Tell her to go to one AA meeting and just sit there and listen.

I know, it would be great to have an herbal remedy, but this is it. If I *had* to recommend something, I would have to pick milk thistle tincture for the liver.

Blessings to you for being such a great friend,

Ali

Ask the person if they want to get sober. If they do not want to get sober, nothing you do or say will help.

If they want to get sober have them go to an AA meeting.

There is no magic cure for alcoholism. The only way to deal with it is to totally abstain from any form of alcohol.

Blueduck

As an alcoholic I can tell you - NOTHING will work until THEY are ready to change. NOTHING. Nothing, nothing, nothing. No guilt trips, no pills, no potions, no herbs, no loving them till they can love themselves - NOTHING. Even being forced or drug to AA meetings won't work if they are not ready - in fact, it could well backfire and keep them away for years - or maybe forever.

Don't do that if you care about them at all. It's heartbreaking to see fellow alcoholics drug in by the courts or their families - closed off, scared, angry - and then gone as quickly as possible, swearing to never, NEVER go through that "crap " again. If they know an AA member, you might ask them to talk to them.

AA works - for millions, AA *works* IF you work it. It is a hard program of facing oneself and it does take WORK. To work it, you have to want it. It's that simple. Until they want it themselves FOR themselves, it won't work - nothing will. AA is not crap, it's not Christian or church or brainwashing - it gets branded those by people who got drug in before they were ready. It IS a lifeline, but it ONLY works when the person themselves is ready. Lost many friends back to the bottle, lost many more from this lifetime who got pressured into going to AA - They just were not ready.

Only the person themselves can say if they're alcoholic. Oh, you can see all the symptoms and signs, but telling them will fall on deaf ears. Only the person themselves can make that call, and only their own personal pain will bring it out.

SOME counseling and treatment centers work *sometimes* but they also only work when the alcoholic them self realizes they hava problem AND are ready to get sober. When the alkie finds Them. Not before. We have some not so kind names for *most* of the lot - money hungry parasites that prey on alkies and their loved ones (sounds a lot like some other form of medicine, eh?) - got one meeting where some 'escapees' call 'em "pre-morgues". The key again is, they have to be ready, and you nor no-one else on earth can *make* them ready. It has to be their choice and decision and their time.

Sorry, but there simply is NO herb or fix that you could mention in a "30 second elevator speech". None, zip, zilch, nada. The "magic pill" does NOT exist. Sorry to sound so blunt, but it's the truth. I've watched too many good people, good alcoholics, try wonder fixes - and end up back drunk. Some get so fed up after failure after failure of these promised "miracle cures" that we end up at yet another funeral. No matter what the marketing for any herb or product says, no matter what Aunt Ellen's nephew's friend swears by - trust me - they don't work. Alcoholism is a dis-ease of the soul as well as the mind and body, there aren't any magic pills for that.

If you truly want to help, go to an 'open' AA meeting YOURSELF. Listen, find the ones with some time sober, ask them face to face what you can do. Get a copy of the Alcoholics Anonymous book (The "Big Book") and read through it. If it's someone close to you, go to Al-Anon meetings. It helps 'earth' people learn how to live with us alkies.

Now, if you have that '30 seconds', when your friend is down, but not drunk, gently mention that you're going to an open AA meeting and invite them to go. You can mention some of the worst you've witnessed or that they themselves have told you, tell them you're worried, but Don't push, Don't drag, and damn well DO NOT PREACH. You'll lose 'em in a heart beat. If they seem at all interested, you can 'lend' them that big blue AA book you picked up, but only if they're interested.

It's the best you can do. Support them, be there to listen to them, but everything has to be their own decision. It HAS to be.

AA saved my life. Absolutely no doubt about it. But not until I hit bottom and was ready. Show them that there is an open door out through AA, but don't push them through it. When they're ready, if they ever are, they'll remember.

My ginseng has proven extremely beneficial to recovering
alcoholics because it balances all their bodily systems, purges toxins, sharpens mental focus and restores energy.

However, it can't provide the motivation to stop. A good friend who is a psychiatrist, and was married to an alcoholic, explained that alcoholism is a personality disorder requiring extensive psychiatric therapy and tremendous support to conquer.

