Posted by ed_uk on May 10, 2005, at 5:29:48
In reply to Re: Aging speed up or slow down with meds, posted by Declan on May 9, 2005, at 22:57:13
Hi,
I think you said you were taking methadone 1.25mg. I think you also mentioned that you are not satisfied with methadone. Have you considered switching to buprenorphine or controlled-release morphine?
I'm sure you are knowledgable about buprenorphine. Here is some information about controlled-release morphine.......
Addiction. 2004 Aug;99(8):940-5.
Slow-release oral morphine versus methadone: a crossover comparison of patient outcomes and acceptability as maintenance pharmacotherapies for opioid dependence.Mitchell TB, White JM, Somogyi AA, Bochner F.
Department of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia. t.mitchell@iop.kcl.ac.uk
AIMS: To evaluate slow-release oral morphine (SROM) as an alternative maintenance pharmacotherapy to methadone for treatment of opioid dependence. DESIGN: Open-label crossover study. SETTING: Out-patient methadone maintenance programme. PARTICIPANTS: Eighteen methadone maintenance patients. Intervention Participants were transferred from methadone to SROM (once-daily Kapanol trade mark ) for approximately 6 weeks before resuming methadone maintenance. MEASUREMENTS: Patient outcomes were assessed (1) during the transition between medications (dose requirements, withdrawal severity) and (2) after at least 4 weeks on a stable dose of each drug (treatment preference, patient ratings of treatment efficacy and acceptability, drug use, health, depression and sleep). FINDINGS: Transfer from methadone to SROM was associated with relatively mild withdrawal for the first 5 days; the final mean SROM : methadone dose ratio was 4.6 : 1. Compared to methadone, SROM was associated with improved social functioning, weight loss, fewer and less troublesome side-effects, greater drug liking, reduced heroin craving, an enhanced sense of feeling 'normal' and similar outcomes for unsanctioned drug use, depression and health. The majority of subjects preferred SROM (78%) over methadone (22%). CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide justification for further evaluation of SROM as a maintenance pharmacotherapy for opioid dependence.
Kind regards,
Ed.
poster:ed_uk
thread:492561
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050510/msgs/495914.html