Published in The mental health clinician
Maintaining abstinence through the opioid withdrawal period is a substantial barrier to treatment for patients with opioid use disorder. The alpha-2 agonist lofexidine has demonstrated efficacy and safety in clinical trials, but pragmatic studies describing its use in clinical practice are lacking. This case series describes the use of lofexidine f...
Published in Journal of addictive diseases
Commercially available Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a dietary supplement that has gained popularity in the United States for its psychoactive effects and potential medicative properties as an opioid receptor agonist. Likewise, sudden discontinuation may be accompanied by an opioid-like withdrawal. We present the first case in the literature of th...
Published in Cureus
The increase in the prescription of opioid medications has resulted in a wildfire of misuse of opioids, both for medical and non-medical reasons, with over 1.7 million people in the United States (US) suffering from distinct disorders owing to opioid use. While various medications, such as methadone, buprenorphine, and naloxone, among others, have ...
Published in The European journal of neuroscience
Persons suffering from opioid use disorder (OUD) experience long-lasting dysphoric symptoms well into extended periods of withdrawal. This protracted withdrawal syndrome is notably characterized by heightened anxiety and hyperkatifeia. Here, we investigated if an exacerbated withdrawal model of acute morphine dependence results in lasting behaviora...
Published in The Journal of emergency medicine
Precipitated opioid withdrawal (POW) after opioid antagonist administration can be challenging to manage in the emergency department (ED), particularly if caused by a long-acting opioid antagonist such as naltrexone. There are no evidence-based guidelines to assist in safely and efficiently managing patients with this syndrome. To review current pr...
Published in Biological psychiatry
Opioid use disorder (OUD) is characterized by the development of a negative emotional state that develops after a history of long-term exposure to opioids. OUD represents a true challenge for treatment and relapse prevention. Human research has amply documented emotional disruption in individuals with an opioid substance use disorder, at both behav...
Published in Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Background: Patients with opioid withdrawal often present to the Emergency Department (ED), but many EDs do not have the infrastructure in place to initiate treatment with opioid agonists (methadone or buprenorphine). Therefore, ED management often entails symptomatic control. The purpose of this study was to compare olanzapine to clonidine for the...
Published in The Annals of pharmacotherapy
To review the pharmacology, efficacy, and safety of lofexidine for the treatment of opioid withdrawal secondary to the recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. A literature search using PubMed was conducted (inception to December 2018) using the terms lofexidine, opioid, opiate, and withdrawal. References from retrieved articles and the ...
Published in Journal of addiction medicine
To investigate the safety and efficacy of lofexidine for treating opioid withdrawal syndrome (OWS) and facilitating completion of opioid withdrawal. A multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted at 18 US centers from June 2013 to December 2014. Participants (n = 603) aged ≥18 years, dependent on short-acting opioids, and seeki...
Published in Medical Acupuncture
Objective: Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) has risen drastically over the past decade. Infants with NAS experience extreme discomfort and developmental delays when going into withdrawal. Management includes multiple supportive and nonpharmacologic therapies as first-line treatments in an effort to reduce or prevent the need for medication manage...
