Buprenorphine Treatment

Buprenorphine (Suboxone, Subutex) is a medication that has significantly improved our ability to help patients with addiction to pain pills and heroin. It became available in the US and many years of use in Europe. Buprenorphine is an opioid with unique characteristics that give it four advantages over its predecessors.

The first is safety — overdosing is almost impossible. This is because above a certain dose, there is no further effect. The second is that for most people, buprenorphine does not provide a significant high, so there is limited temptation for abuse. The third is that, for most people, getting off of buprenorphine is easier than getting off of other opioids. The fourth advantage is its accessibility. It is the only opioid that can be legally prescribed for the treatment of opioid addiction by any physician who has taken an eight-hour buprenorphine training course.

One drawback of buprenorphine is its cost — $12 to $18 per day. Fortunately, it is covered under the prescription benefit of most insurance plans.

While buprenorphine does an excellent job of relieving withdrawal symptoms, the high rate of relapse in early recovery has led us to recommend that patients stay on the medication for a period of several months of stabilization before gradually tapering off of it.

For further information, see our FAQ section on buprenorphine treatment, or we recommend that you visit the U.S. government website, www.buprenorphine.samhsa.gov.

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