Naltrexone will help you avoid using drugs and alcohol, but it will not prevent or relieve the withdrawal symptoms that may occur when you stop using these substances. Instead, naltrexone may cause or worsen withdrawal symptoms. You should not take naltrexone if you have recently stopped using opioid medications or opioid street drugs and are now experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Patients on naltrexone may have reduced tolerance to opioids and may be unaware of their potential sensitivity to the same, or lower, doses of opioids that they used to take.

How Methadone Supports Opioid Recovery

• Eating a healthy, reduced-calorie diet and increasing physical activity are healthy habits that can promote weight loss.
• By dampening the pleasure you derive from drinking, naltrexone helps break the cycle of craving and consumption.

This is especially helpful when you first start a new drug or combination of treatments. Naltrexone is a generic prescription drug used to treat certain substance use disorders. Naltrexone oral tablet does not come in any brand-name versions. This drug can cause mild to serious side effects, including sleep changes. Naltrexone doesn’t act like an antidepressant or mood stabilizer. But it does interact with the brain’s opioid receptors — systems tied to motivation, reinforcement, and in some ways, subtle emotional tone.

What to Expect in the First Days of Taking Naltrexone

Research has shown that naltrexone can significantly improve outcomes for people with AUD, reducing the chances of returning to heavy drinking​. Even when someone does drink, naltrexone helps them drink less and helps prevent potential brief recurrences that could turn into a full return to use. By blocking the effects of opioids, it removes the “high,” which can deter use and support ongoing recovery. It can also be a valuable option naltrexone side effects for individuals who can’t or don’t want to use the other gold-standard opioid-based treatments like methadone or buprenorphine. Each avoided binge, brief recurrence, or full return to use is meaningful, and for many, naltrexone makes those wins possible. Naltrexone injection is used along with counseling and social support to help people who have stopped drinking large amounts of alcohol to avoid drinking again.

Patients Who Are Abstinent From Opioids

Andy describes his journey for recovery and how Ria Health has reduced his drinking substantially. Excessive drinking has numerous impacts on your body and mind, ranging from mild to severe. Learn which signs to look out for, and how to care for your well-being. In animal studies, naltrexone and 6-β-naltrexol were excreted in the milk of lactating rats dosed orallywith naltrexone. Whether or not naltrexone hydrochloride affects the duration of labor and delivery is unknown.

Drug interactions may change how your medications work or increase your risk for serious side effects. This document does not contain all possible drug interactions. Keep a list of all the products you use (including prescription/nonprescription drugs and herbal products) and share it with your doctor and pharmacist.

This medicine blocks the euphoric and rewarding feeling you get from opioid drugs, including heroin. Since naltrexone may make you more sensitive to lower doses of opioids than you have previously used, you should not use heroin or any other opioid drugs to overcome what the medicine is doing. Naltrexone can be used safely with non-opioid medications, including those for mental health (like antidepressants) or general health conditions. However, it should never be combined with opioid-based medications as doing so can lead to serious side effects or block the medication’s intended effects.

• Trying to overcome this block is very dangerous and may cause serious injury, loss of consciousness, and death.
• Naltrexone is only helpful when it is used as part of an addiction treatment program.
• All Addiction Resource content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
• If you miss a dose of this medicine, take it as soon as possible.

Below are answers to some commonly asked questions about naltrexone oral tablet dosage. If you need help remembering to take alcoholism symptoms your dose of naltrexone on time, try using a medication reminder. This can include setting an alarm or using a reminder app on your phone. Learn about what Suboxone is, how it’s used in opioid addiction treatment, Suboxone side effects, and Suboxone treatment centers.

This is all done through secure video chat with your coach and medical team. You can also keep track of your progress and chat with your team anytime through our app. At Ria Health we provide an online program including medication and coaching to help you reduce your drinking. Naltrexone hydrochloride has been shown to produce complete blockade of the euphoric effects ofopioids in both volunteer and addict populations. When administered by means that enforce compliance,it will produce an effective opioid blockade, but has not been shown to affect the use of cocaine orother non-opioid drugs of abuse. It markedly attenuates or completely blocks,reversibly, the subjective effects of intravenously administered opioids.

Naltrexone is a prescription medication usually prescribed to treat people with an addiction to opioids or alcohol. It works as an opioid antagonist that blocks the effects of opioids in the brain. More specifically, it binds directly to opioid receptors and prevents the euphoric effects of opioids. As a result, naltrexone can be used to help reduce opioid cravings.