What Are the Benefits of Suboxone®?

For a person battling an addiction to opioids like heroin, withdrawal can cause excruciating symptoms such as sleeplessness, sweating, shaking, depression, vomiting, rapid breathing, racing heartbeat, bone and muscle pain, and severe diarrhea. Suboxone® is a prescription medication that contains buprenorphine hydrochloride, which is used to help those struggling with an opioid condition.

Function

• The buprenorphine in Suboxone® is a partial opioid agonist, meaning that it has some effect upon the regions of the brain that heroin and other full opioid agonists affect.

Effects

• Because Suboxone® contains buprenorphine, it serves as a mild substitute for heroin and other opioids.

Benefits

• Suboxone® decreases the amount of withdrawal symptoms from and decreases cravings for full opioid agonists like heroin. This allows patients to reduce their drug use while receiving treatment for their addiction, according to the makers of Suboxone®.

Features

• During the first two to seven days of Suboxone® treatment, patients visit their doctor daily to adjust the dose of the drug until the right level of the drug is found. After that, patients use the drug until their doctor and therapists agree it is the right time to slowly fade the dosage of Suboxone® until the drug is no longer necessary.

Considerations

• Suboxone® treatment is a lengthy process and has the potential to last several years. To continue treatment, patients are required to remain free of full opioid drugs and are given regular drug tests to ensure that they comply with this stipulation.