What is Suboxone?
Suboxone medication helps people with substance abuse disorder and addiction stop using opioid drugs. Opioids include illegal heroin and prescription medications like morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, and fentanyl.
Mental Health and Wellness uses Suboxone alongside counseling and behavior therapies to help people overcome their opioid addiction.
How does Suboxone work?
Suboxone contains medicines that reduce your reliance on opioids:
- Buprenorphine
Buprenorphine helps you manage your cravings and reduces your physical dependence on opioid drugs. Buprenorphine is an opioid partial agonist, so you experience the same sensations of euphoria that opioids produce, but in a milder form.
The effects of buprenorphine increase with each dose, then reach a peak and level off. If you took more buprenorphine at this point, the effects wouldn’t change. This lowers your risk of unpleasant side effects and means you’re less likely to encounter misuse or dependency problems.
- Naloxone
Naloxone blocks the opioid receptors in your brain, helping reduce the chances of misuse or an overdose.
How do I access Suboxone treatment?
Suboxone use is controlled under the DATA (Drug Addiction Treatment Act) of 2000. That means it’s only available from approved, suitably qualified health care providers with a buprenorphine waiver from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Kadija has a Suboxone waiver, enabling her to provide comprehensive managed withdrawal from opioids.
What does Suboxone treatment involve?
Suboxone treatment at Barrat Behavioral Health begins with an induction phase. You need to stop taking the opioid drugs you use 12-24 hours before visiting Kadija, so you’re in the first stages of withdrawal. This is the best and safest time to begin your treatment.
Kadija monitors your progress and works with you to reduce your opioid use until you’re free of any cravings and most or all of the side effects. Next is the stabilization phase, where you reduce your Suboxone intake to every other day instead of daily.
When you’ve completed these steps, you enter the maintenance period. That means you’re well and free of opioid addiction. Attending therapy sessions and looking after your mental and physical health after Suboxone treatment increases your well-being and helps you regain full fitness.
Call Barrat Behavioral Health and Primary Care LLC today or book an appointment online for advice on using Suboxone to recover from addiction.