Precautions
Drug information provided by: Merative, Micromedex®
It is very important that your healthcare provider check your progress at regular visits. This will allow your healthcare provider to see if the medicine is working properly and to decide if you should continue to take it. Blood tests may be needed to check for unwanted effects.
This medicine blocks the euphoric and rewarding feeling you get from opioid drugs, including heroin. Since naltrexone may make you more sensitive to lower doses of opioids than you have previously used, you should not use heroin or any other opioid drugs to overcome what the medicine is doing. You could overdose and develop serious problems.
Check with your healthcare provider right away if you have pain or tenderness in the upper stomach, pale stools, dark urine, loss of appetite, nausea, unusual tiredness or weakness, or yellow eyes or skin. These could be symptoms of a serious liver problem.
This medicine may cause some people to be agitated, irritable, or display other abnormal behaviors. It may also cause some people to have suicidal thoughts and tendencies or to become more depressed. Make sure your healthcare provider knows if you have trouble sleeping, get upset easily, have a big increase in energy, or start to act reckless. Also, tell your healthcare provider if you have any sudden or strong feelings, including feeling nervous, angry, restless, violent, or scared. Let your healthcare provider know if you or anyone in your family has tried to commit suicide.
Remember that use of naltrexone is only part of your treatment. Be sure that you follow all of your healthcare provider's orders, including seeing your therapist and/or attending support group meetings on a regular basis.
Do not try to overcome the effects of naltrexone by taking opioids. To do so may cause coma or death. You may be more sensitive to the effects of opioids than you were before beginning naltrexone therapy.
Naltrexone also blocks the useful effects of opioids. Always use a non-opioid medicine to treat pain, diarrhea, or a cough. If you have any questions about the proper medicine to use, check with your healthcare provider.
Naltrexone will not prevent you from becoming impaired when you drink alcohol. Do not take naltrexone in order to drive or perform other activities while under the influence of alcohol.
This medicine may cause some people to become dizzy, drowsy, or less alert than they are normally. Do not drive or do anything else that could be dangerous until you know how this medicine affects you.
Never share this medicine with anyone else, especially someone who is using opioids. Naltrexone causes withdrawal symptoms in people who are using opioids.
Tell all medical healthcare providers, dentists, and pharmacists you go to that you are taking naltrexone.
It is recommended that you carry identification stating that you are taking naltrexone. Identification cards may be available from your healthcare provider.
Portions of this document last updated: Aug. 01, 2024
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