A review of the characteristics and treatment progress of 45 pregnant opiate addicts attending the Irish National Drug Advisory and Treatment Centre over a two year period

AbstractA seventeen year old man attended the National Drug Treatment Centre with a paranoid psychosis following ingestion of Methylene dioxy methamphetamine (MDMA). He had been taking MDMA on a recreational basis over a five month period. Although chronic psychosis after heavy use of MDMA has been reported there are no pervious reports of psychosis following recreational use. This report highlights the psychological dangers of this drug, which has become widely misused in Dublin over the last two years.

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Hepatitis C infection among injecting drug users attending the National Drug Treatment Centre

Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -) ◽

10.1007/bf02967199 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 164 (4) ◽

pp. 267-268 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

R. Smyth ◽

E. Keenan ◽

A. Dorman ◽

J. O’Connor

Keyword(s):

Hepatitis C ◽

Drug Treatment ◽

Drug Users ◽

Injecting Drug Users ◽

Hepatitis C Infection ◽

National Drug ◽

Treatment Centre

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Tapentadol Abuse and Dependence in India

10.31219/osf.io/xsu2q ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Lekhansh Shukla

Keyword(s):

Drug Users ◽

Addiction Treatment ◽

Opioid Analgesic ◽

National Level ◽

National Drug ◽

Spatial Trends ◽

Treatment Centre ◽

Temporal And Spatial ◽

One Year ◽

Temporal And Spatial Trends

Background: Tapentadol is a synthetic opioid analgesic available in India since 2011. International evidence suggests a low risk of abuse and diversion. Our study aims to question this perception in Indian context.Method: We report the trend and profile of Tapentadol abuse cases that were treated at a tertiary level addiction treatment centre in southern India. We also describe the ease of repurposing oral tablets of Tapentadol into an injection. At the national level, we have examined the temporal and spatial trends of online interest in Tapentadol and compared it with a non-opioid drug Ilaprazole and an opioid drug Tramadol using Google Trends. We have used the National Drug Use Survey 2019 to illustrate the regional data.Results: 23 cases of Tapentadol abuse sought treatment between 01/01/2011 and 30/08/2019. In last one year, the number of cases has more than doubled. A majority (N = 19, 83%) of cases had intravenous Tapentadol abuse, needle sharing and 60 % were diagnosed with Hepatitis C. Tapentadol is attracting new users (N = 13, 56.5 %) as well as replacing other opioids (N = 10, 43.5 %) amongst drug users. Tapentadol has received more online interest than Ilaprazole. Temporal and spatial trends of online interest in Tapentadol parallel Tramadol. States with high prevalence of opioid users have shown high online interest in both opioid drugs.Conclusion: Tapentadol is being widely abused, and urgent regulatory measures are required.

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Maintainence Treatment of Opioid Dependence with Tramadol

Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice ◽

10.4103/jnrp.jnrp_422_16 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 08 (S 01) ◽

pp. S098-S101

Author(s):

Siddharth Sarkar ◽

Mohit Varshney ◽

Vaibhav Patil ◽

Rakesh Lal

Keyword(s):

Opioid Dependence ◽

Case Series ◽

New Delhi ◽

Medical Sciences ◽

National Drug ◽

Effective Option ◽

Treatment Centre ◽

Complete Abstinence

ABSTRACT Background: Although tramadol has been used in the management of acute withdrawal in patients with opioid dependence, its use for maintenance treatment as a harm reduction approach has not been assessed systematically. This case series describes patients with opioid dependence who were treated with tramadol for long-term maintenance. Methods: Patients with opioid dependence who received treatment at the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, were included in the study. Patients who received at least 6 months of tramadol and had follow-up adherence of more than 80% were included in the case series. Results: A total of 25 cases were included, all of whom were males. The types of opioids being taken at the time of initiation of tramadol were natural opiates (poppy husk and raw opium), followed by heroin. The median dose of tramadol at initiation and maintenance was 300 mg/day. Nineteen patients were able to achieve complete abstinence to other opiates on tramadol. Conclusion: Tramadol may be an effective option in the long-term management of patients with opioid dependence. Further studies are required for establishing the efficacy of tramadol for agonist management of patients with opioid dependence.

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Benzodiazepine misuse and dependence among opiate addicts in treatment

Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0790966700002445 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 62-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Hugh Williams ◽

A Oyefeso ◽

AH Ghodse

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Inpatient Treatment ◽

Physical Dependence ◽

Daily Basis ◽

Research Unit ◽

Treatment Progress ◽

Routinely Collected Data ◽

Benzodiazepine Dependence ◽

Opiate Addicts

AbstractObjective: Benzodiazepine misuse among opiate addicts is well described but few studies have reported on the occurrence and management of benzodiazepine dependence within this group. This study reports on the nature and extent of benzodiazepine dependence among a group of opiate addicts and describes the patients' treatment progress and requirement for substitute medication.Method: Over a 12 month period routinely collected data on all admissions of opiate addicts to our inpatient treatment and research unit were searched. Specific details were then extracted for those 61 admissions who were opiate dependent and also currently misusing benzodiazepines.Results: 26 (43%) of the 61 admissions were found to bephysically dependent on benzodiazepines. Temazepam and diazepam (respectively) were the most commonly misused preparations and 22% of those using temazepam were injecting it. Patients requiring detoxification were stabilised on doses of diazepam ranging from 20mg to 80mg daily (mean; 40mg). No correlation was found between reported use of benzodiazepines and the dose of diazepam required for stabilisation. Users found to be physically dependent on benzodiazepines more commonly reported daily use and use of two or more benzodiazepines concurrently.Conclusions: Our findings suggest: 1) that benzodiazepine dependence occurs in opiate addicts with a frequency similar to that reported previously for other groups of benzodiazepine users; 2) that individuals using benzodiazepines on a daily basis may be more at risk of developing physical dependence; and 3) that clinically it is difficult to accurately predict requirements for substitute medication solely from patient's reported daily use prior to admission.

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