Naltrexone
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Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 11
Naltrexone
Hi everyone,
I am highjacking this thread from another forum, due to the thread being closed.
I went thru rapid detox 17 days ago, and am now on Naltrexone. The question over there was what long term effects if any does this drug have?
My question is, what if they pick you up from an automobile accident unconscious, and try to push meds into you? Will they try and keep pushing them untill they see a response?
Thanks, Greg
I am highjacking this thread from another forum, due to the thread being closed.
I went thru rapid detox 17 days ago, and am now on Naltrexone. The question over there was what long term effects if any does this drug have?
My question is, what if they pick you up from an automobile accident unconscious, and try to push meds into you? Will they try and keep pushing them untill they see a response?
Thanks, Greg
Member
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Dreaming Summer
Posts: 821
I guess I'm not sure exactly what it is you are asking or why.
As a recovering addict I can only share my experience, strength and hope with others.I'm not a doctor or pharmacist...so I really don't feel qualified to debate the long term effects of a particular drug.Perhaps this is a question better asked of the doctor who is treating you.Or you could do a search on the drug for information.
As for your other question,I'm still not sure what you want.How could we possibly predict what would happen to a person in an accident???? I imagine it would depend on the injuries and the person's medical history.
phoenix
As a recovering addict I can only share my experience, strength and hope with others.I'm not a doctor or pharmacist...so I really don't feel qualified to debate the long term effects of a particular drug.Perhaps this is a question better asked of the doctor who is treating you.Or you could do a search on the drug for information.
As for your other question,I'm still not sure what you want.How could we possibly predict what would happen to a person in an accident???? I imagine it would depend on the injuries and the person's medical history.
phoenix
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Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 11
Hi Phoenix,
As for the first question, I was just echoing the other post.
As for my question, people on certain meds. sometimes have a medical bracelet or something to inform medical personal about some condition or med. (not that I want that, Hey, here is an ex-junkie!) So my question is what if you can't speak up for your self?
Thanks for replying, Greg
As for the first question, I was just echoing the other post.
As for my question, people on certain meds. sometimes have a medical bracelet or something to inform medical personal about some condition or med. (not that I want that, Hey, here is an ex-junkie!) So my question is what if you can't speak up for your self?
Thanks for replying, Greg
Member
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Dreaming Summer
Posts: 821
I have narcotics listed as an allergy in my medical chart.Doubt if that matters in an accident though.My guess is that they'll give the most appropriate treatment possible.And if you are already on medication,you probably do need a way to make them aware of it.Until you find a solution, just try not to get in any accidents 
phoenix
phoenix
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: scottsdale az
Posts: 118
Believe me, after an accident you are not going to want to be on Tylenol. Even if you do, your word won't mean anything because at that point they have to do their job and not recieving an iv or oral pain medication could have severe complications, maybe even death from not being able to take the pain. I also have narcotics as an allergy. Your doctor will know when it is neccesary to despinse them, usually in a hospital setting. Remember that this is not considered a relapse
Member
Join Date: May 2003
Location: England
Posts: 3
Alright mate,
pretty sure over here alot of people get a bracelet or a card, taking naltrexone and opiates really isnt good for ya. A friend was on it a few years ago and tried using, he died. I was prescribed naltrexone but wouldn't take it, most people end up substituting opiate addiction for something else and then when naltrexone prescription stops just go back to the opiates. Naltrexone can be helpful in short term but try to get alot of support ie NA.
Good luck,
Dom
pretty sure over here alot of people get a bracelet or a card, taking naltrexone and opiates really isnt good for ya. A friend was on it a few years ago and tried using, he died. I was prescribed naltrexone but wouldn't take it, most people end up substituting opiate addiction for something else and then when naltrexone prescription stops just go back to the opiates. Naltrexone can be helpful in short term but try to get alot of support ie NA.
