No, Narcan isn’t approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat constipation caused by opioid use.
Other forms of naloxone (the active drug in Narcan) have been used off-label to treat constipation caused by opioids. Off-label use is when a drug is FDA-approved for one purpose but is used for another purpose.
A pooled analysis of several clinical studies looked at treating constipation caused by opioids with either oral (taken by mouth) naloxone, a placebo (treatment with no active drug), or other standard constipation treatments.
The study found that oral naloxone was better than either the placebo or standard constipation treatments at increasing the number of bowel movements that people had. In some of these studies, naloxone was taken in combination with opioids, such as oxycodone.
If you have constipation caused by opioids, talk with your doctor. They can recommend over-the-counter or prescription treatments that can help treat your constipation.