I am going to do some more research. Kudzu sounds better than cold turkey? Has anyone heard of it and where can you find it?

Alcoholism cure?

http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/features/scitech_story.cfm?instanceid=12561

A plant that grows like a weed throughout America could offer a cure for alcoholism.

Kudzu, a fast-growing bean vine, has been used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine to make a "drunkenness dispeller" tea, and the latest evidence suggests that its roots contain active ingredients that can reduce cravings for alcohol and lessen hangovers.

Preliminary trials at Harvard Medical School have isolated the kudzu root's two active ingredients -- daidzin and daidzein -- which have been shown to have an impressive effect on golden hamsters bred to have an innate fondness for alcohol.

When the hamsters were denied their daily dose of kudzu, they reverted to their more alcoholic habits.

As yet, there have been no large-scale trials on humans, only rats, monkeys and hamsters, so physicians can offer no guarantees about kudzu's efficiency.

However, a small study is very promising. Dr Wing-Ming Keung, who conducted the research at Harvard, traveled to Hong Kong to interview 300 chronic alcoholics who were treated with kudzu tea. After two to four weeks, 80 per cent said they no longer craved alcohol.

There are no known contraindications, although it is not recommended for pregnant women or children.

I found this testimonial:


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'I CURED MY ALCOHOLISM WITH A KUDZU COCKTAIL!


ATLANTA -- Kudzu, perhaps the most hated plant in the southern United States, appears to have at least one redeeming quality -- as a safe and effective cure for millions of Americans suffering from alcoholism!

Scientists at the Center for Biochemical and Biophysical Sciences and Medicine at Harvard University, the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill and other research institutes have found that a kudzu extract known as daidzin can dramatically reduce a drinker's cravings for alcohol.

"Kudzu saved my life," proclaims Larry Cambert, 55, of Atlanta. "I started drinking when I was 17 and became an alcoholic by the age of 25. I consumed more alcohol in one week than most people drink in one month. And it was killing me.

"Then my doctor placed me in a clinical trial for daidzin. Within two days, my craving for alcohol was half of what it had been. And within two weeks, I no longer needed alcohol to function. I haven't had a drink in three months, and I've never felt better.

"In addition to daidzin, I buy kudzu from a health-food store and brew a tea, which I drink every day. Kudzu is a blessing from God!"

How kudzu works to relieve alcoholism remains a mystery. Some researchers believe that it limits the absorption of alcohol in the small intestine. Others speculate that it reduces cravings by altering the activity of a brain chemical called serotonin.

Kudzu is loathed in the southern United States because it grows at an alarming rate and smothers all other plants and trees around it. But in China, kudzu has been revered as an herbal remedy for thousands of years, says botanist Dr. Chiang Wen-ho of the People's Institute for Herbal Research in Beijing.

"Kudzu is a plant with many uses," Dr. Chiang explains. "In China, it is commonly used to treat influenza, fever, dysentery and snake bites, as well as alcoholism. It is very effective, and offers quick relief with none of the harmful side effects that typically accompany synthetic drugs."

It's important that kudzu be consumed only as a pure, laboratory-produced extract, or purchased from a health-food store, Dr. Chiang adds. Wild kudzu is often contaminated with environmental poisons.

-- By WAYNE DIAZ



Published on: June 18, 2001

http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/features/scitech_story.cfm?instanceid=12561

http://www.snapoo.com/over/clinic/korea_binge.html
KOREA
Alcohol-fueled social intercourse has some element of compulsion By Hong Hye-gul (JoongAng Ilbo)
December 23, 2002
Korean drinking customs can be summed up in one phrase: "Drink until you get drunk." Korea is one of the rare countries around the world where a man or a woman's social competence is often judged by the person's capacity for alcohol.

There is always some sort of compulsion involved in drinking, and the results are obvious the next day when a person's daily routines and family role are disrupted. Drinking to excess often ruins interpersonal relationships, and in some cases it causes a breakdown of the family.

In other developed countries, the drinking culture is very different. There is no compulsion or even desire to get drunk;( are you a dreamer? - theprogramming nerd) while alcohol is a social lubricant, a couple of drinks will suffice to ease the stress of modern life. Some alcoholic drinks like wine are an important part of meals and are enjoyed as a complement to good food.

