I was addicted to alcohol for more than 15 years. What started as binge drinking in high school and college became a pattern of blackouts, emergency room visits, regret and shame.
As peers grew up and put excessive alcohol use in the rear view mirror, the opposite happened for me. Binges and blackouts got longer, and the physical and mental health symptoms got more severe.
I tried 12-step meetings, therapy and asking doctors for help. But nothing worked for me until I was prescribed safe, effective medication proven to help people reduce or quit drinking. With some help from naltrexone, a recommended frontline medication for alcohol use disorder, I was finally able to take back control over alcohol.
I am far from alone in struggling to get access to medication. Only 2.5% of the 28 million people with alcohol use disorder are prescribed any medication to help them drink less or quit.
I started Oar Health to close that gap. We make it simple for people struggling with their drinking to connect with a medical professional, get a prescription if appropriate, and get ongoing support to meet their goals.
Recently, I told my story of addiction and recovery in a TV commercial. I was nervous about telling the world that alcohol had affected my job, health and relationships. But I hoped that others might see aspects of themselves in my story, making it easier for them to take a step toward recovery.
Since the ad launched, we’ve heard from thousands of people eager to learn more. Some have already started treatment and begun to drink less or quit entirely.
However, there’s one group of people who aren’t so happy to hear my story: AA members. Some of the more vitriolic responses have been:
- “How many people did you kill today that watched your commercial?”
- “Shame on you for selling a scam pill like this.”
- “What do you offer? Another substance to use as a crutch and become addicted to, much like alcohol itself.”
Never mind that naltrexone is safe, effective, FDA-approved and not addictive.
We’ve also heard from people who insist that AA is the only legitimate way to recover from alcohol use disorder. Even though AA takes no official position on medication-assisted treatment and instructs that “no AA member should ‘play doctor’” in its official literature.
I can’t blame people for feeling loyalty to the approach that helped them. AA is an amazing organization with an inspiring track record: millions of people helped across its 90 year history in almost every country on earth — all for free.
But it’s counterproductive to insist that there is only one way to recover.
Everyone has the right to their own solution
The truth is that there is no silver bullet — neither AA nor naltrexone nor anything else. Rather, there are multiple evidence-based tools that can help, including prescription medication, professional behavioral healthcare like therapy or counseling, and mutual peer support groups.
I believe that every person has the right, and responsibility, to assemble the recovery toolkit that fits them. When someone struggles to meet their goals through one approach, it is only logical to try another.
“I realized that the 12-step AA method was not the right fit for me,” one woman told me. Instead of giving up or blaming herself, she tried medication. “Since I started taking naltrexone, my life has undergone a significant transformation,” she reports. “I have made positive changes in my drinking habits. I limit myself to a glass of wine or one vodka only three times a week.”
Importantly, most evidence-based options are complementary rather than competitive. Many people combine medication-assisted treatment with participation in AA, SMART Recovery, Moderation Management or other mutual peer support groups. Their recovery toolkits combine medication that goes to work on the biochemical underpinnings of addiction with community, connection and accountability that reinforce their recovery.
As one member explained, “I’ve worked an AA program and achieved a year of sobriety with sheer willpower. However, the draw of drinking kept at me and remained in the background. I relapsed. Since incorporating naltrexone into my daily routine, I feel ‘unhitched’ from this draw.”
But medication is not his only tool. “Counseling, my AA program, being honest with myself, support from family, and my desire to lead a healthy and clear minded life — coupled with this medication — are important components to finally achieving a cemented sobriety.”
I am confident that all AA members, even the most zealous, have the same goal as I do: helping the millions of people in the US with alcohol use disorder recover. To do so, I suggest we spend less time tearing each other down and more time helping those in need to understand the full range of treatment options available to help them. As advocates like to say, “we do recover” — just in different ways.
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