Buprenorphine / Naloxone Treatment
Buprenorphine/naloxone treatment at Inspire Malibu.
Our contracted medical doctors were one of the first among addiction specialists in the state of California to prescribe Buprenorphine and Naloxone.
Buprenorphine use cases:
Medical specialists at Inspire Malibu, are leading authorities on buprenorphine, Opiate Detox and Withdrawal.
Buprenorphine Treatment Center
Many people are curious about Buprenorphine and similar treatment methods. Our addiction specialists might use for safe and comfortable detoxification from opioids and opiates (prescription pain medications, heroin). Buprenorphine and Buprenorphine + Naloxone treat opiate addiction by preventing symptoms of withdrawal from heroin and other opiates.
Buprenorphine (hydrochloride and naloxone hydrochloride) are approve to treat heroin, opiate and opioid dependence as part of a medication assisted treatment program.
Treating doctors at Inspire Malibu, are consider to be the leading authorities on opiate detox and withdrawal. Inspire Malibu was one of the first facilities in the state of California, to monitor clients during buprenorphine treatment.
What is Buprenorphine?
Buprenorphine is a prescription medicine. It is highly effective in treating addiction to heroin, opioids, and prescription painkillers. As part of a complete buprenorphine treatment program, it also includes counseling and behavioral therapy.
This medication is a controlled substance (CIII) because it contains buprenorphine, which can be a target for people who abuse prescription medicines or street drugs.
Always keep buprenorphine in a safe place to protect from theft. Do not give to anyone other than who it is prescribed, as it may be harmful or fatal if not used properly. It is against the law to sell or give away Buprenorphine . Buprenorphine is not for occasional or “as needed” use.
What are the Ingredients in buprenorphine /naloxone?
Buprenorphine Hydrochloride and Naloxone Hydrochloride are the active ingredients in Buprenorphine.
It acts as a substitute for opioids like heroin and it helps withdrawal from opioids over a period of time.
Medication is only available by prescription and administered by a physician. Buprenorphine comes in tablet form and easily dissolves under the tongue. It is known as an “opioid partial agonist.”
Opiate partial agonists are similar to opiates such as Heroin, Vicodin, or Methadone, except Buprenorphine gives the brain what it desires without the dangers associated with full opiated drugs.
An easy way to understand the use of Buprenorphine in Managed Maintenance is to think of training wheels on a bicycle. Training wheels provide physical balance while promoting personal assurance and confidence during the learning process.
In time, the rider balances independently, just as when buprenorphine is used correctly, it helps the patient weaken the grip that heroin holds over them until they reach the point in which they don’t need buprenorphine at all to prevent returning to old habits.
The other active ingredient, naloxone, is not an opioid and is in fact often used to reverse the effects of opiates in emergency overdose situations. It’s used in Buprenorphine to prevent misuse and protect the patient from the possibility of overdosing.
Buprenorphine /naloxone Side Effects
Physicians do tests before a patient begins taking Buprenorphine to ensure that the drug is not doing more harm than good, and these tests continue as long as the patient continues taking the prescribed drug.
Patients taking Buprenorphine have a higher risk of death and coma if combined with other medications that utilize benzodiazepines. Other Buprenorphine side effects such as respiratory problems, sleepiness, dizziness, and problems with coordination have also been recorded.
Dependency or abuse can cause liver problems such as yellowish skin or the white part of the patient’s eyes turning yellow (jaundice), dark-colored urine, light-colored stools, a decrease in appetite, or nausea with stomach and abdominal pain. Call a doctor immediately if any of these symptoms are present.
Some patients may experience an allergic reaction and have a rash, hives, facial swelling, wheezing, lowered blood pressure, and loss of consciousness.
Buprenorphine /naloxone Withdrawal Symptoms
As we’ve already stated, Buprenorphine is an opiate. As such, this drug used to treat heroin withdrawal can present its own withdrawal symptoms when the patient stops using it.
Buprenorphine withdrawal symptoms can include any of the following:
Contact a doctor immediately if any of these symptoms develop.
