Saturday, 6 January 2007
Ibogaine and Genes
Mood: bright
Now Playing: I Want to Break Free...
Topic: Drugs Treatments
Have a look at this, folks. A gene is found (in rodents) that affects the likelihood of opiate relapse...
This New Scientist article puts me in mind of the African plant substance ibogaine, which has always been better known as a psychedelic. It's apparently not the pleasantest drugs trip you can go on (loads of nausea and vomiting)... and yet the plant has one fascinating power... it seems to be able to defeat drug addiction of all kinds. I.e. even people on huge methadone doses can, supposedly, undergo ibogaine treatment and the ibogaine not only blockades opiate craving for four years (with no need to readminister the ibogaine during that time) it also eliminates almost entirely withdrawals even from methadone (which are the worst). And it also works against crack! There's an American ibogaine clinic in my links to the right...
To read about the relapse gene in rats click: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7445
By the way; poor rats:— did they put them on methadone afterwards?
Posted by gledwood at 10:39 PM GMT
Updated: Saturday, 6 January 2007 10:48 PM GMT
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Sunday, 7 January 2007 - 1:44 AM GMT
Name: "chipper"
Home Page: http://playingwithfire.blogdrive.com
I've heard of ibogaine before. Yes, it's almost always unpleasant, or so I hear. It's a tradition in South America (or wherever it is that the plant grows). It's in the news here because I think there's some pending legislation against it. War on drugs, and all that.
From what you say, it could be a miracle treatment? Could it be? A cure for addiction?
It'd never get rid of those cravings though.
I wish I had a miracle cure for alcohol. Four years would be just about right!
Reply to this Comment
Friday, 12 January 2007 - 4:45 PM GMT
Name: "jamie"
"chipper" wrote:
I've heard of ibogaine before. Yes, it's almost always unpleasant, or so I hear. It's a tradition in South America (or wherever it is that the plant grows). It's in the news here because I think there's some pending legislation against it. War on drugs, and all that.
From what you say, it could be a miracle treatment? Could it be? A cure for addiction?
It'd never get rid of those cravings though.
I wish I had a miracle cure for alcohol. Four years would be just about right!
Ive read 10 or so testements of people who have taken this drug , They all say that over night the craving and desire is gone . I cant find it here in the usa , you can get it in the uk for sure . The people who have taken it all have the same vision of a king like god who watchs over all things near the end of the trip , which lasts 1.5 to 2.5 days .
Showing posts with label treatment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label treatment. Show all posts
Saturday, 20 January 2007
Naltrexone
Naltrexone
Mood: vegas lucky
Now Playing: Ultra Clean
Topic: Drugs Treatments
NALTREXONE—for those who've got clean and want to stay clean.
(It's similar to the naloxone component of American Suboxone.)
Extract from a leaflet on naltrexone (Nalorex).
Treatment Choices
There are a number of drugs that can be prescribed to help you if you are dependent on opiates like heroin. Naltrexone is a drug that people who have detoxed can take to help them stay opiate-free.
There is not, and never will be, a “magic cure” that can stop everyone taking opiates.
However, the drug treatments, and help from the services that offer them, might be able to help you make any changes you want to make.
This leaflet is one of a series designed to help you understand what you can expect from the different drug treatments that may be on offer.
Heroin-free
Naltrexone is prescribed in the UK under the trade name Nalorex. You can take it if you want to be completely free of heroin and other opiates. It works by sticking to, and blocking, all of the opiate receptors in the brain.
Before you take the first dose of naltrexone you must have been completely heroin- and methadone-free for seven to ten days. This is because if there are opiates in your system, the naltrexone will very quickly remove them from the receptors, and send you into instant withdrawal.
Protection
Naltrexone can make coping with difficult times and high-risk situations easier because you know that if you take heroin, it won’t have any effect.
You take naltrexone as a tablet and, once you are stable and used to taking it, you can take it just three times a week to give full-time protection against the effects of heroin and all other opiates.
Other drugs
Naltrexone doesn’t provide protection against cocaine, tranquillizers or alcohol — so it is important to make sure these drugs don’t “replace” the heroin.
Implants
There has been some publicity given to naltrexone implants which are inserted surgically under the skin and give up to three months’ protection from opiates. However, these are experimental and are usually only available form a small number of private doctors.
Side effects
Sometimes people on naltrexone suffer from anxiety, stomach upsets and sleeplessness. But these feelings and physical symptoms are common following opiate detox — whether you are on naltrexone or not. If you do get these symptoms, discuss them with your doctor before stopping treatment.
Stopping treatment
Many of the people who start naltrexone treatment stop within a few weeks. This is sometimes because of the side effects, but more often it is because they realize that they don’t really want to completely stop taking opiates.
Overdose
You will be at very high risk of overdose if you stop taking naltrexone and start using heroin (or other opiates) again.
It can be really hard to measure how tolerant you are. A few days after your last naltrexone tablet, you may be able to take as much heroin as you used to — because there is still some naltrexone in your system. Then, just a few hours later, the same dose could kill you — because the naltrexone has all gone.
