Julia M Aharonov, DO
Julia M Aharonov, DO
Female, 50
Southfield, MI
Specialties: Addiction, Drug abuse and dependence
Interests: My family
Female, 50
Southfield, MI
Specialties: Addiction, Drug abuse and dependence
Interests: My family
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Jul 10, 2012 - 3 comments
Naltrexone drug therapy, an opiate blocker treatment, done after rapid detox treatment, is an essential component in achieving a better success rate for a drug free life style. Three types of Naltrexone drug dosing are available:
Naltrexone Pellet
Naltrexone is an opiate blocker that reduces cravings tremendously. At our drug detox center we administer Naltrexone pellet underneath the skin to delivers the medicine gradually over 2 months. This is a minor operative procedure. Naltrexone prevents opiates from getting back into the brain receptors and thus maintains abstinence for 2 months. We recommend repeating the Naltrexone pellet implant every 2 months over a period of six to twelve months. I say that because the patient’s thought process will take a few months to change to the new sober life style. The brain neurons require long time for healing. The implantable pellet is usually less expensive than the injectable form of Naltrexone.
Naltrexone Intramuscular Injection
Another form of Naltrexone post detox maintenance is an intramuscular injection of Vivitrol. The injection ensures protection from opiates for one month only. One intramuscular shot is rather expensive as it costs approximately $1200.00 per month. At MDS we include the Naltrexone pellet implant to ensure opiate blockade for two months into the cost of the rapid detox procedure. However, Vivitrol injection is, on some occasions, a preferred method of continual Naltrexone delivery as, for example, in instances of questionable compliance.
Vivitrol (extended release injectable naltrexone) has been approved by the FDA in October of 2010 to treat people with opioid dependence. It is the first and only once-monthly injectable naltrexone delivery system approved and indicated for the prevention of relapse following opioid detoxification. We are proud to be working closely with Alkermes, the pharmaceutical company that produces Vivitrol to help those patient who have and are willing to use their Medical Insurance to fully cover these injections for as long as one year after our rapid detox procedure ensuring sobriety. For those patients who are willing to pay for injections out-of-pocket Alkermes is willing to help with substantial discounts, however it is still relatively costly.
Please, be certain you are getting Vivitrol after an opiate detox procedure, and not a compounded generic substitute, as the dose and the delivery mode may not be accurate. Such generic substitutes have been known to be used by some detox clinics.
Naltrexone Pill
The last method of Naltrexone dosing is the oral route. It is simple, but we prescribe it in rare situations. It is so easy to forget taking the pills by the post drug detox patient. We don’t want patients to be vulnerable as the mental thought process has not adapted yet for a drug free life style.
Naltrexone Pellet
Naltrexone is an opiate blocker that reduces cravings tremendously. At our drug detox center we administer Naltrexone pellet underneath the skin to delivers the medicine gradually over 2 months. This is a minor operative procedure. Naltrexone prevents opiates from getting back into the brain receptors and thus maintains abstinence for 2 months. We recommend repeating the Naltrexone pellet implant every 2 months over a period of six to twelve months. I say that because the patient’s thought process will take a few months to change to the new sober life style. The brain neurons require long time for healing. The implantable pellet is usually less expensive than the injectable form of Naltrexone.
Naltrexone Intramuscular Injection
Another form of Naltrexone post detox maintenance is an intramuscular injection of Vivitrol. The injection ensures protection from opiates for one month only. One intramuscular shot is rather expensive as it costs approximately $1200.00 per month. At MDS we include the Naltrexone pellet implant to ensure opiate blockade for two months into the cost of the rapid detox procedure. However, Vivitrol injection is, on some occasions, a preferred method of continual Naltrexone delivery as, for example, in instances of questionable compliance.
