Category Archives: Methadone Overdose

CVS Standing For Life and Safety

Posted on October 3, 2015 | Comments Off on CVS Standing For Life and Safety

methadone-recovery-1It was announced late last month that CVS Drugstores intends to expand their provision of non-prescription naloxone into 12 additional U.S. States. Currently, they provide naloxone over-the-counter in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, but will begin offering the life-saving medication in California, Minnesota, Mississippi, Arkansas, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.

Naloxone has gained attention in recent years due to its ability to reverse opioid overdoses. Over 44,000 people have died annually in the United States from drug overdose with a majority of those stemming from heroin or prescription pain medication. Naloxone has been successfully utilized in emergency rooms and on site in communities around the country reversing opioid overdose and saving thousands of lives.

It is critically important to recognize that people who have suffered with addiction are sometimes close to a lasting recovery. There is a popular expression used lately that is somewhat stark though true and thought-provoking. The expression goes “You can’t recover if you’re dead.” While this may sound off-putting to some, it reminds us that people stuck in years of painful addiction can, and do, change. We would much rather have naloxone readily available to save a life and to provide a son, daughter, or friend the opportunity to change direction.

An addicted individual could be much closer to choosing a life of recovery than we might imagine. This happens on a daily basis. How, and when, someone recovers from addiction is hard to predict. All we can do is to offer them an open door to a new and better life.

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Posted in Addiction Recovery, California Drug Treatment, Evzio, Heroin Overdose, Methadone, Methadone Overdose, Naloxone, Opiate Addiction, Prescription Drugs, Suboxone

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Evzio For Reversal of Opioid Overdose

Posted on February 15, 2015 | Comments Off on Evzio For Reversal of Opioid Overdose

evzio-naloxoneEvzio is an FDA-approved emergency treatment that counteracts the effects of opioid overdose. It is an “auto-injector” designed to contain a retractable needle and a 0.4 mg dose of naloxone. Naloxone is a powerful opioid antagonist that reverses the effects of overdose with heroin or other opiates. Naloxone has been used throughout the country in the past few years and literally saved hundreds of lives.

evzio-imageKaleo Pharma is the manufacturer of Evzio. The company specializes in innovative solutions for serious and life threatening medical conditions. Kaleo Pharma is based out of Richmond, Virginia, USA.

As has been documented in national media, very potent forms of heroin have become available much of it laced with other opiate derivatives like fentanyl. These combinations have proven lethal in a large number of cases often with younger people being the victims of overdose due to not understanding the extreme potency of the drugs being sold.

Products like Evzio in the hands of family and local emergency response teams can yield life saving interventions within minutes.

When addicted people survive a near fatal overdose, this often acts as a necessary catalyst to enter treatment and to step onto the path of personal recovery. Overdose survivors sometimes reflect on what has happened to them and may realize the pain that their death would have caused their children, friends, and family. The vast majority of overdoses are accidental and are nearly always preventable.

It is important to remember that addiction is an illness and that addicted people can recover, and can go on to live much improved lives when they are ready to change. Evzio will most likely save many people and give them that opportunity to live a life of real recovery.

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Posted in Evzio, Heroin, Heroin Overdose, Methadone, Methadone Clinics, Methadone Overdose, Naloxone, Opiate Addiction, Recovery, Suboxone

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Methadone Dosage Increases

Posted on November 24, 2013 | Comments Off on Methadone Dosage Increases

methadone-increaseWhen a new client joins a methadone program, they go through a process called induction. Induction is the initial delivery of a methadone dose and the subsequent increases in dosage over the next 1 to 2 months as the medical team help get the client stabilized & comfortable on a dose of methadone that effectively eliminates their painful opioid withdrawal symptoms.

Induction is historically a high risk span of time since there is an increased risk of accidental overdose with methadone. It is extremely rare that overdose occurs during induction especially if clients are abstaining from other illicit substances during the induction process.

Therein lies the dilemma. Some clients become impatient with the process of methadone induction and will supplement their methadone dose with other unapproved opiates or benzodiazepines. This is dangerous and actually undermines the benefit of what methadone can achieve for the patient.

To help the treatment team determine the level of methadone increase to provide a patient, they use the Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale, or COW Scale. This is a withdrawal assessment tool that helps the clinical or medical team determine the prevalence and severity of opioid withdrawal symptoms. The scale produces a score based on the client’s reported symptoms and the team’s observation of withdrawal symptoms. The higher the COW scale score, the more severe the symptomology and thus a greater justification for allowing a higher dosage increase.

