Where are the alcoholics whose treatment with Campral was profound - a complete success?

In August 1993 when I first sought treatment for my alcoholism, I was a model patient; I was completely open with my psychiatrist (who was also my key worker), I attended almost all the group meetings where I always took an active part, but whilst doing this I could not envisage a life in which I would never again be able to share a bottle of wine with a beautiful woman during a candlelit dinner.

In October 2003 when Judy asked me to stop drinking and I promised to do so, I knew I had made a promise I did not know how to fulfill.

In November 2003 I had a session with the consultant psychiatrist, Professor Jonathon Chick during which I explained my past and the future I wanted, and he suggested a number of strategies which I should consider, but made no mention of Campral.

In 2008, four alcohol-free years after taking Campral, when Judy and I had intimate dinners together, I made her a gin and tonic before hand, and then during the meal Judy drank wine and I drank something non-alcoholic, but I never once felt that I would have enjoyed the experience any more if I too had drunk alcohol

However, the most surprising thing of all was at the many dinner parties Judy and I gave and attended; Norwegian dinner parties tend last a long time - 6 hours is normal -  I would get our guests drinks before the meal, keep their glasses topped up with wine during it, serve liqueurs afterwards, but at no time did I feel left out, or have  the slightest wish to join them and I never felt awkward because I was not drinking.

For a time I wondered if this total indifference towards alcohol at dinner parties was because Judy was in the same room, but there was almost always some opened wine left over which was  re-corked for consumption on another day, and while this was standing in the kitchen or fridge and I was alone in the house, it never occurred to me to have a drink.

In January 2011 when I learned that my liver had recovered fully despite the many years of being an alcoholic, I knew I had to talk about the effortless alcohol-free life I now lead as a result of taking Campral. I knew that before I could speak with authority, I needed to know why Professor Chick had not mentioned Campral as one of the options in 2003.

When I met Jonathon Chick in September 2011, he told me that although he knew Campral worked well in some people, there was no way of knowing in advance who they were.  He went on to tell me that it was he who had conducted the UK clinical trials prior to Campral’s approval in 1995 and that at the end of the trial,  no difference could be found between Campral and the placebo.

However in a follow-up study 3 years later Campral’s true effectiveness became apparent; all those subjects who had been given Campral and were still abstinent (not drinking alcohol) at the end of the trial, had still not started drinking,  whereas almost all in the control group had.

People like me for whom treatment with Campral is profound, are not mentioned in any of the studies, they focus on the time to first relapse and the amount of alcohol consumed  post-treatment, but all have a significant number who dropped out of the trials.

I wonder for how many of the Campral trial dropouts the treatment was so successful, their lives so transformed, they just walked away to live out the rest of their lives in peace with their families and never go near and clinic for the treatment of alcoholics ever again?  

What is it that the people like me for whom treatment with Campral is profound have in common?

I owe my 8 years of sobriety entirely to Judith Narvhus and Campral : Stuart Roberts

In July 2004 Campral was approved by the US Food and  Drug Administration (FDA) to suppress the urge to drink in recovering alcoholics, Judith noticed the announcement, read the maker’s claims and realised this was the perfect drug for me - and so it turned out to be. 

I have not had a drink since the first day I took Campral in August 2004, nor even thought about doing so. My liver, which 20 years ago showed signs of significant damage, is now as healthy

as if I had never drunk alcohol; I owe my sobriety and my good health entirely to Judith Narvhus.

Campral treated the urges and symptoms of my alcoholism so I no longer lived the life of an alcoholic.

Judith Narvhus Mikkel and Stuart

In April 2002 I joined a school reunion website called Friends Reunited. I wrote to about a dozen people from school and whereas after the first flurry of emails corresponding with most of them became awkward, with Judith it was the opposite - but Judy had been my girlfriend for a time and we had been very close.

Judith and I found that we still enjoyed the same things and were both equally interested in photography and gardening, as a consequence, many of our emails had floral attachments, we tried to outdo one another with the quality of our flower pictures.

As well as communicating by email we occasionally spoke on the phone and after Judith had called me several times in September 2003 when my speech was slurred, Judith put this information together with other observations and things that I had said, and deduced I had an alcohol problem. Rather bravely Judith bought Allen Carrs Easy Way To Control Alcohol and posted it to me along with a letter of encouragement.

Once my alcoholism was out in the open with Judith, for the first time I was able to explain my drinking to someone who was neither a medical professional nor another alcoholic, without holding anything back - I told the whole truth for the first time. 

And also for the first time I actually wanted to stop drinking.

