What You Need to Know about Buprenorphine

Many people struggling with addiction to opioids are making the choice to enter medication-assisted treatment (MAT) programs to get help. This number is likely to increase, as current legislation on addiction treatment usually contains wording directing people toward MAT. A MAT program includes the use of either methadone or buprenorphine to prevent withdrawal sickness and help a person refrain from seeking or using drugs illicitly.

 

Unfortunately for many people, their treatment programs may consist of the administration of one of these drugs and nothing more. Some healthcare practitioners are in favor of keeping a person in a MAT program for years, even indefinitely. MAT programs have some advantages but also distinct disadvantages that anyone considering them should know about.

About Buprenorphine

Buprenorphine is an opioid, meaning it’s a synthetic drug similar to opium. Morphine and heroin are called opiates because they come directly from opium. Oxycodone, hydrocodone, oxymorphone and other drugs are opioids.

Buprenorphine is derived from thebaine, one of the main components of heroin. Other drugs derived from thebaine are oxycodone (OxyContin), oxymorphone (Opana) and the painkiller nalbuphine (Nubain).

Buprenorphine can be used to control pain but mostly it is used in the treatment of addiction to opiates or opioids. A person addicted to heroin or painkillers is given a daily dose of buprenorphine. The buprenorphine replaces the addictive substance and prevents withdrawal sickness from setting in.

The Various Formulas of Buprenorphine

Buprenorphine is sold under a number of trademarked brand names: Suboxone, Subutex, Zubsolv and Bunavail.

• Suboxone is sold as a small piece of film that dissolves in the mouth. It’s made from a combination of buprenorphine and another drug, naloxone, intended to prevent the abuse of the formula.
  
• Zubsolv is a sublingual tablet, meaning it’s designed to dissolve under the tongue.
  
• Bunavail is another film designed to dissolve in the mouth.
  

The Effects of Buprenorphine

Because it’s an opioid, it’s also addictive. A person taking either buprenorphine or methadone will go through withdrawal if he stops taking them. He is also likely to experience problems common to the abuse of opioids:

• Back pain, constipation, fever, headache, back pain,nausea, sleeplessness, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, feeling faint, feeling of warmth, weakness, sweating
  
• Some people may also suffer from confusion, faintness, drowsiness, pinpoint pupils, shortness of breath or irregular breathing, pale or blue lips, fingernails or skin
  
• Some of the mental effects are quite common: Anxiety, depression, confusion, paranoia, hostility, agitation
  
• Less common effects: Mood swings, depersonalization, loss of sexual desire, nightmares, euphoria, psychosis, hallucinations
  

If you take either methadone or buprenorphine while pregnant, your baby is likely to experience withdrawal sickness after he or she is born.

Advantages

A person who is administered a buprenorphine formula may lose his (or her) desire for any other opioids or opiates. He is now on a legal drug and can stop criminal activity he might have been involved in to obtain heroin or illicitly-sold pills. As long as he takes the correct dosage, he is less likely to succumb to an overdose. Many people are able to take care of themselves better so they may be healthier and suffer fewer dangerous infections. They may be able to once again hold down a job and take care of their families.

Disadvantages

If you are consulting with a doctor or a practitioner in a treatment program, they are not likely to tell you the downsides of being prescribed a buprenorphine formula. But there are many.

Buprenorphine is addictive and a drug of abuse, meaning that addicted people sell and trade the drug to maintain their addictions. An opioid addict may stockpile buprenorphine to keep himself from going through withdrawal if he can’t get his preferred drug. There are some reports that buprenorphine is frequently abused in jails and prisons.

Between 2005 and 2010, the number of people being seen in emergency rooms because of their abuse of buprenorphine increased nearly ten-fold, from 3,161 to 30,135. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported, “The buprenorphine in these visits may have been misused or abused, either for psychoactive effects or in an attempt to self-treat for opioid dependence.”

According to the National Pain Report, addicted people will abuse Suboxone when they have no interest in getting sober. The president of one drug rehab center said that there is more Suboxone on the street than in rehabs and that some drug dealers carry both heroin and buprenorphine formulas for sale.

Perhaps the worst effect of buprenorphine is that some practitioners maintain a person on this drug for years, perhaps even for the rest of their lives. Dr. Steven Scanlan, once addicted and now an addiction specialist, says this about the emotional effects of buprenorphine:

“A lesser dose of Suboxone will block an estimated 80 percent of a person's feelings, while higher doses can make a patient practically numb. Patients often say they feel great on Suboxone and since they are not getting high they want to continue on it. I tell them, ‘You are not dealing with your feelings because you are still not feeling – you are still numb.’” He also notes other problems related to this treatment: “Emotional deregulation, loss of libido, hair loss, and an abnormality in how the body regulates its response to stress.”

A Better Alternative

It’s very sad that so many people do not realize that a bright, new and drug-free life is available to them. At Narconon Arrowhead, the well-supported withdrawal step is likely to be the most tolerable one an addicted person ever experiences. For the entire fifty-year history of Narconon, it’s never been necessary to give anyone a single drug as part of their recoveries. The program works to help each person gain control over cravings and achieve a brighter outlook on life. Each person learns how to live life in the present rather than being trapped in the trauma of the past. And new, stable life skills enable each person to direct their futures in positive directions.

Without buprenorphine or methadone, without antidepressants or anti-anxiety drugs, the Narconon Arrowhead program enables a person to enjoy a productive life free from addiction or dependence on drugs. You do have a choice. You can be fully sober when you finish your rehabilitation program.

Learn more about Narconon today. Call us to learn how you can put your addiction behind you in just a few months. Call 1-800-468-6933 today.

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