Is Topiramate the Wonder Cure for Addiction? I Do Not Think So

There is a lot of excitement over the last few years over a drug called Topiramate and the hope that this wonder drug will cure addiction for once and for all. Many researchers, as well as others working in the addiction field, seem really excited about Topiramate as a cure for addiction. To be honest I'm a bit skeptical about the whole thing. I think that finding drugs to treat addiction is sort of missing the point; at least it would have been for my situation.

Topiramate (or as it is more commonly known Topamax) was originally used for treating seizures. This drug is believed to work by reducing the cravings associated with alcoholism. It does this by blocking the feel-good chain of reaction that causes the release of dopamine in the brain, and so doing leads to drinking becoming less enjoyable. The idea is that by making alcohol less enjoyable it will cause heavy drinkers to stop their destructive behavior.

I can see how this could be viewed as a good thing; after all if drunks don't enjoy their drinks they are hardly likely to continue abusing are they? After all, the problem with those drunks you see who drink industrial spirits and boot polish is that they are enjoying it all too much. The problem that I have with this type of logic is that for the last few years of my drinking I got zero enjoyment from my addiction anyway; I drank because of a compulsion to drink and the fact that my mind was fixated by the thought that maybe one day the good drinking days would come back. Even during two years sobriety in my twenties I spent much of the time remembering the good days drinking; even though I had ended up homeless on the streets of London begging for money to buy cheap cider. I can't see how Topamax taking some of the enjoyment out of my drinking could have stopped this obsession with those good early days of drinking.

I can only really talk about my situation, but for me alcohol was an obsession. It was never about how alcohol was currently making me feel; it was always about how it once made me feel and the hope that this feeling would return. When I first discovered alcohol it completely changed me; for the first time in my life I had confidence and my life felt like it had meaning. Alcohol made me completely happy for the first few years, and if it had continued doing do I would still be drinking it today. The fact was though, that by twenty I had already attended my first detox and alcohol stopped being fun. It took me another seventeen years to accept that the good days weren't coming back.

It is my view that there are often good reasons why people turn to alcohol or other addictions and if these issues aren't handled then you are just treating symptoms. I firmly believe that if I hadn't found alcohol in my teens I would have ended up using heroin or something else; otherwise I would just have ended up a basket-case. To me Topamax is similar to putting a pillow around the hammer of someone who likes to hit themselves over the head with one of these tools. They might do themselves less damage and they might even stop hitting themselves over the head with the hammer altogether. You can be pretty certain though, that they will soon be doing something else equally destructive. The problem was never really the hammer it was their motives for hitting themselves that was the real issue.

I don't mean to sound so pessimistic, and any drug that can help even one alcoholic or drug user stop is good in my book. I do hope it works, but I'm just not convinced.