Is Suboxone Detox Safe?
As of 2002, Suboxone was approved by the U. S. Food & Drug Administration for use as an opiate addiction treatment, according to the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration. While still considered fairly new, Suboxone detox treatment has proven to be an effective opiate addiction treatment approach.
As with most any medication treatment, what cures one problem may just as easily cause another. Each person entering treatment differs in how addiction has affected their physical and psychological health as well as how it’s impacted their daily living conditions. Where Suboxone treatment may work especially well for some people, it may not work so well for others.
When taken as prescribed, Suboxone detox offers a safe, effective approach for helping addicts overcome opiate addiction. That being so, Suboxone may still cause certain side effects for some people. Possible medication interactions and addiction risks also pose safety concerns for those considering Suboxone detox treatment.
Suboxone Detox Treatment
Suboxone is regarded as a safe medication treatment for opiate addiction.
For people entering opiate detox, brain and body processes enter a state of disarray once a person stops abusing opiate drugs. As a result, withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings run rampant in the absence of opiate drug effects.
According to the U. S. Food & Drug Administration, Suboxone detox treatment works to reduce drug cravings and ease withdrawal symptoms by stimulating brain cell sites in much the same way as opiate drugs do. This mechanism of action provides needed relief and lessens the likelihood a person will relapse during treatment.
Possible Side Effects
As Suboxone affects the same brain processes as other opiate drugs, its side effect profile closely resembles the types of side effects caused by commonly abused opiate drugs.
Possible side effects experienced during Suboxone detox include:
- Slower breathing rates
- Coordination problems
- Drowsiness
- Dizziness
- Allergic reactions, such as hives and rashes
- Low blood pressure rates
While these effects pose no real life threatening or safety risks, some effects can potentially impair a person’s ability to perform certain tasks like driving or operating heavy machinery.
Medication Interactions
Suboxone’s effectiveness relies on its being metabolized at certain rate within the body. Any medications capable of slowing or speeding up the rate at which Suboxone is metabolized can impair the drug’s therapeutic effects.
Medications to avoid during Suboxone detox include:
- Sedatives
- Anxiety medications
- Antihistamines
- Antidepressants
- Sleeping pills
Physical Dependence & Addiction Risks
Suboxone is a synthetic opiate drug that falls under the Schedule III classification of controlled substances. Though considerably less addictive than commonly abused opiates, Suboxone does carry an addiction risk. For Suboxone detox treatment purposes, a Schedule III narcotic drug poses less of an addiction risk than other opiate addiction treatments, such as methadone.
Overdose Risks
While intended as an addiction treatment medication, it’s possible for someone in Suboxone detox to abuse the drug during a relapse episode. Combining Suboxone with other opiate drugs can place users at serious risk of overdose and even death. Benzodiazepines, sedative and tranquilizer medications can also trigger overdose episodes when taken with Suboxone.
Is Tapering Off Suboxone an Effective Way to Detox? -
Chronic opiate addictions often leave those in recovery to contend with ongoing withdrawal and drug cravings effects. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, medications such as Suboxone and methadone help relieve addiction’s aftereffects and restore normal chemical functions in the brain. Suboxone acts a medication therapy that usually requires months or ... 
Suboxone Detox Methods -
People addicted to opiate drugs such as heroin and pain-relief prescription medications often require medication replacement therapy as part of the drug treatment process. Suboxone is one of a handful of medications used to treat opiate withdrawal effects for recovering addicts. While effective at relieving withdrawal effects, Suboxone is also an opiate-based drug. This accounts ... 
How to Detox From Suboxone -
You can avoid most Suboxone withdrawal symptoms by working closely with your doctor and pharmacist to taper doses over a week or more. Even though the medication gets prescribed to help you break an addiction to powerful painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin, Suboxone itself produces many of the same physical effects as those opioids. As ... 
Suboxone Detox Symptoms -
According to the NLM, “The combination of buprenorphine and naloxone [brand name Suboxone] prevent withdrawal symptoms when someone stops taking opioid drugs by producing similar effects to these drugs.” In most cases, Suboxone is used for this purpose, especially because it can trigger withdrawal symptoms when abused. But what happens when an individual is ready ... 
How Long Does it Take to Detox Off Suboxone? -
As one of a handful of medication therapies used to treat opiate addictions, Suboxone offers an effective treatment approach for weaning addicts off the effects of addictive opiate drugs. Similar to methadone, Suboxone helps reduce the ongoing withdrawal and drug cravings addicts experience in recovery, according to the U. S. Food & Drug Administration. Suboxone ...