See Also
1. Chemical Dependency
2. Addiction Pathophysiology
Signs: Relapse Red Flags
1. Apprehension about well being
  1. Feeling awful about not drinking
2. Denial
  1. Down plays prior Substance Abuse
3. Adamant commitment to sobriety
  1. No fear about relapse
4. Loneliness
5. Major Depression
  1. Comorbid Depression is high risk for relapse
  2. Aggressively manage depression in after-care
  3. Hasin (2002) Arch Gen Psychiatry 59:375-80
6. Self-fulfilling failure
7. Irritation with friends, Easily angered, listlessness
8. Irregular sleeping habits
9. Irregular meeting attendance
10. Thoughts of social drinking
Management: Investigational agents
1. N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC, Mucomyst)
  1. Tablets available in health food stores
  2. Appears to be effective in reducing craving and desire and interest to use
  3. Grant (2007) Biol Psychiatry 62(6): 652-657
Resources
1. See Substance Abuse Resources
References
1. Toro (1996) Am Fam Physician 53(5):1667-73

Family Practice Notebook

Patients should address specific medical concerns with their physicians.

Although access to this page is not restricted, the information found here is intended for use by medical providers.

This page was written by Scott Moses, MD, last revised on 11/13/2009 and last published on 5/14/2013.

This is one of 5887 pages in the Family Practice Notebook