If your son is overweight at all there is a diet drug called Contrave, which is a combination of wellbutrin and naltrexone. But drugs have the incidental effect of making drinking less “fun” by reducing the amount of dopamine released when drinking.
I know there are many people who would immediately insist that medication isn’t the answer, but you might want to Google the Sinclair method (which calls for more naltrexone than in Contrave but you get the idea).
OP- I’ve been thinking about you. Sending hugs to you and your son. You both must be scared and overwhelmed. He took a great first step. Now it’s just one foot in front of the other…
Wishing you both a quick and healthy resolution.
@privatebanker one of the best posts on CC! Great advice!
OP. Just to be clear. 12 Step program noted previously, is a life saver/game
But it is not group therapy for heavy drinking.
It’s a program to relieve the disease of alcoholism. If you don’t have this problem, outlined above, other methods work very well.
A question for the OP. You started off with “He says he is drinking too much and cannot stop because there is abundant alcohol in his dorm.” Did he come to you idependently with this concern or was a response to you asking him about his drinking? Because those could be two very different things,with very different courses of action required. If he came to you, without incident, it sounds like a cry for help. If this is the response to your questions about why he drinks so much, it may be an attempt to excuse his own behaviour, which he may or may not be ready to change.
This could be addiction or heavy use or “problem drinking” needs to talk to a counselor. So sorry.
We’ve found that Campral has been very good at reducing alcohol cravings in our D. Campral is given to people who have already stopped drinking alcohol. It does not work in a person who continues to drink alcohol, nor does it help ease withdrawal symptoms. Rather, it helps the person who has given up drinking to maintain sobriety by reducing the desire for alcohol.
I hesitate to give much advice about this. I enjoy drinking alcohol, and there seemed to be a change in my habits at around age 35, with increasing consumption after age 50 as well. My observation would be that it’s clear to me that my desire for a drink is inversely related to how much exercise I’ve been getting. More exercise = less desire, and less consumption. That’s just my experience.
I’ve had some friends who struggled with this from an early age, and it gives you pause. One, who was a top Ivy athlete and a top 10 professional school grad destroyed his life in his early 30s when sneaking out to drink more led to experimenting with cocaine, and a stunning downward spiral and career and marriage-ending state. He’s still alive, but his life is a shell of what it promised to be. And you never would have predicted it because he was the epitome of a nice guy.
So, I think it is different for different people, but if the young man thinks he has a problem at this age, its good to attempt to get it under control. It seems to me that being worried about it is a good first step.
I’ll also add that, imo, despite my friend’s extreme example, I think that the biggest problem with alcohol is that it is insidious. If you drink too much regularly, it will subtlety change your personality. Mostly because you’ll always be tired at work. No spark. No energy. Your attitude will be to be annoyed with challenges rather than to be anxious to meet them, and people will notice that even if they don’t know anything about your drinking habits. If you are in a highly competitive field, your career will be much shorter than you expected.
I wish the young man the best.
FWIW the OP has not been back in over 2 weeks.
This series of posts and suggestions from the CC crowd are good info for anyone. Especially those seeing the thread and afraid to ask the questions.
Everyone’s experience may vary to some degree.
FWIW. I qualified for and competed the Boston Marathon, US triathlon age group national championships and three full Ironman Triathlons including the incredibly difficult Lake Placid Course.
All the while in very deep trouble, living with or slowly dying from active alcoholism .
Held positions on increasing responsibiity to the Managing Director level at one of two major corporations. Roles that had been my only jobs since grad school. Without a missed day or loss of position. Ever.
Two jobs in over 25 years. Never fired. Always moving upward in the traditional sense.
I was good at hiding things.
Using exercise to eradicate the problem.
It got so bad I started using ambien regularly to fall asleep immediately after my run or swim and dinner.
That was my brilliant plan.
Work. Work out. Sleep. For the rest of my life. Might as well have well locked myself up at night. And believe me it crossed my wife’s mind more than once.
But even that didn’t work.
If your problem runs deep, the solution can not be superficial.
So don’t diagnosis someone else. Have them talk to someone. The problem is being honest with oneself. It’s harder than you would think.
He is going to have to change friends, too.
I’m sorry he is suffering and glad he told you.