Treatment of XXXX in alcohol recovery: a national survey of addiction medicine physicians.

@entity1 @entity988 @entity25 @entity3346
@entity25 is common among @entity1 in recovery from alcoholism and can precipitate relapse. Though @entity25 are commonly managed with medication, little is known about their management among recovering @entity988 @entity1 . We performed a postal survey of a self-weighted, random systematic sample of 503 members of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) to examine addiction medicine physicians' medical management of @entity25 among @entity1 in early recovery from alcoholism. After 3 mailings, 311 (62%) responded. Of responents, 64% have offered pharmacological treatment to an insomniac, @entity988 @entity1 in the first 3 months after detoxification, but only 22% offered medication to more than half of such @entity1 . @entity3346 was the preferred therapy, chosen first by 38% of respondents, followed by other sedating antidepressants (12%), and antihistamines (12%). The mean duration of therapy for @entity3346 and other sedating antidepressants exceeded one month. Experts in addiction medicine appear reluctant to prescribe medication to sleep-disturbed @entity1 in early recovery from alcoholism. When they do prescribe, @entity3346 , other sedating antidepressants and antihistamines are favored, despite limited evidence for or against this indication. Although the treatment of @entity25 among @entity988 @entity1 in early recovery may have merit to prevent relapse, controlled studies of these sleep agents are needed.
