Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Meds a good 'first step' for treating alcoholism | Redux

Meds a good 'first step' for treating alcoholism

Excerpt:

Two drugs commonly used to treat alcoholism may be appropriate for people in different stages of recovery, a new analysis confirms - likely because they work differently in the brain. The drugs, acamprosate (marketed as Campral) and naltrexone (ReVia), are both non-addictive themselves and don't make users sick when mixed with alcohol. So they're a good first option for people struggling with alcohol dependence who are motivated to stop drinking but would like to avoid an inpatient program, researchers said. In a new analysis of 64 trials evaluating the two medications, researchers from California found acamprosate was more effective at helping people who were not currently drinking stay sober. Naltrexone had the advantage when it came to cutting back on heavy drinking and helping recovering alcoholics avoid cravings.

People:

Dr. Raymond Anton

Overall Sentiment: 0.0352587

Relevance: 0.524147

SentimentQuote
-0.188787"It stops a slip from becoming a relapse," he said. ...
0.149641Anton said both drugs could be a useful "first step" ...
0.115179"People should realize that there are alternative treatments that are useful for them while they continue in their normal work and family, that they don't necessarily have to go into a 30-day treatment center to get treatment for alcohol," Anton told ...
0.0525133"People should realize that there are alternative treatments that are useful for them while they continue in their normal work and family, that they don't necessarily have to go into a 30-day treatment center to get treatment for alcohol," Anton told Reuters Health. "If it doesn't work, you can always think about rehab or inpatient treatment later on."
Sentiment Stats:
  • Number of Quotes: 4
  • Aggregate Sentiment: 0.1285463
  • Mean: 0.032136575
  • Standard Deviation: 0

Natalya Maisel

Overall Sentiment: 0.262473

Relevance: 0.26957

Key:

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  • The Mean is meant to be an indicator of an individual's average comment sentiment.
  • The Standard Deviation, when there are enough quotes, will indicate an individual's consistency of sentiment (i.e. a Standard Deviation of 0 would mean they were very consistent in their sentiment and 1 would mean they were very inconsistent).

Note that quote stats are likely to be meaningless beyond the aggregate score due to the tiny sample size. However, they are always provided just in case you find something useful there.

Additional Info:

Drug: acamprosate

Overall Sentiment: 0.046467

Relevance: 0.856077

Drug: Naltrexone

Overall Sentiment: 0.18044

Relevance: 0.809022

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