Good luck,
Dom
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: scottsdale az
Posts: 118
I've never heard of any severe long term complications due to Naltexone and as far as I knew it was alright to be used as a maintence drug. Using opiates WITH naltrexone isn't wise because from what I have heard naltrexone blocks the effect of opiates so if you decide to use again the overdose chance is greatly increased. There is nothing wrong about going to NA. NA is a wonderful source of support which is very much neccesary. Doctors can give us all the pharmacutical dope that they want for our addiction but it still doesn't fix our spirit. I have found AA to be a great place of healing, maybe you should check out NA or another place of support.
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Greenville, SC
Posts: 17
Hi again Dr. Benz
My daughter went through rapid detox a month ago and she also takes Naltrexone. The pills are 50 mgs but we cut them in half so she takes 25 mgs every day. She's to be on this for 6 months. It's my understanding that a person shouldn't be on it longer than that because of the possibility of liver damage. Seems so many meds have that that nasty side effect.
She carries a card in her wallet advising that she is on that medication. You might try going to google.com and looking up Naltrexone.
Hope things are still working out for you. My daughter is still battling depression and so far, the Wellbutrin she's taking isn't helping much. Anybody else out there taking anti-depressants after detox? Let me know how that's working out for you.
Allie
My daughter went through rapid detox a month ago and she also takes Naltrexone. The pills are 50 mgs but we cut them in half so she takes 25 mgs every day. She's to be on this for 6 months. It's my understanding that a person shouldn't be on it longer than that because of the possibility of liver damage. Seems so many meds have that that nasty side effect.
She carries a card in her wallet advising that she is on that medication. You might try going to google.com and looking up Naltrexone.
Hope things are still working out for you. My daughter is still battling depression and so far, the Wellbutrin she's taking isn't helping much. Anybody else out there taking anti-depressants after detox? Let me know how that's working out for you.
Allie
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Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2003
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 11
Hellow Allie,
Of course life doesn't seem to be quite as exciting as it was while using, but that will pass. I'm 18 days, I of course still think about how much more exicting a perticular (sp) situation would be if I was using, but that too, will pass.
This time I was not givin a long term anti-depressants. Maybe because I told them I stopped taking them the last time around!
Thanks for the info about the card. I hope your daughter does better
Thanks for the reply, Greg
Of course life doesn't seem to be quite as exciting as it was while using, but that will pass. I'm 18 days, I of course still think about how much more exicting a perticular (sp) situation would be if I was using, but that too, will pass.
This time I was not givin a long term anti-depressants. Maybe because I told them I stopped taking them the last time around!
Thanks for the info about the card. I hope your daughter does better
Thanks for the reply, Greg
Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 8
Car accident
I get the 30 naltrexone (Vivitrol) shot. It has done wonders. As with any treatment, therapy of some sort can help reinforce why you took that measure to begin with.
I was given a wallet card. The reason is that if you are injured and potentially unable to speak, something like morpheine won't help to ease the pain. An uninformed ER doc for example may wonder how in the world can morrpheine not be helping the pain and may end up increasing the dosage, which is ultimately what can harm you, an overdose.
It is the same with street opiates while on naltrexone. The primary problem is that if you have received the shot or longer term, the implant, some who insist on getting an opiate fix may keep going on intaking it until it does present the desired (high) effect usually resulting in an overdose of that opiate.
I feel this is an important question.:bounce
I was given a wallet card. The reason is that if you are injured and potentially unable to speak, something like morpheine won't help to ease the pain. An uninformed ER doc for example may wonder how in the world can morrpheine not be helping the pain and may end up increasing the dosage, which is ultimately what can harm you, an overdose.
It is the same with street opiates while on naltrexone. The primary problem is that if you have received the shot or longer term, the implant, some who insist on getting an opiate fix may keep going on intaking it until it does present the desired (high) effect usually resulting in an overdose of that opiate.
I feel this is an important question.:bounce
Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 8
Originally Posted by phoenix 
I guess I'm not sure exactly what it is you are asking or why.