If you do stop taking naltrexone, and go back to using heroin, it is important that you don’t inject — with lower tolerance you’ll get a strong enough effect if you chase it.
Using heroin when you have been drinking alcohol or taking other tranquillizers *like Valium or sleeping pills) also increases the risk of you dying from an overdose.
You can get more copies of “Treatment Choices” from:
Exchange Supplies, 1 Great Western Industrial Centre, Dorchester, DT1 1RD.
Tel: 01305 262244 Fax: 01305 262255 Email: info@exchangesupplies.org
Written by Andrew Preston and Jon Derricott. © Exchange 2002. Third edition 2006.
www.exchangesupplies.org
Exchange—tools for harm reduction.
Posted by gledwood at 8:37 PM GMT
Updated: Wednesday, 3 January 2007 8:46 PM GMT
Mood: vegas lucky
Now Playing: Ultra Clean
Topic: Drugs Treatments
NALTREXONE—for those who've got clean and want to stay clean.
(It's similar to the naloxone component of American Suboxone.)
Extract from a leaflet on naltrexone (Nalorex).
Treatment Choices
There are a number of drugs that can be prescribed to help you if you are dependent on opiates like heroin. Naltrexone is a drug that people who have detoxed can take to help them stay opiate-free.
There is not, and never will be, a “magic cure” that can stop everyone taking opiates.
However, the drug treatments, and help from the services that offer them, might be able to help you make any changes you want to make.
This leaflet is one of a series designed to help you understand what you can expect from the different drug treatments that may be on offer.
Heroin-free
Naltrexone is prescribed in the UK under the trade name Nalorex. You can take it if you want to be completely free of heroin and other opiates. It works by sticking to, and blocking, all of the opiate receptors in the brain.
Before you take the first dose of naltrexone you must have been completely heroin- and methadone-free for seven to ten days. This is because if there are opiates in your system, the naltrexone will very quickly remove them from the receptors, and send you into instant withdrawal.
Protection
Naltrexone can make coping with difficult times and high-risk situations easier because you know that if you take heroin, it won’t have any effect.
You take naltrexone as a tablet and, once you are stable and used to taking it, you can take it just three times a week to give full-time protection against the effects of heroin and all other opiates.
Other drugs
Naltrexone doesn’t provide protection against cocaine, tranquillizers or alcohol — so it is important to make sure these drugs don’t “replace” the heroin.
Implants
There has been some publicity given to naltrexone implants which are inserted surgically under the skin and give up to three months’ protection from opiates. However, these are experimental and are usually only available form a small number of private doctors.
Side effects
Sometimes people on naltrexone suffer from anxiety, stomach upsets and sleeplessness. But these feelings and physical symptoms are common following opiate detox — whether you are on naltrexone or not. If you do get these symptoms, discuss them with your doctor before stopping treatment.
Stopping treatment
Many of the people who start naltrexone treatment stop within a few weeks. This is sometimes because of the side effects, but more often it is because they realize that they don’t really want to completely stop taking opiates.
Overdose
You will be at very high risk of overdose if you stop taking naltrexone and start using heroin (or other opiates) again.
It can be really hard to measure how tolerant you are. A few days after your last naltrexone tablet, you may be able to take as much heroin as you used to — because there is still some naltrexone in your system. Then, just a few hours later, the same dose could kill you — because the naltrexone has all gone.
If you do stop taking naltrexone, and go back to using heroin, it is important that you don’t inject — with lower tolerance you’ll get a strong enough effect if you chase it.
Using heroin when you have been drinking alcohol or taking other tranquillizers *like Valium or sleeping pills) also increases the risk of you dying from an overdose.
You can get more copies of “Treatment Choices” from:
Exchange Supplies, 1 Great Western Industrial Centre, Dorchester, DT1 1RD.
Tel: 01305 262244 Fax: 01305 262255 Email: info@exchangesupplies.org
Written by Andrew Preston and Jon Derricott. © Exchange 2002. Third edition 2006.
www.exchangesupplies.org
Exchange—tools for harm reduction.
Posted by gledwood at 8:37 PM GMT
Updated: Wednesday, 3 January 2007 8:46 PM GMT
Friday, 19 January 2007
To Prescribe or Not Prescribe
To prescribe or not to prescribe?Mood: quizzicalNow Playing: Expert WitnessTopic: Drugs FAQ
TO PRESCRIBE OR NOT TO PRESCRIBE? SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT GIVE HEROIN TO HEROIN ADDICTS?
IN THE UK, as in most Western lands, the standard treatment for heroin addiction is prescription of daily oral methadone.
Though many junkies do reduce their intake of illicit heroin and some feel stabalized enough on methadone to cut out heroin all together, most do go on using "on top" of their daily methadone doses.
Because the statistics say that the majority of crime is drug-related, an English police chief, reasoning that cutting down on drugs will cut down on crime, proposed that instead of methadone, addicts should be treated with the very drug they crave.
