'The Code' offers boozers a chance to kick the bottle for good

London, June 2 (ANI): A British company is providing a five-day last-ditch treatment to people wanting to kick the bottle.

The Sunderland-based Aluston Health Ltd, founded by former heavy drinkers, Russell Hughes, 45, and Darya Dyagel, 33, sends alcoholics to Latvia for a treatment called "The Code".

The Code, costing 2,800pounds, includes three days of sedated detox to remove all alcohol from the patient's system.

Thereafter, an implant of disulfiram - a drug that reacts violently to alcohol - is inserted in the body under local anaesthetic.

This implant releases the disulfiram around the body for over a year.

During this period consuming just a tiny amount of alcohol can cause extreme reactions.

Reported side-effects include palpitations, convulsions, heart failure, breathing difficulties - and even death.

Patients have to be extremely careful after having the implant; they cannot even eat chocolate liqueurs or use alcohol-containing mouthwash.

Russell and Darya have both had the implant two years ago after Darya's mum, a Ukrainian, told them about the treatment.

The duo have successfully given up drinking and now help fellow alcoholics.

"As a desperate alcoholic, I know how hard it was to get any decent help in the UK," the Sun quoted Russell, as saying.

He went on: "I remember going to my GP and telling him my life was in tatters because of my addiction to drink. I was drinking around 12 pints of beer and a litre of vodka a day.

"After 20 years of living with a drink problem, my business was suffering, my marriage had failed, my mates were abandoning me, my kidneys were failing and I had lost my licence because of drink-driving.

"Most private clinics want patients to stay for at least four weeks, which costs between 5,000 pounds and 10,000 pounds.

"Not many alcoholics have the time, money or willpower to put themselves through that.

"So when Darya's mother told us about the implant available in Eastern Europe, I knew it was just what we, and other alcoholics in the UK, needed."

The couple have now been running Aluston Health for six months, and claim many companies have shown interest in the treatment.

Russell said: "We have had interest from the large banks and law firms - who find a lot of their staff suffer with alcohol problems - and even the MoD.

"Companies don't want to lose their staff to rehab for months, so the implant is the perfect way of dealing with the problem in a quick and efficient way."

Darya said: "I know from nearly 20 years of alcohol abuse that the binge drinking problem in the UK is colossal and the NHS cannot cope with it.

"Drastic steps need to be taken, but the Government does not seem to have grasped what an epidemic alcoholism is for several generations in Britain." (ANI)