The fight against heroin addiction has taken a major leap forward after a decade of struggle. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the approval of a new anti-addiction drug , buprenorphine/naloxone, which, followed with the directives of a new law I authored along with Senators Hatch and Biden, makes a dramatic change in the way America fights heroin addiction...Read more on Treating Heroin Addiction with Suboxone
Dr. Christopher Adelman, the medical director of St. Vincent Charity Hospital's Rosary Hall, a treatment facility in Cleveland, is one of 24 physicians in Ohio approved to prescribe Suboxone (buprenorphine/naloxone). Of his 15 patients taking the drug, 11 have remained off opiates, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on June 28...Read the rest of Success with Suboxone.
Buprenorphine controls withdrawal symptoms and is an excellent maintenance treatment for many patients, but some patients may need a stronger maintenance medication. If you are unable to control your heroin abuse, or if you continue to feel like using, even at the top doses of Buprenorphine, then the doctor may advise you to transfer to methadone or LAAN at a clinic licensed to give those treatments...Read on Buprenorphine Treatment Cessation.
Our methadone maintenance patients may be interested in whether this medication might help them. Unfortunately, because of the partial agonist nature of the medication, buprenorphine is not equivalent in maintenance strength to methadone and LAAM. In order to even try buprenorphine without going into major withdrawal, a methadone-maintained patient would have to taper down to 30mg of methadone or lower...read more on the usefulness of buprenorphine for methadone patients.
For the first time, a physician in the office setting will be able to prescribe a narcotic for treatment of addiction following certain guidelines and restrictions. For the first time a patient who is addicted to heroin will be able to receive opioid medication for detoxification or for maintenance again with certain restrictions in a regular office setting, outside of the methadone treatment program...read more on Suboxone for Heroin Addiction.
Many family members wonder why doctors use buprenorphine to treat opiate addictions, since it is in the same family as heroin. Some of them ask, Isn't this substituting one addiction for another? But the three medications used to treat addition to heroin methadone, LAAM and buprenorphine are not just substitutions"...read more on Opioids and the treatment of addiction.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two versions of the drug buprenorphine for treating opiate dependence, clearing the way for heroin and other opiate users to receive treatment in doctors' offices in addition to methadone clinics...read more on Buprenorphine for Opiate Treatment.