Heroin Addiction - Help for Addicts

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Naltrexone Handbook

All the information on this page is from the leaflet called 'Treatment Choices: Naltrexone' and is available from drug services in the UK. It is produced by HIT.

THE NALTREXONE HANDBOOK

naltrexone / NALOREX
Drugs work by stimulating receptors in the brain. These pictures show how naltrexone 'fits' over the opiate receptors and blocks them so that heroin can't have any effect.

Heroin-free
Naltrexone is prescribed in the UK under the trade name Nalorex. You can take it if you want to be completely free of heroin and other opiates. It works by sticking to, and blocking, all of the opiate receptors in the brain.

Before you take the first dose of naltrexone you must have been completely heroin- and methadone-free for seven to 10 days. This is because if there are opiates in your system, the naltrexone will very quickly remove them from the receptors, and send you into instant withdrawal.

Protection
Naltrexone can make coping with difficult times and high-risk situations easier because you know that if you take heroin, it won't have any effect.

You take naltrexone as a tablet and, once you are stable and used to taking it, you can take it just three times a week to give full-time 'protection' against the effects of heroin and all other opiates.

Other drugs
Naltrexone doesn't provide protection against tranquillisers or alcohol - so it is important to keep a close eye on the use of these drugs to make sure they don't 'replace' the heroin.

Implants
There has been some publicity given to naltrexone implants which are inserted surgically under the skin and give up to three months' protection from opiates.

However, these are experimental and are usually only available from a small number of private doctors.

Side effects
Sometimes people on naltrexone suffer from anxiety, stomach upsets and sleeplessness. But these feelings and physical symptoms are common following opiate detox ­ whether you are on naltrexone or not. If you do get these symptoms, discuss them with your doctor before stopping treatment.

Stopping treatment
Many of the people who start naltrexone stop treatment within a few weeks. This is sometimes because of the side effects, but more often it is because they realise that they don't really want to completely stop taking opiates.

Overdose
It is important that if you start taking naltrexone you know that you will be at very high risk of overdose if you stop taking naltrexone and start using heroin (or other opiates) again.

As well as having lost any tolerance to opiates while on naltrexone, it seems that your risk of overdose is increased even further because the opiate receptors in your brain become more sensitive. This probably happens as a reaction to them having been blocked by the naltrexone.

If you do stop taking naltrexone, and go back to using heroin, it is important that you don't inject - especially the first few times. This is because the overdose risks are so high. With lower tolerance you'll get a strong enough effect if you chase it.

Using heroin when you have been drinking alcohol or taking other tranquillisers (like valium or sleeping pills) also increases the risk of you dying from an overdose.

Source:  www.hit.org.uk  (HIT)