Suboxone, a prescription
medicine has been universally accepted for opiate addiction
treatment combined with concurrent behavioral therapies
and counseling. In verity Suboxone is one of the first opiate
addiction treatments approved for in-office prescribing
under the federal Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA).
Suboxone contains Buprenorphine and Naloxone. The presence
of Buprenorphine Hydrochloride lessens the withdrawal symptoms
of opiate dependence by blocking the effects of the opiates,
while Naloxone, when injected, it blocks the effects of
medicines and drugs like methadone, heroin, and morphine.
For this reason, Naloxone is added to SUBOXONE to stop people
from injecting ("shooting-up") the tablets. However,
there is a higher possibility of severe withdrawal symptoms
occurrence, if misused intravenously.
Patients under Suboxone medication should be careful
not to take Suboxone too soon
after using drugs like heroin, morphine, or methadone
as this can cause withdrawal symptoms. Secondly, it is
advisory to take a missed dose immediately. Lastly, patients
must not abruptly stop taking it as this can lead to severe
withdrawal symptoms, rather they should consult their
doctor before stopping the medicine.
Administered for years, clinical data indicates that
Suboxone is very safe and an ideal solution for effective
treatments of opiate addiction. Under the care of a well-trained
MD(S) and staffs, Suboxone
detoxification can greatly reduce opiate dependence.
There are usually four phases of Suboxone therapy:
induction, stabilization, withdrawal, and treatment.
Induction
This is the initial phase during which the abuser is medically
monitored on Buprenorphine therapy. Here, it is essential
that the opiate-dependent individual should be abstained
from using opiates for 12-24 hours and is in the early
stages of opiate. However if the patient is not in the
early stages of withdrawal, i.e., if he or she has other
opioids in the bloodstream, then the buprenorphine dose
may cause acute withdrawal.
Stabilization
A patient comes to this phase when he/she has discontinued
the use of his or her drug of abuse, no longer has cravings,
and has few or no side effects. Since buprenorphine has
long half-life, it is sometimes possible to switch patients
to alternate-day dosing once they have achieved stabilization
or the dose may need adjusted during the stabilization
phase.
Withdrawal
Once the patient comes to a stable position on steady
dose of Suboxone, showing no sign of opiate withdrawal,
the patient is then gradually stepped-down from the buprenorphine
therapy, until he or she is drug-free. This phase is known
as "Detoxification" Treatment.
Effective treatment of drug addiction requires comprehensive
attention to all of an individual's medical and psychosocial
co-morbidities. Pharmacological therapy alone rarely achieves
long-term success. Thus, Suboxone therapy is combined
with concurrent behavioral therapies to get best results.