Vivitrol (extended release injectable naltrexone) has been approved by the FDA in October of 2010 to treat people with opioid dependence. It is the first and only once-monthly injectable naltrexone delivery system approved and indicated for the prevention of relapse following opioid detoxification. We are proud to be working closely with Alkermes, the pharmaceutical company that produces Vivitrol to help those patient who have and are willing to use their Medical Insurance to fully cover these injections for as long as one year after our rapid detox procedure ensuring sobriety. For those patients who are willing to pay for injections out-of-pocket Alkermes is willing to help with substantial discounts, however it is still relatively costly.
Please, be certain you are getting Vivitrol after an opiate detox procedure, and not a compounded generic substitute, as the dose and the delivery mode may not be accurate. Such generic substitutes have been known to be used by some detox clinics.
Naltrexone Pill
The last method of Naltrexone dosing is the oral route. It is simple, but we prescribe it in rare situations. It is so easy to forget taking the pills by the post drug detox patient. We don’t want patients to be vulnerable as the mental thought process has not adapted yet for a drug free life style.
sounds like a bunch of crap to me .
Sorry Skidmore, but she's right on point. Naltrexone produces an effective blockade against opiates. I may be inclined to take exception to the idea of implants as treatment for newly recovered opioid dependent addicts. Naltrexone doesn't do much in the way of craving suppression and spracked out addicts have been known to grab the closest sharp object and dig their implants out so they can resume using their drug of choice...this seems extreme, but its a fact. If you can prevent an addict from getting high, you have a chance to work on behavior modification...Naltrexone will prevent an addict, or anyone else for that matter, from benefiting from the effects of opiates.
A weak but compelling study took a look at two small groups of Anesthesiologists treated for addiction. These kids have it rough, they are subject to occupational exposure to opiates as a vapor mist in their work environment. Many suffer from addiction and are unable to return to practice after treatment for that addiction. The study took 11 doctors that went on Naltrexone and compared them to 11 doctors not on Naltrexone. Of the group on Naltrexone, 1 of 11 relapsed on opiates as compared to 8 of 11 who did not get Naltrexone relapsing on opiates. Furthermore, of the doctors not taking Naltrexone, only 1 successfully returned to practice anesthesiology, while 9 of the 11 doctors who took Naltrexone were able to return to practice without relapse. This was true three and one half to four years later at the time the study was published.
So, no....it isn't really a bunch of crap. You may be able to read the full text by searching "mandatory naltrexone anesthesiologists" Admittedly it is a weak study of a small sampling, but I would expect similar percentages if the experiment were carried out with as many as 5000 individuals. Oh, and that solitary doctor in the group not receiving Naltrexone who successfully returned to practice...he was primarily alcohol dependent and his opiate abuse was never verified.
Personally I like watching people using a partial agonist, specifically buprenorphine and naloxone combined. I would like to see research work on developing a sustained release depot formulation of buprenorphine for a once monthly injection, because like Naltrexone tablets, oral compliance with Suboxone is the biggest challenge to successful treatment in an outpatient clinic...the whole - you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink - frustration. Partial agonists do not exhibit the anhedonic side effect of Naltrexone. Because of the mechanism of action of Naltrexone and it's effect on reward pathways, people who take it report a slight lack of interest in pleasure seeking activities.
At any rate, aside from my personal preference for treating with Suboxone, I hope I have reassured you that the Vivitrol works well at maintaining abstinence from opiates in the long term. Oh, and Touchpoints offers up to $500 a month of copay assistance, so if you have a 40% copay for medications or less...you probably won't have any out of pocket share of cost for your heady $1,200 per month medication...once you meet your deductible. Despite how it may sound, I do not work for Alkermes nor receive any compensation from any pharmaceutical company. I am involved in treatment for dependency and addiction, and this is all merely my opinion...except for the study info...that's all someone else's work that can be independently verified.
