Last Updated on August 9, 2026
Yes. If you’re looking for a daily pill to drink less alcohol, naltrexone may be worth considering. It works by reducing some of alcohol’s rewarding effects, which can make cravings quieter and stopping after one or two drinks feel more doable. Sunnyside Med pairs prescription naltrexone, when appropriate, with drink tracking, coaching, and other tools designed to help you change your drinking habits over time. A licensed clinician can help determine whether it’s a good fit for you.
Cutting back on alcohol can feel easy when everything lines up: your mood, your plans, your energy. But sometimes, you can make a plan about how much you want to drink on a particular night, only to find that that plan feels really hard to stick to — especially once you’ve had the first drink.
That’s where naltrexone can help. Unlike disulfiram (Antabuse), naltrexone doesn’t make you sick if you drink alcohol. Instead, it blocks opioid receptors involved in alcohol’s rewarding effects. The drink itself is still there, but some of the pull toward another can become less intense.
The goal with naltrexone isn’t necessarily to make drinking impossible or require complete abstinence. Naltrexone can also be extremely useful as part of a moderation-focused approach, alongside tools that help you change the habits and routines surrounding alcohol. That combination can make drinking feel less like an internal tug-of-war, giving your original plan a better chance to stick.
How Naltrexone Works in the Brain
When you drink, your brain releases endorphins that are part of what makes alcohol feel rewarding. Over time, your brain also learns to connect that reward with certain situations. Stress, boredom, celebration, or even just walking into the kitchen after work can start the familiar cycle of cue, craving, drinking, and reward.
Naltrexone interrupts part of that cycle. It’s an opioid antagonist, which means it blocks the receptors that endorphins bind to. You can still feel the effects of alcohol, but some of the reward that makes you want to keep drinking is dampened.
That’s why some people describe drinking on naltrexone as simply feeling less interesting. You might have a drink and enjoy it, but feel less compelled to have another one right away.
“I’m honestly shocked in the best way by how this medication is making me feel,” said one Sunnyside Med member. “For the first time in a long time, I don’t feel that constant pull to reach for a glass of wine.”
What the Research Shows
There’s good evidence behind the medication, too. A 2014 JAMA review looked at 122 randomized clinical trials of medications for alcohol use disorder and found that oral naltrexone helped reduce the risk of returning to heavy drinking.
More recent research has looked at naltrexone in people with less severe drinking problems, too. In a randomized trial of 120 sexual and gender minority men who binge drank and had mild-to-moderate alcohol use disorder, those who received naltrexone reported fewer binge-drinking days, fewer drinks per month, and lower alcohol cravings than those who received a placebo (Santos et al., 2022).
It’s important to understand that naltrexone won’t erase a drinking habit overnight. You still have the same routines, stressors, social situations, and rituals you had before you started taking it. The difference: when the reward from alcohol gets quieter, it can be easier to start changing the underlying patterns too.
Why Behavioral Change Still Matters
Say you pour a glass of wine every night while you make dinner. Naltrexone may make the wine itself less rewarding, but 6 p.m. still rolls around. You’re still in the kitchen. The bottle is still there, and pouring a glass is still what you normally do. This is where habit change comes in.
Planning your drinks ahead of time, tracking what you actually drink, and paying attention to the situations where you tend to go past your plan can help you change the routines that medication alone doesn’t address.
Research supports using naltrexone alongside this kind of support. In the landmark COMBINE trial, people receiving naltrexone with structured medical management had better drinking outcomes than those receiving placebo with the same support.
Sunnyside Med puts both pieces into one program. Members who are prescribed medication also have access to Sunnyside’s drink tracking and planning tools, human coaching, and community.
What A Daily Pill to Drink Less Looks Like in Real Life
Maybe your trouble spot is going out with friends. You tell yourself you’ll have two drinks, and when you order the first one, you fully mean it. But after the second, another round suddenly sounds much more appealing than it did at the beginning of the night.
Or maybe it has to do with an after-work routine. You pour a glass of wine at home, finish it, and find yourself back in the kitchen topping it off without really deciding to.
Naltrexone can make those moments feel a little different. The first drink doesn’t necessarily set off the same urge for another, so sticking to the plan you made earlier may feel more doable. You might drink more slowly, realize you’re genuinely fine after one or two, or simply think about alcohol less as the night goes on.
That doesn’t mean every night will go perfectly. But if the hardest part of drinking less is that your intentions tend to change once you start drinking, reducing that pull can give you a little more room to make the choice you wanted to make in the first place.
Is Naltrexone Right for You?
You don’t have to drink every day to ask about naltrexone. And you don’t have to wait until alcohol has caused a crisis in your life.
Maybe you mostly like your relationship with alcohol, but you regularly drink more than you planned. Maybe weekends get away from you, or maybe you’ve gotten pretty good at taking alcohol-free days, but once you start drinking, stopping at one or two is difficult. Those are all perfectly reasonable reasons to talk with a clinician about whether medication could help.
