Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Summer;11(3):979-83.

Gabapentin Effect on Pain Associated with Heroin Withdrawal in Iranian Crack: a Randomized Double-blind Clinical Trial

Behnaz Behnam  1 , Vahid Semnani, Nadia Saghafi, Raheb Ghorbani, Mina Dianak Shori, Samaneh Ghooshchian Choobmasjedi
Affiliations

Gabapentin Effect on Pain Associated with Heroin Withdrawal in Iranian Crack: a Randomized Double-blind Clinical Trial

Behnaz Behnam et al. Iran J Pharm Res. 2012 Summer.

Abstract

Gabapentin seems to be a safe and well tolerated medication for treating heroine dependence. This study examined the efficacy of gabapentin for relieving withdrawal-related pain due to heroin use. Sixty men were recruited from an inpatient psychiatric ward of Fatemieh hospital in Semnan and randomized to receive either placebo (n = 30) or gabapentin (1800 mg/day) (n = 30) for 7 days. Subjective Opioid Withdrawal Scale (SOWS) was measured as a self-administered scale for grading body pain at baseline, and on days 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. Mean of pain score had a significant decrease trend in both gabapentin and placebo groups. Pain severity during the most of detoxification duration was significantly lower in gabapentin group compared with the placebo group. It is suggested that gabapentin may have an effective role in removing heroin withdrawal-related pain.

Keywords: Gabapentin; Heroin; Iranian crack; Pain.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Trend of mean pain score in the two gabapentin and placebo group within the detoxification period
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kenneth BJ, Power I. The mechanism of action of gabapentin in neuropathic pain. Curr. Opn. Invest. Drugs. 2000;7:33–9. - PubMed
    1. Davies A, Hendrich J, Van Minh AT, Wratten J, Douglas L, Dolphin AC. Functional biology of the alpha (2)delta subunits of voltage-gated calcium channels. Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 2007;28:220–8. - PubMed
    1. Brower KJ, Myra Kim H, Strobbe S, Karam-Hage MA, Consens F, Zucker RA. A randomized double-blind pilot trial of gabapentin versus placebo to treat alcohol dependence and comorbid insomnia. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 2008;32:1429–38. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Furieri FA, Nakamura-Palacios EM. Gabapentin reduces alcohol consumption and craving: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. J. Clin. Psychiatr. 2007;68:1691–700. - PubMed
    1. Johnson BA, Swift RM, Addolorato G, Ciraulo DA, Myrick H. Safety and efficacy of GABAergic medications for treating alcoholism. Alcohol Clin. Exp. Res. 2005;29:248–54. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources