How Buprenorphine or Suboxone Treatment Works
Last month we talked about methadone maintenance and how it works to treat heroin addiction and opiate addiction. To round out the conversation on opiate detox and opiate addiction treatment, it’s important that we also talk about buprenorphine and Suboxone and how they work.
What is Buprenorphine and Suboxone?
Buprenorphine is the generic term for the drug, but it is marketed as Subutex and Suboxone. Subutex is just buprenorphine. Suboxone is a combination of buprenorphine and Naloxone, an agent that prevents abuse of the drug. The biggest benefit of buprenorphine is that it is the first opiate addiction medication that can be dispensed from a doctor at a doctor’s office rather than other opiate addiction medications like methadone, which require that you come into a methadone clinic or drug rehab facility each day to receive your dose. Buprenorphine, as Subutex or Suboxone, can be prescribed by any doctor licensed to do so and, like other prescriptions, you can get up to a month’s worth of the drug from your local pharmacy, which means that you can avoid the hassle and stigma often associated with methadone clinics.
Avoiding Opiate Overdose With Buprenorphine
According to Joanne Huist Smith at the Dayton Daily News, this is how buprenorphine works to treat opiate addiction and opiate detox:
“Addicts first take one Subutex pill each day for five days to eliminate the cravings and withdrawal symptoms. After that, they go on Suboxone, a maintenance drug, that contains the ingredient Naloxone, which provides a sort of fail-safe against abuse. Those who try to inject Suboxone suffer withdrawal.”
Basically, you really can’t overdose on buprenorphine like you can on medications like methadone. The only way to overdose on the drug is to combine it with other opiates or benzodiazepines.
Which is Better: Buprenorphine or Methadone?
Both buprenorphine and methadone are viable treatment options when it comes to opiate detox. For some, methadone is a better option. For others, buprenorphine is optimum. It depends upon the circumstance. For example, if your opiate addiction requires you to take more than 30 to 35 milligrams of methadone, then buprenorphine is not for you. Since about half of all addicts on methadone maintenance take more than 70 milligrams of methadone, this precludes a large number of people from the treatment. However, if you are required to travel for your job or do not have transportation to a methadone clinic on a daily basis, then methadone won’t work for you, either. Which treatment you choose depends entirely upon your personal circumstances, and it’s something you shouldn’t decide until you speak with your doctor.
If you are addicted to opiates like heroin, Vicodin, OxyContin, oxycodone, hydrocodone, Percocet and Percodan, Lorcet and Lortab and/ or Fentanyl, then you will need an opiate detox in order to safely break your physical opiate addiction. DO NOT attempt to do this alone. Contact The Canyon for more information on the different options you have for opiate detox and opiate addiction treatment.
Tags: opiate addiction treatment, opiate detox, opiate rehab, rapid opiate detox