Some clinics are known to take clients up 10 mg at a time. Many physicians consider this high risk and too rapid of an increase. Note that methadone is a slow acting, long lasting opioid agonist with a much longer half life than heroin and most other prescription opioids. What this means is that methadone stays in the system much longer and builds cumulatively over time. So the actual effect of a dosage increase is not immediately felt and may take 1-3 days before the full effect of that dosage increase is realized.

With an impatient client, they may receive a dosage increase but not feel the immediate relief they were hoping for. Consequently, they may use additional unapproved opiates that then mix with the methadone increase that is still being absorbed into their system. This puts the client at risk of overdose.

Many clinics use 5 mg increases every few days while some clinics adjust each requested increase in accordance with the COW Scale score. For example, a client may receive several 5 mg increases because they have moderately severe withdrawal symptoms, but then receive a 3 mg increase days later and possibly a 2 mg increase days after that as the symptom severity begins to diminish. This more cautious approach reduces the risk of overdose while still addressing the client’s unresolved physical discomfort.

A well-managed methadone induction is tailored to the individual client’s needs, and the client’s safety is always the chief concern. Methadone dosage increases are provided only to alleviate measurable physical withdrawal symptoms or closely associated anxiety, restlessness, or psychological distress from withdrawal.

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Posted in Medication Assisted Treatment, Methadone, Methadone Benefits, Methadone Blog, Methadone Overdose, Methadone Safety, Methadone Treatment, Opiate Withdrawal

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Safety and Security With Methadone

Posted on April 5, 2013 | Comments Off on Safety and Security With Methadone

methadone-safetyIf you are currently a client in a methadone clinic, then you have most likely heard treatment staff emphasize the importance of safety with methadone and the necessity of carefully securing take home methadone doses. Methadone is a powerful medication that is tremendously helpful to recovering individuals. It is also potentially lethal in the wrong hands and consequently must be deliberately safeguarded.

There is a recently published article on Bloomberg regarding methadone being diverted and then taken by someone who later died from an overdose. This turn of events has led to newly proposed legislation in five states (Maine, Indiana, Minnesota, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania) that would further tighten regulations regarding the operation of methadone clinics and their award of methadone take home medication to their clients.

The reported misuse of methadone, and associated deaths, was allegedly tied to several private, for-profit clinics that operate in these states. One of the criticisms of the private, for-profit clinics was that they are not providing "enough services". This is intended to mean that the clinics in question were not providing sufficient education & counseling support or adequate monitoring of those who receive take home methadone.

It is critically important that all methadone clinics (both private and publicly supported) implement thorough measures to educate clients on methadone safety concerns as well as institute monitoring protocols like 24 hour callbacks and random drug testing. 24 hour callbacks require take home recipients to return to their home clinic within 24 hours and to produce their methadone take home doses for count and inspection by the clinic's medical staff.

It is also important that methadone clinics only award take home medication privileges to those clients who have achieved certain progress milestones such as successive months of clean urinalysis, attendance to required counseling sessions, the absence of criminal charges, and demonstrated appropriate behaviors & attitude toward staff and peers at the clinic.

When individuals intentionally divert methadone doses or mishandle methadone through lax practices (such as leaving it sitting out in plain view), they put others at risk and ultimately undermine the delivery of methadone services in the community. In other words, the mistakes of a few can negatively affect everyone. This also erodes the community's confidence in methadone as a life-saving medical treatment.

In the end, it is the shared responsibility of all methadone clinics and their clients to insure that methadone is taken as prescribed, and safeguarded from diversion. When proper precautions are not honored, tragedies will occur. This will lead to state legislators taking matters into their own hands with additional laws & regulations that may keep worthy individuals from receiving a valuable privilege. Take home medication is so very beneficial to honest, hard-working individuals in recovery. It frees them to seek employment, hold a job, care for family, and to more easily meet many other important responsibilities in their lives.

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Posted in Drug Treatment, Florida Methadone Clinics, Medication Assisted Treatment, Methadone, Methadone Clinics, Methadone Diversion Control, Methadone Maintenance, Methadone News, Methadone Overdose, Methadone Programs, Methadone Safety, Methadone Take Home, Prescription Monitoring, Suboxone Clinics, Suboxone Doctors, Suboxone Physicians