GHB and addiction

[WrtngCocaineTutorial]

read some suprising stuff on ghb on wikipedia
it's used in the treatment of alcoholism, and they use doses of:

"50 to 100 milligrams per kilogram per day, in 3 or more divided doses"

for SWIM that would be approxometly 3grams three times per day.. Which sounds like enough to get addicted, but when it's used to treat the condition of alcohol dependence, I doubt they will give enough to cause the new condition of GHB dependence ..

so it seems a lot safer than I thought

[jesusfreak666er]

they used to use heroin and morphine as a treatment for alcoholism back the turn of the 1800s.. And LSD was experimented on alcoholics as a way of keeping them sober. They will try anything, and sometimes the treatment is more ridiculous then the initial problem. GHB is a bad a idea for alcoholics since any relapse will lead to very bad interactions. If an alcoholic decides that after his ghb dose he needs a drink, well hes not gonna be awake for a long time.

[WrtngCocaineTutorial]

maybe they only use it in clinics. where there's no alcohol
don't know

herion against alcoholism. wow

[Miss_Methylene]

I've done my fair share of researching this exact topic. I came across this whole idea about 3 or 4 months ago when searching the web. I've read alot about it on the internet as well as in few books. It seems as if this idea is being used in research & self studies, but very rarely do you hear that an alcoholic recieves GHB to help with their alcohol withdrawl problems. It's a scarey subject, if you think about it.
In one aspect, some might say..Why would you try to help a alcoholic buy giving them low dose's of GHB, when GHB can also become a very addictive substance. Well, there has been research done to prove that in some cases giving the alcoholic GHB not only helped cure the patient from the the battle of alcoholism but also made the withdrawl effects much less intense and easier to work with.
I found this artical on biopsychiatry.com. The artical was titled, "Self-medication with GHB to reduce alcohol intake". The author was Glisson JK, Norton J./Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, USA. And, the artical flows..
''We describe a 52-year-old man who self-medicated with gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), a widely available illicit substance, to obtain a decrease in ethanol consumption. He successfully reduced his ethanol intake over a 3-month period, but he was unable to sustain abstinence. Although case reports on the use of GHB to induce euphoria have been published, this is the first report of GHB self-medication to facilitate ethanol abstinence. This report highlights the importance of considering GHB self-medication not only for euphoric and mood altering effects, but also as a potential treatment for ethanol intake reduction."
...this one artical right above, proves that there is going to be some sort of risk involved when testing out GHB on new and different alcoholic subjects. Who is to say, that one long struggling alcoholic might get a great result from using GHB, while another only becomes addictive to GHB and also relapes with his alcohol use..making this man now have two substance abuse problems and one of them being a strong illegal drug, no matter if your 21 or not.

Yet, I also read on another website, which made me think maybe doctor's should be trying this whole aspect of GHB with alcohol withdrawl more often than they seem to be. This is what I read..
"One of GHB's best-known therapeutic applications is the easing of alcohol withdrawal. Human studies have addressed both the physiological and psychological aspects of this challenge.
Acute alcohol withdrawal:
For the former, addicts were given a single dose of GHB and compared to a control group in terms of the following symptoms: tremors, sweating, nausea, depression, anxiety, and restlessness. The test was double-blind - each subject drank a strong-tasting cherry syrup, but neither they when they reported their symptoms nor the scientist evaluating them knew whether each one's syrup contained GHB. Blood pressure and subjective effects such as drowsiness and nausea were monitored. Afterwards, the control patients were released into standard therapy while the GHB group remained on the medication three times a day for the remainder of the week.

The results were excellent. Severity of withdrawal dropped drastically within the first hour, and continued to decrease within the next eight. Control subjects became progressively worse in this same period. A majority of GHB subjects reported dizziness, but no other symptoms. To ensure that GHB was not just doping them into submission, subjects were tested on a word-fluency task - no differences were found between groups. After the third day of the experiment, GHB doses were reduced by 30% per day and discontinued on the eighth. Symptoms remained at this level throughout treatment, although followup data are not provided once GHB was removed."

...I imagine this to be an on-going project for awhile. Personally, I think they should keep this inaction, trying it out on a few more willing patients until they discover how well GHB helps for alcoholics and if this subject is even worth their/our time. If anyone else knows more about this, please share! Also, there is a book called "Illegal Drugs" by Paul M. Gahlinger that talks about this subject if your interested. The book doesn't go into too much detail, but gives off a few good statics.



http://users.lycaeum.org/~ghbfaq/alcoholism.html

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good, informative post

[Jatelka]

There's some stuff in the archive on GHB, and it's use in alcohol withdrawal. See here...

