Quote:
Originally Posted by zos
that is the most flat out useful, well thought out post i think i've ever seen.
good advice just in general. i think i'll track it down and check it out, i'm dead certain at some point it's going to come in handy for one friend or another.
|
Thank you.
Also, if a naloxone program isnt available there is likely a suboxone maintenance program. These work like methadone maintenance programs typically, but the rules may be a little less restrictive about take home doses and such because suboxone isnt nearly as recreational as methadone.
Suboxone/Subutex (generic name: Buprenorphine) is a partial opiate agonist/antagonist. That means that if you take it with no opiate tolerance or if you have no opiates in your system you can get high off of it. However it is not one of the better opiate highs, and it is really easy to over do it and become nauseous.
Also, because the half-life of bupe is 36 hours, whatever effects you get from it (euphoria or projective vomiting) will last over a day.
I bring Buprenorphine up in this discussion, however, because of its
Antagonist properties. If you are dependent on opiates and take Suboxone, the bupe will rip the drugs out of the receptor sites in your brain and cause precipitated withdrawal. This also means that If you give buprenorphine to a person who is ODing on opiates, it will reverse the overdose, much like naloxone will.
Naloxone wears off after about 30-45 minutes. That means that if the patient has had a severe overdose, he can begin to OD again 30 minutes after the administration of naloxone, once the naloxone wears off, even if he does not take any more opiates.
Buprenorphine, on the other hand, has a half-life of approx. 36 hours. That means that one does not need to be concerned that the patient may relapse into overdose again, as may happen with naloxone.
For these reasons, acquiring some Bupe may be another way to prepare yourself for an opiate overdose if naloxone is not available in your area (though I have heard you can get naloxone online, since it is not a controlled substance like Bupe - obvioulsy it would then be your duty to personally learn all of the information normally covered in the class).
Important Notes:
Treating opiate overdose with buprenorphine has not been studied by the FDA, and therefore the idea should be met with some skepticism. My whole reasoning for thinking this would be a good harm reduction technique is based on a logical application of my admittedly limited understanding of pharmacology and backed up with case studies in which a few quick thinking junkies saved their friends' lives with this method.
Also, Buprenorphine works as a partial antagonist because it has a very high binding affinity for the µ-opioid receptor, higher than most other opiates and even naloxone. However, I have heard that there are some opiates with a higher binding affinity than Bupe. Overdose on these opiates
can not be reversed with buprenorphine.
I believe fentanyl is one of these opiates.
If I missed anything or if anyone has any questions about this post or my pervious one feel free to ask (hope you dont think Im thread jacking Panjojo, what Im saying does relate to your question
)
Fentanyl powder
