Narcotic Antagonist Implant

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Has anyone else seen this in a patient?

http://www.thecolemaninstitute.com/naltrexoneimplant.asp

One of our regular seekers came in with this over the weekend. I'd never heard of it! She's doing great, and is totally off narcotics. She said that she'll get a new implant every 6 weeks for a year. I thought it was cool -- I'd never heard of it before, and wondered if it was a common thing in other areas.

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Specializes in Pulmonary, MICU.

Wow, that's pretty amazing. Now if they can make an Antabuse implant...

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Wow, that's pretty amazing. Now if they can make an Antabuse implant...

I know, right? I thought the same thing! I think we see almost as many alcoholics coming in for detox over and over as we see drug seekers, so that would be awesome.

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A downside is that so many of the patients we see are polysubstance abusers - so if they could get an implant for benzos and antabuse and narcan and ....

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I wonder if an addict would be tempted to just dig the implant out from under their skin. Neat idea but I have to admit that I'm skeptical that this will provide long term results. Of course, if it works for even a small percentage over the long term then that's a step in the right direction.

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Specializes in Hospice.

"Getting off the narcotics" physically is just the beginning of dealing with an addiction. Behavioral and emotional changes have to happen as well and no implant will do that.

AA people refer to something they call a "dry drunk" ... someone who has stopped drinking but has kept all the behaviors and "stinking thinking" of an active alcoholic. There's a forum here for nurses in recovery. If you cruise through it, you can get an idea of the hard work of getting and staying sober.

All that being said, I agree that the implant can be useful in the beginning ... since the first step is getting off the narcotics. If an addict knows that picking up will not get her high, that can help her not pick up.

I hope your patient is getting plenty of support/therapy along with this implant.

Wish her luck from me.

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