Opinions anyone?
FDA OKs Drug to Treat Opioid Addiction
Vivitrol Can Help Treat Addiction to Heroin and OxyContin
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD
Oct. 14, 2010 -- The FDA has approved a drug already used to treat alcohol dependence to help treat patients with addiction to heroin,morphine, and other opioids, including prescription painkillers such asOxyContin and Vicodin.
Vivitrol, a long-acting formulation of naltrexone given by injection once a month, was approved by the FDA to treat alcohol dependence in 2006. The FDA has now approved Vivitrol to treat and prevent relapse after patients with opioid addiction have undergone detoxification.
Vivitrol is in the class of drugs known as opioid antagonists, which block the brain’s opioid receptors, leaving patients unable to get high if they attempt to use opioids.
The FDA approved the use of Vivitrol on the basis of data from a six-month study that compared Vivitrol to placebo treatment in patients who had completed detoxification and who were no longer physically dependent on opioids.
You can read the rest of the article here.
Peace, Hope and Love, Barbara
P.S. FLASHBACK MEMORY....It was 2008, I was visiting with my high school sweetheart who turned into a 30 year long heroin addict/drug counselor. He was educating me on Subutex and Suboxone. I had never heard of those things. Ignorance truly was bliss....now I could write a book on heroin addiction. Ugh.
3 comments:
From reading this article, this substance seems to be quite different from Suboxone. It looks like the drug may be ONLY anopiate blocker, and suboxone actually has opiates in it. If there is only an opiate blocker in this new drug, it would serve a very different purpose than Suboxone. It would not be used to help with withdrawl, but would be used after detoxification to prevent relapse. The good thing is, that if there are no opiates in it...it will not be abused because there is no reason to abuse an opiate blocker. The thing that scares me is the warning about lowering your tolerance, so that if an addict quit taking it and starting using again..an overdose would be more likely. That is scary. As an addict, though, I would have thought...I can take this shit, and hopefully get off dope, but if that doesn't work, at least it will lower my tolerence and i can get really high again when I decide to use again. I will look into it further. I am curious now. I will get back to you on this matter, when I have further educated myself...
OK...looked it up further. This is only a opiate antagonist. It would not help an addict feel better in the stages of withdrawl, as Suboxone does. It would not maintain an addict on any type of opiates. It can only be administered after they are opiate free, if not it would send an addict into withdrawl. The good thing...it cannot be abused because it does nothing to alter mood, it merely makes an addict sick if he does opiates. The bad thing...many addicts in active addiction will not go anywhere near this drug because it equals instant pain...with no relief. For someone who has laready kicked, I think it could be a good and balance. Again, the lower tolerance thing still scares me. I have my reservations about it, but I see the benefit, too. But, to answer your question...it is definitely not the new Suboxone. It is very different than Suboxone, and would not be used to maintain addiction (however small...)as Suboxone does. It will do the opposite of Suboxone, in some respects.
Suboxone does also have an opiate blocker in it in addiction to opiates. When taken sublingually, the opiate takes precedent. When broken down to inject, the blocker takes precedence. The blocker also creates a "ceiling" effect, which only allows the addict's brain to utilize a small amount of opiates, so the addict maintains without getting high. (in theory)
Suboxone is a treatment for the drug addicts but it is not easy to overcome addiction with this. So you need proper treatment from experts. One of my friends had got this treatment from suboxone treatment virginia center and he was able to quit the drug consumption after that.
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