Both drugs apparently help reduce the chance of heavy drinking when abstinent individuals relapse. Other reviews look more closely at other drugs currently approved or under investigation for treating alcoholism. It's thought to reduce the pleasurable effects of alcohol ingestion, and thus decrease the chance of heavy drinking when alcoholics relapse. The purpose is to help the patient maintain abstinence until adequate self-motivation for abstinence has been established. Naltrexone will not produce an Antabuse-like reaction if alcohol is ingested while receiving naltrexone.
Naltrexone decreases the effects of naturally-occurring opioids in the body.
Most of these effects are pleasant, or rewarding. Your health care provider or pharmacist can provide a more complete list of side effects, or more details can be obtained from the links below. Side effects that require medical attention. Most of these occur only if also taking opiate drugs. However, the list is not comprehensive.