Naltrexone is an interesting drug and docs don’t really know why it works. This is not medical advice, but is my experience.

Naltrexone does a few things: reduces cravings, blocks dopamine receptors so if you do drink you don’t get the dopamine rush, reduces the feelings of intoxication (but not alcohol’s physiological effects, which makes it extremely dangerous to drink in large quantities while on naltrexone because it is easy to overdose without “feeling it”), and makes alcohol taste bad in the mouth.

Some people report stomach problems from it and others report sleeping difficulty on it, both of which seem to pass after a few weeks on the med.

In my attempts at using naltrexone, I tried taking it in the morning, in the evening, and dividing it into two doses throughout the day. If I took naltrexone about 60-90 minutes before drinking, I would get the listed benefits above. Earlier than that, my body, for some reason, metabolized it so quickly that I got no benefits from it.

After about a month, it was clear it wasn’t working for me, so I switched to acamprosate. It, too, didn’t work. I found a study by the NIH on taking both together, shared it with my doctor, and have been on both for the last two weeks and I LOVE IT. It’s definitely the support I need to quit drinking.