With Sunnyside Med, that process happens online. A licensed clinician reviews your application and determines whether naltrexone is appropriate for you. If you’re eligible and receive a prescription, Sunnyside Med provides compounded naltrexone with Vitamin B6, shipped discreetly to your door.
You’ll also have access to the Sunnyside tools that help with the day-to-day part of drinking less, including drink tracking, planning, coaching, and community support. And moderation is a perfectly valid goal. You don’t have to commit to quitting alcohol to get started.
“This isn’t only for people at or approaching rock bottom,” said Sunnyside co-founder and CEO Nick Allen. “We’re building Sunnyside Med to provide proactive and preventive access to medication before alcohol becomes a massive negative part of your story.”
For some people, a pill to drink less alcohol is the piece that makes an existing plan easier to follow. For others, changing their habits without medication is enough. The point is that drinking less doesn’t have to come down to white-knuckling willpower alone.
What to Expect When You Start Naltrexone
Naltrexone is generally well tolerated, but it can take a little time to adjust to it. Nausea is one of the most commonly reported side effects, especially when you first start. Some people also experience headaches, dizziness, tiredness, or changes in appetite.
The good news is that these side effects are often mild and tend to improve as your body adjusts. (They also don’t happen to everyone.) If they’re bothering you or sticking around, your clinician can help you figure out what to do next.
Also worth noting: naltrexone does not make you sick if you drink alcohol. That’s how disulfiram, also known as Antabuse, works. Naltrexone works differently, so you can still drink while taking it if moderation is part of your plan.
There are some situations for which naltrexone may not be a good fit. For instance, you shouldn’t take it while using opioids, since it blocks their effects and can trigger withdrawal in someone who is opioid-dependent. Your clinician may also consider your liver health and other medications before prescribing it.
If you’re nervous about starting, that’s also something you can bring to your clinician. You don’t have to figure out what’s normal or whether a side effect is worth worrying about on your own.
More About Sunnyside and Naltrexone
If you’ve tried setting drink limits, taking more alcohol-free days, or telling yourself you’ll stop after two yet struggling to stick to your promise, Sunnyside Med gives you another option.
Sunnyside Med combines prescription medication with the tools Sunnyside members already use to change their drinking habits. If a licensed clinician determines that naltrexone is appropriate for you, you’ll receive compounded naltrexone with Vitamin B6, delivered discreetly to your door. You’ll also get drink tracking and planning tools, human coaching, community support, and ongoing clinical care.
The goal is up to you. You might want to stop having that third or fourth drink, cut back on weekend drinking, take more alcohol-free days, or eventually stop drinking altogether. Sunnyside Med is built to support moderation, so you don’t have to promise to quit before you can ask for help drinking less.
Getting started takes just a few minutes. Take the quick Sunnyside Med quiz to tell us about your drinking goals and find out whether the program might be a good fit.
For some people, drinking less starts with changing their habits. For others, medication can make those changes easier to put into practice. Sunnyside Med gives you access to both.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Does naltrexone make you sick if you drink?
No. Naltrexone is sometimes confused with disulfiram (Antabuse), which causes an unpleasant physical reaction if you drink alcohol while taking it. Naltrexone works differently. It reduces some of alcohol’s rewarding effects, so drinking may feel less compelling and it may be easier to stop when you planned to.
How long does it take for naltrexone to work?
Naltrexone starts working in the body soon after you take it, but that doesn’t mean you’ll immediately notice a dramatic difference in your drinking. Some people notice changes in cravings or their desire for another drink fairly early, while for others the change is more gradual.
It can help to pay attention to your drinking over several weeks rather than waiting for one big “aha” moment. You might notice that you’re drinking more slowly, thinking about your next drink less often, or having an easier time stopping.
Can you still drink while taking naltrexone?
Yes. Unlike medications that require abstinence from alcohol, naltrexone can be used by people who are working toward drinking less rather than quitting completely.
That’s an important part of the Sunnyside Med approach. Moderation is a valid goal, and your plan can be built around what you actually want your relationship with alcohol to look like. A licensed clinician will determine whether naltrexone is appropriate for you and give you instructions for taking it safely.
Sunnyside Med Is the Perfect Companion for Your Mindful Drinking Journey
A pill to drink less alcohol can help turn down some of the reward and cravings that make it hard to stick to your plans. But medication is only one part of changing your relationship with alcohol. Sunnyside Med pairs naltrexone with practical tools that help you make those changes day to day.
With Sunnyside, you can plan and track your drinks, get support from human coaches, connect with a private community, and see how your drinking changes over time. If naltrexone is appropriate for you, you’ll also have ongoing access to licensed clinicians who can answer questions and support you throughout treatment.
Whether your goal is to stop after one or two drinks, cut back on certain nights, take more alcohol-free days, or eventually quit, you can build a plan around what works for you.
Take the quick 3-minute quiz to learn more about Sunnyside Med and see if it could be a good fit for your goals.
Naltrexone is a prescription medication. This content is educational and should not be taken as medical advice. A licensed clinician reviews every Sunnyside Med application.
