Hi i have a problem with binge drinking mostly at weekends, Friday & Saturday, but sometimes i do it on a thursday. Im seeing my gp on friday to ask if they can prescribe me Nalmefene (Selincro). the units per week are very high. Can Vary from 70 to 123. I dont drink during the week and does not bother me, but when the weekend comes i tend to drink a huge ammount. My home life is great, i wonder if its a habbit or because of my work. I am a funeral director so i am around greiving families and death every day. I find that when the work week is done this is my realease.
can anyone give me some advice.
Nalmefene is recommended for people who drink around 42 units a week. However, I would hope your doctor is able to use some discretion on this.
You are clearly not physically dependent on alcohol as you go days without a drink and don't suffer physical withdrawal symptoms. However, you are psychologically dependent on drinking heavily at the weekends to wind down.
I thought 70 - 123 units of alcohol in two days every week is dangerously high. I'd never heard of tablets to take while drinking. Excuse my ignorance, but could you explain how they work. If someone's drinking that amount of alcohol how do they make you drink less!
That is a dangerously high level, but there are people are drinking a lot more than that. Ideally Nalmefene is used for people drinking around 42 units a week.
I am taking this from the Wikipedia article on Nalmefene. Search 'Nalmefene' to find the full article:
"The use of nalmefene to reduce alcohol drinking was discovered by David Sinclair. Research with his team at the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare showed that it worked through the mechanism of pharmacological extinction. Each time alcohol is consumed while an opioid antagonist blocks reinforcement, the subsequent craving is incrementally reduced; alcohol drinking decreases progressively, week after week, following an extinction curve.[9][10][11] This is also known as The Sinclair Method (TSM). The theory and science supporting the TSM protocol with both nalmefene and naltrexone are described in the book The Cure for Alcoholism."
Many thanks, it sort of makes sense now
I know its high thats why i need to adress it, i think the only saving grace with me is i drink loads of water and eat alot of greens, fruit, pulses, baiscly a healthy diet.
Yes Amanda. It is always good to have a healthy diet but that doesn't counteract the excessive drinking. It's a bit like having large fish and chips and a Diet Coke. The Diet Coke doesn't cancel out the calories of the fish and chips 
Don't con yourself that the drinking is not as much of a problem because of the healthy diet
I'm only saying that because plenty of people justify their habits in this way. I don't think that'swhat you are are doing, you clearly recognise that you need to deal with the alcohol issue.
Yeah your right. Got the dr on Friday to get this sorted, I must admit this is a great sight and has helped a lot I thanky
Hi just wondering how you got on with GP?