My HB and I have has a discussion on how long NAL lasts. I told him take a 50mg everyday no matter what time it is one hour before drinking and he is telling me if he took one at 8:00pm that he's good to the following day at that time. Is he correct?


corkit

I've been sitting on this study for a while. It contradicts what we currently think about how long it lasts and shows that it lasts much longer. I have the full text if anyone is interested, it's very convincing.

"Duration of Occupancy of Opiate Receptors by Naltrexone

Myung C. Lee, Henry N. Wagner, Jr., Shuji Tañada,J. James Frost, Alden N. Bice,
and Robert F. Dannals

Divisions of Nuclear Medicine and Radiation Health Sciences, The Johns Hopkins Medical
Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland

To determine the duration of blockade of mu-opiate receptors by naltrexone, we measured the binding of [11C]carfentanil in the brain of five normal volunteers with a positron radiation detection system before and 1, 48, 72,120, and 168 hr after naltrexone administration. The half-time of blockade by naltrexone in the brain ranged from 72 to 108 hr which is greater than the fast plasma clearance components (4-12 hr) of naltrexone or its metabolite, betanaltrexol, but corresponds well to the half-time of the terminal phase of plasma naltrexone clearance (96 hr). These results are consistent with the duration of the pharmacologic effects of naltrexone in response to heroin administration and indicate that 50 mg/day of oral naltrexone results in plasma levels in excess of that needed to saturate opiate receptors. This is the first example of the use of a simple dual-detector system with positron-emitting radioactive drugs to provide information regarding the duration of action of the drug on its specific receptor site. The plasma clearance half-time of a drug may not give an accurate
reflection of the duration of action of the drug on a specific neuroreceptor site. Direct measurement of drug effects on recognition sites greatly extend current studies of pharmacokinetics.

J NucÃMed 29:1207-1211,1988"

So it clears the blood much more rapidly than it detaches from the receptors.

Re your HB: Tell him to take his meds 1 hour before drinking. All of the successful studies were based on this.

Thanks Lo0p that's all I needed to know, it's nice to have in-house 24 hotline!


corkit