BACKGROUND Both compulsory detoxification treatment and community-based methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) exist for heroin addicts in China. We aim to examine the effectiveness of three intervention models for referring heroin addicts released from compulsory detoxification centers to community methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) clinics in Dehong prefecture, Yunnan province, China. MET...

We investigated the management and treatment of pregnant opioid users by Drug Treatment Services by region across England and Wales. A postal survey was conducted among 223 Community Drug Treatment Services (CDTS) across England and Wales. Sixtysix percent CDTS responded (n=154/233) to the survey. Over half CDTS (55.3%) provided a maintenance methadone dose lower than that recommended for non-p...

It appears that the literature on agonist maintenance therapies for opioid dependence pays more attention to outcomes during, rather than after, treatment. This review aims to (a) estimate to what extent opioid abstinence can be expected from former maintenance patients, (b) examine possible relationships between patient and treatment characteristics and abstinence rates and (c) assess the need...

Gabapentin is a potentially useful drug in alleviating the hyperexcitatory painful states in the control of opiate dependence in acute detoxification and the stabilization phase. This study aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of gabapentin adds-on methadone therapy on lowering the methadone. This randomized double blind controlled clinical trial conducted at an outpatient rehabilitation clini...

RATIONALE Benzodiazepines are used as anti anxiety drugs, as well as in adjunct treatment for a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Abusive patterns of use were increasingly reported and building evidence points to prevalence of benzodiazepines abuse, on one hand as well as to their common abuse in combination with other drugs such as opioids, most frequently. OBJECTIVE The main ...

Heroin addicts consume large quantities of refined sugars. This study investigated the effect of opiate use and antagonism on sweet taste in opiate-maintained drug users and detoxified former chronic opiate users, using a within-subject design. Seven opiate users received methadone and seven buprenorphine maintenance. Six detoxified subjects received naltrexone. Sucrose recognition thresholds a...

BACKGROUND Opioid-addicted patients undergoing detoxification provide a unique opportunity to assess the effects of chronic opioid receptor stimulation on the sympathetic nervous system. We tested the hypothesis that chronic oral methadone intake decreases resting efferent sympathetic nerve activity to muscle (MSA). Furthermore, we assessed whether this effect is reversed by mu-opioid receptor ...

objective : priapism is defined by persistent, painful penile erection which occurs without sexual stimulation. methadone is used as an analgesic and is also used in detoxification and maintenance protocol for opioid dependence treatment. here we will report a case of a male with priapism after rapid discontinuation doses of methadone. case presentation : the case was a young married male who r...

AIM The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of gabapentin (1600 mg/d) as an adjunctive to methadone-assisted detoxification in the treatment of opioid withdrawal symptoms. DESIGN This was a 3-week open-label study (as second phase) following a double-blind, placebo-controlled study with 900 mg/d of gabapentin (as first phase of this study). SETTING The study was conducted at a spe...

Detoxification, the initial step in the treatment of opiate dependence (Freedman, 1980) has been facing difficulties in our country as the widely used drug methadone is not available. Earlier practices were either abrupt withdrawal or gradual tapering of the dose of the opiate to which the individual was dependent. Recently clonidine has been used with success for detoxification and treatment o...