Targeting The Opioid Drug Crisis: A Health And Human Services Initiative
Deaths from drug overdoses have been rising steadily over the past two decades and have surpassed car accidents to become the leading cause of injury death in the United States. Millions of Americans rely on prescription opioids for much needed relief from the pain caused by illness and injury, but in the past decade we have seen increases in addiction, overdose, and deaths due to these drugs. From 1999 to 2013, the rate for drug poisoning deaths involving opioid analgesics nearly quadrupled.
Total drug poisoning deaths continue to rise each year, as does the share of deaths due to heroin and prescription opioids. Th...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 3, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Richard Frank Tags: All Categories Pharma Physicians Policy Public Health Substance Abuse Source Type: blogs
Patch Down the Hatch
A 42-year-old man presented with somnolence. Initial vital signs include: heart rate 54 bpm, blood pressure 92/68 mm/Hg, temperature 37°C, respiratory rate 6, pulse oximetry 90% on room air. Physical examination is remarkable for depressed level of consciousness, miosis, and bradypnea. His mental status and respiratory rate temporarily improved with the administration of 0.04 mg naloxone. He reports swallowing several “patches” in a suicide attempt.
What are examples of medications available as a transdermal patch? Compare the dose of drug delivered and the patch content.
Popular transdermal patches are listed bel...
Source: The Tox Cave - March 31, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Patch Down the Hatch
A 42-year-old man presented with somnolence. His initial vital signs were heart rate 54 bpm, blood pressure 92/68 mm Hg, temperature 37°C, respiratory rate 6, and pulse oximetry 90% on room air. His physical examination was remarkable for depressed level of consciousness, miosis, and bradypnea. His mental status and respiratory rate temporarily improved with the administration of 0.04 mg naloxone. He reports swallowing several “patches” in a suicide attempt.
Popular transdermal patches are listed in the table. Others include diclofenac, buprenorphine, hormone patches (estrogen, contraceptive, testosterone), methy...
Source: The Tox Cave - March 31, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Healthcare Update Satellite — 09-22-2014
More updated from around the web at my other blog at DrWhiteCoat.com
Study in the journal Pediatrics shows that about 10,000 children are hospitalized each year for accidental medication ingestions. Three quarters of those hospitalizations involved 1 or 2 year olds. Twelve medications were responsible for 45% of all pediatric emergency hospitalizations for accidental drug ingestions. Opioids were not surprisingly the top classification prompting hospitalizations, but buprenorphine and clonidine were the top two medications – responsible for 15% of all hospitalizations. The rate of hospitalization for buprenorphine pr...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - September 22, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs
Suboxone Withdrawal is Killing Me
A recent Q/A with a reader: I was on opioids for several years, for chronic pain and surgery. I was taking up to 400 mg of MS Contin per day. Two years ago, my doctor suggested Suboxone to get me off opioids. I said yes. The first two weeks were hell, actually throwing me into […] (Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - July 31, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Acute Pain Benzos Buprenorphine Chronic pain receptor actions tolerance Withdrawal buprenorphine withdrawal opioid dependence Suboxone withdrawal tapering suboxone Source Type: blogs
Subutex vs. Generic Buprenorphine: French Smell a Rat
An article in Google’s Newsfeed for buprenorphine caught my eye today, for a couple reasons. The article described a decision by the French Competition Authority (FCA) to fine Schering-Plough 15.3 million EUR, for unfair business practices related to Subutex back in 2006. The article used the term ‘HDB’ for ‘high dose buprenorphine’, a phrase that […] (Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - March 21, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Buprenorphine Chronic pain Legal Reckitt-Benckiser recovery Suboxone Subutex company bashes brand over generic suboxone film identical to buprenorphine why won't doctor prescribe buprenorphine Source Type: blogs
QA Video: Ceilings, Half-Lives, Brands of Buprenorphine
Below is the latest video from the questions/answers series at SuboxForum. Comments welcome. (Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - March 18, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Buprenorphine pharmacology Suboxone best brand of generic Suboxone or buprenorphine buprenorphine ceiling effect half life of Suboxone Source Type: blogs
Suboxone Talk Zone Gets One Right
Working on my own in private practice, it is hard to know for certain whether I’m always on track with my thoughts about treating addiction, or whether, sometimes, my isolation has caused me to drift out of the mainstream– sort of like the ladies with blue hair who have nobody around to tell them, “YOUR […] (Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - March 13, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Addiction Drug Testing Legal pharmacology Suboxone drug diversion immuno assay drug testing Quantitative urine drug testing Source Type: blogs
Suboxone Controversy: Brattleboro Reformer gets a C
In their story about buprenorphine, Suboxone, and opioid dependence, the Brattleboro Reformer gets it about 60% right. They describe the shortage of physicians certified to treat addicts with buprenorphine, correctly identifying most of the diversion of buprenorphine as desperate attempts at self-treatment. They lose points, though, for allowing an ill-informed legislator to suggest getting rid of buprenorphine altogether, without pointing to the example of Georgia, the former USSR republic, where the ban on buprenorphine resulted in the birth of krokodil, a nightmare drug now found in parts of the US.
