Alcohol and alcoholism : international journal of the Medical Council on Alcoholism
-
Randomized Controlled Trial
Alcohol withdrawal syndrome: symptom-triggered versus fixed-schedule treatment in an outpatient setting.
To investigate whether, in the treatment with chlordiazepoxide for outpatient alcohol withdrawal, there are advantages of symptom-triggered self-medication over a fixed-schedule regimen. ⋯ Symptom-triggered self-medication was as safe as fixed-schedule medication in treating outpatients with AD and mild to moderate symptoms of AWS. The SAWS is a powerful monitoring tool, because it is brief and permits the subject to log the withdrawal symptoms.
-
Changes in glutamatergic transmission affect many aspects of neuroplasticity associated with ethanol and drug addiction. For instance, ethanol- and drug-seeking behavior is promoted by increased glutamate transmission in key regions of the motive circuit. We hypothesized that because glutamate transporter 1 (GLT1) is responsible for the removal of most extracellular glutamate, up-regulation or activation of GLT1 would attenuate ethanol consumption. ⋯ These results indicate that CEF effectively reduces ethanol intake, possibly through activation of GLT1, and may be a potential therapeutic drug for alcohol addiction treatment.