Last Updated on May 11, 2026

A lot of people find naltrexone the same way now: accidentally. And almost none of them knew that getting naltrexone through telehealth was even an option.

You read one Reddit thread. Maybe an article. Somebody mentions that there’s actually a medication that can make drinking feel… quieter. Less magnetic. You spend twenty minutes reading about it, think, huh, and then close the browser because the whole thing suddenly feels heavier than you expected.

Do I really need this? Would a doctor even prescribe it to me? Does asking about it mean I officially have A Problem now?

That’s usually the moment people bail.

What people usually don’t know is that naltrexone telehealth exists. You don’t have to find a specialist. You don’t have to sit in a waiting room and explain your drinking to someone you’ve never met. The whole thing happens online, on your schedule.

Naltrexone has existed for decades, and most people who could potentially benefit from it still never hear about it in any practical way—which is a shame, because opting to get naltrexone online is a great option for many people.

What Does Naltrexone Actually Do?

At a basic level, naltrexone changes the reward response connected to alcohol.

The medication works by blocking opioid receptors involved in reinforcement and pleasure signaling. Joseph Volpicelli, one of the early researchers involved in naltrexone studies for alcohol use disorder, has described the medication as reducing the rewarding effects people experience from drinking.

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For some people, that translates into drinking less without feeling like they’re white-knuckling it the whole time.

Not instantly. Not magically. But gradually, the “keep going” feeling can lose some of its grip.

And, importantly, naltrexone is not the medication that makes you violently ill if you drink alcohol. (That’s Disulfiram.) You can drink on naltrexone. In fact, many people do, especially at the beginning. The point isn’t punishment. The point is that alcohol may stop feeling quite so rewarding over time.

The medication was approved by the FDA for alcohol use disorder in the mid-1990s and has been studied extensively since then.

Why Didn’t My Doctor Mention Naltrexone?

Honestly, sometimes because they weren’t trained to. That sounds harsher than it is, but addiction medicine has historically received surprisingly little attention in a lot of medical training programs.

A 2022 survey published through PubMed Central found that many prescribers simply weren’t familiar with using naltrexone for alcohol use disorder, which creates a weird situation where a medication can exist for thirty years and still feel obscure to regular people.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans drink at levels associated with increased health risks, while only a small fraction ever receive medication treatment. So if you’ve wondered why this feels strangely under-discussed, you’re not imagining that.

You Do Not Need To Be In Crisis to Get Naltrexone Online

This is probably the biggest misconception around naltrexone.

People hear “medication for alcohol use disorder” and picture catastrophe. Complete life implosion. But a lot of people interested in naltrexone are outwardly functioning perfectly well. They just feel tired of the mental negotiation.

The constant:
Will I drink tonight?
Why did I keep going again?
Why is this taking up so much space in my brain?

One Sunnyside member described it this way: “I kept thinking about drinking more than I wanted to. After a few weeks on naltrexone, the chase was just gone. Alcohol stopped feeling like something I needed to get to.”

That phrase — the chase was gone — comes up over and over in personal accounts.

Most clinical trials have focused on heavier drinking populations, but the basic mechanism behind the medication may still matter for people trying to interrupt escalating patterns earlier.

Sunnyside CEO Nick Allen explains the idea this way: “This isn’t only for people at or approaching rock bottom. We’re building Sunnyside Med to provide proactive and preventive access to medication.”

Whether somebody is a good candidate to get naltrexone online still depends on medical history, current medications, liver health, opioid use, and several other factors, which clinicians at Sunnyside Med will review.

How Naltrexone Telehealth Works In Practice?

Don’t worry. The process is not especially dramatic.

If you opt for Sunnyside Med, you’ll complete a health questionnaire first. A licensed clinician reviews your information, asks follow-up questions if needed, and decides whether prescribing naltrexone makes sense medically.

If approved, the medication gets shipped to your home. That’s basically it. No referral is usually required.

Some early evidence suggests telemedicine may help close treatment gaps for alcohol use disorder. A small 2020 pilot study published in PubMed Central found that patients receiving telemedicine addiction consultations were prescribed medications like naltrexone at substantially higher rates than those receiving usual care alone.

Which makes sense. A lot of people are willing to answer questions honestly from their couch who would never bring it up in a rushed primary care appointment.

Sunnyside Med currently starts at $99 monthly and includes compounded naltrexone (50mg plus vitamin B6), coaching, tracking tools, community support, and clinician oversight.

