Side Effects of Suboxone

There were over 67,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2018.

Out of all of these drug overdose deaths, opioids were involved in nearly 70% of them.

Suboxone is a drug that is used to help wean people out of opioid addiction.

Let’s take a look at the side effects of Suboxone and everything else you should know about the drug.

What Is Suboxone?

Suboxone is a drug that is used in opioid addiction treatment. It is used to help wean an individual who is addicted to opioids off the drug. It does this by both minimizing withdrawal symptoms and curbing drug cravings.

There are two different drugs in Suboxone. These are naloxone and buprenorphine.

Naloxone is what is known as an opioid antagonist. It binds to opioid receptors in the brain and therefore reverses the effects of other opioids in the prison system.

Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist. What this means is that it helps to block the effects of other opioids while decreasing cravings for opioids and suppressing the symptoms of withdrawal from opioids.

What Are the Withdrawal Symptoms of Opioid Withdrawal?

It is difficult for people who have an opioid addiction to simply stop taking the drug. This is because these drugs can cause physical dependence. There are therefore withdrawal symptoms that occur when people simply stop taking them.

Withdrawal symptoms can appear if long-term use is cut back or stopped entirely.

Some of the narcotic pain relievers that people can be addicted to include:

• Hydrocodone (Vicodin)
• Hydromorphone (Dilaudid)
• Codeine
• Heroin
• Methadone
• Morphine
• Oxycodone (OxyContin or Percocet)
• Meperidine (Demerol)

Opioid withdrawal is in itself potentially life-threatening. Different people will experience different withdrawal symptoms depending on the level of withdrawal they’re going through. There are a number of factors that will inform how long withdrawal symptoms go on for.

Some of the earliest symptoms of opioid withdrawal occur within the first 24 hours after an individual stopped using the drug. These include:

• Restlessness
• Anxiety
• Muscle aches
• Eyes tearing up
• Runny nose
• Inability to sleep
• Yelling often
• Excessive sweating

After the first day or so, more intense symptoms tend to occur. They include:

• Abdominal cramping
• Diarrhea
• Nausea and vomiting
• Goosebumps on the skin
• Rapid heartbeat
• High blood pressure
• Blurry vision
• Dilated pupils

The symptoms of opioid withdrawal can be incredibly painful and unpleasant. They do usually begin to get better within 72 hours. The symptoms should significantly decrease within a week.

Withdrawal onset can vary depending on which drug an individual has been taking. This is because the different types of opioids are eliminated from your system faster than others.

How long opioid withdrawal goes on will depend on how severe an addiction was and how frequently an individual used the drug. It can also be impacted by factors such as a person’s overall health.

What Are the Benefits of Suboxone?

As mentioned earlier, Suboxone is used to help treat opioid dependence. There are an estimated 15 million people in the world that suffer from opioid addiction.

One of the reasons that Suboxone is used as an addiction treatment is that it does not produce the same high as taking other opioids. This means that it is not nearly as likely that an individual will begin to abuse this medicine, as can occur with other medications such as methadone.

Because of the naloxone in Suboxone, people will not be able to get a-Suboxone by crashing and snorting the drug. This is because naloxone prevents any sort of high due to its ability to block opioids from the brain receptors.

Suboxone is also able to be prescribed in the doctor’s office. Other treatments such as methadone can only be dispensed from certain specialized addiction clinics. This means that people who suffer from opioid addiction are given increased treatment options with the availability of Suboxone.

The benefits of Suboxone are, therefore, it’s high success rate, greater accessibility, and its lower potential for abuse.

What Are the Suboxone Side Effects?

Even though Suboxone can be an effective treatment for people with opioid addictions, but does not mean that there is no danger in using Suboxone. Many people who take Suboxone take the drug for a long time in order to maintain their recovery.

Some of the side effects of Suboxone include:

• Mouth pain
• Mouth redness
• Mouth numbness
• Dizziness
• Headache
• Numbness or tingling
• Sleep problem
• Drowsiness
• Vomiting
• Stomach pain
• Feeling drunk
• Constipation
• Trouble concentrating

There also some serious side effects that can come along with Suboxone use. If you’re experiencing any of these side effects, then it is important that you get medical help right away:

• Fast or irregular heartbeat
• Fainting
• Unusual drowsiness
• Severe dizziness
• Mental/mood changes (such as hallucinations, confusion, or agitation)
• Shallow or slow breathing
• Difficulty waking up

It is important to only take Suboxone if it has been prescribed to you by a doctor. This drug can interact with other drugs and it is therefore important that it only be taken with the supervision and advice of a doctor.

Does You or Someone You Love Have an Opioid Addiction?

Unfortunately, opioid addiction is quite common in the United States. This very addictive type of drug can take control of people’s lives.

There is help though. You don’t have to go through the recovery process alone.

While Suboxone can be a helpful drug and helping people get their life back, it’s important to understand that there also side effects of Suboxone.

If you or someone you love needs help with opioid addiction, contact us today.