Opiates are narcotic drugs that exert their main effects on the brain and spinal cord. By binding and stimulating endorphin receptors in the brain, opiates such as morphine and heroin block the transmission of pain messages to the brain, thus...
Suboxone is a brand name in the United States for the generic drugs buprenorphine and naloxone used in combination. It is used in the treatment of withdrawal from opioids such as narcotic analgesics and heroin. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist,...
Zydol is one of the brand names for tramadol hydrochloride, sold in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. Tramadol was developed in the 1970s and was first approved for use in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration in 1995....
OxyContin is a popular prescription medication used for the treatment of pain. As a long-acting narcotic analgesic, OxyContin is an effective drug for maintaining baseline pain control. Unfortunately, OxyContin can produce unwanted side effects in...
Salvia divinorum---also known as diviner's sage or simply "salvia"---is a hallucinogenic plant native to Oaxaca, Mexico. Traditionally, salvia leaves have been chewed or smoked for their mind-altering effects, though potent smokable extracts are...
Oxycodone and Flexeril are two prescription medications that may occasionally be prescribed together. While oxycodone is an analgesic that treats pain, Flexeril acts as a muscle relaxant. In cases where patients have suffered physical trauma or...
Buprenorphine is a prescription drug used for pain management and addiction treatment. Like most other medications, buprenorphine can cause harmful interactions when combined with certain substances. Taking buprenorphine with grapefruit juice...
Suboxone is a combination drug consisting of the medications buprenorphine and naloxone. It is used to aid rehabilitation in people recovering from drug addiction to opiates such as prescription pain killers and heroin, explains PubMed Health. The...
Propo-N/APAP tab is the generic name for a prescription medication containing propoxyphene napsylate and acetaminophen. Common formulations of this medicine contain 100 mg of propoxyphene napsylate and 650 mg of acetaminophen. This drug is a...
Salvia divinorum entered the limelight in popular culture for its controversial recreational use as a psychoactive substance. Salvia divinorum is illegal in more than a dozen U.S. states, in part due to government and parental concern about its...
Buprenex (generic name: buprenorphine) is a medication used to relieve moderate to intense pain. It belongs to the category of medicines called mixed opioid agonist-antagonists, and it works similarly to such drugs as morphine, heroin and codeine....
Over the past two decades the problem of opiate addiction has grown dramatically with the increased abuse of prescription painkillers such as oxycodone (OxyContin) and hydrocodone (Vicodin). Withdrawal from opiates, including heroin, morphine and...
Suboxone is a combination drug product useful for helping people addicted to opioid drugs to stop using these substances. The medication includes buprenorphine, classified as a partial opioid agonist, and the antagonist drug naloxone, which...
Suboxone, also known as buprenorphine, is a drug used to treat opioid addiction. Suboxone is known as an opioid agonist/antagonist that works to prevent withdrawal symptoms when an individual stops taking opioid drugs by inducing similar effects,...
Oxycodone, a schedule II prescription narcotic, has benefit as a pain reliever for moderate to severe pain, but also has great potential for abuse. Both time-release oxycodone, called oxycontin and oxycodone combined with acetaminophen, sold as...
Hydrocodone is a prescription painkiller from the opiate family. It works by attaching to opiate receptors in the brain, resulting in a decrease in pain perception. Hydrocodone is prescribed to relieve mild to moderate pain associated with...
Opiates describe a variety of chemicals that get their name by being derived from opium. Opiates bind to opiate receptors, which are special proteins that are found in the nervous system. When an opiate binds to an opiate receptor, it causes...
The medication buprenorphine naloxone, or Suboxone, was approved in 2002 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for treating opioid addiction. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the medication is an...
Propoxyphene with acetaminophen, or Darvocet N 100, is a combination drug used for mild to moderate pain. It is commonly abbreviated as Propo-N/Apap on prescription labels. It contains 100 mg of propoxyphene napsylate and 650 mg of acetaminophen....
Those going through detoxification from opium addiction or coming down from using narcotic painkillers containing the alkaloid morphine are likely to experience withdrawal symptoms. These symptoms may be graded from less severe drug craving and...
Opiates are medications that activate specific parts of the brain called opioid receptors. Opiates come in many forms, including heroin and narcotic pain relievers. These compounds work to activate parts of the brain involved in euphoria and pain...
Painkillers come in many variations and treat mild to severe pain. These medications include over-the-counter and pain killers available only by prescription. The strongest painkillers are prescription medications and are used to treat chronic...
Nalbuphine hydrochloride is a potent pain reliever that is considered to be equally effective as morphine. A synthetic opioid analgesic, nalbuphine works primarily on the central nervous system as an opioid receptor agonist and antagonist. Because...
Salvia divinorum may be a legal and unscheduled drug in the United States, but the use of this powerful hallucinogen is being carefully monitored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Derived from a herbaceous plant in the mint family native to...
Depersonalization disorder is one of the least-studied areas of neurobiological research. However, according to the "Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders," the experience of feeling like you are watching yourself from a distance, being in a dream or...
Extracted from the seed capsule of the opium poppy plant, opiates are a class of narcotics legally prescribed by health professionals for pain relief in the form of morphine. Morphine can be chemically altered to produce heroin, which is used as a...
OxyContin is the brand name of a time-release formula of the opioid analgesic, oxycodone hydrochloride, and is manufactured by Purdue Pharma. Like all opioid drugs, OxyContin has the potential to become addictive when not used properly. The text...
Heroin is an illicit drug that is a type of opiate, or painkiller. Once injected, smoked or sniffed, the drug binds to receptors in the body and brain, causing a number of intoxicating effects. There are three approved medications for helping...
The word "narcotic" is often used to describe opiate or opiate-derived drugs. At times, the word narcotic has been used inaccurately and interchangeably with drugs from other classes or categories. According to the 2002 textbook, "Drugs, Medicine...