As Allen says, “A prescription without support is just a pill. Sunnyside Med is both.”

What To Expect in the First 30 to 60 Days

Some medications feel dramatic right away. Naltrexone often doesn’t. 

A lot of people describe the change as strangely ordinary at first. You go out. You drink. Then halfway through the second drink, you realize: Oh. I actually don’t really want another one. Or maybe you still drink heavily sometimes, but the obsessive anticipation around alcohol starts softening.

Sunnyside co-founder Ian Andersen has described it this way: “Drinking might feel different — and that’s the point. Less exciting. Less rewarding. Sometimes just less fun.”

And one Sunnyside Med member described it this way: “Alcohol just isn’t as interesting anymore. I used to think about my next drink before I’d finished the first one. That voice got quiet, and I didn’t even notice it happening.”

Side effects can happen, especially early on. Nausea is probably the one people mention most. Fatigue, headaches, stomach issues, and sleep disruption can also happen during the adjustment period.

For many people, those symptoms improve after the first couple of weeks.

Some (Important) Exceptions

Naltrexone and opioids do not mix safely. People currently taking opioids — including medications like oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, fentanyl, or buprenorphine — generally should not take naltrexone unless under direct medical supervision. The same caution may apply to substances like kratom because of their opioid-like activity. 

Taking naltrexone too soon after opioid use can trigger sudden withdrawal symptoms, which can be severe.

The medication may also be inappropriate for some people with liver disease, acute hepatitis, upcoming surgeries requiring opioid pain control, or certain other medical conditions. Pregnancy and breastfeeding require separate medical review as well.

This is why legitimate telehealth programs like Sunnyside Med screen carefully before prescribing it.

What Else to Know About Online Naltrexone

People who stick with naltrexone long enough to really evaluate it tend to repeat a few themes. Namely: Consistency matters more than intensity. Tracking helps, even when it’s annoying. And expecting your entire relationship with alcohol to transform in ten days is probably unrealistic.

Andersen puts it this way: “Alcohol patterns formed over years won’t disappear in weeks. Commit to at least 90 days if a year feels too long.”

That framing is probably healthier than expecting some overnight personality transplant. Because for most people, this is less about becoming a completely different human being and more about reducing friction, impulse, and repetition enough that change finally becomes possible.

Naltrexone isn’t a new discovery. What’s strange is how many people still have never heard about it. Or, if they have heard about it, assumed it was “for someone worse.” Or assumed asking about medication automatically meant rehab, labels, meetings, and catastrophe. For a lot of people, it doesn’t. Sometimes, they’re just tired of thinking about alcohol so much!

If you want to learn more about Sunnyside Med or see whether naltrexone might be right for you, you can start by taking an online quiz at Sunnyside Med.

Sunnyside is the Perfect Companion for Your Naltrexone Journey

Sunnyside is the #1 mindful drinking app. Since 2020, we’ve been honing our harm-reduction approach, and have helped over 400,000 people cut out 22 million drinks from their baseline habits. 96.7% of our members report success drinking less, and in a third-party study, our approach was demonstrated to reduce weekly drinking by 33% after 12 weeks. 

Think of Sunnyside as the front-door for anyone who wants to change their relationship with alcohol. If you want to drink less, we can help you get there. If you want to eventually quit, but want to take a gradual approach, we can make that happen.

When you sign up for Sunnyside, you’ll take a quick 3-minute personalization quiz, then hop into the app. It’s as simple and quick as that. 

We’ll give you weekly plans to gradually reach your drinking goals, and we’ll provide nudges, coaching, exercises, and advice to help you get there. 

We have daily tracking and journaling tools, including the option to chat with a real human coach at any time. And of course we have great analytics so you can track your progress over time. 

Sunnyside is a full-featured mindful drinking app, and thus the perfect companion for your Naltrexone journey. Naltrexone will actively help you reduce cravings around alcohol, and Sunnyside will help you understand your triggers and patterns, giving you a healthy system for habit change. 

If and when you see success drinking less, and you choose to stop taking Naltrexone, Sunnyside is a tool you can keep using to maintain your healthy habits. 

Everyone who signs up for Sunnyside gets a free 15-day trial, then the subscription is $8.25/month, less than the cost of a fancy drink. And the best part is our members save an average of $50 per month, easily paying for the cost of the subscription.

Whether you’re currently taking naltrexone, or just doing some research on alcohol moderation, we’d love to have you sign up for our 15-day free trial today.