I knew it was no good going back to programmes I had rejected 10 years before, I needed a programme tailor-made for me. In November 2004 my doctor arranged for me to see the consultant who was head of the alcohol addiction unit in Edinburgh, as a private patient. Although we only met once for an hour, because I was so clear in my own objectives and answered his questions so openly, he was able to suggest several ways in which Judith and I could work together to bring about an end to my drinking.

I had no trouble avoiding alcohol in my normal daily life - I went into pubs frequently without succumbing to temptation - the problem was special occasions.  I made no attempt not to drink at Christmas 2003,  and made no attempt when I went on holiday at Easter 2004, but I agreed to make my nephew’s wedding in July 2004 on the Isle of Man, the first big test.   I thought I had plans to deal with every eventually but I in the end I lost my nerve and drank rather than explain why I wasn't doing so.  

When I returned to Edinburgh Judith was on holiday so there was no one around who might hear my slurred speech and for several days I continued to drink before getting back in control.

The timing of the FDA approval for Campral could not have been better; I was furious with myself for drinking at the wedding, but learning about Campral completely reinvigorated my attempt to stop drinking.

I took Campral as directed and onceJudith was satisfied that I was not suffering any adverse reactions and would continue to do so, Campral ceased to be a topic of conversation - there was no point in discussing my progress each day when the course of treatment lasted a whole year.

In mid September at the end of the first week of a 6 month website design course, a group of us went to the pub and when I was asked what I would like to drink, I asked for a soda and lime. For the previous 10 years there had been an internal debate before I ordered a non-alcoholic drink - balancing short-term gratification against long-term harm - but I was taken completely by  surprise that night; suddenly I had lost all interest in alcohol.

On the first day of the course we had all introduced ourselves and so everyone knew that I had been a brewer most of my working life, my conversation during the week had been full of references to brewing and beer, and so naturally I was asked to explain my choice of drink.   I was so sure that the change in me was permanent that I had no hesitation in telling everyone that I was an alcoholic and explained how that had come about.

Judith and I had never got as far as discussing how we would decide if Campral had been a success, so she was ecstatic when I told her of my news.

Unfortunately in autumn 2004 Judith’s marriage  was going very badly - eventually ending in divorce - and her troubles were the focus of our conversations for the next few months but she still found time each day to check on my feelings; after about 12 weeks I started to get headaches after taking my pills, but after a great deal of research by Judith, we found they were caused by me not eating enough.

Since the break up of my own marriage,  the low spot of every year had been Christmas. Each year I had drunk to excess to blot out the reality of my situation,  but I got through Christmas 2004 without ever feeling depressed or wanting a drink

Judith Narvhus Barnsdale Gardens May 2005

In May 2005 Judith and I met in the UK to take photographs at the Cambridge University Botanical Gardens, Barnsdale Gardens in Rutland and National Pelargonium Collection in Warwickshire - all of the Judith Narvhus talks for gardening clubs are collaborative efforts - throughout our time together Judith did not drink alcohol so as not to put temptation in my way, but I assured her she could drink if she wanted to.

Judith Narvhus at Barnsdale Gardens June 2005

In June 2005 I decided to stop taking Campral 8 weeks early. At the end of the month when Judith and I met up to photograph the National Pelargonium Collection, the National Geranium Collection, the Eden Project and to have a holiday together, I had not taken Campral for 3 weeks but did not feel any different - completely relaxed about drink.












At first Judith was again reluctant to drink alcohol in my presence even though she enjoyed wine with her meals and the occasional gin and tonic, but in the end I persuaded Judith that what she drank had no effect on how I felt - and we both needed to know if the treatment had been successful.

Judith Narvhus National Pelargonium collection June 2005

I was highly sceptical when I fist heard of Campral, but it had done exactly what its makers claimed. So for the rest of our holiday we had pub lunches every day, there was wine in the fridge, I could smell alcohol on Judith's breath whenever we were close, but I was never tempted to drink.

Judith Narvhus and Andrew Norton, National Geranium collection, Somerset July 2005

Judith Narvhus Eden Project July 2005

Judith kept telling me who amazingly well I had done, but I kept telling her it had been easy, however Judith could not accept that any drug on its own could bring about such a complete change in me when my wife, and a host of doctors, had been trying for 20 years and decided that it was my feelings for her that had made it all possible. 

Judith Narvhus and Stuart Roberts at  Eden Project Cornwall

Three weeks after the end of our holiday jan moved into her new house in Oppegård.  At the end of August Judith started inviting me to visit Norway and eventually I accepted;  I visited Norway for the first at the end of September 2005 more than 14 months since I had my last drink, and 4 months after I had stopped taking Campral. On October 3rd when I visited Fageråsveien 57 for the first time, Judith told me from that day onward to think of it as my home.

