HeroinAddictionNaltrexone.com

We will never rid Our People or Our Families and Communities or Our Economy from the curse of impoverishing, shattering, tormenting and sometimes fatal, drug addictions and from the curse of corrupting, disrupting, ruthless and sometimes rich and powerful drug dealers until we grasp the fact that substance abuse and addiction, are about some people having unusual/disturbed/distressing chemistry which causes these individuals suffering, and disturbed function/performance, sufficient to cause them to seek to relieve their distress, and to change their function/performance, by taking drugs.

We must grasp the fact that it is of fundamental importance for us to learn to substantially correct addiction prone people's underlying unusual/disturbed/distressing chemistry.

It is not enough for us to detox and return addicts to how they were before their addiction began. We must accurately define the nature and causes of the particular underlying chemical problems, in each different substance abuse prone or addicted person and have a range of treatments/systems/facilities and specially trained and empowered healthcarers, that enables quick and effective correction of the particular chemical problems in particular individuals through vigorous simultaneous approaches, from many different angles, and in many different ways, so that each of these individual's chemical functioning, is quickly improved to a level which relieves their distress and dysfunction sufficiently to allow each of these individuals to desire to be free and to be freed and to stay free, from the need to manipulate their chemistry with drugs.
Debt Settlement program
The great bottleneck in the management of our drug problems in the year 2001, is the shortage of health carers capable of diagnosing all the people with ADD who have become cannabis, speed or narcotic addicts because of their unusual and distressing ADD chemistry; together with the excessive, unnecessary difficulties in gaining permission to prescribe dexamphetamine or ritalin, which are by far the most effective initial treatment for ADD and which should be available through every properly staffed and provisioned detox clinic.

At present the vast majority of drug and alcohol workers are not trained to diagnose the commonest cause of addiction; and 98% of doctors are not allowed to prescribe the most necessary treatment for that cause.

A great breakthrough has recently occurred for heroin addicts in Western Australia. Buprenorphine has become available again for narcotic detoxification, and as a maintenance therapy alternative to Methadone. Addicts enthusiastically describe it as being far better than any other method of getting clean that they have tried. They are amazed at how quickly, easily and painlessly it gets them off heroin, morphine and oxycontin. Buprenorphine has been available for treating pain for twenty years in this country. Its use in treating addiction was stopped by Health Authorities in 1983 for no good reason. It has been available for treating narcotic addiction in France for 6 or 7 years, where its use has been very successful. Its use in treating narcotic addiction is now rapidly spreading throughout the world and this has forced our WA Health Department to admit their mistake and release it again for the treatment of addiction.

Buprenorphine is a man made narcotic and is the least addictive mid strength narcotic there is. It is also a powerful antagonist (blocker) of the opioid nerve receptors. This means that it provides both moderate narcotic effect and relief, and also strongly blocks craving for and the effects of, other narcotics. Patients can be weaned off it without any difficulty or suffering, unlike methadone which is horrendously difficult and painful to get off. Methadone is what our "experts" chose 20 years ago when they rejected buprenorphine.

The step from narcotic addiction to being clean, which has been so distressing, difficult and potentially dangerous, can now be painless, quick, easy, cheap and quite safe.

The heroin is simply stopped and as soon as hanging out begins, it is promptly relieved by sucking as much buprenorphine under the tongue as is necessary, starting with 1 to 2 mgms every hour. After three or four days, all the heroin has been broken down and excreted and the addict is clean. I usually then keep patients on buprenorphine in reducing doses, until all the Pre-existing Underlying Factors, which always underlie every addiction, have been discovered and corrected. Then it is no problem to gradually wean off the buprenorphine and relapse is much less likely to occur.

In a small number of people with serious and entrenched Underlying Problems, buprenorphine may have to be continued for a longer period as maintenance therapy until these Underlying Problems have been resolved. It is vastly superior to methadone, heroin and morphine as maintenance therapy in these circumstances, probably making the idea of trialing or legalizing heroin as maintenance therapy, unnecessary.

Side effects seldom occur with buprenorphine and are almost always comparatively mild. They include drowsiness, headaches, disturbed sleep, sweating, nausea and vomiting. Respiratory depression and overdosing are very rare unless buprenorphine is taken with large amounts of alcohol or benzo's, which should be avoided whilst on buprenorphine. Care should be taken with driving or operating machinery but these activities are not usually a problem on buprenorphine.

Western Australian Health Department policy means that if a doctor becomes aware that a buprenorphine patient has become pregnant, then that doctor must wean that patient off buprenorphine as soon as possible. Effective contraception is therefore very advisable for females on buprenorphine. The Health Department, in its wisdom, recommends that patients becoming pregnant be transferred to methadone, which I believe is a terrible mistake.