Cost concerns
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Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - March 8, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Addiction Buprenorphine Public policy Suboxone treatment cost of suboxone film patient cap on suboxone safety of buprenorphine and suboxone suboxone regulation Source Type: blogs
Suboxone Controversy: Brattleboro Reformer gets a ‘C’
In their story about buprenorphine, Suboxone, and opioid dependence, the Brattleboro Reformer gets it about 60% right. They describe the shortage of physicians certified to treat addicts with buprenorphine, correctly identifying most of the diversion of buprenorphine as desperate attempts at self-treatment. They lose points, though, for allowing an ill-informed legislator to suggest getting rid […] (Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - March 8, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Addiction Buprenorphine Public policy Suboxone treatment cost of suboxone film patient cap on suboxone safety of buprenorphine and suboxone suboxone regulation Source Type: blogs
Suboxforum QA Video: Dopamine Reuptake and Addiction
(Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - March 6, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Buprenorphine receptor actions Research treatment bupropion dopamine reuptake and addiction dopamine reuptake inhibitor monoamine oxidase inhibitors Source Type: blogs
Suboxone Side Effects?
I’ve received questions over the years from people claiming a range of symptoms from Suboxone or buprenorphine, from back or muscle pain to fatigue, depression, or irritability. I didn’t invent Suboxone, so I don’t take it personally when people blame commonly-occurring symptoms on the drug. But I get bored by the non-scientific thinking behind such claims— that since they started buprenorphine at some point in the past ten years, every symptom or illness that comes along must somehow be related to buprenorphine. No matter, apparently, that people who DIDN’T start buprenorphine often develop the same symptoms...
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - March 2, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: pharmacology Research side effects Suboxone tolerance treatment buprenorphine side effects depression on suboxone irritability from suboxone mu receptor tolerance Source Type: blogs
Vivitrol versus Buprenorphine, Video QA
I’ve been doing question and answer sessions at SuboxForum for a few weeks now. This week included a number of questions about Vivitrol, a monthly injectable form of the opioid blocker naltrexone. I decided to share the video below. If you want to see the original questions, go to www.suboxforum.com , the ‘QA’ section.
(Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - February 23, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Buprenorphine pharmacology Suboxone treatment is vivitrol better than suboxone naltrexone risks of vivitrol Source Type: blogs
Calling All Buprenorphine/Suboxone Doctors
Help! I am hoping to create a list of people who have a real understanding of buprenorphine, in an attempt to reduce the stigma associated with buprenorphine and addiction. I’m not ready to take my efforts public, so I need to be a bit cryptic at this point. I ask that buprenorphine-certified physicians, or people with doctorates in the field of neurscience, neurochemistry, or psychology, send me an email, and I will reply with more details.
Rest assured that I am NOT looking to create a mailing list, and I will not be asking for any personal information. I am looking for help with a narrow, specific issue....
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - February 22, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Buprenorphine Public policy buprenorphine certified doctor suboxone doctor Source Type: blogs
Suboxone Film Cutting Guide
Sorry about the last post… but I was so excited by stumbling across that bird that I had to share it with somebody! Something else I recently stumbled across is the ‘Suboxone Film cutting guide’, a better mousetrap for people wishing to taper off buprenorphine. Regular readers know that my general advice to people addicted […] (Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - February 18, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Suboxone Suboxone Forum cutting suboxone film suboxone film cutting guide tapering buprenorphine Source Type: blogs
