Oh, My Aching Joints! What Can I Do?
Aching joints can make it challenging to do almost everything, from walking to carrying grocery bags to opening a jar of pickles. Find out what you can do to relieve your pain to get back to your usual routine.
Is Suboxone® Therapy Safe?
Suboxone® is one of the medications used to treat opioid use disorder and may support long-term recovery. Despite the many myths surrounding Suboxone therapy, it’s a safe treatment.
At Orthopedic & Wellness in Frederick, Waldorf, and Germantown, Maryland our skilled physicians provide Suboxone therapy to help treat and prevent opioid addiction and manage pain. Read on to learn more about Suboxone and how it can keep people with opioid use disorder safe.
About Suboxone
Suboxone is a prescription medication used to treat opioid use disorder. It’s a combination drug consisting of buprenorphine and naloxone.
Buprenorphine
Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist. This means it acts on the same receptors in the brain as opioids, but to a lesser extent so it causes less of a high. Buprenorphine works to reduce withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings. It also provides relief from pain.
Naloxone
Naloxone is an opioid agonist, binding to the opioid receptors in the brain to block the effects of opioids. It’s the drug used to reverse an opioid overdose and one of the safety features of Suboxone.
Safety and Suboxone therapy
Suboxone therapy is safe when taken as directed by a doctor.
One safety concern is that buprenorphine is an opioid. However, it has a ceiling effect, so taking more doesn’t enhance the benefits or the euphoria. It therefore reduces risk of overdose and misuse.
Naloxone itself is a safety mechanism in Suboxone. It helps prevent misuse and is only activated when misused. Suboxone comes as a sublingual tablet or film that dissolves under the tongue. The naloxone in Suboxone is only activated when the drug is injected instead of taken as prescribed, and it immediately reverses the effects of the opioids, putting you right into painful withdrawal symptoms.
When combined with behavioral therapy, Suboxone is effective at treating opioid use disorder and helping sustain recovery.
Things to know
Though safe when taken under medical supervision, it can cause side effects when you don’t take it correctly or if you abruptly stop it.
You need to stop taking opioids before starting Suboxone. If you have any opioids in your body and you take Suboxone, that activates the naloxone and you go right into withdrawal.
Also, you can’t abruptly stop Suboxone, even when you feel good. Your body develops a dependence on the buprenorphine, and you can experience withdrawal symptoms if you suddenly stop the medication.
You don’t have to take Suboxone forever, and we can taper the drug slowly to reduce risk of uncomfortable symptoms before you completely discontinue using it. You can, however, safely take Suboxone for as long as necessary.
Opioid use disorder is a chronic disease and requires ongoing medical management that may include medications like Suboxone.
Are you struggling to stop using opioids? To learn more about Suboxone and how it can help, call the Orthopedic & Wellness office near you today or schedule an appointment online. Our experts can talk to you about this therapy and how it can safely get you off opioids while continuing to get pain relief.
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