Suboxone Treatment

Opiates are addictive drugs that can be either legal or illegal. For instance, morphine is a legal opiate while opium itself is illegal. Heroin, hydrocodone and fentanyl are all examples of opioids. Whether legal or illegal one thing is certain opiate, based drugs are highly addictive and have some nasty withdrawal symptoms.

For years, the main treatment for opiate addictions was methadone. Ironically, enough methadone is also an addictive substance so you had people trading an illegal addiction for a prescribed one. The problems with methadone overdoses and abuse have led to strict regulation of the drug making it more difficult for doctors to prescribe.

Suboxone was developed as an analgesic and has since been found to be an excellent treatment for opioid-based addictions. Suboxone is buprenorphine with naloxone, a synthetic opiate and the nalaxone was added to deter people from abusing the drug.

Suboxone treatment has shown a marked improvement in the success rate of detoxification programs. Clinics have reported the success with suboxone treatment to be as high as 80% without as much danger of addiction to the treatment.

While suboxone treatment is considered safer and less regulated than methadone, the medication is still strictly monitored. Only physicians who are DEA approved can prescribe suboxone and the number of patients they can have is limited to 30 at one time. In order to become approved by the DEA, doctors must take an additional course on the drug, certifying that they are aware of allowed practices and side effects.

How it Works?

Suboxone treatment works by reducing the symptoms of opiod withdrawal and decreasing the craving for the drug. As indicated above suboxone is actually a combination of buprenorphine, a synthetic opiate and naloxone and opiate antagonist. Naloxone was added to discourage addicts from dissolving the drug and using it intravenously. When dissolved and administered intravenously a person will quickly go into opioid withdrawal. The buprenorphine enters the bloodstream and acts to curb cravings and stave off severe withdrawal symptoms when the suboxone treatment is used correctly.

It should be noted that as with any opioid, you could become dependent on suboxone. However, the withdrawal symptoms are much milder than with a full opiod agonist such as hydrocodone. When a patient has managed to work through their chemical dependency and wishes to stop suboxone treatment their doctor will gradually wean them off the drug.

Who can use?

This treatment is currently approved for individuals who are over 16 and willing to go into treatment for opioid dependency. In addition, it is advised that a person be in mild to moderate withdrawal before beginning suboxone treatment.

The reason you should already be in withdrawal from opioids is that when suboxone is introduced to a system that still has a high level of opioids it will compete with them and knock them off the receptors. Since suboxone is less potent than the actual opiod drug this will result in instant withdrawal and you may feel very sick, on the other hand if you are already in withdrawal suboxone will make you feel better and not worse.

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Suboxone Treatment

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