Enhancing Patient Choice: Using Self-administered Intranasal Naloxone for Novel Rapid Buprenorphine Initiation

Abstract

Buprenorphine-naloxone (BUP-NX) is a lifesaving treatment for opioid use disorder. The increasing use of illicitly manufactured fentanyl, however, has made initiating BUP-NX more likely to precipitate withdrawal - an experience that deters treatment and causes return to use. If BUP-NX cannot be successfully started, it cannot work. We describe the case of a patient who was able to transition to a therapeutic dose of BUP-NX less than 3 hours after his last illicitly manufactured fentanyl use by choosing to self-administer intranasal naloxone. After the naloxone, the transition took 31 minutes, including 14 minutes of expected moderately severe withdrawal. He remains in care with BUP-NX and would recommend this transition approach to others.