If a patient has used a lot of speed in the past, buprenorphine is still the best treatment for any narcotic addiction they have. However on its own it may not fully satisfy and settle them. In this case they may also need to take 2 to 10 dexamphetamine tablets per day. One to four tablets should be taken when they first wake in the morning. Another one to three tablets may be needed four hours later. Sometimes a further one or two tablets are needed a few hours later, but shouldn't be taken less than eight hours before the anticipated bedtime. Sometimes Ritalin works better than dexamphetamine but in Australia it is more expensive. When a patient goes onto dexamphetamine, their buprenorphine dose can usually be considerably reduced.

K.B. female, age 31.

I am a single parent living on social security payments. I consulted Dr Beck because of a $50 a day heroin habit which I had had for five weeks and which I couldn't afford. At the time I was also smoking thirty cigarettes a day which I also couldn't afford. I had previously had an intravenous oxycontin habit for which I had rapid detoxification and naltrexone. After a year I felt bad again, stopped the naltrexone, and went on to heroin. I had been working with a psychologist with considerable benefit, but he suddenly became unavailable to me and this was a critical let down that made me vulnerable again.

Dr Beck and Wendy, the counsellor/ psychologist, diagnosed my problems as being instability, anxiety and depression, related to the early break up of my parents' marriage, the fact that my mother had moved so often that I had attended thirteen different schools, had ten different homes and many different step-fathers, one of whom sexually abused me. They did not think that I had ADD. Amphetamines made me very anxious rather than calming and focusing me.

I attended the Shared Consultations conducted by Dr Beck, was given information to read, a copy of the first edition of Dr Beck's Beating Heroin book, had regular One to One Counselling with Wendy, and was put on Cipramil and buprenorphine. Doxepin was later added in the early evenings, to help me sleep.

I was hanging out at the first Shared Consultation and Dr Beck gave me an 8mgm buprenorphine tablet to suck, one quarter at a time, so that I was much improved before I even left the first Shared Consultation. I have not used illicit narcotics since that time, am much calmer and happier, sleeping well and am benefiting from the Shared Consultations and the counselling. Dr Beck thinks I will need to go on with the One to One Counselling or Group Therapy for at least a year, but that I will be able to stop the medication sooner than that if I am able to resolve my Preexisting, Underlying Issues to a sufficient degree. This holistic approach seems to be working well for me. I just didn't have enough information, counselling and support before.

I.S. female, age 43.

At my first Shared Consultation with Dr Beck I was covered in bruises, as usual, from fist fighting with my flatmate. I was also, as usual, very tense and agitated and kept moving from one chair to another. I hadn't slept for 5 days. Dr Beck usually works with groups of patients all together and I found what the other patients said, and what Dr Beck asked them and told them, very interesting. I asked Dr Beck and the other patients some questions, but I couldn't tell my story in front of the group, so Dr Beck then took me into a private consulting room by myself.

I told him I had been a problem from birth and that I had been diagnosed as having ADHD when I was a little girl. My parents were poor and couldn't keep up with the cost of the dexamphetamine which was prescribed for me, so it was stopped even though it helped me. I told Dr Beck I had been in jail many times, once for six years. He put me on four doxepin 25 mgm tablets at 7.00pm each evening and told me to try to get a few black market dexamphetamines as he couldn't prescribe these himself and it would take many weeks and be very expensive to see a psychiatrist about this problem. He then told me to come back in 2 days.

I managed to get some dexis and was absolutely amazed at the results as I had the two best nights sleep I could remember for years and had two days in which I was not violent. It made me very sad and angry to think of all I had been through, and all the trouble I had caused, because I wasn't able to have the medicine I needed.

I went on taking 8 dexis and feeling good on the days when I could get them, but sometimes used up to $200 worth of I.V. speed when I couldn't get the dexis. Sometimes I couldn't sleep and when I couldn't sleep I would eat non-stop and do obsessive house cleaning. Dr Beck then tried Zyprexa, a major tranquilizer, with some benefit. I am now waiting for assessment by a psychiatrist.

I am much better than I was and feel hopeful for the first time in my life, of getting to the bottom of my problems and understanding and managing them. I just wish it was quicker and easier for ADD sufferers to get diagnosed and treated. It would save a great deal of pain and suffering for everybody and stop the drug dealers getting fat while sick people go through hell.

G.D. male, age 44.

I first attended Dr Beck's Chemical Health Centre because of an addiction which arose from being given morphine whilst waiting for surgery. Before seeing Dr Beck I had been switched from morphine to 30 mg of methadone a day. I was also on eight cones of marijuana, 45 mgm of Avanza, Valium and twenty cigarettes each day. I had been chronically depressed most of my life. I took narcotics from the age of fourteen to twenty. I had smoked cannabis heavily on and off for many years. I gave it up from time to time, but always became severely depressed and suicidal again within a few months and went back to the cannabis. I had been on at least six different antidepressants over the years, but none of them seemed to work for me.

