Word: ameisen
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...similar experience prompted French cardiologist Dr. Olivier Ameisen to write the highly publicized memoir The End of My Addiction (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009). A longtime alcoholic, Ameisen had checked into various rehabilitation centers at least eight times and attended nearly 5,000 Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, without being able to maintain sobriety. More than five years ago, he began taking baclofen, and since then, he says, he has consistently been able to abstain from drinking altogether or drink moderately in social situations, without having cravings or other addiction-related problems...
...never understood how people could leave liquor in a glass," says Ameisen, "Now you could give me a sip of champagne and I could leave it. That was impossible in my wildest dreams. And it's effortless. Complete suppression, not reduction of cravings. I'm indifferent...
...humans to support them. Past studies in animals suggest that baclofen does have a powerful anticraving effect, however, and two large, randomized controlled trials of high doses of baclofen are under way. Meanwhile, more and more American doctors are prescribing baclofen for their alcoholic patients, based on experiences like Ameisen's. And yet even if the apparent anti-addiction benefits of the drug - which is currently approved by the government to treat muscle spasms - are borne out in human trials, it might do little to persuade most American addiction-treatment providers to use it. (Read "Can Amphetamines Help Cure Cocaine...
...original version of this article misspelled Dr. Olivier Ameisen's last name...
These challenges to addiction orthodoxy come along as scientists and sufferers alike continue to look for a faster fix for substance abuse. New York cardiologist Dr. Olivier Ameisen -who now lives in France but remains a visiting professor at the State University of New York - has authored a new book describing his recovery from alcoholism, which was achieved with the aid of a common drug called baclofen, a muscle-relaxant designed to prevent the spasms behind a range of conditions from hiccups to multiple sclerosis symptoms. The claim is drawing a lot of attention, but it is too soon...
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