An anticonvulsant drug used routinely for migraines and seizures may help alcoholics taper off their alcohol addictions without having to go through detoxification. A recent study published in Wednesday’s journal of the American Medical Association, has shown that the drug Topamax helped 15 percent of alcoholics at the height of their drinking binges stop drinking altogether for 7 weeks.

The rest of the group, given the anticonvulsant drug cut their drinking in roughly half of what it had been prior to the study. All participants were encouraged to stop drinking altogether. The 14-week trial is good news for some candidates with alcohol addictions as they may opt to be treated by their family doctor, while in their own community rather than leaving jobs and family for a trip to a rehab facility.