I was kicked out of the family home at the age of fourteen for verbal abuse of my mother and was always bullied and disliked at school. I suffered sexual abuse at 11 years of age and in my teens. I always had trouble with sleeping. I often suffered from anxiety, panic attacks, social phobia, severe agitation, violent outbursts and rage. I was diagnosed as ADD, Manic Depressive Disorder or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by various doctors and psychiatrists over the years. Dexamphetamine prescribed for ADD made me violent but I probably took too much of it, which I tended to do with everything. I had various jobs in the media including important positions at times, but always got fired sooner or later. I attempted suicide five times over a period of many years. I drank a bottle of Scotch every night for 25 years.

Dr Beck considered that my most basic problems were my chronic depression, ADD and the many severe traumas that I had suffered. Together these had caused me to seek relief through polydrug use and this gave me some short term benefits, but overall it increased and aggravated my problems substantially. My main desire when I first went to Dr Beck, was to be free of cannabis and methadone permanently.

Dr Beck started me on buprenorphine and Epilim on the first day. I was able to stop the methadone and my use of marijuana reduced substantially quite quickly. There was an immediate improvement in my general condition. I have not needed methadone or illicit narcotics since.

However my ADD symptoms came back to haunt me, when the methadone and cannabis were stopped and my sleeping difficulties were terrible. I sometimes didn't sleep at all, my depression remained and I was often in tears. I had discussions with Dr Beck and with my psychiatrist about the various antidepressants I had tried without success. Dr Beck put me on an old fashioned antidepressant called Doxepin in the early evening, to help with sleep. My psychiatrist reviewed all the antidepressants I had taken over the years and found that Efexor XR had helped me a little more than the others. I am now greatly improved on buprenorphine 8 mgm, 100 mg of Doxepin in the early evening, 300 mg of Efexor XR in the evening, 500 mg of Epilim in the morning and 1000 mg in the evening and small doses of dexamphetamine in the morning.

I have now had no methadone or illicit narcotics for five months. I don't use cannabis or alcohol at all. I have been able to establish a new home and to sort out my relationship with my partner. Despite having a serious car accident recently, I am cheerful and have a sense of humour for the first time for many years. I have recently applied for a job for the first time in six years.

Dr Beck tells me that I will need to continue on with the Doxepin, Efexor XR and dexamphetamine in reduced doses for at least a couple of years, until I have broken right out of the vicious cycles which I have been in for most of my forty-four years and have become more permanently chemically, emotionally and socially stabilised. I think he is right when he tells me that the main problems that led to my addictions were brain chemistry abnormalities, due to ADD, multiple psychosocial traumas and chronic depression. These abnormalities are presently being corrected artificially by my medicines, but we believe that now my life has improved so much, my own chemical systems have started to heal and do their job better and my need for medicines will decrease. I am willing to accept that I may need some medicine for two to five years. I also know that I will need ongoing counselling, perhaps for years, but I happily accept that as I find it helps me to grow and to progress. Although it is sometimes hard, at other times it is really enjoyable and gratifying. Good therapy is a real treat for someone who has had my problems.

Dr C. J. Carter BSc, MBBS, FRANZCP
Consultant Psychiatrist, Perth, Western Australia says:
"Dr Neil Beck's Book, Beating Heroin is a timely, useful and practical book for all people dependant on heroin, and for those who support them. It is an original comprehensive step-by-step guide for users, supporters, treating doctors and counselors. Although he is concerned mainly with heroin, the same principles apply to other drugs of dependency.

Dr Beck's approach is clearly based on a wealth of personal experience in helping people overcome drugs as well as familiarity with the research in this area. He concludes with an impassioned plea for better understanding of drug users, and for reasonable changes in the law and regulations governing their treatment."

Z.Q. male, age 29.

I attended Dr Beck's clinic with the hope of getting off heroin and speed. I was using $200 worth of heroin a day and one gram of speed per day and was quite a big dealer, which I needed to be to pay for my habits. Dr Beck found that over the years I had had head injuries, sleeplessness, anxiety, serious antisocial behaviour, compulsive gambling, suicidal thoughts and attempts, blood clots in the brain from bashing my head against a wall, and at one stage had been an alcoholic. I had been in jail six times and all my friends were drug users.

My father had been through war experiences and was extremely strict, almost brutal. One of my brothers was killed by electrocution when he was three and a half years old. The family broke up when my mother died. I had been married and had a son but lost him due to my jail periods. Dr Beck and Wendy thought that the main things leading to my addictions were my psychotic mother, the electrocution of my brother which caused terrible disturbances in the family, my harsh father, the loss of my son and ADD. I was put straight onto buprenorphine during the first consultation and didn't use illegal narcotics again. Dr Beck prescribed Epilim as first aid for the ADD but I didn't take it. The buprenorphine has been wonderful and I feel very much better and never crave other narcotics. However, I continue to use speed and Dr Beck has told me that I need to see a psychiatrist to look at the ADD possibility, as he feels that this is a very important underlying aspect of my condition. I lost my first referral to the psychiatrist, then missed my appointment twice, which Dr Beck tells me is common with ADD sufferers. I am now making every effort to get to see a psychiatrist as I really want to get off the speed.