Suboxone Withdrawal: Stepping Away From The Step-Down Drug
Suboxone is a drug that is specifically prescribed to treat opiate addiction. It belongs to the opioid family of drugs, but unlike heroin and morphine, it is only a partial agonist. A partial agonist is a drug that mimics the opiate effects of heroin, morphine, codeine or other opium-derived drugs but it does not have the same narcotic effect. It does not produce the same euphoric high and so it is not as highly addictive as heroin or morphine. While it is not addictive, people who take it can still develop a dependence on Suboxone. This means that if they stop taking Suboxone, suboxone withdrawal symptoms will occur.
The drug Suboxone was developed by an American scientist working at Columbia University. It was initially developed as a drug that can be taken by people suffering from chronic pain and have become addicted to heroin or morphine to stop the pain;
Since their pain is chronic, their quality of life will suffer without pain relief: suboxone offers pain relief without the addictive euphoria.
Does it sound too good to be true?
In 2000, another use of Suboxone was sanctioned by the Drug Addiction Treatment Act which authorized the establishment of Suboxone treatment programs aimed at helping heroin and morphine addicts to be cured of their addiction.
The ideal use of Suboxone after the passage of that law is no longer as a substitute pain reliever to heroin or morphine. It was declared as a drug addiction treatment.
A person addicted to heroin or morphine quits cold-turkey and before heroin or morphine withdrawal occurs, the person takes Suboxone. It is prescribed to be taken only for seven days under the law. The seven-day period is the duration of acute heroin and morphine withdra
wal.
Suboxone is prescribed as a substitute pain killer to heroin and morphine only until the withdrawal symptoms of heroin and morphine have subsided. Then the dosage will gradually be decreased until after the acute heroin or morphine post-acute withdrawal stage is over.
Suboxone tricks the brain into thinking that it is still getting the same opiates but in truth, the opiates are slowly being removed from the body but without the body going through full-blown acute heroin or morphine withdrawal.
Suboxone is referred to as a step-down drug. It contains buprenorphine, an opioid medication with a less intense “high” than morphine or heroin; and it also contains nalaxone, a drug that occupies the opiate receptors of the brain and blocks other opiates from affecting the brain.
The problem is that people often get dependent and addicted to suboxone itself. What was intended as a temporary remedy to relieve withdrawal symptoms of heroin and morphine addictions, becomes a drug of choice as it fulfills the same tasks of heroin and morphine: it stops the pain; but it is not addictive in that it does not give a ‘high” and yet, it gives pain relief.
So what happens when you get hooked on the step-down drug, suboxone? What happens when you become overly dependent on suboxone? Well, for one, your financial well will dry up. Suboxone is very expensive. This is why it is a temporary
relief. You simply cannot afford to go on taking Suboxone as it costs too much. Your insurance may cover the suboxone treatment but the treatment beyond seven days will no longer be covered by most insurance policies. After the seven days, you cannot rely on your insurance to cover the cost of purchasing suboxone. You will be on your own.
So let’s say you have become dependent on Suboxone. You feel better but you are bothered that your expenses have ballooned. You decide to stop taking suboxone.
What happens next?
Your doctor or your drug rehabilitation professional will try to wean you off of suboxone. You will be titrated: this means that you will be given a gradually smaller dose until your daily dosage of suboxone amounts to no more than one milligram a day. This will ease the transition from suboxone to being finally pain-killer free.
But what if you do not wean yourself off of suboxone first? What if you decide to quit cold-turkey? You go into suboxone withdrawal.
The good news is: suboxone withdrawal symptoms are not as intense or as acute as heroin or morphine withdrawal. Heroin and morphine withdrawal must be undertaken only under medical supervision because serious withdrawal symptoms such as seizures and strokes may occur. In contrast with this, suboxone withdrawal is quite mild, precisely because it creates no addiction.
The bad news: there is a trade-off to mild suboxone withdrawal symptoms; suboxone detoxification takes longer. This means that it takes longer for the suboxone to be removed from your system.
The mild suboxone withdrawal symptoms will not go away in seven days. Acute Suboxone withdrawal lasts for two to three weeks and post-acute suboxone withdrawal lasts for a year.
As with all opiate withdrawal, there is the acute stage which is the most intense part of withdrawal. After this comes the post-acute stage which is the roller-coaster ride which will last for three months to a year. If you’ve read the other articles on opiate withdrawal in this website, you will know that the acute stage of opiate withdrawal is usually a physical withdrawal and the post-acute stage of opiate withdrawal is emotional and psychological.
Insomnia or lack of sleep is one of the side effects of taking suboxone: when you are taking suboxone, you will not get much sleep. But when you go into suboxone withdrawal, insomnia is also a withdrawal symptom. Suboxone deals your sleep pattern a double whammy! You will have problems sleeping.
