But for some people, the craving for alcohol is so strong that they decide they need a drink to reduce the craving. Yes, often insomnia is present in the early stages of recovery from alcoholism, as the body adjusts to not having alcohol. For people with chronic insomnia, there are behavioral strategies such as getting into a daily routine of going to bed. For some people, the use of medications such as Trazadone may help initiate sleep. There have been a couple of studies that show that Naltrexone is effective for binge drinkers.
Naltrexone reduces the binge from over five drinks per drinking episode, to just a couple of drinks.
Also, newer medications such as the SSRI's may help reduce the number of binges, but more research is needed. At Penn, we have developed new behavioral treatments to help alcoholics stay in treatment longer, and adhere to taking their medications. Most people will stay in treatment and recover. I want to let everyone know that we now have hosted support groups on our site. We have many different support groups, including two for Alcoholism .