Doxepin in the treatment of opioid withdrawal - Clinical results

This paper reports retrospectively analyzed data derived from case notes of 72 opioid-dependent patients undergoing inpatient detoxification at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Munich, between 1990 until 1992 in order to gather information on differential efficacy of various pharmacotherapy-assisted detoxification procedures. In summary, our data showed that heroin-/codeine-dependent patients given doxepin to alleviate acute opioid withdrawal symptoms more often successfully completed detoxification compared to those given prothipendyl or benzodiazepines. Doxepin seems to be a sufficiently efficacious pharmacological agent in treatment of the acute opioid withdrawal syndrome with good tolerance and without producing dependence.