Alcohol Addiction Research Shows Topamax May Help
The makers of the anti-convulsant drug Topamax (active ingredient topiramate)- now most often prescribed for migraine prevention - hope that it can also help alcoholics loose their desire to drink. The goal is to give Topamax to alcoholics who want to quit drinking - even before they have already stopped drinking. The initial alcohol addiction research on Topamax is promising, but also controversial.
"Approaching A Prozac Moment"
The first study of Topamax on alcoholics was done in September of 2003 in England. They found that a side effect of the anti-convulsant seemed to curb alcoholics' desires to drink. The initial results were so promising that another clinical trial was done outside of Chicago in 2007. One of the doctors who ran the trial said of the results, "We are approaching a Prozac moment."
What the good doctor meant was that Prozac (fluoxetine), was a tremendous breakthrough in the treatment of major depression, which is a serious and mysterious mental disorder that affects millions (including this writer.) Being given a once a day pill that didn't require your blood being monitored (such as with lithium) helped a phenomenal amount of people. Prozac is now one of, if not the, most prescribed drug in the world.
Although there are drugs on the market that help alcoholics cope with their withdraw symptoms, it is dangerous to give them the drug when they are still drinking. They have to be dry in order to take the current medications. This fact alone discourages many alcoholics from seeking medical help with their dangerous and destructive addiction. The two clinical alcohol addiction research studies on Topamax look as if it is safe to give while you are still on the bottle. More addiction research will need to be done to prove both its safety and effectiveness.
Controversy Already
Although Topamax wouldn't be approved by the FDA for alchohol treatment for many years yet - if ever - the results of the two alcohol addiction research clinical trials are causing controversy among professionals who treat alcoholics every day. The goal is to get the alcoholic off of the drink and never touch it again. Giving Topamax while they are still drinking is feared to send a mixed message about the danger of alcohol.
It is also thought that any drug to get anyone off of an addiction willl never work as well in the real world as in tests. Smoking addiction research on drugs to help a smoker quit were astonishingly good in clinical trials - but flopped in the real world. The theory why is that those who volunteer to be human guinea pigs truly want to get off their addiction, while many in the real world do not.