Judith Narvhus and Stuart Roberts on his first trip to Norway and Oppegård

The drink problem I had before treatment with Campral

At home when we were young, my parents encouraged my brother (2 years older) and I to taste their drinks and at Christmas they allowed us to have a small glass of sherry. From about the time I was aged 11 or 12, they regularly bought cider for us.

I had an uncle who was a home wine maker who brought bottles of home made wine whenever he visited. When I was 12 he encouraged me to make wine out of the surplus plums we had, and from then on, I too became an enthusiastic home wine maker.

The first time I remember drinking to excess was at a wedding when I was 13 and still in short trousers! The reception was held in a hotel a long way from the church, and as we were amongst the very first guests to arrive, I had drunk several glasses of sherry, (each taken from the tray of a different waiter), before it was time to move into the dining room.

The bride and groom were well-travelled and had decided that all teenage children should be offered wine to drink; of course I accepted.   I was really intoxicated by the end of the meal and did not enjoy that at all, but the feeling I had when I had just drunk several glasses of sherry very quickly, was something I had enjoyed immensely and wanted to experience again.

When I was 14 I went on an exchange visit to rural France and as a 14 year old, I was served wine with my meals. When my host and I went out on bikes for the day, at lunch time we bought bottles of beer to drink; I had tried beer in the UK and not enjoyed it, but I loved French beer.

And I loved wine; when I had it at meal times, I drank the same amount as my 14 year old host, but when I was in the kitchen alone I would frequently pour myself more wine and drink it quickly.

During my teenage years I discovered that if I satisfied my urge to drink as much alcohol as possible, that no girls were interested.

I started driving just as the breathalyser was first used, so I had another reason to suppress my urge to drink to excess; girls and driving kept my drinking in check.

At Heriot Watt University in the late 1960s, there were more than 8 men for each woman so chances of picking up women were slim,  and with no cars to worry about, most male students drank to excess every weekend, I was one of them.


In my daily life at the brewery there was a constant requirement to drink and therefore no need to drink hurriedly while it was still available and then at home, social pressures kept my urge to drink to excess under control, but I also attended many brewing dinners where drinking to excess was the norm and harmony was maintained. When my marriage started to go wrong, one important restraint  was removed and my drinking at home increased rapidly.

Immediately after the break up of my marriage I sought help with my drinking and was determined to do everything needed to get control of my life again. At first I was a model patient but as I learnt more and more about myself, I realised that I would never give up drinking completely because I enjoyed it too much, I concluded it would be better to have planned lapses than unplanned ones, and arranged my life accordingly


I decided in advance when and for how long I would drink - during the Edinburgh Jazz Festival being a good example. All the jazz venues were pubs; I drank during the festival but as soon as it was over, so was my drinking - until there was another special occasion.

During these years I never once drank on impulse, and when offered a drink I always turned them down - and that public display of control made me feel very good about myself, I successfully carried on this odd way of life for 12 years.

After taking Campral for 6 weeks my urge for an alcoholic high had completely disappeared; I had no desire to drink - but crucially - when I was offered a drink and turned it down, it was no longer something to feel good about, there was no sense of achievement, because I hadn’t resisted an inner urge to say yes, alcohol no longer had any appeal for me.

The oddest thing is after all these years of sobriety, that when I sit with people who are drinking and I am not, I don’t feel left out; I don’t wish life had been different so that I could be drinking too, I don’t sit there and tell myself that I am not drinking because it is right for my health, I simply never give it a thought, I just enjoy the company.

It was almost inevitable that I became an alcoholic

It took me a long time to accept that I was an alcoholic, but it was only looking back after years of  drink-free life  that I realised I was an alcoholic and I had a drink problem - they were two separate things.

Laboratories in breweries are equipped to determine if a beer conforms to a set of physical and chemical standards so they are - by definition almost - unable to deal with the unexpected. And no laboratory is able to tell make judgements in the incredibly complex field of acceptable taste; when an instant decision is required, as to whether a beer is good enough to be packaged, only a person can do that.

For most people, being faced with half a dozen bottles of beer to taste at 6 am, is not something they look forward to. What is more, this tasting could not be any less like tasting wine in a restaurant before it is poured; this is not about show, a great deal is at stake. If a beer is passed as being good enough to package and has reached the drinking public before a problem is found, then it is expensive in terms of product recall and a PR nightmare. However if a taster fails a beer only to be overruled later, obviously damage their reputation.


Most people want a quiet life - brewers are no exception - and if they can avoid making a difficult decision where the consequences can be so directly attributed to them, they will. 
I was never troubled with self doubt about my abilities as a brewer and would always sample beers when asked to do so. Whenever I was in the brewery operatives seeking approval for taste samples made a point of coming to me because I would always oblige and give them a quick decision.

