Re: connection between alcohol addiction and adrenal fatigue.

Hi #38976,

I'm always glad to hear news (and to learn) about fighting alcoholism using scientific/medical approaches rather than just vague, spiritual, "group-wishing"-based approaches.

The kudzu worked for me almost instantaneously. It supposedly has several active compounds in it: some of which lessen your hangover, and others which work on reducing those later cravings. I still remain shocked that an herb which has been in use in Asia for over 2000 years is still scoffed at by the american medical establishment. I would speculate that more money can be made from peddling pharmaceuticals like Naltrexone and Campral, than selling kudzu, and that might be at least one reason why the good ole USA doesn't support herbal remedies. I marvel at some of these new drugs, like CAMPRAL, which have only been tested for 20 years, at the most. Really, which would you prefer to try first, one that has been in use for 2000 years or one that has been around for only 20? I think the Chinese made a really hot discovery a few millenia ago! It's a crying shame that making money comes before health in this country.

I use a brand called Planetary Herbals, and the product is called "Kudzu Recovery". This is actually a blend of kudzu with other liver-support herbs. Within a few days of using it, I didn't have any cravings or at least they became managable, to an insultingly-easy extent. In the begining, for the first couple of weeks, I took it everyday, just to feel safe. Now, I just take it on those days where I know I will be tempted to drink, especially on Fridays and Saturdays. I'd say that within an hour of taking it, the cravings go away, like if I wake up from a weekend nap (a day nap is always an alcoholic trigger for me, for some reason.) It is also important to take liver-support herbs like milk thistle, to make sure the liver is functioning well, and obviously healthy food and exercise are important to.

For me, personally, another curezone gem I found was about the role of serotonin in depression, low mood, addiction, etc. I started taking 5-HTP to make sure I had enough serotonin, and this helped me sleep better than I had in years, and my mood improved greatly. Now I can remember my dreams. And the overall behavioral change really was like night and day, it was that amazing. The people who know me and see me everyday (like at work) realized something had changed in me, but they didn't know what it was. Normally I was very shy and retiring, but now I've become a lot more extroverted. Perhaps you don't have depression, so maybe 5-HTP (or tryptophane) supplements aren't for you, but if you want to learn more, curezone has a Depression forum where serotonin-defficiency model has been discussed. The tryptophane that you get from protein foods, btw, is converted to 5-HTP by entero-chromaffin (EC) cells in your intestine, which is then sent to the brain to be converted to serotonin, which is essential for a good night's rest. I can only speculate that the EC cells in your intestine can't be all that happy about having to come into contact with alcohol metabolites, every time you go on a binge. I'm tempted to speculate that maybe excessive alcohol use might irritate these intestinal EC cells enough to at least temporarily stop making the 5-HTP precursor to serotonin. But that's just speculation. Anyway, all I know is that when I take 5-HTP, my Depression goes away, I sleep better, and my mood is so much better, and I feel so much better about life.

Since you are a recovering alcoholic, #38976, you might benefit from learning about the liver flush, which is very popular on this curezone website. Since alcoholism is a problem which directly affects the liver, it might be worthwhile for you (and for any alcoholic) to make sure you clean out your liver. From what I learned from this forum, consuming pharmaceutical drugs like tylenol, eating meat products, and drinking alcohol all can lead to the formation of clotted bile stones which eventually clog the passageways of the liver. When the liver is clogged, it loses function, shutting down, ultimately leading to chirrosis. And wouldn't that scenario sound particularly scary to the average alcoholic?

Andreas Moritz has a book called "the amazing liver and gallbladder flush" which I recommend to you, if you want to learn more.

For the past 3 months, I've been doing a Liver Flush every 2 weeks, roughly (in the beginning, I did a flush every week). I found that although doing the flush did not dispell any alcohol cravings, it did at least improve my overall health and energy levels. The Liver Flush has helped me digest food better, and I know that ultimately that will contribute positively to my sobriety. Unfortunately, the road to better health seems to be a complex one, but I really have made more progress in my physical and mental health from what I've learned at curezone.com, than from any other source. If you have been abusing your liver with booze, then you should strongly consider doing liver flushes. So far I've done 9 flushes, and some of them have produced some really big stones. ((Make sure you take a look at some of the liver stones in the curezone photogallery!))

You can find general info about Liver Flushes here: //www.curezone.org/cleanse/liver/default.asp

You can find the support forum for Liver Flushing here. It's good because you can ask questions and compare notes with other people who are also in the process of flushing: //www.curezone.org/forums/f.asp?f=447

Well, I guess I'll step down from the soapbox now. Hope you'll give the kudzu a try.

Can you please explain more about this "briar rose" stuff, and what you've observed about it so far? I tried googling "briar rose" but didn't get any relevant hits. Tweet