As a recovering addict I can only share my experience, strength and hope with others.I'm not a doctor or pharmacist...so I really don't feel qualified to debate the long term effects of a particular drug.Perhaps this is a question better asked of the doctor who is treating you.Or you could do a search on the drug for information.
As for your other question,I'm still not sure what you want.How could we possibly predict what would happen to a person in an accident???? I imagine it would depend on the injuries and the person's medical history.
phoenix
As a recovering addict I can only share my experience, strength and hope with others.I'm not a doctor or pharmacist...so I really don't feel qualified to debate the long term effects of a particular drug.Perhaps this is a question better asked of the doctor who is treating you.Or you could do a search on the drug for information.
As for your other question,I'm still not sure what you want.How could we possibly predict what would happen to a person in an accident???? I imagine it would depend on the injuries and the person's medical history.
phoenix
We can share our experiences in recovery. That is indeed the purpose. Answers are powerful in consistency x frequency. Perhaps there are plenty of us on the board who can understand why the question was posed. One does not have to be an MD to simply state what their past experience has been. You can find many generic answers on WebMD and others but as far as "experience", why not ask those who are involved in this specific process.
You'll find that a "search on the drug" brings up many sites, including this one.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: CA Native
Posts: 2,509
Here is how it works with naltrexone and opiates.
The longer one takes naltrexone (depends somewhat on their dose) after an opiate addiction, the lower their 'tolerance' to opiates will go. Taking it, in other words, lowers your tolerance over time, eventually to the point that it was at before you ever even took opiates. This would happen eventually even if you did NOT take naltrexone, but not as quickly.
Therefore, if you STOP taking naltrexone after awhile and then suddenly relapse, it's relatively much easier to OD than it was when you were using dope all the time and had a high tolerance. Again, the same thing happens to you if just 'get clean' from opiates for awhile, but naltrexone resets your tolerance faster than nature does.
If you ARE ON naltrexone, as long as you're on enough of it (it has a long half-life), your body can get pumped massively full of opiates and they'll have NO EFFECT. It's not like a 'they don't get you high, but they're really working' kinda thing. Up to a pretty large dose of opiates, the opiates will basically do NOTHING.
This being said, it can be dangerous to mix the two in a self-administered quest to get high, because at SOME point, if you keep increasing your opiate dose, you can overwhelm the blocking effect of the naltrexone. If you've been on it for a long time (especially) this can become dangerous because actually your tolerance is likely to be quite low, so once you overcome the naltrexone, you are playing with a relatively slim margin-of-error in terms of the opiate amount that lies between 'erasing' the naltrexone and 'getting high'.
THAT, at least, is my understanding based on what I'VE personally read. I would think that the likelihood of a doctor giving someone with an unknown medical history enough morphine to actually kill them WHILE on naltrexone would be extremely low. Especially since you'd be in a hospital having all your vital's monitored.
I dunno for sure, but I somehow doubt a doc would really want to give you much if any morphine if you were completely unconscious and couldn't speak for yourself. If you're knocked out, you can't really be in that much pain.
The card seems like a reasonable precaution, and I certainly wouldn't NOT go on naltrexone just out of fear over something obscure like the fear of being in an accident and getting OD'd on morphine in the hospital because of it. Put it this way, it takes WAY WAY WAY more opiates to OD you when you're ON naltrexone than it does to OD you NOT on naltrexone. All other things being equal, that is.
The longer one takes naltrexone (depends somewhat on their dose) after an opiate addiction, the lower their 'tolerance' to opiates will go. Taking it, in other words, lowers your tolerance over time, eventually to the point that it was at before you ever even took opiates. This would happen eventually even if you did NOT take naltrexone, but not as quickly.
Therefore, if you STOP taking naltrexone after awhile and then suddenly relapse, it's relatively much easier to OD than it was when you were using dope all the time and had a high tolerance. Again, the same thing happens to you if just 'get clean' from opiates for awhile, but naltrexone resets your tolerance faster than nature does.