Today's drinking habits in Korea are also far from the traditions of our ancestors, who drank but were always conscious of their dignity. But in modern Korea, people tend to be generous to those, especially men, who leave their inhibitions behind when they drink.

Lee Jeong-gyun, a professor of medicine at Seoul National University, led a research team that studied the problem and concluded that Korea has the highest percentage of adult alcoholics in the world. The team calculated that just over one in five Korean adults are alcoholic, and said that is a warning about the perils of Korean drinking customs. A survey by the Ministry of Health and Welfare last February said 16 percent of Koreans are alcoholics, and that the number of women with the problem has risen dramatically since a 1984 survey on the subject.

The two surveys concluded that the rate of alcoholism in males dropped from 42 percent to 26 percent but the number of afflicted females rose from just over 2 percent to almost 7 percent. Both surveys were conducted using the criteria suggested by the American Mental Health Association; it uses a checklist of 11 effects, including the consumption of alcohol with the intent of reaching a state of intoxication and a failure to stop drinking after attempting to go on the wagon. Doctors say many patients are not aware of the seriousness of alcoholism. "It takes an average of six years for alcoholics to recognize their illness and ask for professional treatment," said Yun Myeong-sook, a professor of social welfare at Jeonbuk University. Many patients, she said, ask for counseling only after being fired from a job, having an auto accident while driving drunk or undergoing a breakup of one's family. Medically speaking, alcohol is less harmful than nicotine. According to health Science researchers at Harvard University, the probability of dying from nicotine-related illnesses is about four times greater than that of death from alcohol-related illnesses. But the physical suffering and mental aftereffects of alcohol abuse, the researchers said, is three times greater than that from smoking.

"The success rate in treating alcoholism increased for patients with families who were resolute from the very beginning," said Mr. Min. "When necessary, those families called for help from the police and even threatened divorce."

There has been a steady growth of alcoholism in Korea, and medical treatment should not be delayed in most cases. Perhaps the tradition of alcohol-fueled socializing has caused more and more people to suffer.

The only way to address this social problem is to change the common perception that one should drink in order to get drunk to one that alcohol in moderation is a pleasant accompaniment to conversation and personal interaction.

source: International Herald Tribune
full article



Kudzu
Pueraria lobata
Chinese alcoholism, drunkeness and hangover cure

Kudzu is fast-growing vine with large leaves and sweet-smelling blooms . The vines grow as much as a foot per day during summer months, climbing trees, power poles, and anything else they contact.
It's starchy root tubers have been used as a medication in China since 200 B.C. It has a special reputaation for combatting drunkeness, as noted in the Chinese Pharmacopeia of A.D.600
Research with laboratory animals at Harvard Medical School has revealed that a drug extracted from Kudzu root may help in the treatment of alcoholism.
When alcohol- loving rats were given kudzu either orally or by injection , they, too, drank about half as much as usual. The scientists also noted that kudzu suppressed alcohol's intoxicating effects after it entered the bloodstream, tending to confirm the ancient claim that taking kudzu before drinking alcohol helps stave off intoxication and hangovers.
In its native lands, the roots are also used to make a medicinal tea for treating dysentery and fever. In Japan, a kind of kudzu tofu is highly prized. The stems yield a fiber called ko-kemp that is useful in making cloth and paper. And, last but not least, the plant contains a chemical compound, daidzin, that has proven to be effective in suppressing the craving for alcohol.
When kudzu is present in a diet, it also prevents anyone from falling into an alcohol addiction.

In China , Kudzu is included in a "morning after tea" , known as xing-jiu-ling, which essentially means "sober up."
What makes kudzu especially appealing is its lack of side effects. No liver damage or nausea or vomiting.
Kudzu's toxicity is very low. Taking as much as 100 grams, or 3.5 ounces, has no adverse effects. Don't combine kudzu with prescription drugs unless your doctor okays it. In China kudzu is sold as a root or extract. In the United States you can buy extracts from a health food store. In China tablets are standardized so that milligrams equals 5 grams of crude root. Some experts haved advised taking one such standardized tablet two or three times a day to discourage drinking.

http://www.snapoo.com/over/clinic/kudzu.html

http://www.snapoo.com/over/clinic/korea_binge.html