antabuse question

My dad has been heavily drinking for  at least 20 years. In the past 10 years, hes been on and off. For example, he'll stop drinking for 6 months and then he'll drink after 2 or 3 months and then stop again for 6 months. I know he wants to drink the way he used to when he was younger (he used to drink for one week straight-sometimes more- without eating anything and he would stop when his health got extremly bad) but because hes 51 his body cant really take that much alcohol anymore. When he drinks hes very out of control, he wont sleep or eat anything, all he wants to do is drink and drink. he will do same thing in the morning, without eating. Basically, he'll go for weeks without eating or anything else and only drinking alcohol. Now, almost every night he drinks about 2 Henkien 26 ounces light beer. We want him to stop because hes diabetic, has high blood pressure, and its not good for our family.

Anyways, my question is do you think anatbuse would be good for him? Will it work? Does anybody have any personal or family experiences with antabuse? All help, suggestions, and opinions will be greatly appreciated, Thank you!

[Purbeckgirl]

Antabuse worked well for me but I am concerned about your husband taking it with high blood pressure.

[GeezLouize75]

My mother-in-law would put antabuse in my father-in-laws coffee in the mornings before he went to work.  It worked for him until he got tired of not drinking so then he got up earlier than his wife and went to work without his "coffee".  Point being, if your Dad does not want to stop drinking then antabuse is not going to do it for him.
Good luck and God Bless.

[kandola68]

did he do that only for one day? or did he go back to his drinking habits after that? was your father in law a heavy drinker?

[Westguy1003]

Antabuse is really useful for people who want to quit drinking and want something that makes them think more than twice about taking a drink. If he drinks while taking antabuse he's going to get very very sick. So it's a good deterrant for people. It makes them say "Whoa, I really can't drink while I'm taking this" so you don't even try.

However, if he wants to drink he can just go ahead and stop taking the antabuse. It doesn't stay in your system all that long. He'd have to agree to take it and then take it every day. If he's seriously a long-term alcoholic there's a big risk in quitting cold turkey. There's any number of withdrawl (withdrawal) symptoms he could go through, the worst hallucinations and seizures so definitely consult with a doctor. It sounds like he needs more than just antabuse though. He needs to acknhowledge that he's drinking too much and make a concerted effort to quit or at the very least cut down a bit. Drinking every day is not a good or healthy thing obviously. Has the family ever spoken to him about his drinking?

I don't know if theres any risk of taking antabuse with his high blood pressure. That's the kind of thing to talk over with a doctor. There is an inherent danger in giving someone any sort of medication without their knowledge so I wouldn't reccomend sneaking it to him. He could have some sort of adverse reaction to it, or at the very least just drink and he'll get very very sick.  Who knows when or where he might be when that happens so I definitely wouldn't sneak it to him if that's what you were thinking.

[chippi1]

I'm sorry you're going through this, it's very difficult to watch someone you love destroy themselves. My mother was only in her mid-fifties when she passed 8 yrs. ago. She died from liver cirrhosis and hepatitis. She knew the consequenses and wouldn't or couldn't quit. She knew I was in recovery from alcohol myself and that it was possible to enjoy life and actually have fun without drinking but she didn't have the desire to quit and without that nothing works. Pressure from family and friends sometimes backfires on those who are only trying to help. Never try to reason or talk to him about it while he's drinking, wait until he's feeling pretty bad physically or mentally, some are more reseptive to the idea at those times. Someone could let him know that he doesn't have to feel this way anymore and there is help out there.  Blessings