Good luck with your recovery,
yer Uncle Pelty
A weak but compelling study took a look at two small groups of Anesthesiologists treated for addiction. These kids have it rough, they are subject to occupational exposure to opiates as a vapor mist in their work environment. Many suffer from addiction and are unable to return to practice after treatment for that addiction. The study took 11 doctors that went on Naltrexone and compared them to 11 doctors not on Naltrexone. Of the group on Naltrexone, 1 of 11 relapsed on opiates as compared to 8 of 11 who did not get Naltrexone relapsing on opiates. Furthermore, of the doctors not taking Naltrexone, only 1 successfully returned to practice anesthesiology, while 9 of the 11 doctors who took Naltrexone were able to return to practice without relapse. This was true three and one half to four years later at the time the study was published.
So, no....it isn't really a bunch of crap. You may be able to read the full text by searching "mandatory naltrexone anesthesiologists" Admittedly it is a weak study of a small sampling, but I would expect similar percentages if the experiment were carried out with as many as 5000 individuals. Oh, and that solitary doctor in the group not receiving Naltrexone who successfully returned to practice...he was primarily alcohol dependent and his opiate abuse was never verified.
Personally I like watching people using a partial agonist, specifically buprenorphine and naloxone combined. I would like to see research work on developing a sustained release depot formulation of buprenorphine for a once monthly injection, because like Naltrexone tablets, oral compliance with Suboxone is the biggest challenge to successful treatment in an outpatient clinic...the whole - you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink - frustration. Partial agonists do not exhibit the anhedonic side effect of Naltrexone. Because of the mechanism of action of Naltrexone and it's effect on reward pathways, people who take it report a slight lack of interest in pleasure seeking activities.
At any rate, aside from my personal preference for treating with Suboxone, I hope I have reassured you that the Vivitrol works well at maintaining abstinence from opiates in the long term. Oh, and Touchpoints offers up to $500 a month of copay assistance, so if you have a 40% copay for medications or less...you probably won't have any out of pocket share of cost for your heady $1,200 per month medication...once you meet your deductible. Despite how it may sound, I do not work for Alkermes nor receive any compensation from any pharmaceutical company. I am involved in treatment for dependency and addiction, and this is all merely my opinion...except for the study info...that's all someone else's work that can be independently verified.
Good luck with your recovery,
yer Uncle Pelty
Recent studies have shown that Naltrexone doesn't block cravings in opiate addicts as well as it does in alchoholic patients. It does, as the doctors point out above, prevent them from getting high. If an addict is using naltrexone and also trying to take opiates to get high (which are blocked), I think there's an issue with their recovery that naltrexone is not going to help with. Rapid detox doctors use naltrexone to attenuate withdrawl. Claiming that it blocks craving and assists in neural healing is not based on science (although it may well be true in some patients).
My opinion: it's just another "silver bullet" kind of approach. Fact: Any opiate addict can quit on their own, with no additional drugs, and "heal" completely through diet and exercise. They will suffer horrible withdrawl pain, and healing will take a long time and require a ton of work. And many people who become addicts don't want to deal with that concept. And this general unwillingness to deal with a difficult process opens the door for suboxone and naltrexone and methadone "treatment". If we focus on outcomes, yes, perhaps there is a percentage of patients who do, in fact, get clean long-term through one of these treatments. But those long-term success stories may well have succeeded anyway, at a much lower cost to themselves - and at the cost of reduced profits for the medical and drug industries.
My opinion: it's just another "silver bullet" kind of approach. Fact: Any opiate addict can quit on their own, with no additional drugs, and "heal" completely through diet and exercise. They will suffer horrible withdrawl pain, and healing will take a long time and require a ton of work. And many people who become addicts don't want to deal with that concept. And this general unwillingness to deal with a difficult process opens the door for suboxone and naltrexone and methadone "treatment". If we focus on outcomes, yes, perhaps there is a percentage of patients who do, in fact, get clean long-term through one of these treatments. But those long-term success stories may well have succeeded anyway, at a much lower cost to themselves - and at the cost of reduced profits for the medical and drug industries.
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