Impact of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Ultra Rapid Opioid Detoxification (UROD) Outcome

Background: Persistence of post-detoxification problems in drug addiction is one of the disadvantages of the ultra-rapid opioid detoxification (UROD) method. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been introduced in experimental addiction treatment for some years. Results of pilot studies suggest that it might be a promising method for addiction treatment. Objectives: This study explores the adjunctive application of Transcranial direct current stimulation during treatment of opiate addiction with the ultra-rapid opioid detoxification approach. Methods: This double blind sham-controlled clinical trial was carried out on patients with substance abuse admitted to the Bahman clinic of Yazd in Iran (March to September- 2014). Forty participants were randomly allocated to treatment and control groups. Two sessions of transcranial direct current stimulation (real or sham) over dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFC) were applied accompanied by ultra-rapid opioid detoxification. Withdrawal symptoms and craving were assessed by the Drug Desire Questionnaire (DDQ) and Objective Opiate withdrawal scale (OOWS) prior to ultra-rapid opioid detoxification as well as for the 24- hour interval after ultra-rapid opioid detoxification. Results: Transcranial direct current stimulation optimized the opiate addiction treatment through craving and the withdrawal syndrome alleviation and. Conclusions: The results of the study indicate that prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation may promote the efficacy of the ultra-rapid opioid detoxification method in opioid addiction.

Opioid Nation

This chapter introduces narcotics that have been derived from chemical compounds in poppies and part of the American pharmacopeia since the early nineteenth century. It talks about the United States' first opiate-addiction epidemic that developed in the context of an extensively unregulated market for new compounds, which physicians prescribed for ailments from menstrual cramps to the common cold. It also references how researchers synthesized new opioids, such as hydrocodone and oxycodone, with the expectation that these new molecules would prove less habit-forming as federal and state governments cracked down on the runaway market in the early 1900s. The chapter recounts the production of Percocet and Vicodin in the 1970s by combining semisynthetic opiates with acetaminophen, which was considered an elusive quest for a non-addictive painkiller. It mentions how the norm started to shift in the 1980s and 1990s, wherein pain was increasingly described not only as a symptom but as an illness in itself.

Medical cannabis for the reduction of opioid dosage in the treatment of non-cancer chronic pain: A systematic review

Medical cannabis (MC) is currently being used as an adjunct to opiates given its analgesic effects and potential to reduce opiate addiction. This review assessed if MC used in combination with opioids to treat non-cancer chronic pain would reduce opioid dosage.

Opiate Addiction and the NICU: A Mom's Story That Changes Stereotypes

Opioid addiction and the NICU are common themes in the news. Yet, we never hear from the mothers in these situations. I interviewed Victoria, a Mom who had an addiction and had desperately wanted to be clean. She got pregnant and was desperate to help her baby not have the same affliction. Enter the ICON (Improving Care for the Opiate-exposed Newborn) program, which not only turned her life around but gave her son a chance at a normal life. The ICON program changes the stereotype of the addicted mother in the NICU for the better. We all have something to learn here.