What Are The Medication-Based Treatment Options For Opioid Addiction

May 9, 2019 by By Dr. Keith Crawford, BDO HIV Expert

Yesterday morning, I was seeing patients with a colleague of mine, a physician and medical director of a large clinic providing medical care to residents of an impoverished section of Washington DC. Four patients came in being managed for hepatitis C infection and one of these patients was also HIV-infected. The good news is that the patients who had been treated for hep C infection had been cured with their medicines.

More good news is that the patient who also was HIV infected was controlled on her medications with no detectable virus in the blood. For all these patients, the major risk factor for their infections was injection drug use of heroin. Most of them were still struggling to control the addiction. In addition, another person came to the clinic in opioid-withdrawal seeking medical intervention.

So what are the options for treating opioid addiction? Are there medicines we can use, and if so, how do they work?
The main way that opioid addiction is managed with medication is through what we call substitution therapy. We are going to substitute the abused drug (e.g. heroin) for another opioid-related drug with a profile that may allow us to control the addiction and eventually stop the craving for the drug altogether. It’s similar to how we treat smoking, which is nicotine addiction, with nicotine replacement (an article coming up soon!).

Recall in the previous article I mentioned that heroin was a short-acting intravenous opioid, not that different from morphine. Injecting or snorting the drug produces an intense high but it only lasts a short time. After a few hours without the drug, the person starts feeling uncomfortable and needs more drug.

So the person spends their

Juice WRLD’s Mother, Carmella Wallace, Opens Up About Her Son’s Death

It’s been less than a week since news broke about Juice WRLD’s untimely passing. Carmella Wallace, Juice WRLD’s mother, has released a statement regarding her son’s death. Juice WRLD, whose real name is Jarad Higgins, died after suffering a seizure

Could CBD Treat Opioid Addiction?

At the state level, opioid overdose death rates are actually higher for black, non-Hispanic individuals than for white individuals in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. In Washington state, the drug and

Intravenous Drug Use of Opioids and HIV transmission: Opioids 101

Opioids are natural and synthetic derivatives of opium, a compound produced by the poppy plant. Opium and its derivatives have been used for their medicinal purposes for thousands of years in many different cultures. It is interesting to note that

Cold/Flu Safety: Opioid Cough & Cold Medicines 18 & Older Only

Although we may let our kids sing along to the latest in ‘lean’ infused music, that doesn’t mean the FDA is here for it. Whether your child knows what ‘purp’, ‘sizzurp’, promethazine, and codeine really is or not, the U.S.

From The ‘War On Drugs’ To ‘National Health Emergency’: Opioid Addiction & Health Disparities In Black Communities

The United States is battling one of the deadliest public health crises in our history. Drug overdoses have now become the leading cause of accidental death for people under the age of 50. During a hearing in late October 2017, Donald

Opioids: Are You Using Them Safely?

Every 19 minutes, someone dies from an accidental opioids overdose, the CDC reports. Even more alarming? Though, Americans represent only 5% of the world's population, they consume 80% of the world's opioids, the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians reports.