“It was an immediate obliteration of alcohol and opioid cravings.”
“It was an immediate obliteration of alcohol and opioid cravings.”
Tirzepatide helped a patient with chronic back pain overcome a cycle of opiate and alcohol overuse.
At CASPR, we’re working to address the addiction crisis at scale by advancing breakthrough medicines, research, and policy. We have been particularly focused on the opportunity for GLP-1s (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound) to revolutionize addiction treatment. The scientific evidence is growing every month and the experiences that patients and providers are reporting are incredible. We recently wrote about how addiction doctors are using GLP-1s as a central component of their practice and we published Melissa Adams’ story of using Ozempic and Mounjaro to quit alcohol.
Today, we have another story from Sherry, a 60-year-old former health care worker. She told us how taking tirzepatide helped her stop a cycle of opiate overuse caused by crippling back pain.
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Sherry’s Story
In 2002, I had a back procedure that went wrong. I’ve had seven spinal surgeries since then. Nothing has fixed the problem, and I’ve been on heavy pain meds for more than two decades. I worked as a cardiac nurse and tech in a private cardiology clinic in Australia, but I had to give up work about two years ago because of chronic pain.
Most recently, I was taking Oxycontin (Endone) 5 mgs 1-5 per week and Oxycodone (OxyNorm) 10 mgs 1-2 per month. This dosing has varied over the years and has also included much stronger doses of MS Contin (up to 60 mgs 3 times a day).
It has been an ongoing struggle to manage pain and also to stay in control of the medication. I also self-medicated with alcohol to increase the efficacy of the meds so I could cut back on their use. It was not unusual for me to drink half a bottle to a full bottle of wine most nights of the week.
I wouldn't have admitted to anybody that I had an addiction to opiates, but I knew I would go through periods where I was in more pain, so I'd take more pills. I was cognizant of the fact that I was taking more so I’d stop and have withdrawal symptoms. It was very painful and nauseating.
After my most recent surgery, I was increasingly inactive due to my spinal issues. My weight jumped to more than 180 pounds. (I am about 5’3”.) I felt out of control and very depressed. I’ve had the same general practitioner for the last 30 years. He has been with me through the drama with my back and giving up work. I was seeing him for blood pressure medication and pain medication, and I asked him about drugs for weight loss. He told me about Ozempic. At that time, it was unavailable in Australia due to high demand so we planned to revisit it in a few months.
“I rang my doctor a week later and asked if all these side effects were normal or if I was losing the plot.”
A couple months later, my weight had gone up another 7 pounds. I again brought it up to him. Ozempic was still difficult to get. He told me about tirzepatide. He said it was very expensive but guaranteed that it would help me lose weight, so I decided to give it a go. I’ve only used the branded version, not compounded.
It was an immediate obliteration of food, alcohol, and opioid cravings. I rang my doctor a week later and asked if all these side effects were normal or if I was losing the plot.
The shot made me a little nauseous, so at first I thought that was stopping me from drinking. But then I realized I didn’t crave a drink. When I did pour myself a glass of wine one day that “ahhh….” feeling had completely disappeared, and it hasn’t returned.
It has been the same way with opiates. I had no desire to take them and there was no dopamine rush when I took a pill. No buzz. Opiates made me very nauseous and dizzy on the tirzepatide. That made it extremely easy to kick the habit I had and titrate down. I literally halved the dose of the oxycontin every day (as full dose made me feel awful). The physical withdrawals I experienced once I stopped altogether lasted only a couple of days and consisted of some mild nights sweats, restless legs and leg cramps, insomnia, and a bit of anxiety, but I experienced no cravings as such. I did take 15 mgs of codeine twice, 48 hours apart to ease the cramps in that week.
When I’m in pain now, I take paracetamol and lie down with heat packs.
“The experience made me wonder if relief from opiates had only ever been about that buzz. I don't really think that I ever registered any reduction in pain. I think I liked that gooey feeling I got from the opiates rather than the pain relief itself.”
The last time I took an oxycontin was three or four weeks ago. I was desperate and starting to panic about the level of pain, so I took one. It made me nauseous and I vomited. I decided that it didn't give me enough pain relief to warrant taking it anymore. I’m better with another round of Panadol, anti-inflammatories, and lying flat on the floor.
The experience made me wonder if relief from opiates had only ever been about that buzz. I don't really think that I ever registered any reduction in pain. I think I liked that gooey feeling I got from the opiates rather than the pain relief itself.
When I started tirzepatide, I was also taking medication for rheumatoid arthritis. Within a couple of days, all my hand and upper limb joint swelling and pain disappeared. I could see the knuckles and tendons in my hands again. It had a very dramatic effect on inflammation in my body. My blood pressure normalized within two weeks and has stayed normal. I no longer take medication for blood pressure control or methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis.
I am currently at 125 pounds and have been for approximately 5 months.
The drug is extremely expensive. But having said that, I was on triple therapy for blood pressure, methotrexate, and heavy pain pills. Now I’m off the blood pressure and rheumatoid arthritis medicine, and only taking over-the-counter pain medicine. It’s a good trade.
I still take 10 mgs tirzepatide weekly and have no plans to stop.
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We will be publishing more patient and provider stories soon. Please be in touch if you are interested in sharing your story.
Hi Peter, It was easy to titrate down as the opiates made me very nauseous and dizzy on the tirzepatide. I literally halved the dose of the oxycontin every day (as full dose made me feel awful). The physical withdrawals I experienced once I stopped altogether lasted only a couple of days and consisted of some mild nights sweats, restless legs and leg cramps, insomnia and a bit of anxiety but I experienced no cravings as such. I did take 15mgs of codeine twice, 48 hrs apart to ease the cramps in that week. Sherry
Thanks for this great and crucial work that you’re doing. It’s desperately needed. Another point of pressure on govts could be through domestic violence prevention. The federal govt here is throwing buckets of money at DV prevention which is mainly useless awareness campaigns saying the obvious, or to divide the sexes further into victims/abusers, when the evidence overwhelmingly indicates alcohol as being a cause of most low level isolated incidents.
Do you also think Mounjaro is more effective? I’ve only been on Wegovy for a week, and while I’ve only drank one night, I could have easily drank more and more often. No immediate obliteration for me yet, and feel quite lethargic and flat, tbh. Definitely don’t want to eat though, but I’d have beer instead of dinner now, rather than with food! Gone off wine though, which is definitely something.
And one other small thing that bugs me - this woman is Australian- I’m in Australia- and we do not ever use pounds and inches. It’s always annoying to have to convert these old imperial measurements to metric, otherwise it’s meaningless, but I get that it’s American and that’s what you use, but given you’ve kept all Aus terms in, can you please just leave it in metric or include both terms, so the rest of the world understands that she’s 135kg and 160cm? Sorry, and thank you!