How to treat an addiction to painkillers

June 23, 2015

How to treat an addiction to painkillers: Addiction is not a weakness

How to treat an addiction to painkillers is not self medicated but getting the professionals involved would be helpful

The power behind drug addiction is not something that you can under estimate by all standards. We have mentioned time and again that drug addiction has and does not have boundaries everybody can be affected anytime and anywhere. And when it comes, it carries with it a host of other serious problems that are life threatening. It is therefore necessary that when talking about this problem, we must shun a way from diversionary remarks and face the problem head on. I am trying to say that opioid addiction is not a moral or mental weakness. It’s a chronic medical condition that results from changes in the brain in susceptible people. Once narcotic addiction has developed, escaping the cycle of detox and relapse is typically a long-term process. With that explanation we must ask questions to find answers to those questions. Like for instance will knowing how to treat an addiction to painkillers help? This is what we want to find out from the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center.

This facility was established by doctor Dalal Akoury primarily to transform each individual’s life through increasing awareness about health and wellness and by empowering individuals to find their own inner healing power. It will interest you to know that Dr. Akoury’s practice focuses on personalized medicine through healthy lifestyle choices that deal with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of patching up symptoms. Getting into the discussion, doctor Akoury says that breaking away from prescription drug abuse takes much more than willpower. However, the application of medications and counseling can improve the chances of success she says. With the advent of newer drugs like buprenorphine (sometimes combined with naloxone) and naltrexone and traditional therapies like methadone and 12-step programs, many people are able to stay on the road to recovery and get their lives back on truck.

How to treat an addiction to painkillers: Physical dependence and detoxification

Narcotic addiction is not friendly to human health and causes real changes in certain areas of the brain. When treating this it is important to note that prescription drug addiction alters the circuits responsible for mood and “reward” behaviors. And in addition to that, long-term prescription drug abuse affects virtually all the systems in the body. Besides that, cutting off the supply abruptly will lead to opioid withdrawal symptoms. The following are some of the symptoms of opioid withdrawal:

Chills and goose bumps (the origin of the phrase “cold turkey”)
Nausea and vomiting
Craving for drugs
Yawning
Diarrhea
Large pupils
Abdominal pain
Body aches
Agitation and severe negative moods

How to treat an addiction to painkillers: Medications for Opioid Withdrawal

Opioid withdrawal is difficult to endure, and is a major reason for relapse and continued prescription drug abuse. Medications are used to prevent symptoms of opioid withdrawal during detox, easing the person out of physical dependence:

Methadone – this is a long-acting opioid drug. It activates the same opioid receptors as narcotics, effectively eliminating withdrawal symptoms. Providing the correct dose of methadone prevents opioid withdrawal symptoms and eases drug craving but it does not provide the euphoria. The dose can be slowly tapered off, freeing the person from physical dependence without withdrawal symptoms. Methadone is the most effective known treatment for narcotic addiction.

Buprenorphine and Naloxone (Suboxone) – this is a newer combination drug that helps for detox from prescription opioid addiction. Buprenorphine activates opioid receptors, reducing drug craving and preventing withdrawal. Naloxone helps prevent misuse of the medication.

Clonidine – this is a blood pressure medicine that acts on the brain. Clonidine reduces the effects of the “fight or flight” response, which is over-activated during opioid withdrawal. However, clonidine does nothing to reduce drug craving, and is mostly ineffective when used alone.

Rapid detox programs – claim to accelerate the process of detox and opioid withdrawal by giving large doses of opioid blocking drugs. Some programs place an addict under general anesthesia during the detox process. These programs have not proven to be more effective than traditional methods of detox, and may be more dangerous.

How to treat an addiction to painkillers: Maintenance therapy after detox

The reason why detoxification is very important is because detox subdues and neutralizes the physical effects of narcotic addiction and opioid withdrawal. Experts are saying that even though detoxification is the first step mainly for the subduing the physical effects, it has very little to do with the psychological and social factors which are the main drivers that push addicts back and succumb to relapse. All stressful and other situations that remind the brain of the drug’s pleasure are also common triggers.

When drug cravings strike, they can be impossible to resist. Most people who go through detox and short-term counseling will relapse to prescription drug abuse.

Methadone is the best-studied, most effective method of recovery from narcotic addiction. Suboxone, while newer, has gained wide acceptance as maintenance therapy.

Some people have a high rate of relapse when maintenance therapy is stopped, and so they remain on the medicines for decades. In others, maintenance therapy is tapered off over months to years.

How to treat an addiction to painkillers: Counseling and 12-Step Programs

Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is an international network of community-based meetings for those recovering from drug addiction. Modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), NA is a 12-step program with a defined process for overcoming narcotic addiction.