If you ARE ON naltrexone, as long as you're on enough of it (it has a long half-life), your body can get pumped massively full of opiates and they'll have NO EFFECT. It's not like a 'they don't get you high, but they're really working' kinda thing. Up to a pretty large dose of opiates, the opiates will basically do NOTHING.
This being said, it can be dangerous to mix the two in a self-administered quest to get high, because at SOME point, if you keep increasing your opiate dose, you can overwhelm the blocking effect of the naltrexone. If you've been on it for a long time (especially) this can become dangerous because actually your tolerance is likely to be quite low, so once you overcome the naltrexone, you are playing with a relatively slim margin-of-error in terms of the opiate amount that lies between 'erasing' the naltrexone and 'getting high'.
THAT, at least, is my understanding based on what I'VE personally read. I would think that the likelihood of a doctor giving someone with an unknown medical history enough morphine to actually kill them WHILE on naltrexone would be extremely low. Especially since you'd be in a hospital having all your vital's monitored.
I dunno for sure, but I somehow doubt a doc would really want to give you much if any morphine if you were completely unconscious and couldn't speak for yourself. If you're knocked out, you can't really be in that much pain.
The card seems like a reasonable precaution, and I certainly wouldn't NOT go on naltrexone just out of fear over something obscure like the fear of being in an accident and getting OD'd on morphine in the hospital because of it. Put it this way, it takes WAY WAY WAY more opiates to OD you when you're ON naltrexone than it does to OD you NOT on naltrexone. All other things being equal, that is.
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Miami, FL
Posts: 607
Originally Posted by Doctor Benz
My question is, what if they pick you up from an automobile accident unconscious, and try to push meds into you? Will they try and keep pushing them untill they see a response?
The only class of drugs it will have an adverse reaction with is opiates. So to follow this hypothetical car accident to the conclusion, they might give you a little morphine while you are unconscious because they know you must be in pain, but it morphine won't work very well (or not at all). That won't influence your recovery chances, if you're going to survive said accident, you'll survive it on naltrexone.
You're just worrying too much; naltrexone users don't have to carry special bracelets. About long term effects, I haven't heard anything like that.
On a much more important topic... how's your recovery going??
Lost-n-Found
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Cairo
Posts: 923
Hey Benz,
In my opinion, the damage caused by Naltrexone is minimal (in the temporary time it is being administered) compared to the damage that would be inflicted on the body otherwise from Opiates.
I had a card in my wallet with the fact that I was on the medication stated.
I was on it for 2 years.
Naltrexone is useless I believe, unless one is working a serious recovery program. I wasn't at the time. I postponed the Opiate use for 2 years and also became a Benzo addict.
In my opinion, the damage caused by Naltrexone is minimal (in the temporary time it is being administered) compared to the damage that would be inflicted on the body otherwise from Opiates.
I had a card in my wallet with the fact that I was on the medication stated.
I was on it for 2 years.
Naltrexone is useless I believe, unless one is working a serious recovery program. I wasn't at the time. I postponed the Opiate use for 2 years and also became a Benzo addict.
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: somewhere
Posts: 917
Therefore, if you STOP taking naltrexone after awhile and then suddenly relapse, it's relatively much easier to OD than it was when you were using dope all the time and had a high tolerance. Again, the same thing happens to you if just 'get clean' from opiates for awhile, but naltrexone resets your tolerance faster than nature does.
Naltrexone is useless I believe, unless one is working a serious recovery program.
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: CA Native
Posts: 2,509
Hey Janey, glad to hear you're staying clean girl. That is awesome news
I suppose that maybe that was what caused what happened to you. Another contributing factor I'm sure was the booze mixed with the tramadol. As I told you at the time, you're lucky to be alive after that incident.
Naltrexone is also given to alcoholics when they are trying to stay sober, from what I understand it lessens a recovering alcoholics cravings for booze, and if they do drink they don't end up getting much pleasure out of it.
