Narcan for dissociation treatment

[Deanna]

I was prescribed Narcan for overdose, which was stupid really. I take tramadol ( pain pill for my neck) and they want to make sure I don't overdose. I'm glad to hear Naltrecone helps with disociation. Might bring that up with doctor.

 

[Justmehere]

Another here that has taken naltrexone and found it marvelously helpful for dissociation and I’d be really curious to try Narcan.

 

[bellbird]

Righto, pdoc is confirmed for November 20th.

Apparently he is quite reputable, and my T has been able to organise that he travel here from another city, so we'll be able to have the appointment in the familiar environment of T's office.

We're booked in for a 3 hour appointment. Guess we want to make the most of his time here.

T said we can ask him about Narcan, as this pdoc closely knows the (single?) Narcan-knowledgeable pdoc in NZ.
Will update here after the appointment :)

 

[StormFront]

I was given narcan when I passed out after a massive panic attack progressed to one of my blank out dissociative episodes and medics weren't convinced I hadn't self harmed (despite my husbands assurances I had not)
it didnt do anything for the dissociative episode and I didnt regain consciousness for hours

 

[Deanna]

I've got some Narcan actually. Pharmacist said insurance would pay, someone is suppose to use this on me in case I overdose. ( rolling eyeballs) I take Tramadol for my neck. It's a synthetic opioid. So they are worried that Tramadol and the Atavan I take at night are going to put me out. I take Tramadol, which is very mild and doesn't mess me up at all, during the day..

So whatever.

I was given narcan when I passed out after a massive panic attack progressed to one of my blank out dissociative episodes and medics weren't convinced I hadn't self harmed (despite my husbands assurances I had not)
it didnt do anything for the dissociative episode and I didnt regain consciousness for hours

Sounds like they wanted to make sure you weren't drugging because they see a 200 people a day that do.

Glad you finally came out of it. Welcome to the forums! :happy:

 

[Sweetleaf]

It’s been a miracle drug for me.

I'm happy to see someone else say that - it really does feel like a miracle drug when it peels away hard dissociation.

I still have some laying around, and could easily get another prescription, but hopefully I won't need them :D

Naltrexone let me get to a point where I could actually do reprocessing - and eventually the reprocessing made me not need naltrexone. It's been a while since I made that first post in this thread, and I still haven't needed to go back on naltrexone. Still doing EMDR and brainspotting.

I'm happy it works for others - and I couldn't have progressed as much as I have without it.

It doesn't need to be a forever drug, just a temporary one, even if it takes a long time. That's a great benefit.

I imagine narcan would be similar enough, I just dont know if it comes in pills.

 

[bellbird]

Will update here after the appointment :)

Sorry I never updated here.
I'm not sure why I've been avoiding here, but apparently I have. Brains are weird.

My pdoc was great. Really lovely, knowledgeable and competent. Even helped with reminding me to ground when I started experiencing overwhelm.

We discussed Narcan at the appointment, and decided against it for me.

The reason was, that at the time I was in a place where I was too afraid to go anywhere near trauma processing.
My T would use the analogy that I would only have to open the door for a couple of seconds, and then we could close it again. But at the time I said that I was too afraid to even touch the door handle.
Pdoc was concerned that prescribing Narcan may have forced the door open (by taking away the protective factor of dissociation, that was really crucial for me at the time), with no way of closing it again, and I just wasn't in a place to manage that potential consequence.

 

[Friday]

I could have sworn I’d responded here!

<grin> Thanks for the update. Totally makes sense.

As someone with moderate to severe chronic pain, Narcan would be a super duper bad idea for me... unless I felt like punishing myself by crippling myself. I really reeeeeeeally need all my endorphins at every strength my brain can produce them in order to lead anything approaching a normal life. (Which is also why I’m parsimonious with opiate and alcohol use, and profligate with my sugar intake. I want my 4th ventricular churning those puppies out, not getting all lazy.) So taking something which blocked or inhibited those receptors & channels? Would be like cutting off my leg to get an extra few feet of reach for a tall shelf. Sure, I might get the pasta box way up there in the back, but I’d have far bigger problems as a consequence ;)