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...d=462&catid=38

and here...

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...d=463&catid=38

*Remember to check out the Archive boys and girls there's some REALLY interesting stuff!*

[WrtngCocaineTutorial]

cheers jatelka!

reading about it in wikipedia it didn't say nothing about over how long time.. think 3g 3 times per day is enough to casuse physical addiction?

[Jatelka]

There are also articles on GHB addiction and withdrawal in the archive!

See here...

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...d=601&catid=38

and here...

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...d=524&catid=38

Based on these resources SWIY would need to be dosing every few hours for a physical addiction/withdrawal syndrome (the half life of GHB is short) however SWIJ is by no means an expert and there is little clinical data on the subject.

[Ruud]

If you take a lot of GHB there is a chance for physical addiction, but i don't think if you take 3x 3grams per day will cause withdrawal symptoms. But maybe it causes insomnia and this whill disapear if you take another dose of GHB, and this can be the start of an addiction(physical aswel mental).

And if you are use to be under influence of alcohol and you replace it with GHB, mental addiction can become very easely IMO. I don't think GHB is suitable for self medication against alcolism. But under supervision of an physician i asumed you might have a great benefit of GHB.
When you use GHB for self medication you whill trade one addiction for another.

[zapatista]

Using Ghb for alcohol withdrawal is no different than using benzos. Librium or other benzos are commonly used in Detox facilities. I dont think that GHB is being used for long term treatment for alcoholism.
Z

[WrtngCocaineTutorial]

I've found an answer to my question in another post


"Safety


The overall safety of GHB is well-established in experimental and clinical use. Doses as high as 30 grams a day have been used in humans (48). And acute doses of as much as 1g/kg have been used in monkeys (10). Both without ill effects. It has no toxic effects on the liver, kidneys or other organs (48, 49). In narcolepsy studies, nightly use of 2.5 to 15 grams for several years resulted in no long-term adverse effects, nor did it result in addiction/dependence. "

[ward23]

Whilst GHB maybe well be useful as a short term cure for alcoholism it is characterised by having a physical addiction potential all of it's own similar to benzo or alcohol addiction. You need to be very careful with this substance xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx has the low down on people addicted to this substance and the characteristics of addiction. There is also a little too much positive press on GHB when the truth appears somewhat different.

Originally Posted by WrtngCocaineTutorial

I've found an answer to my question in another post


"Safety


The overall safety of GHB is well-established in experimental and clinical use. Doses as high as 30 grams a day have been used in humans (48). And acute doses of as much as 1g/kg have been used in monkeys (10). Both without ill effects. It has no toxic effects on the liver, kidneys or other organs (48, 49). In narcolepsy studies, nightly use of 2.5 to 15 grams for several years resulted in no long-term adverse effects, nor did it result in addiction/dependence. "

READ THE RULES. DO NOT LINK TO OTHER FORUMS.

[WrtngCocaineTutorial]

alcoholism stuff swim wrote, was just because it stood something about dose, and dependence. and how ghb can be used without ghb dependence.

[Ruud]

Originally Posted by WrtngCocaineTutorial

and how ghb can be used without ghb dependence.

As you can see above: To be very carefull with the dose, and what i sayd, maby is it wiser to do this together with a psycian. When you are/where an alcohol-addict it's very hard or maybe inpossible to kick te habbit alone without getting addicted to GHB IMO. Maby a good friend or a room/house mate can control the dose instead of a psychian.

[WrtngCocaineTutorial]

hehe. swim aint' no alcoholic

[Jatelka]

VODKA: Before proceeding further: Please READ THE RULES. They can be found here...

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/ann...t.php?f=43&a=1

Do NOT incriminate yourself: Please use SWIM (Someone Who Isn't Me) or something similar when discusssing extra curricular activities.Bear in mind that not abiding by the rules here can and WILL get SWIY banned.

Thankyou

[VODKA]

I didnt say I had a source or offer anything to anyone... It makes no sense that users can't share their experiences. Isn't this a DRUG forum?


It is, but it is NOT a Catholic Confessional. Now go and Read The Rules - or meet Mister Boot.