Addiction
Medicine Assistant Treatment (MAT)
Medications like Buprenorphine, Suboxone, Sublocade, Subutex work by tricking the brain into thinking it’s receiving the abused drug. Patients do not experience the intense “high” produced by their former drug of choice, but these medications do prevent withdrawal symptoms that would otherwise occur as addiction subsides and substances clear the body.
When the cravings and withdrawal symptoms stop, people who are struggling with addiction have time to focus on long-term goals, remission, and recovery. Up to 90% of patients who use MAT maintain sobriety at the 2-year mark.
Buprenorphine/Naloxone
Buprenorphine is a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) as a medication-assisted treatment (MAT). As with all medications used in MAT, buprenorphine should be prescribed as part of a comprehensive treatment plan that includes counseling and other behavioral therapies to provide patients with a whole-person approach.
Buprenorphine is the first medication to treat OUD that can be prescribed or dispensed in physician offices, significantly increasing access to treatment.
Suboxone
Suboxone is a prescription medication used in treating those addicted to Opioids, illegal or prescription. It contains the ingredients Buprenorphine and Naloxone. Buprenorphine, a partial Opioid agonist, blocks the Opiate receptors and reduces a person’s urges.
Results showed that approximately 49 percent of participants reduced prescription painkiller abuse during extended (at least 12-week) Suboxone treatment. This success rate dropped to 8.6 percent once Suboxone was discontinued.
Sublocade
SUBLOCADE significantly increased the rate of treatment success vs placebo (≥80% illicit opioid-free weeks) This graph shows that the treatment success rate was 28% among patients in the 300/100 mg group and 29% in the 300/300 mg group, vs 2% in the placebo group.
Sublocade is an injection that is given once a month. This means a single injection will last at least a month (28 to 30 days).
Results from long-term studies of buprenorphine extended-release injection (Sublocade) have shown that the treatment supported long-term abstinence from illicit opioid use and demonstrated a long-term safety profile consistent with that of transmucosal buprenorphine.
The RECOVER study reported that 75.3% of patients with moderate to severe opioid use disorder were abstinent from illicit opioids for a year after they completed 12 monthly buprenorphine extended-release injections.
Subutex
SUBUTEX is indicated for the treatment of opioid dependence and is preferred for induction. SUBUTEX should be used as part of a complete treatment plan to include counseling and psychosocial support.
Subutex
Antidepressants take so long to work because they inactivate not just individual serotonin transporters, but also the genes in our DNA that code for the transporter. The result over time is fewer serotonin transporters in the brain and more serotonin around to experience pleasant stimuli.
SUBUTEX is indicated for the treatment of opioid dependence and is preferred for induction. SUBUTEX should be used as part of a complete treatment plan to include counseling and psychosocial support.
Naltrexone
Naltrexone blocks the parts of your brain that “feel” pleasure from alcohol and narcotics. When these areas of the brain are blocked, you feel less need to drink alcohol, and you can stop drinking more easily.
Naltrexone is also commonly prescribed to treat Opioid addictions. By blocking the harmful effects of Opioids, the medication reduces the cravings usually caused by the drugs. It should be used as part of a comprehensive recovery program that may consist of counseling, support groups, and other treatment methods recommended by your doctor or licensed therapist.
Vivitrol
Intramuscular extended release Naltrexone also known as Vivitrol is a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat both Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) as a Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) option.
Vivitrol blocks the effects of opioid medication, including pain relief or feelings of well-being that can lead to opioid abuse. An opioid is sometimes called a narcotic. Vivitrol is used as part of a treatment program for drug or alcohol dependence.
Vivitrol injection is used to prevent relapse in adults who became dependent on opioid medicine and then stopped using it. Naltrexone can help keep you from feeling a “need” to use the opioid.
Vivitrol injection is also used to treat alcoholism by reducing your urge to drink alcohol. This may help you drink less or stop drinking altogether. You should not be drinking at the time you receive your first naltrexone injection.
Vivitrol injections last about four weeks for most people.
Campral
This medication is used along with counseling and support to help people who are alcohol dependent not drink alcohol. Acamprosate works by restoring the natural balance of chemicals in the brain (neurotransmitters). Before starting this medication, you should no longer be drinking alcohol.
You should not use Campral if you have severe kidney disease.
Acamprosate (often referred to by the brand name Campral) is one of three medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of alcoholism. Acamprosate is likely the most used medication in the United States for alcohol abuse treatment and is even more common in dozens of countries around the world.
Unlike other alcohol treatment medications which either reduce the pleasurable impacts of alcohol or create deterring side effects from alcohol use, Acamprosate reduces the brain’s dependence on alcohol. Alcohol use changes the chemistry and functioning of the brain, and these changes become more severe the longer an addiction lasts and the more severe it becomes. When alcohol is no longer entering the body, the brain is no longer able to function in the same way that it has. This leads to cravings as the body enters alcohol withdrawal. Alcohol withdrawal can be extremely painful, and in some extreme cases, even fatal.
Acamprosate reacts with the neurotransmitter systems in the brain. Although the exact mechanism by the which Acamprosate works is not fully understood, the drug helps modulate and normalize brain activity that has been thrown into disarray by the cessation of alcohol use. In particular, Acamprosate impacts the glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) systems. Some of the other benefits of Acamprosate are that it reduces symptoms such as insomnia, anxiety, and restlessness.
Unlike alternative alcoholism treatment medications, Acamprosate is broken down by the digestive tract instead of the liver. This makes the drug advantageous to those dealing with liver-related health concerns caused by alcoholism