10 Facts about Buprenorphine you Need to Know About
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, buprenorphine is a replacement drug for an opiate addiction. It allows you to stop using opiates without the annoying and sometimes horrible effects of withdrawal. It can also be used to control pain and other symptoms that cause someone to use opiates in the first place.
1. Buprenorphine is a Short Term Drug
Buprenorphine is only meant to prevent withdrawal for a short time. Once you are on it, your doctor will taper you off the drug. If the tapering does not work your doctor will probably switch you to another replacement drug that is meant for long term such as methadone.
2. Buprenorphine is Lemon Lime Flavored
Most companies flavor sublingual buprenorphine in lemon lime. This is a pleasant flavor for most people and is easy to manufacture. It also blends well with the drug to create a pleasant taste.
3. You can become Dependent on Buprenorphine
Although not as addictive as opiates buprenorphine is addictive, this is why most people are only supposed to be on it for a short time.
4. Buprenorphine is in no Way Safe for Children
Buprenorphine should be kept out of the reach of children. Since it has a pleasant flavor and looks like candy it is tempting for children. Unfortunately depending on how much a child takes it can cause respiratory failure.
5. It is Harder to Overdose on this Drug than Others
Since buprenorphine has a ceiling effect, you only feel so good off it. You cannot get any higher after a certain point. This makes it harder to overdose.
6. You have to Tell Emergency Personnel that you are on Buprenorphine
If you are in an accident, you need to tell the emergency personnel that you are taking it or wear a medic alert bracelet. This way they know which painkiller to give you and how much of it to give.
7. Not much is Known about taking Buprenorphine while you are Pregnant
There are not enough comprehensive studies about taking buprenorphine during pregnancy. Although there are no strict recommendations against taking it during pregnancy, the decision should be carefully considered.
8. You can only get so High off it
Since buprenorphine has a ceiling effect and a short half-life it, you can only get so high off it before it levels off in your system. It stops making you high after taking a certain amount of it.
9. Buprenorphine has Less Side Effects than Methadone
Methadone has a long list of side effects, as does buprenorphine. The side effects that buprenorphine has are considered less dangerous and less harmful than those of methadone. It is also harder to overdose on buprenorphine than it is one methadone.
10. You can get Buprenorphine at an Inpatient or Outpatient Treatment Center
You can find both inpatient and outpatient centers that offer buprenorphine. Any treatment center that offers medical alternatives to opiates often offers it. For more information on these treatment centers call us at 888-959-0638.