NA is an abstinence-based program. In principle, NA is opposed to the use of maintenance therapy. Methadone Anonymous is a 12-step program that acknowledges the value of methadone or Suboxone in recovery from narcotic addiction. Most experts and treatment centers recommend participation in a 12-step program or other form of counseling. Therapy can take place as an outpatient, or in a residential facility. Alternatives to 12-step programs may include cognitive behavioral therapy, family and couples therapy and motivational interviewing. Finally you must be ready for this financially because recovery from prescription drug addiction can be costly. However, it is far less costly in comparison with the cost of addiction and continuous use of drugs. Therefore embracing the principal of prevention should be very ideal but because of the environment we live in, this may be very difficult to achieve effectively. But even if this is the case, all is not lost because there is still hope in the professional treatment offered by experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury. you can schedule for an appointment with her today for the commencement of your treatment.

How to treat an addiction to painkillers: Addiction is not a weakness

Pros and Cons of Suboxone

May 25, 2015

Problems with suboxone treatment, pros and cons of suboxone therapy

There has been an increase in prescription of opioid painkillers in the US, this phenomenon got me worried and backed up by a recent study that verified that the use of safer alternatives to pain management has been on the decline.

In recent years there has been a growing awareness in the medical community about the pervasiveness of pain. This awareness has corresponded to a sharp increase in the use of opioids and abuse with so many people involved in the use opioids for non-medical purposes.

One of the biggest disasters associated with this tremendous use of opioid painkillers is their potential to cause addiction.

Addiction to any drug substance be it medicinal or not is a very serious issue with extremely adverse socio-economic impacts in human populations all over the world. The move to try and help addicts recover from this societal demon is thus a noble one. Many addiction treatment centers have been set up in line with this move. Different medications are today in use in the world over and research is still ongoing with the aim of developing the most effective medication for addiction treatment. One such drug being used today in addiction treatment is suboxone.

What is suboxone?

Suboxone is a brand name for a prescription medication that is a combination of two drugs; buprenorphine and naloxone. Buprenorphine belongs to a class of drugs called opioid partial agonists which help relieve symptoms of opiate withdrawal. Naloxone on the other hand is belongs to a class of drugs called opioid antagonists which reverse the effects of narcotics. one of the most powerful narcotics isbuprenorphine is a narcotic, it is so powerful yet it has a potential o be addictive. it was approved for treatment of opioid addiction in 2002 in the United States.

This drug can be combined with naloxone to make Suboxone and be used to help addicts to fight opioids like vicodin, heroin, OxyContin, and hydrocodone. Naloxone has ability to block opioid receptors in the brain and trigger sudden withdrawal symptoms when injected. For treatment, Naloxone is added as deterrent to prevent addicts from injecting Suboxone. When taken as a pill, naloxone is not absorbed into the body.

Problems with suboxone therapy

When it was first released in 2002, suboxone was hailed as a major advance over methadone. But millions of but later there were millions of literature critiquing the use of this drug as it has faults as were thought earlier.

One of the biggest challenges associated with suboxone treatment is its being overprescribed and misused.

Over three million Americans with opioid dependence have been treated with Suboxone. This drug has been successfully used to help addicts but it has high potential of being abused.

A report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found a ten-fold increase in the number of emergency room visits involving buprenorphine. Slightly over half of the 30,000 hospitalizations in 2010 were for misuse and abuse of buprenorphine.

How many died from buprenorphine overdoses is unknown, because medical examiners and coroners do not routinely test for the drug.

For a drug addict, the most uncomfortable, painful problem of their addiction is withdrawal. If they can somehow control their urge to delve back into the drug and endure the side effects of withdrawal, then they can successfully complete their addiction recovery and gain their freedom from use of drugs.

Suboxone is so popular with addicts that it has turned into a street drug – to be bartered or exchanged for money, heroin or other illegal drugs. According to one estimate, about half of the buprenorphine obtained through legitimate prescriptions is either being diverted or used illicitly.

Drug makers are well aware of the potential for misuse and abuse. Orexo, the maker of menthol flavored Zubsolv, is selling the tablets in single dose “blister” packaging designed to reduce accidental use by kids. Another maker, Reckitt-Benckiser took its Suboxone tablets off the U.S. market and currently sells Suboxone in individually wrapped film strips. However experts have it that no amount of preparation and packaging can outsmart a determined drug abuser.

The potential for abuse and diversion is however not reason enough to call for a stop in treating addicts with buprenorphine, according to a commentary published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine that calls for a “balanced approach” to the drug.

The other major challenge associated with suboxone treatment is that it is causing its own epidemic of addiction. Patients undergoing suboxone treatment could overtime get addicted to the drug and show withdrawal symptoms when they try to get off its use.

Advantages of suboxone

One of the primary advantages of suboxone for addiction treatment is the fact that buprenorphine’s partial agonist quality prevents it from triggering respiratory depression -and thus overdoses.

Its other advantages include:

It isn’t met with stigma as with methadone.
It can often get to a stabilized dose within the first or second day.
It has a better safety profile.
It may be easier to come off than methadone.
It is longer acting than methadone so it may not require daily dosing.
Its side effects are less than those of methadone.