I was only allowed to sign that beer was fit-for-packaging after I had attended the daily taste panel and given scores and made comments that proved my judgement was consistently sound for months on end. Each day at 11 am. six beers in blue glasses (so you could not see the colour) were lined up in each of a dozen booths, the tasters had to complete flavour assessment of each of the beers having no idea what the beers were or where they had come from. The beers could include the beer that you had passed yourself earlier in the day, one about which there had been a complaint, one to which an off-flavour had been deliberately introduced, and one from a product development trial.

When everyone had been finished, each taster was asked in turn to read out their scores and comments then the taste panel manager would tell everyone the beer's history. There was nowhere to hide if you were not up to the job.  The more taste panels a taster attends and the more beers he tastes, the better he becomes.

Whilst the amount of beer ingested at each tasting is small, as they happened throughout the day the overall amount was significant.

Breweries are generally huge sparsely populated places and often difficult to catch people in their offices, so it was usual for half and hour before lunch and the same in the evening to meet in the sample room to have a beer and discuss events; it was accepted practice that all visitors and sales reps who were on site ended there visits in the sample room too

When I started brewing everyone who worked in the brewery had a daily beer allowance, which because it was duty free, had to be consumed on site; those who did not want to drink their allowance usually still drew it but gave it to others. When it was proving difficult to get people to work overtime it was usual to offer additional beer allowance. Even without stealing beer it was possible for an individual to drink considerably in excess of the 2 pints per day allowance

A distillery formed part of the first brewery in which I worked; the workers there had a daily whisky allowance but such was the level of alcoholism amongst them that the pundy room (the room where the allowance was served) opened at 04:00 so that the workers could drink their allowance before starting work at 06:00.

As well as drinking beer in the brewery we had an allowance delivered home, when my wife to be (who worked in the same brewery as me) and I had a party, we started off with a generous amount of beer but as most of the guests worked in breweries too, and each of them brought a large number of cans with them, we had more beer after the party than we started with!

With the coming of the Health and Safety at Work Act Etc 1974 the daily on-site beer allowance disappeared and the home allowance was increased accordingly. The actual allowance varied greatly from brewery to brewery but the most generous I had was 4 dozen 600ml bottles of lager (5.2% ABV) per week that is the equivalent of more 65.45  large cans of Stella Artois.

I went for years when my body was never free of alcohol and it is not surprising that I became and alcoholic.

Is Campral the route to an effortless alcohol-free life?

More than a million English-speaking  people a day use Google to try and decide if they, or some one close to them, is an alcoholic.

30 years ago  I knew that I was drinking too much, but had trouble admitting it to myself and vigorously opposed any suggestion that it might be a good idea to cut down on my consumption.

I avoided asking the question "Am I an alcoholic?"  because I was afraid of the answer; I am a brewer by profession (bryggeren is the Norwegian for the brewer )  beer production and its consumption were intimately involved in every aspect of my work and  social life, my wife and all my friends were also involved in brewing in one way or another

In 2012 when I pose the question "Am I an alcoholic? " I don't know what the answer is; I  no longer  drink, my liver function is as healthy as if I had never drunk alcohol; Alcoholics Anonymous insist that I am still an alcoholic but I wonder because I am such a totally different person.

The biggest change is not in the way I behave, but inside my head; I am still fascinated by beer and its production, but even when it is freely available and all around me, I am never tempted to drink it.

I don't know how quickly this change in my life happened, it was not the result of intense therapy or some life-changing event, but I became aware of the change 6 weeks after I started taking the drug Campral.

Although Campral was prescribed by my GP, it was at my request.  I did not have a support worker or group, or attend AA meetings, I just took Campral and lived my life normally - and to be perfectly honest -  I had very low expectations of deriving any benefit from the drug, I was taking it to keep the peace - to please someone else.

When I started taking Campral I was already at the stage where I  drank alcohol very rarely but knew I would never give it up completely,  but one evening in what used to be one of the pubs I most visited most frequently, I was asked what I would like to drink and I answered "Soda and lime please" and I have never drunk, or been tempted to drink  alcohol since then.

Because my experience with Campral  was just as the manufacturers claimed it would be, for a long time I thought my experience was typical,  but I found out it was extremely unusual; in the UK clinical trials Campral  was found to be no better than the placebo.

3 years later it was discovered that all of those who had been treated with Campral and were abstinent at the end of the trial, had still not started drinking again, whereas almost all in the control group had. Although they were very few in number, there were some individuals for whom Campral had brought about profound change.

I want to use this blog to describe my own experience with Campral,  and hope that others who have experienced similar transformation of their lives will get in touch so that we can establish just what we have in common that made Campral  work so well for us but be completely ineffective in most patients.