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Monday, April 7, 2014

FDA: Naloxone Injector Not Just for Drug Abusers - National Pain Report

FDA: Naloxone Injector Not Just for Drug Abusers - National Pain Report

This is SCARY! This device would be scary enough, but to advocate its use on pain patients is somewhere between malpractice & medical terrorism. Instead of reposting my thoughts here, I've included the comments that say it all.
Even if unconscious, it is illegal to administer naloxone unless you are a doctor or an EMT being actively advised by a physician. I doubt that these laypeople will bother along for consent. Without significantly training (like the REMS programs for Accutane & Xyrem), this is scary.
Why was this rushed through approval?
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Kurt says:
April 4, 2014 at 7:14 pm
I guess I need a new Medic Alert tab for my necklace in case I faint the next time I am in Safeways shopping for dinner, and succumb to shock over the high prices they’re charging these days for a pound of hamburger.
I am a chronic pain patient maintained on opiates.
DO NOT INJECT WITH NALOXONE. I am opiate tolerant and not likely to overdose on opiates. Naloxone could put me into immediate opiate withdrawal causing a health crisis.
Lord keep us safe from do-gooders.
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Steve says:
April 7, 2014 at 6:36 pm
Exactly, Kurt! Thank you!...
[trimmed]
...I’m considering a permanent tattoo claiming allergy to naloxone. I already have a DNR refusing naloxone, but where I live DNRs are ignored in the prehospital setting (ambulance, etcetera), which is why I’m thinking about the allergy tattoo, I’d love your thoughts.
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Steve says:
April 7, 2014 at 6:29 pm
Naloxone only reverses opioids, but the vast majority of overdose deaths are not opioid only, they usually involve alcohol and/or benzodiazepines (Valium/diazepam, Xanax/alprazolam, Ativan/lorazepam, etcetera)
This is deeply rooted in opiophobia.
Also, of they really wanted to help people, it would be OTC or OTC worth log book (like pseudoephedrine/Sudafed), but then they wouldn’t benefit from Rx insurance reimbursement. This should be “Pharmacy Only Medicine”, like Imitrex in the UK, where you don’t need a doctor’s prescription, just counseling with the pharmacist (slightly more restricted than Sudafed because training should be required).
This product is used to COMPLETELY reverse opioids, which is fine for an opioid-naive overdose, but would kill an opioid tolerant IP patients like myself. Without dose control, it could kill. Without dose control, I’d imagine most Heroin addicts will refuse a dose because every documentary that I’ve seen involves a human going around with naloxone and they always have trouble convincing these people to take the naloxone. They frequently convince them to take half of a dose.
Pain patients rarely overdose. Family members who can’t mind their own business and don’t know ANYTHING about opioids will abuse this and/or abuse their pain patient family members.
This is all about money, generic naloxone is ~$0.50/dose
Steve