Vivitrol/naloxone

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I'm a fan of substance abuse especially in young people and for oncology pain management . I respect" the whole harm reduction model ".In some cases , I will justify putting young people on a medication that they will likely never be able to come off in an effort to prevent them from using illicit drugs so they are not involved in criminal activity. Nobody "throwing young addicts away". From the other hand , many of OASIS clients tried suboxone/ methadone and want to stop medication. So now from 2013 we have Vivitrol/ naloxone.

Then again our society wants everything easy and fast.

I have a question to all addiction staff regarding Vivitrol. Please share your objective and subjective data regarding treatment for opiates carvings and alcohol.

Also there are several clinical researchers running now for cocaine dependency :

United States, Virginia

Virginia Commonwealth University, Institute for Drug and Alcohol Virginia Commonwealth UniversityNational Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Temple University

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

University of Pennsylvania

Search of: cocaine - List Results - ClinicalTrials.gov

The question is what really works for cocaine dependency? I could not find any new studies.

[COLOR=#ff0000]Studies suggest anticonvulsants may reduce alcohol, cocaine use in BD patients[/COLOR]

[TABLE]

[TR]

[TH]Study

[/TH]

[TH]Intervention

[/TH]

[TH]Design

[/TH]

[TH]Substance use disorder

[/TH]

[TH]Results

[/TH]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Salloum et al, 2005[COLOR=#1155cc]16[/COLOR]

[/TD]

[TD]Divalproex sodium plus lithium vs placebo plus lithium

[/TD]

[TD]Double-blind, placebo-controlled

[/TD]

[TD]Alcohol dependence

[/TD]

[TD]Decreased number of drinking days and number of drinks per day and increased time of abstinence

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Salloum et al, 2007[COLOR=#1155cc]17[/COLOR]

[/TD]

[TD]Divalproex sodium

[/TD]

[TD]Open label

[/TD]

[TD]Cocaine dependence

[/TD]

[TD]Increased cocaine-abstinent days and decreased money spent on cocaine and cocaine use severity index

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Brady et al,* 2002[COLOR=#1155cc]18[/COLOR]

[/TD]

[TD]Carbamazepine vs placebo

[/TD]

[TD]Double-blind, placebo-controlled

[/TD]

[TD]Cocaine dependence

[/TD]

[TD]Decreased cocaine craving and cocaine use

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Brown et al, 2006[COLOR=#1155cc]19[/COLOR]

[/TD]

[TD]Lamotrigine

[/TD]

[TD]Open label

[/TD]

[TD]Cocaine dependence

[/TD]

[TD]Decreased cocaine craving and money spent on cocaine

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=colspan: 5]*Sample included, but was not limited to, patients with BD

BD: bipolar disorder

[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

There is a doctor in Perth, Australia who gives naltrexone implants to methamphetamine addicts. It supposedly reduces the cravings. Personally, I think this is ******** because so many ex-opiate addicts get stuck into methamphetamine when they've got naltrexone implants. Side note is that the naltrexone implants aren't approved for human use, they've been a research drug since back before 2000.

Dodgy dodgy. All subjective responses here, by the way!

I don't understand how naltrexone even works for alcoholics or methamphetamine addicts. Ex-opiate addicts can still get drunk and high on meth while on naltrexone. What makes alcoholics and methamphetamine addicts different to the effects of naltrexone?

As for opiate withdrawals, the best drugs to use are clonidine (for the extreme discomfort/RLS symptoms), promethazine (to calm and as a non-addictive sleep aid) - IMI if necessary cause it works. 200mcg buprenorphine tablets speed up the withdrawal process and can make a heroin/methadone withdrawal much more comfortable over 7 days, but nobody seems to do that anymore, they just jump for once daily dosing of subutex/suboxone (which puts the person into withdrawal, hurr, go figure).

There is a doctor in Perth, Australia who gives naltrexone implants to methamphetamine addicts. It supposedly reduces the cravings. Personally, I think this is ******** because so many ex-opiate addicts get stuck into methamphetamine when they've got naltrexone implants. Side note is that the naltrexone implants aren't approved for human use, they've been a research drug since back before 2000.

Dodgy dodgy. All subjective responses here, by the way!

I don't understand how naltrexone even works for alcoholics or methamphetamine addicts. Ex-opiate addicts can still get drunk and high on meth while on naltrexone. What makes alcoholics and methamphetamine addicts different to the effects of naltrexone?

As for opiate withdrawals, the best drugs to use are clonidine (for the extreme discomfort/RLS symptoms), promethazine (to calm and as a non-addictive sleep aid) - IMI if necessary cause it works. 200mcg buprenorphine tablets speed up the withdrawal process and can make a heroin/methadone withdrawal much more comfortable over 7 days, but nobody seems to do that anymore, they just jump for once daily dosing of subutex/suboxone (which puts the person into withdrawal, hurr, go figure).

Thanks you for your response, it is ok to share "subjective responses " in this forum. The main idea was to share experience and knowledge "off-label treatment" for Vivitrol .

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