Olivier Ameisen: Difference between revisions
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'''Olivier Ameisen''' (born June 25, 1953) is a French-American [[cardiologist]]. He was appointed visiting professor of medicine at the [[State University of New York Downstate Medical Center]] in 2008 based on his work on the mechanisms and treatment of addiction. He had been professor of medicine at the [[Weill Medical College of Cornell University]] and an [[attending physician]] at [[New York Presbyterian Hospital]] for fifteen years, when he opened a cardiology practice in [[Manhattan]] in 1994.<ref>{{citation|url=http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Drugs/story?id=6420464&page=1|title=Doctor Claims Cure for Alcoholism in a Pill|publisher=ABC News|author=Russell Goldman|date= 14 January 2009}}</ref> |
'''Olivier Ameisen''' (born June 25, 1953) is a French-American [[cardiologist]]. He was appointed visiting professor of medicine at the [[State University of New York Downstate Medical Center]] in 2008 based on his work on the mechanisms and treatment of addiction. He had been professor of medicine at the [[Weill Medical College of Cornell University]] and an [[attending physician]] at [[New York Presbyterian Hospital]] for fifteen years, when he opened a cardiology practice in [[Manhattan]] in 1994.<ref>{{citation|url=http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Drugs/story?id=6420464&page=1|title=Doctor Claims Cure for Alcoholism in a Pill|publisher=ABC News|author=Russell Goldman|date= 14 January 2009}}</ref> |
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== Life == |
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=== Baclofen === |
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After hearing anecdotal reports that the muscle relaxant [[baclofen]] was, like naltrexone, acamprosate and topiramate, modestly effective at reducing the cravings of addictions, he experimented on himself, and proposed a new treatment model for addiction that is evidence-based. He first postulated that unlike other diseases where which suppression of symptoms is not associated with improvement of prognosis (such as: bacterial pneumonia, relief of unstable angina with medical means without surgery etc...), in addiction, suppression of symptoms (craving, preoccupation, thoughts etc...) should suppress the disease altogether since addiction is, as he observed, a "symptom-driven disease". Of all "anticraving medications used in animals, only one - baclofen - has the unique property of suppressing the motivation to consume cocaïne, heroin, alcohol, nicotine and d-amphetamine. The effect is dose-dependent.<ref>Ameisen, JAMA, 2005: Naltrexone for alcohol dependency</ref> |
After hearing anecdotal reports that the muscle relaxant [[baclofen]] was, like naltrexone, acamprosate and topiramate, modestly effective at reducing the cravings of addictions, he experimented on himself, and proposed a new treatment model for addiction that is evidence-based. He first postulated that unlike other diseases where which suppression of symptoms is not associated with improvement of prognosis (such as: bacterial pneumonia, relief of unstable angina with medical means without surgery etc...), in addiction, suppression of symptoms (craving, preoccupation, thoughts etc...) should suppress the disease altogether since addiction is, as he observed, a "symptom-driven disease". Of all "anticraving medications used in animals, only one - baclofen - has the unique property of suppressing the motivation to consume cocaïne, heroin, alcohol, nicotine and d-amphetamine. The effect is dose-dependent.<ref>Ameisen, JAMA, 2005: Naltrexone for alcohol dependency</ref> |
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Revision as of 18:19, 6 April 2013
Olivier Ameisen (born June 25, 1953) is a French-American cardiologist. He was appointed visiting professor of medicine at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in 2008 based on his work on the mechanisms and treatment of addiction. He had been professor of medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and an attending physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital for fifteen years, when he opened a cardiology practice in Manhattan in 1994.[1]
After hearing anecdotal reports that the muscle relaxant baclofen was, like naltrexone, acamprosate and topiramate, modestly effective at reducing the cravings of addictions, he experimented on himself, and proposed a new treatment model for addiction that is evidence-based. He first postulated that unlike other diseases where which suppression of symptoms is not associated with improvement of prognosis (such as: bacterial pneumonia, relief of unstable angina with medical means without surgery etc...), in addiction, suppression of symptoms (craving, preoccupation, thoughts etc...) should suppress the disease altogether since addiction is, as he observed, a "symptom-driven disease". Of all "anticraving medications used in animals, only one - baclofen - has the unique property of suppressing the motivation to consume cocaïne, heroin, alcohol, nicotine and d-amphetamine. The effect is dose-dependent.[2]
Since complete suppression of dependence using a medication had never been described in the medical literature, Ameisen wrote up his own case report and the peer reviewed Journal Alcohol and Alcoholism published it on December 13, 2004, after praising the paper. In his paper, like in those that followed in JAMA, Lancet, CNS Drugs etc., Ameisen urged for randomized trials to test suppression of alcohol dependence using high-dose baclofen.[3]
In 2008 Ameisen wrote a best-selling book, The End Of My Addiction, Le Dernier Verre (The Last Glass), describing his experience.[4]
In 2007, an Italian team has demonstrated the effectiveness and the safety of baclofen as a treatment for alcohol-addiction[5]
An online community has evolved wherein alcoholics order the medication online and self administer the drug with support from one another and Ameisen's book. Websites like mywayout.org and thesinclairmethod.net are replete with success stories of this variety. In the UK Dr Jonathan Chick, editor-in-chief of the medical journal Alcohol and Alcoholism publicly supports Ameisen's discovery.[6]
References
- ^ Russell Goldman (14 January 2009), Doctor Claims Cure for Alcoholism in a Pill, ABC News
- ^ Ameisen, JAMA, 2005: Naltrexone for alcohol dependency
- ^ Complete and prolonged suppression of symptoms and consequences of alcohol-dependence using high-dose baclofen: a self-case report of a physician. Ameisen O. Alcohol Alcohol. 2005 Mar-Apr;40(2):147-50. Epub 2004 Dec 13. http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/40/2/147
- ^ Hugh Schofield (6 Dec 2008), France abuzz over alcoholic 'cure', BBC
- ^ G Addolorato, L Leggio and A Ferrulli et al., Effectiveness and safety of baclofen for maintenance of alcohol abstinence in alcohol-dependent patients with liver cirrhosis: randomised, double-blind controlled study, Lancet 370 (2007), pp. 1915–1922.
- ^ Daily Mail, February 23, 2009, Metro.UK, March 3, 2009
7. "The One-Step Program" by Nate Penn: GQ (USA), March 2010 http://www.gq.com/news-politics/mens-lives/201003/one-step-program
External links