Disadvantages of suboxone therapy

Though suboxone is considered an advance in addiction treatment over methadone, it has its disadvantages. Some of these disadvantages include:

It may fail to fully satisfy cravings or inhibit withdrawal symptoms for those with high tolerance.
Dose adjustments may b more difficult.
It is also likely to cause a precipitated withdrawal.

Addiction is a societal menace for which support is required in fighting. That’s why we at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center are committed to availing help to addicts and offering them a place to call home. It matters not what kind of addiction you are wrestling with, just call on Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) today and begin your journey to victory against addiction.

Problems with suboxone treatment, pros and cons of suboxone therapy

Naltrexone and Alcoholism

September 30, 2014

Naltrexone promising for alcoholism and SUD

Naltrexone People addicted to alcohol and other substances may have certain behavioral changes that are not healthy for them and even for the people they live amongst. This therefore means that specific actions should be taken to offer them assistance as they fight addiction to be able to quite these unhealthy cognitive behaviors. Most people addicted to alcoholism and other substances of abuse will experience dysfunctional emotions, maladaptive behaviors and cognitive processes. All these need to be addressed to help the person to overcome. There are several therapies that can be used either singly or in collaboration with other therapies to help in this process. One of these therapies is the cognitive behavioral therapy often shortened as CBT.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for substance use disorders has demonstrated efficacy when used as a monotherapy as well as when used with other treatment strategies. There are articles that have been written that support the use of cognitive behavioral therapy, clinical elements of its application, novel treatment strategies for improving treatment response, and dissemination efforts. Although CBT for substance abuse is characterized by heterogeneous treatment elements such as operant learning strategies, cognitive and motivational elements, and skills building interventions across protocols several core elements emerge that focus on overcoming the powerfully reinforcing effects of psychoactive substances. Apart from CBT there are also other methods that are used in treating people that are alcohol and other substances dependence. One of these options is the use of Naltrexone.

What is Naltrexone?

Naltrexone is a synthetic drug that is similar to morphine. It is used in treatment of alcohol and heroine addictions. It works by blocking opiate receptors in the nervous system. It helps people to stay away from alcohol as it lowers the cravings for alcohol.

Naltrexone is a medication that is FDA-approved for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Meta-analyses of studies on the impact of Naltrexone medication has demonstrated positive effects on outcomes this treatment was found to work even better in helping the addicts to abstain from taking alcohol. Based on the accumulated evidence of the effectiveness of this medication it received strong recommendations as evidence-based treatments for alcohol dependence in the National Quality Forum’s National Voluntary Consensus Standards for the Treatment of Substance Use Conditions, as well as the VA/Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Substance Use Disorders (SUD). Based on these guideline recommendations, the “VA Uniform Mental Health Services Handbook” states that naltrexone and another drug known as acamprosate should be offered and be made available to all Veterans diagnosed with alcohol dependence, if not medically contraindicated. Also noteworthy is that a recent meta-analysis of seven placebo-controlled randomized trials of a newer medication, topiramate, found it had a more positive overall effect size than that from the first seven trials of naltrexone. This therefore makes it is a very promising medication.

However with all the accumulated evidence, clinical practice guideline recommendations, and VA policy, implementation of these medications within the VA healthcare system has been low overall, and highly variable. Among the more than 200,000 VA patients with a documented alcohol dependence diagnosis, less than 6% have received an approved medication. The majority of VA patients with alcohol dependence diagnoses (65%) are never seen in specialty substance use disorder clinics. However, even among those seen in specialty clinics, prescribing rates remain below 10%, with rates varying from 0% to 21% across facilities. Extremely low prescribing rates and significant variation across facilities suggest that significant gaps exist in access to these medications. Owing to their effectiveness they should be made available to every patient.

In most cases the medications for alcohol and substance abuse dependence are approached as cocktail where various strategies are used in treatment of the patient. It is however recommended that naltrexone should be part of the treatment offered and made available to patients with alcohol dependence. This is because of their effectiveness in fighting alcohol as well as other substances dependence

The role of naloxone rescue in Heroin users

Naloxone is a drug that has found favor with most health experts owing to its effectiveness in fighting heroin overdose. For WHO it is an essential drug. The use of naloxone in health institutions is legal since it is approved by food and drug act (FDA). Not long ago, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new hand-held auto-injector of naloxone. This device may be of great help to family members of heroin addicts as well as caregivers.

How does it work?

Naltrexone In case of and heroin overdose, the respiratory and central nervous systems are depressed to life-threatening levels and the addict may stop breathing. When this happens is no action is taken the patient may die. So when the person is treated with naloxone the drug will block the heroine receptors hence making it impossible for it to bind on the receptors that are located in the brain and spinal cord.

Finally, dependence to any substance is dangerous and so should be fought seriously. Here at AWAREmed we are dedicated to finding the best solutions to all addicts and that is why Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is always in the forefront advocating for integrative medicine since it is only through integrative medicine that a person can be healed wholly. Do not hesitate to call on her for help in managing any sort of drug addiction as well as other diseases.

Naltrexone promising for alcoholism and SUD

Tag Archives: Naloxone