell you that it'll get better as you get used to it, or tell you how to wean yourself off of it safely and look at alternatives. It's very unlikely that the medication will cause any irreversible damage, it might just suck for a few days/weeks.

I took it for the first time Sunday night and I dont know if it reacted bad with me, the trazadone Ive already been on, or what. I started vomiting and havent felt that sick in years. I was told it wasnt one of those drugs that make you sick if you drink but I dont know. I only had about 250ml of whiskey over a couple hours, so it wasnt a lot (for me at least).

Cacciato posted...

I took it for the first time Sunday night and I dont know if it reacted bad with me, the trazadone Ive already been on, or what. I started vomiting and havent felt that sick in years. I was told it wasnt one of those drugs that make you sick if you drink but I dont know. I only had about 250ml of whiskey over a couple hours, so it wasnt a lot (for me at least).

@Cacciato

Well, I'm not going to test it today then as I ended up getting another case, but I take Trazadone as well. Want to but if you end up feeling sick when drinking then nevermind. I hope things have been better since, but don't sound like it, not sure if you took it again? Keep me updated if you'd like, as I would like to hear more personally.

Yeah, like adjl said, you definitely want to talk to your doctor about it, but I wont be taking it again, for now. I had to take a sick day I felt so bad. It only lasted for about a day.

I specifically asked my shrink for the ones that wouldnt make me sick and he specified thats what these were, so it might just be a bad interaction. I dont want to turn you off from it, especially if it could help. Im waiting until I see him again in about a month, but Im hoping to have completely stopped by then.