Tramadol versus clonidine in management of heroin withdrawl

Somsubhra Chattopadhyay; O P Singh; Amit Bhattacharyya; Subrata Sen; Paromita Roy; Sharmistha Debnath

doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2010.08.005

Tramadol versus clonidine in management of heroin withdrawl

Asian J Psychiatr. 2010 Dec;3(4):237-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2010.08.005. Epub 2010 Nov 5.

Authors

Somsubhra Chattopadhyay¹, O P Singh, Amit Bhattacharyya, Subrata Sen, Paromita Roy, Sharmistha Debnath

Affiliation

¹ Dept. of Psychiatry, Burdwan Medical College & Hospital, West Bengal, India.

PMID: 23050896
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajp.2010.08.005

Abstract

Opiod dependence is one of the leading psychiatric morbidities in India. The deaddiction centres are meager in number; stigma attached to admission in deaddiction centre is high and most addicts want outpatient treatment so that they do not miss daily wages. Several recent reports stated effectiveness of tramadol in treating opioid withdrawal. This study attempts to compare effectiveness of tramadol with clonidine in opioid withdrawal.

Methodology: A total of 60 patients having heroin dependence were selected and out of them 30 got clonidine treatment and the other 30 got tramadol treatment. The clinical opioid withdrawal scale was used.

Statistical analysis: "t"-Test was used using SPSS (version-16) for comparison.

Result: Tramadol was more effective in preventing sweating, restlessness, aches, runny nose, GI upset, yawning, anxiety and goose skin. i.e., Tramadol can be used effectively in opioid withdrawal in outpatient based treatment programme.