This is because, as I've shared before, alcohol and opiates work on similar neurotransmitter systems in the brain. When you block someone's ability to get high on opiates, you effectively block their ability to get high on a bunch of different types of drugs. However, UNLIKE with opiates, where naltrexone really neutralizes the effect of opiates (when you're ON naltrexone), it won't have that effect with alcohol. I would suspect that someone who REALLY wants to get high on booze could pretty easily wind up dead if they try to do so while on naltrexone.
This is all based on MY understanding of what I've read, and I may not know WTF I'm talking about, so everyone, please, consult a physician before you take ANY kind of drugs ... EVER!
I suppose that maybe that was what caused what happened to you. Another contributing factor I'm sure was the booze mixed with the tramadol. As I told you at the time, you're lucky to be alive after that incident.
Naltrexone is also given to alcoholics when they are trying to stay sober, from what I understand it lessens a recovering alcoholics cravings for booze, and if they do drink they don't end up getting much pleasure out of it.
This is because, as I've shared before, alcohol and opiates work on similar neurotransmitter systems in the brain. When you block someone's ability to get high on opiates, you effectively block their ability to get high on a bunch of different types of drugs. However, UNLIKE with opiates, where naltrexone really neutralizes the effect of opiates (when you're ON naltrexone), it won't have that effect with alcohol. I would suspect that someone who REALLY wants to get high on booze could pretty easily wind up dead if they try to do so while on naltrexone.
This is all based on MY understanding of what I've read, and I may not know WTF I'm talking about, so everyone, please, consult a physician before you take ANY kind of drugs ... EVER!
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: somewhere
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Thanks BV for your support .I appreciate it.Ya it's weird to stay clean despite all the ups and downs.I have 11 days days clean .
Thanks Doctor Benz for starting this thread.I think before taking any prescribed med we should fully educate ourselves first .Now I know that alcohol and Neltrexone cannot be used together .I could have just asked.
BV do you think that it may help or is it a bad idea to take again after all the aftermath of my drug use?
Thanks Doctor Benz for starting this thread.I think before taking any prescribed med we should fully educate ourselves first .Now I know that alcohol and Neltrexone cannot be used together .I could have just asked.
BV do you think that it may help or is it a bad idea to take again after all the aftermath of my drug use?
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: CA Native
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Jane, you should probably ask a doctor, but from what I've personally read, naltrexone is generally considered a good treatment option ONLY in what they call 'highly-motivated' patients. This generally means people who are professionals with jobs they are trying to keep (or regain) with strong family support structures around them, at least as I understand it. The reason for this is that people who are 'less motivated' tend to STOP taking it. Sound familiar?
I don't personally *think* there's any reason you *should not* be on it, but that's IF and ONLY IF you are SERIOUS this time and are going to STAY ON IT ... otherwise it's pretty much a waste of time. Perhaps even a little dangerous if you're gonna go off of it and start mixing tramadol and booze without doing a realistic assessment of your tolerance, like you apparently did last time you took it for a bit, then went off of it.
BTW, just one more time for the record ... alcohol and opiates mixed are statistically responsible for FAR MORE DEATHS than OD's on opiates alone. It's really unsafe to mix booze with benzos/opiates/downers of any kind, kids!!!
I don't personally *think* there's any reason you *should not* be on it, but that's IF and ONLY IF you are SERIOUS this time and are going to STAY ON IT ... otherwise it's pretty much a waste of time. Perhaps even a little dangerous if you're gonna go off of it and start mixing tramadol and booze without doing a realistic assessment of your tolerance, like you apparently did last time you took it for a bit, then went off of it.
BTW, just one more time for the record ... alcohol and opiates mixed are statistically responsible for FAR MORE DEATHS than OD's on opiates alone. It's really unsafe to mix booze with benzos/opiates/downers of any kind, kids!!!
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