The Dantastic Mr. Tox & Howard – S02E07 – Release the Kratom

Alternative treatments for opioid use disorder and music with Dr. Ed Boyer

Join Dan (@drusyniak) &Howard (@heshiegreshie) as they speak with Dr. Ed Boyer about therapies for opioid use disorder, including kratom, ibogaine, and loperamide. Great stuff, deep science and a dispelling of some myths while recognizing some less than savvy science out there. . . Looking forward to part 2, where we find that the dulcet tones of Dan and Howard are the right frequency to treat your blues.

Delicious Links

1. Many of the therapeutics both prescribed and otherwise in the Pharmacological Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder.
2. Mitragynia speciosa korth – self-treatment of opioid withdrawal using kratom.
3. Not only adults are affected by these agents. Neonatal abstinence syndrome due to maternal kratom use.
4. Where can you get these products and agents? Look at the impact of internet pharmacy regulation on opioid analgesics availability.
5. But be careful where you buy. Suspected adulteration of commercial kratom products with 7-hydroxymitragynine.
6. Get intracellular with mu-opioid receptor desensitization by beta-arrestin-2 determines morphine tolerance but not dependence.
7. Some more information as described in beta-arrestin 2 knockout mice.
8. How strong do you like your tea? Quantification of Morphine, Codeine, and Thebaine in Home‐Brewed Poppy Seed Tea by LC‐MS/MS.
9. While out guest certainly doesn’t believe in the magic of ibogaine, there are many out there that still do. Here’s one example of what to look out for . . . in a patient with prolonged multiple cardiac arrhythmias after ingestion of internet purchased ibogaine.
10. Some interesting stuff on addiction research and the use of ibogaine, a “vast, uncontrolled experiment.”
11. Keep your eyes peeled for more cases of tianeptine misuse as reported in poison control center experience with tianeptine: an unregulated pharmaceutical product with potential for abuse.
12. And if you haven’t already read it (and why not?) here is a great post about the toxicity of loperamide used for opioid use disorder – The Worst of Both Worlds.

Special Thanks

Thank you for your continued support. As always, we are looking for feedback – comments, questions, suggestions, recipes, etc. Let us know. Reach us at @toxandhound. We want to hear from you!

Thank you to our house band Pretty Simple Duo (@prettysimpleduo), our announcer Josh Shelov (@shelovj), and Reverend Matt Winston of Witness Protection Products.

Kraken image by Bryan Alexander. Music “Pamgaea” by Kevin MacLeod. License: CC BY

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