Study: Rapid Heroin Detox Under Anesthesia Doesn't Work, Can Kill
An increasingly common method of heroin detoxification under general anesthesia is ineffective and unsafe, according to a study by psychiatrists at Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia.
The study, published in the August 24 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), is the first rigorously controlled trial to monitor all of the critical outcomes associated with the procedure, including comfort, treatment retention, abstinence rates and the ability to receive the full and effective dose of naltrexone, a drug that blocks activation on the receptor sites in the brain where the opioids attach.
Heroin addiction is notoriously difficult to overcome. The nervous system of heroin users adapts over time to accommodate to chronic exposure to the opioid, and its sudden absence during detoxification results in excruciating withdrawal symptoms, including nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, insomnia and irritability. Despite improvements in recent decades, medically supervised heroin withdrawal remains plagued by patient discomfort and high dropout rates. This has led to the growth of ultra-rapid, anesthesia-assisted opioid withdrawal procedures, which have been publicized as a fast, painless way to withdraw from opioids.
Results of the JAMA study, however, found that the procedure can lead to risk of death, psychosis and increased stress. Other studies have found other risks including delirium, attempted suicide, abnormal heart rhythm and acute renal failure. The anesthesia method is also prohibitively expensive, with most centers charging between $5,000 and $15,000 for the procedure.
“Our research illustrated that rapid heroin detoxification under anesthesia does not work well enough to justify the significant risk and expense,” said Eric D. Collins, M.D., assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and the project director and first author on the study.
The study compared detoxification under anesthesia to two other alternative methods. Detoxification with a single dose of the drug buprenorphine was slower than anesthesia, but more effective and significantly less expensive. The third option, using the drug clonidine, was the slowest method and the least effective.
“Quitting heroin use can be an extremely painful process and we continue to strive to identify more comfortable and rapid methods of helping patients reach that goal,” said Herbert D. Kleber, M.D., professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, director of the substance abuse division at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and principal investigator on the study. “Unfortunately the anesthesia method is not the answer.”
Dr. Kleber believes that regardless of the detoxification method used, the treatment received after detoxification is the most important factor in determining the ultimate success in remaining off heroin, as Patrick G. O’Connor, M.D., of the Yale University School of Medicine argued in his accompanying JAMA editorial.
Most of the approximately one million heroin-dependent Americans are not in treatment, and their main initial contact with the treatments system is often detoxification. Throughout the 20th century, many methods of opioid detoxification have been proposed – including insulin-induced seizures, artificial hibernation and electroconvulsive therapy. But these approaches often produced greater morbidity and mortality than untreated withdrawal.
From Columbia University
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Rehab
Thanks for the informative post. The heroin detoxification is a bit complicated as the stuff leave it's footprints on central nervous system. Many of the reputed rehab programs offer methadone to treat the heroin addicts. But the synthetic anesthetic methadone is not a good stuff to apply. It's also a kind of drug. So one should choose detox which help him to get better health.
Stoping H
I am 24 years old and have been using heroin since i was 16y. I have been to many rehabs, and have been detoxed many times, with methadone and naltraxone and even ibogain, but the problem with ibo is that for 8y i have been using, and when i am able to walk again after th ibogain the only thing i know is just to use again. But yes it is the best way this ibo.
I recently ran away from my 12 rehab, and my conclusions is that in treatment the point is not to quit but maybey to find a way in which you could use without going backward, and to use only the srquired amount a day not to get sick.
bullshit
to the guy that says he used $1000 a day worth of dope for 10 years, that is utter BS dude. that is like over 2 million dollars worth of heroin. I highly doubt that you managed to come up with that kind of money to support your habit. Especially considering from the sounds of it you still lived with mommy and daddy. Of course they are probably rich as fuck considering they could afford to pay for a doctor to come stay with you for 2 days straight. I hate people like you that have it so fucking easy. My parents wouldn't even help me get into an apartment so I could goto the methadone treatment facility in the city near where I used to live. Apparently I am not worth $400 to them. Oh well, they'll be the ones that get stuck paying the $5000 it is going to cost to bury me when I end up dead from doing dope. I shootup about 3 grams a day of dope when I can afford it. The days that I cannot pay for my dope are like a living hell. I go into convulsions and am drenched in sweat but because I don't have rich parents to take care of me while I am trying to kick this habit, I'm stuck with it. I don't even care if I die at this point. After finding out my own family doesn't even give a fuck about me, I lost all reason to live. I honestly cannot wait to fucking die because that is apparently the only way I am ever going to get off heroin. I tried calling the local detox doctor and there is a 6 month waiting list to even get an appointment. It pisses me off because I know that the majority of these people aren't even really addicts, they just THINK they are. I bet the majority of them have never even shot up before and think they are addicts because they were popping 10 vicodin a day. Now these idiots are just going to end up addicted to bupenorphine, which is wayyyyy more hardcore than hydrocodone. I bet these people even get "high" when they take it. I've taken 30 subs at once before and didn't even get a slight buzz from it. I'm to the point now where I can shootup a gram of dope and not even get a slight buzz from it. I'm going to force myself into withdrawals this week so I can actually get high again. I'm also going to buy abunch of Xanax bars so I can overdose and finally get off this fucking nightmarish drug.