You will not be able to sleep when you are experiencing acute withdrawal. Your heart will race as though you were extremely nervous and excited all at once. And this will last for two or three weeks.
You will not be able to sleep either when you are experiencing post-acute withdrawal. This time, along with agitation, you will also wrestle with feelings of frustration, of inadequacy and impatience. You are unable to sleep because of the episodic physical symptoms but later, the episodic symptoms are accompanied with emotional upheaval as
well. Expect to have problems sleeping.
What do you do when you are experiencing a post-acute suboxone withdrawal episode? First, remember that your goal is over-all health and not just weathering the withdrawal episode. Second, you must take charge over your body: only put in it what’s good for it. Third, you must be consistent in taking care of yourself.
What lifestyle changes can you implement?
- Learn to relax and take a load off. Learn not to bite off more than you can chew.
- Eat more fruits and vegetables. Avoid colas, coffee, tea and other stimulating beverages that aggravate agitation and nighttime sleeplessness.
- Take vitamin supplements that are rich in the amino acid L-tyrosine and Bc12.
- These have a calming and soothing effect on the nerves and the muscles.
- Establish a regular routine that includes exercise and rest.
- Explore other means of pain relief such as meditation, acupuncture and massage.
Being pain-free and being suboxone-free is worth all the effort. Taking control and taking charge of your life will bring its rewards and fulfilment. You can step away from the step-down drug that is Suboxone.
Read MoreSleep Deprivation Side Effects: Weight Gain
Could our weight be effected by sleep deprivation side effects? Maybe it could, even though it sounds more like a line from a late night infomercial than fact. When I first heard that one of the sleep deprivation side effects is weight gain, I said “no way.” But then I continued to do research on the effects of not getting enough sleep and the subject of weight gain or loss kept popping up in all kinds of different research studies.
Read MoreSleep Deprivation Effects
Welcome to Sleep Deprivation Effects, a comprehensive compilation of articles on the effects of not getting enough sleep, reasons why people are sleep deprived, and solutions to the problem – hopefully, just reading some of the articles won’t put you to sleep. Our bodies are incredible organisms with the ability to repair themselves, especially when a problem is discovered and corrected early. Lack of sleep is easily correctable, in most cases. Getting adequate sleep reverses the majority of sleep deprivation effects.
Why should I be concerned about sleep deprivation effects?
Sleep is vital for a healthy life. Many factors can cause a lack of sleep and lead to sleep deprivation effects. It is important to evaluate yourself from a comprehensive perspective when determining what is causing your sleep problem. Problems could be caused from the food you eat during the day and at particular times, by the level of stress and methods in which you relieve your stress, by the bed you sleep on or the environment in which you sleep, and many other various possibilities. All of these potential problems could cause you a lack of sleep and subsequently result in sleep deprivation effects.
Have you ever heard about the man who goes to the doctor because he gets a pain in his eye every time he drinks a cup of tea? After a thorough exam, the doctor can find no problem with the man’s eye and absolutely nothing to connect the cup of tea to his pain. He told the man to stop drinking tea for a few weeks to see if the pain would come back by itself. A couple of weeks later, the man was back in the doctor’s office complaining that the pain was back even though he had given up his beloved tea. Another exam still found nothing wrong with the man’s eye. Upon questioning, the doctor discovered that the man had started to drink coffee instead of tea, but this made no more sense than it had before. Out of desperation, the doctor had his nurse bring the patient a cup of tea. The man was so delighted to be able to drink his beloved tea once again and would not stop chatting as he stirred the tea. Just as the doctor began to turn around to leave, the man screamed out in pain as he began to drink his tea. The doctor turned towards the man and burst into laughter as he saw the man drinking his tea with the spoon still in the cup – it was the spoon handle poking into the man’s eye that was causing his pain.
The reason for this long joke is to demonstrate that sometimes the solution to some of our problems is blatantly simple and right in front of our face, we just can’t see till someone else points it out to us. You have made the first step to overcome your sleep deprivation effects by finding this site.
I will be exploring the many different reasons why we skip or avoid sleep and how this effects our bodies, especially as we get older. I will be explaining how to best set-up your environment to get a good night’s sleep. We will examine many of the myths about sleep. Most of all, we will find solutions to sleep deprivation effects.
Read MoreIf a Healthier, Happier, Longer Life is YOUR Goal, Get Help Sleeping!
You must be searching for help sleeping, witnessed by the fact that you found this website while you were searching for a solution. It also goes to reason that you are looking to achieve your goal to Get Help Sleeping and ultimately live a longer, happier, healthier life. You have come to the right site. We specialize in the symptoms of sleep deprivation to help you identify when you need to change your sleep patterns to benefits from a good night’s sleep
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