Substance Abuse
Suboxone
Learn more about suboxone substance abuse treatment and how we can help you quit abusing drugs & alcohol for good.
Substance Abuse Treatment
Suboxone Addiction Treatment Center
Suboxone can be an important medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. At the same time, risks are associated with it and must be used in a carefully managed setting. Otherwise, Suboxone can have side effects, and it may also be misused.
Centric Behavioral Health is an evidence-based Suboxone addiction treatment center nationwide in Florida, Tennessee, and other states.
Treatment Options
What Is Suboxone?
Suboxone is a medication combining buprenorphine and naloxone. The medication is in an oral film that goes under the tongue or between the cheek and gums. Once it’s placed in the mouth, the film dissolves.
The medication has four available strengths, and it’s used for reducing opioid abuse. Suboxone is also used to keep people with opioid dependence in treatment longer.
Buprenorphine, the first active ingredient in Suboxone, has the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval for treating opioid use disorder. It’s a partial opioid agonist, meaning buprenorphine knocks other opioids out of receptor sites in the brain. The buprenorphine will bind to those receptors so that other opioids can’t.
When someone takes buprenorphine, it will reduce or eliminate opioid withdrawal symptoms and cravings.
Opioid withdrawal can impede someone receiving treatment, and withdrawal symptoms can be severe and uncomfortable, leading to relapse. With medication-assisted treatment options, including buprenorphine on its own and Suboxone, it greatly increases the likelihood that someone will complete detox and then begin treatment.
Naloxone, also in Suboxone, reverses opioid overdoses because it binds to opioid receptors and blocks them. When naloxone is taken orally, as it is with Suboxone, it’s not well-absorbed. When it’s injected, it causes immediate withdrawal symptoms, and this is known as precipitated withdrawal. Naloxone is included in buprenorphine because it can discourage substance misuse by injection.
Naloxone is not the same as naltrexone. Naltrexone is an opioid antagonist and is not a controlled substance, so it doesn’t have the potential for abuse. Naltrexone doesn’t activate opioid receptors at all. Instead, it blocks opioids from activating them.
Centric Behavioral Health is a Suboxone addiction treatment center, but we also offer medication-assisted treatment when appropriate. Clients are carefully monitored, and treatment plans are individualized to their needs.
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What Is Medication-Assisted Treatment?
Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is an approach to treating opioid and alcohol use disorders. With MAT, medications, behavioral therapies, and counseling are used to help people maintain long-term recovery. The three drugs approved as MAT for opioid dependence are buprenorphine and naltrexone, as well as methadone.
Medication alone isn’t intended to be an addiction treatment—rather, it has to be part of a combined approach.
Co-occurring disorders must also be addressed as part of an MAT treatment plan. For example, if someone is struggling with an opioid use disorder and a psychiatric disorder like bipolar or depression, the addiction, and the mental health disorder need to be addressed.
Centric Behavioral Health is a Suboxone addiction treatment center and a dual diagnosis treatment provider for co-occurring disorders. Our Suboxone drug rehab programs are available inpatient and outpatient, and we offer a continuum of care approach as part of our Suboxone substance abuse program.
Opioid Use Disorders
Opioids are a class of drugs available as prescription medications, and there are also illicit opioids such as heroin. Both types act similarly to one another in that they activate the same receptor sites. In doing so, they can reduce the transmission of pain messages sent to the brain.
Opioids are also activators of the brain’s reward pathways, and that can lead to addiction. Addiction to opioids includes uncontrolled, compulsive use of substances that are ongoing despite known negative consequences.
Along with addiction, a chronic brain disease, dependence often occurs. Dependence on opioids can also happen even without a psychological addiction.
Dependence means that someone develops a tolerance and needs higher doses of opioids to feel the same effects. With dependence, once someone tries to cut back or stop their opioid use, they can also have withdrawal symptoms.
These symptoms can be flu-like and, for some people, severe.
Centric Behavioral Health is a drug rehab for Suboxone addiction. Also, part of our Suboxone addiction treatment center is a medical detox program. During medical detox at Centric Behavioral Health, clients are medically monitored around the clock in a safe, comfortable environment.
Treatment Options
Suboxone is a Schedule III controlled substance, which means it has legitimate medical uses, but it also has a moderate risk for dependence and addiction to occur when using it.
Only doctors with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services certifications can prescribe this medication.
The reason for the abuse and addiction potential with Suboxone is because of buprenorphine. Buprenorphine is an opioid stronger than morphine but a partial opioid agonist. As a partial agonist, it prevents other opioids from affecting the brain. Buprenorphine provides a way to gradually wean yourself off opioids while minimizing withdrawal symptoms if you have close supervision from an experienced professional.
Buprenorphine isn’t likely to cause the euphoria and sedation of other opioids, at least not at such an intense level, but still, these effects are possible. Buprenorphine does have a ceiling effect, making it different from other opioids. The ceiling effect means that at larger doses, the effects of buprenorphine won’t keep increasing.
While the risk of Suboxone addiction is somewhat low, it’s possible. There are also instances where drug traffickers have illegally sold Suboxone throughout the U.S.
Along with the abuse potential, Suboxone side effects and risks can include the following:
- Anxiety
- Fatigue
- Depression
- Insomnia
- Muscle pain
- Sweating
- Nausea
- Headache
The biggest risk of serious side effects from Suboxone stems from combining it with other substances. For example, combining it with alcohol, other opioids, or benzodiazepines like Xanax can cause negative reactions. An overdose can also occur.
If someone isn’t necessarily addicted to Suboxone but using it for withdrawal symptoms and cravings, they might have a dependence on it. That can require specialized treatment in a medical detox environment, even without addiction symptoms.
Centric Group Can Help
Centric Behavioral Health is an opioid and Suboxone addiction treatment center with facilities in Florida, Tennessee, and elsewhere.
To learn more about our Suboxone addiction treatment center, reach out today. Our programs are guided by experts and based on science, plus an understanding of the needs of the individual.
Along with medical detox, our facilities offer residential rehab, intensive outpatient programs, partial hospitalization, and flexible outpatient rehab.
If you are looking for mental health or addiction treatment services in Florida or near you, Centric Behavioral Health Can help. If you’d like to learn more about our inpatient drug rehab centers, contact us today.
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Centric Behavioral Health facilities work with most major health insurance carriers in order to provide effective, accessible treatment options for substance abuse and mental health.
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