rapid herion detox
my name is kylie on the 14 of nov 2009 i will be clean for 10 hole years and i owe it all to a place called CLEANSTART my dr tom was so great i did the detox at my house with my family there and with paibkiller and dr tom stayed with me for the 2 days and i have never looked back i was useing $1000 a day and i was very mixed up i was on it for 9 years so if i can do it any one can good luck
No take buprenorphine it is
No take buprenorphine it is just as addictive as methadone' a very long drawn out withdrawal'
Look into Ibogaine therapy' you shall have no withdrawal off "Heroin" and no "Cravings"
Be safe
Nobu +
Ibogaine
Look into ibogaine detox on the internet.
sorry for your cousin but dont be so hars esp when people are co
thats kinda hursh im sorry what you went trough but im a recovering addict for over a year many diffrent attempts but without the notice of my family i would have never went back addictin is a diease i will pray for your family just dont put addicts down its hard
Rapid Detox with Naltrexone
Thanks for your story and please let me know if naltrexone medication was used in your case. In my country, the Netherlands rapid-detox under anaesteia is out and clinics supply naltrexone tablets during one year. The Waismann Institute and most other rapid-detox clinics keep using the narcose to fight cold turkey.
Besides we have the Low Dose Naltrexone Method (LDN site) where only 4 mgm does the job for patients with a variety of serious diseases such as MS, Crohn, Cancer and others.
The High Dose Treatment of 50 mgm seems to work for many forms of addiction like gaming and gambling, shoplifting, anorexia and bolumia.
As soon as you have find the time to read the medical findings about all these treatments, I am anxious to receiv your comments.
My mail address is : engelenmoonwatcher@live.nl.
My name is Henry van Engelen. Take care and love your new life!
Get off the crap now!
On Tuesday, my cousin walked into her daughter's house and found my little cousin slumped over the coffee table, with a needle still in her hand - she had been dead for a while.
Today we buried her.
I am beside myself with terrible grief. I don't know what is more sad - knowing that my little cousin's life is over OR watching a mother have to bury her ONLY child.
Do drug users THINK of anyone besides themselves???
I'm angry - furious!
Right now - I have NO pity for drug users. After all, aren't you all looking for the easy way out?
Just go to the damn hospital and admit yourself and friggin DETOX.
Stop talking about it - just do it!!!!
Do it before your family has to bury you!
Buprenorphine is addictive
Suboxone has this compound and I was using it to get off methadone. Now I can't get off the Suboxone, but the anesthesia detox is to expensive for me to afford and now my insurance changed and the suboxone is $260 a month, so what am I suppossed to do. Start doing ilegal sreet drugs. Why won't the government help people like us who are stuck on medication because of serious surgeries. I called The Rapid Detox place and they want $6700 to do it. I don't have $6700 to spend or else i would. My family life is going down hill, please if someone knows how I can get help let me know. I live in Corpus Christi, TX and I have had so many surgeries I have a low pain tolerance so I can't go through one of those 30-45 programs.
S
fuck it, just swing the boy
fuck it, just swing the boy so you get ur dope for free and you can nod forever for free; being a junkie is a good life, i thin so anyway
Rapid Detox
go to www.RapidDrugDetox.com and you can read all about it. They can help you. They are affordable and very good and compassionate.
I believe facing the
I believe facing the withdrawal head on is the best way to go, I found out how strong I was when I had to do this 3 years ago at a drug detox clinic. You feel a huge boost of confidence for beating it and that boost has kept me clean every since. Plus, you need to know how to fight it to avoid it becoming a problem again in the future. So I’m glad to see this lazy way out of fighting is proving unsafe.
People should not use these
People should not use these alternative methods on real pacients. The medical boards should be convinced that these treatments work before exposing people to such high risks. If Methadone doesn’t work, then I think the best option is to find out what best fits each person in particular, but without drastic methods such as these
yes
Good for you! I have been looking for a place in Michigan and wonder if you could give me the name of the place you went
I am very surprised by this
I am very surprised by this article. I had the anesthesia detox procedure in Michigan and it was the best thing I ever did. I was only under the anesthesia for about 45" and never felt it was life threatening and dangerous. I am finally free of heroin and felt no cravings. I had a little anxiety and trouble sleeping without sleep med. but I had medicine from the doctor for that. I do not go around anyone I know that uses drugs and I see a therapist once a week. This was my only hope to get clean. Don't be scared of this procedure, it worked great for me. Been clean now about 7 months and I'll never go back.
heroin detox
Thanks for this. If this is the case, patients should choose instead the better heroin detox with buprenorphine. I recognize the difficulty of getting cleaned from heroin but this shouldn't risk lives.
--mary
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