COORDINATED APPROACH TO ANTABUSE® THERAPY

Abstract

So disappointing have been the drugs and methods used in the approach to the problem of alcoholism that one must exert great caution in evaluating any new technique. However, recently many enthusiastic reports have entered the literature concerning the drug known as tetraethylthiuramdisulfide, or, as it is more commonly called, antabuse.®¹ From the historical background, it has been noted previously that workers exposed to tetraethylthiuramdisulfide in the rubber industry had discovered their tolerance for alcohol considerably decreased. Hald and Jacobsen² employed tetraethylthiuramdisulfide as a possible anthelmintic and found that there were no toxic effects over an extended period of time. They also observed that contact with alcohol produced a moderately severe disagreeable physical reaction, consisting of headache, flushing, palpitation, nausea, and vomiting. The physical effects were explained on the basis of the drug's interference with the metabolism of alcohol at the acetaldehyde stage, allowing acetaldehyde to accumulate. Voegtlin's