Topics: Practice Tools and Tips | Substance Abuse

Most of us are pretty familiar with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), and asking about AA attendance and participation is routine during appointments with patients trying to curb their alcohol use. But what about Narcotics Anonymous (NA)?

Topics: Practice Tools and Tips | Substance Abuse

To set the stage for understanding medical management, we need to go back about 20 years to the inception of the landmark COMBINE Study. This study was a very large clinical trial for alcohol use disorder (AUD) that compared naltrexone, acamprosate, and their combination, and also looked at two behavioral interventions.

Topics: Free Articles | Practice Tools and Tips | Psychopharmacology Tips | Substance Abuse

Opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment can be tricky, in part because it doesn’t respond well to detox and counseling-only approaches. The overwhelming majority of people relapse after such attempts, or even become more vulnerable to overdose because of decreased tolerance after detoxing.

Topics: News of Note

On May 16, 2018, the FDA announced its approval of Lucemyra (lofexidine) as a drug to help patients withdraw from opioids. Like clonidine, lofexidine is an alpha-2 agonist, but it is touted as causing less orthostatic hypotension and therefore being somewhat safer to use.

Topics: CME Post-Test

The post-test for this issue is available for one year after the publication date to subscribers only. By successfully completing the test you will be awarded a certificate for 1 CME credit.