This old chestnut has been cropping up increasingly frequently of late. The Netherlands and Switzerland both do diamorphine treatment — apparently with great success.
The very idea of dishing out heroin to junkies flies so far in the face of the accepted War on Drugs "wisdom" that no Government has been willing to put anything more than a few very low-key experimental schemes into operation.
This most recent proposal, by the Northern England police chief Howard Roberts, provoked some colourful comments in last Monday's Daily Mirror's letters column.
"What next, giving robbers money so they don't rob or giving car theives cars so they don't steal cars?" demanded Sharon M Moore from Dunstable, Bedfordshire.
"I was disgusted to read of the suggestion to give free frugs to heroin addicts. I suffered asthma all of my life and I have to pay for my inhalers, without which I would need hospital treatment... Is this any way to treat a law-abiding citizen, while addicts may get their treatment free?" said D Kelly from Liverpool.
(Actually, heroin addicts pay the same prescription fees for methadone as everyone else.)
"Drug abuse is not an illness, it is self-inflicted," said Ken Bishop of Carterton, Oxfordshire.
(Smokers and drinkers also cause self-inflicted illness. Their rights to treatment aren't called into question...)
"Most people are under the misconception that drug addiction, like alcoholism, is self-inflicted. It isn't — it's a disease like any other and shuold be treated as such. That's why I support... Howard Roberts's suggestion that doctors should prescribe heroin to addicts. The examples of Holland and Switzerland prove it works. Crime has been cut and the number of users has fallen. The current system isn't working so at least we should give it a try." M Webb of Brighton, East Sussex.
Until the early 1970s heroin prescribing was the first-line treatment for addiction in the UK. However over-prescribing and abuse of the system lead to an about-turn in policy and Britain has been a methadone state ever since.
As for addiction being an illness; drugtaking is not a sickness in itself in the beginning. But as addiction gradually takes over over time, the condition most definitely develops into an illness.
Can't people see that this condition begins as a self-inflicted "choice" — but turns into a state where drugs are used with no choice — they are used automatically at every available opportunity, without thinking about it.
That's what "habit" means.
Posted by gledwood at 6:37 PM GMT
Updated: Monday, 4 December 2006 6:39 PM GMT
TO PRESCRIBE OR NOT TO PRESCRIBE? SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT GIVE HEROIN TO HEROIN ADDICTS?
IN THE UK, as in most Western lands, the standard treatment for heroin addiction is prescription of daily oral methadone.
Though many junkies do reduce their intake of illicit heroin and some feel stabalized enough on methadone to cut out heroin all together, most do go on using "on top" of their daily methadone doses.
Because the statistics say that the majority of crime is drug-related, an English police chief, reasoning that cutting down on drugs will cut down on crime, proposed that instead of methadone, addicts should be treated with the very drug they crave.
This old chestnut has been cropping up increasingly frequently of late. The Netherlands and Switzerland both do diamorphine treatment — apparently with great success.
The very idea of dishing out heroin to junkies flies so far in the face of the accepted War on Drugs "wisdom" that no Government has been willing to put anything more than a few very low-key experimental schemes into operation.
This most recent proposal, by the Northern England police chief Howard Roberts, provoked some colourful comments in last Monday's Daily Mirror's letters column.
"What next, giving robbers money so they don't rob or giving car theives cars so they don't steal cars?" demanded Sharon M Moore from Dunstable, Bedfordshire.
"I was disgusted to read of the suggestion to give free frugs to heroin addicts. I suffered asthma all of my life and I have to pay for my inhalers, without which I would need hospital treatment... Is this any way to treat a law-abiding citizen, while addicts may get their treatment free?" said D Kelly from Liverpool.
(Actually, heroin addicts pay the same prescription fees for methadone as everyone else.)
"Drug abuse is not an illness, it is self-inflicted," said Ken Bishop of Carterton, Oxfordshire.
(Smokers and drinkers also cause self-inflicted illness. Their rights to treatment aren't called into question...)
"Most people are under the misconception that drug addiction, like alcoholism, is self-inflicted. It isn't — it's a disease like any other and shuold be treated as such. That's why I support... Howard Roberts's suggestion that doctors should prescribe heroin to addicts. The examples of Holland and Switzerland prove it works. Crime has been cut and the number of users has fallen. The current system isn't working so at least we should give it a try." M Webb of Brighton, East Sussex.
Until the early 1970s heroin prescribing was the first-line treatment for addiction in the UK. However over-prescribing and abuse of the system lead to an about-turn in policy and Britain has been a methadone state ever since.
As for addiction being an illness; drugtaking is not a sickness in itself in the beginning. But as addiction gradually takes over over time, the condition most definitely develops into an illness.
Can't people see that this condition begins as a self-inflicted "choice" — but turns into a state where drugs are used with no choice — they are used automatically at every available opportunity, without thinking about it.
That's what "habit" means.
Posted by gledwood at 6:37 PM GMT
Updated: Monday, 4 December 2006 6:39 PM GMT
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