What Is Acamprosate For Alcohol Addiction Treatment?

 

Acamprosate is prescription medication that's believed to be safe and effective in treating alcohol dependency. Most people who take the drug experience significant reduction in alcohol craving as well as other symptoms associated with alcohol withdrawal.

How it Works

Alcoholism occurs when one drinks frequently and heavily to create long-term alterations to the way the brain utilizes neurotransmitters. Vital changes occur in the production two particular transmitters: GABBA and glutamate. In a normal brain, glutamate is often released to enhance more rapid communications between the brain neurons while GABBA is released to slow down the communication between neurons. In other words, GABBA acts as a brake while glutamate as an accelerator. Proper brain functions depend on the brain maintaining the balance between GABBA and glutamate.

Over time, alcohol will alter the balance between these two critical neurotransmitters---the level of glutamate will rise while GABBA's will fall. The result is over excitation of the brain and increased craving for alcohol. In absence of alcohol (during alcohol withdrawal), brain excitability will rise to unsustainable levels, which will trigger symptoms such mental and physical agitation, irritability, anxiety, and muscle tremors. Acamprosate is believed to work by activating GABBA neurotransmitters and inhibiting the release of glutamate, which results into the decrease of the degree of brain excitation.

Making Acamprosate more Effective

Acamprosate medication doesn't work for everyone and the drug is most suited for people recovering from alcohol and who have already stopped drinking. For it to be more effective, doctors recommend continued counseling and seeking motivational counseling and other mutual-help group participation to meet your individual needs. Commitment to various concurrent psycho-social therapies, motivation to maintain sobriety, and willingness to take Acamprosate as regularly as prescribed are other methods that have been proven to increase the effectives of Acamprosate.

Treatment with Acamprosate should begin immediately after withdrawal and should be maintained during relapse. The recommended dose of the Acamprosate is two 333mg tablet to be taken three times on a daily basis. Follow us for more information, reviews, clinical studies and reviews on Acamprosate versus alcohol addiction treatment as well as for more resources on general drug abuse and treatments.