Opiate Addiction

In the Fall of last year, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Vivitrol for treating opiate addiction.  After a time in opiate detox (usually 7 to 10 days), the addict fighting with opiate addiction is administered Vivitrol on a once monthly schedule through an intramuscular injection to prevent relapse and a fall back into their opiate addiction.

At the time of this writing, Vivitrol is the sole non-narcotic medication given approval for the aid in relapse prevention and a slip back into opiate addiction.  After a period of abstinence most often following opiate detox, Vivitrol is provided once per month by person in healthcare through an intramuscular injection.  Being non-narcotic, Vivitrol is the only non-addictive, non-scheduled opiate antagonist that prevents the euphoric effects of opiates that addicts seek when they are active in their opiate addiction.  While it is not a miracle cure for opiate addiction, it is believed that Vivitrol can aid opiate addicts maintain their abstinence when implemented with counseling and other non-professional recovery work such as regular attendance at 12 step meetings.

Approval of Vivitrol by the Food and Drug Administration demonstrates an major step forward in the treatment of opiate addiction as it is the only non-scheduled, non-addicitive, opiate antagonist currently available for the treatment of opiate addiction.  Prior to this only other forms of scheduled narcotics like Methadone and Buprenorphine (Suboxone and Subutex) were prescribed for treatment of opiate addiction.  Historical data has shown that many opiate addicts treated with these other narcotic regimens for opiate addiction ended up transferring one addiction for another or bouncing back and forth between their prescribed treatment narcotic (Methadone, Buprenorphine, etc.) and the drug of choice for their opiate addiction (Heroin, OxyCodone, etc).

On top of opiate addiction, Vivitrol may be effective for the treatment of alcohol dependence.  As with opiate addiction clients, the patient must not use alcohol before initiation of treatment.