Wow, that is really interesting. I don't do any drugs, and drink alcohol only at major holidays, and then it's like one glass of wine, or one gin and tonic. But I have been taking Wegovy since last February, and I lost 25% of my body weight (208 lbs down to 155 pounds) at Thanksgiving by simply not feeling hungry very often. Since hitting this plateau weight, I have craved alcohol, and also high-fat, high-sugar foods-ice-cream, cheese cake, etc., like I never have in my life. The cravings are not overwhelming, just notable because unusual. I have several family members (all dead now, prior generation people) who were alcoholics. I love science, and I will experiment with what I need to do to calm those cravings by other means.
There are no FDA approved treatments currently, though buproprion + naltrexone is sometimes used. Contingency management seems to work well for stimulant addictions but it seems too controversial to reach scale, though there are a number of pilot projects. People have a visceral aversion against giving people cash to not take drugs, even though it can be far cheaper than other treatments (and more effective). Dynamicare is doing good work in this space.
I expect that GLP-1s will show good efficacy here as well but not to the same degree as with AUD. There is some animal research and a human study is expected before long.
Excellent summary of all the greatest hits
Wow, that is really interesting. I don't do any drugs, and drink alcohol only at major holidays, and then it's like one glass of wine, or one gin and tonic. But I have been taking Wegovy since last February, and I lost 25% of my body weight (208 lbs down to 155 pounds) at Thanksgiving by simply not feeling hungry very often. Since hitting this plateau weight, I have craved alcohol, and also high-fat, high-sugar foods-ice-cream, cheese cake, etc., like I never have in my life. The cravings are not overwhelming, just notable because unusual. I have several family members (all dead now, prior generation people) who were alcoholics. I love science, and I will experiment with what I need to do to calm those cravings by other means.
What’s the story with amphetamine addiction?
There are no FDA approved treatments currently, though buproprion + naltrexone is sometimes used. Contingency management seems to work well for stimulant addictions but it seems too controversial to reach scale, though there are a number of pilot projects. People have a visceral aversion against giving people cash to not take drugs, even though it can be far cheaper than other treatments (and more effective). Dynamicare is doing good work in this space.
I expect that GLP-1s will show good efficacy here as well but not to the same degree as with AUD. There is some animal research and a human study is expected before long.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6520198/