From: allens@yang.earlham.edu (Allen Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Re: nullifying anti-abuse
Date: 8 Apr 92 05:34:27 GMT
Article-I.D.: yang.1992Apr8.003427.16810
Organization: Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana

In article <lamontg.702273940@milton>, lamontg@milton.u.washington.edu (Lamont Granquist) writes:
> andersom@spot.Colorado.EDU (Marc Anderson) writes:
>>A friend of mine recently got slapped with a court order for an
>>alcohol-rehab program that makes him take the drug anti-abuse (sp? -- could
>>be spelled ant-abuse or anta-abuse, I guess, also).  He basically has to take
>>one pill every three days, and there's no way he can really get around it.
> 
> Antabuse.
> 
>>My question is, what exactly does this drug do, and is there anyway to 
>>'nullify' its effect?
> 
> I think it inhibits acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (or whatever enzyme metabolizes
> acetaldehyde if its not dehydrogenated).  Thus levels of acetaldehyde 
> build-up until a toxic level is reached.

	Yes; it's bis(diethylthiocarbamoyl) disulfide.
> 
> This is an article I saved from a long time ago which is all I have to go off
> of on the detoxification of acetaldehyde:
> 
> From:  bard@nntp-server.caltech.edu
> 
> ...one drug which will lower your BAC and your drunkenness rapidly is
> an enzyme called, (surprise!) Alcohol Dehydrogenase. Unfortunately, this
> will not help with a hangover, since it is the product of this enzyme,
> acetaldehyde, which causes many of the effects of a hangover. however,
> something called BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) is very effective at
> detoxifying acetaldehyde.
> 
> Here's an interesting experiment, which i have tried: Take about 3 grams of
> BHT before drinking, then drink just a couple of drinks. (Do NOT drink what
> you are used to being able to handle) The BHT will occupy the liver, thus
> slowing down your normal rate of alcohol dehydrogenation by a factor of
> about 4. Thus you get drunker on less, and the effects last about 4 times
> as long. In addition, the BHT assists in detoxifying the alcohol, so you
> feel utterly fine the next morning. There are some other effects too,
> involved with the fact that BHT is itself psychoactive (If I take too much
> BHT by itself (10 grams or so) I feel a bit nauseated, a bit paranoid, and
> dizzy.) 
> 
> BHT is available from
> Vitamin Research Products
> 2044 Old Middlefield Way
> Mountain View, CA
> 1-800-877-2447
> 
> Interesting speculation: if BHT were added to alcoholic drinks in general,
> then alcohol consumption would not be a factor in health problems normally
> related to alcohol, i.e. it would be relatively safe to drink (but not to
> drive). Alcohol is involved in such nasty events (in young as well as old)
> as sudden respiratory collapse, due mostly to the effects of acetaldehyde,
> a serious poison.
> 
> (* end *)
> 
> This *might* help.  But gawd, I have no idea what an antabuse-alcohol-BHT
> interaction is going to look like.  This is also *all* of the information
> I have on BHT, and I don't even know if its correct...  I've never looked
> it up.

	The BHT, so far as I can tell (I'm not a physician, so take all 
advice with a LARGE grain of salt) would compete with the BHT that's 
already there for the antabuse, thus hopefully reducing the effectiveness 
of the antabuse.
> 
>>He still drinks, but after several beers, he begins
>>getting sick and eventually will have to puke.  What a useful drug.  All it
>>really does is makes him use harder drugs.  Could an anti-nausient help?
>>(might interfere with the nausea or something, though.)
> 
> The nausea is probably a good thing.  Its telling you that your body has
> a toxin in it and it would appreciate it if you didn't give it any more.
> 
>>Or since the effects of alcohol are supposedly 'multiplied' when one takes
>>painkillers, could this be, perhaps, used to get him drunk without actually
>>drinking too much alcohol?
> 
> drug-drug (or in this case drug-drug-drug) interactions aren't a really safe
> thing to fuck around with.  I'd stick with abusing the painkillers or
> sedatives (note:  do *not* mix alcohol with sedatives at all) by 
> themselves -- still they might interact badly with the antabuse...

	According to the 1988 Physician's Desk Reference, there aren't any 
known side effects from combining antabuse and barbituates.
> 
> Probably the best idea is to just palm the antabuse tablets.  Its stupid
> that they're giving them this drug if he obviously doesn't want to stop.
>
	Especially given that it's stated several times in the PDR that 
this should NOT be used if the patient doesn't want to quit,  especially 
without other therapy. He might have grounds for appeal, since combining 
antabuse and alcohol can be lethal.
	-Allen
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