Inspire Malibu is State Licensed by the Department of Health Care Services
- • Board-certified in Addiction Medicine by the American Board of Addiction Medicine
- • Board-certified in Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
- • Named the Top Addiction Professional of the Year 2011 by Who’s Who in America
- • Patients Choice Physician Award Recipient in 2011
- • First physician in California to be licensed to use Suboxone for addiction treatment.
What is the Right Time to Stop Using Buprenorphine?
For the extreme opiate or opioid dependent patient, the managed use of Buprenorphine makes it possible for them to acquire the life skills and personal balance to ride “the bike of life” without crashing.
It is rewarding and wonderful to see the transformation of opioid addicts into healthy, happy, stable individuals free from cravings, illegal drugs, and life threatening behavior.
How long a medication should be administered is best determined by the treating physician in consultation with the individual patient.
Whether or not a patient should continue taking medication for their condition and what medication would be most effective is determined in a case by case basis by a physician.
As patients internalize and integrate the therapeutic tools given them, the patients recognize the “right time” to taper off the use of Buprenorphine until it is completely discontinued.
Buprenorphine Doctors and Physician Testimonies
Buprenorphine/naloxone has a stellar reputation among addiction specialists for its ability to help patients kick heroin addiction, mainly because it’s a much safer alternative to the drug that’s most commonly associated with heroin treatment, methadone. Because of this, it’s important to get feedback from buprenorphine doctors and those who treat patients with buprenorphine.
“Buprenorphine regularly allows individuals to return to improved social functioning. Patients return to work, to their families, and to school. Some are able to discontinue medication and continue functioning well.”
– Davd A. Moltz, MD, arguing against a proposal to limit MaineCare reimbursements for buprenorphine.
“Medications such as buprenorphine combined with naloxone have been found to be safe and efficacious as a treatment for opiate dependence in the studies done to date. In research settings, buprenorphine products have been found to be medications that will be well tolerated by addicts and have low value and desirability for sale on the street.”
– Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D., in testimony given before the House Subcommittee on Health and Environment in 1999
“Buprenorphine is safer than methadone; therefore less monitoring is needed.”
– Adam Bisaga, MD, in testimony before the House Energy and Commerc
The History of Subs:
In the 1980’s Reckitt Benckiser, a British health products company, debuted a new drug called Buprenorphine. It was initially marketed as a pain reliever, as it was proven to be even more effective than morphine.
The unique thing about Buprenorphine + Naloxone is that while it has a similar chemical structure and produces similar pain-relieving effects on the brain as morphine and heroin, it has much less recreational potential as opposed to the intense euphoric effects of heroin and other prescription opiates, which means it has much less abuse potential as well.
At the same time, across the pond in the United States a drug called methadone was commonly used to help heroin addicts manage withdrawal symptoms, as it had been since the 1960’s.
Methadone produces euphoric effects when taken in high doses, which leads to a “from the frying pan into the fire” situation in which recovering heroin addicts manage to quit heroin but become addicted to methadone. And since substance abuse users have to take large doses to achieve euphoria, methadone produces a lot of overdose deaths.
Opiate Dependence Treatment
There are not nearly enough addiction treatment centers to help all patients seeking medication-assisted opiate dependence treatments. This was especially true when methadone was the only option, as methadone can only be dispensed in a limited number of clinics that specialize in addiction treatment.
Recovering individuals from drug addiction in the United States now has more options than methadone, though.
In 2000, the Drug Abuse Treatment Act (DATA) passed into law. This piece of legislation allowed drugs that were previously only accessible through inpatient treatment centers to be available by a prescription at a doctor’s office. In 2002, buprenorphine and buprenorphine/naloxone were the first narcotic drugs available under DATA. It got approved by the FDA for heroin addiction treatment. This change provided more patients the opportunity to access the tools they need to overcome heroin addiction.
The more recently-approved medication Zubsolv is a prescription opioid maintenance drug similar to buprenorphine/naloxone , also used to help reduce the opioid cravings that often distract people in the recovery process from working through their addiction.
Buprenorphine/naloxone and buprenorphine are all as effective as methadone, and they have fewer health risks and cause fewer deaths as well
