50.2 million adults in the United States experience pain every day or almost every day. This is known as chronic pain. Chronic pain is difficult to deal with and it can worsen a person’s quality of life.
There are many pain management methods you can try. One popular method involves Suboxone. Suboxone is a medication that is usually used to treat opioid addictions.
But how can it help with pain management and relief? Keep reading and learn more about how it works below.
What You Need to Know About Suboxone
Suboxone is a drug that helps manage opioid addiction. It is specifically used to ease the symptoms of opioid withdrawal. Opioid withdrawal can be severe in some people.
They can cause dangerous side effects like seizures and heart attacks. The withdrawals can also be very painful and cause mood swings and other problems. This medication soothes these symptoms and makes opioid withdrawals more manageable.
Its two active ingredients are buprenorphine and naloxone. It is a sublingual medication. It is a film that you place under your tongue and let dissolve.
It will then diffuse into the blood and enact its effects. There are many Suboxone benefits for treating opioid withdrawal symptoms. But people have recently discovered that it may have other benefits as well.
It is known for treating the pain associated with opioid withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms may cause aches, chills, nerve pain, and muscle and bone pain. It does this by interacting with the brain’s opioid receptors.
It satisfies the brain’s need for opioid stimulation without providing a high. This ensures that Suboxone is not addictive. There are different dosage options for this medication.
Higher dosages are best for those who have severe opioid withdrawals. A person may need smaller doses as they get weaned off the drug. This drug has a very low potential for abuse.
Buprenorphine can technically get a person high when injected. But the presence of naloxone prevents this. This is because naloxone will cause severe and unpleasant symptoms when injected.
This prevents the person from experiencing any high or euphoria when abusing this drug.
The Details
Suboxone treats pain due to the presence of buprenorphine. Naloxone and buprenorphine are also useful because they stop opioid cravings.
Withdrawal symptoms create severe cravings that are hard for most people to fight. They may start using opioids again as soon as the cravings kick in. Suboxone reduces this need.
This makes it easier for people to kick their addictions. Suboxone is FDA-approved to only treat the symptoms of opioid withdrawals. It has not yet been approved to treat anything else.
But some doctors are starting to use this medication off-label for other conditions. Off-label means that the drug is used to treat conditions it is not approved to treat. Many doctors have used this drug to treat different types of pain.
There is some risk associated with off-label use. But some research studies have found that Suboxone may be a good treatment for pain management. This makes sense because of the presence of buprenorphine.
This drug has long been known for having pain-relieving properties. Single-agent buprenorphine is approved by the FDA to treat certain types of pain. Single-agent means that the drug works alone without naloxone.
Using Suboxone for Pain Management
You should talk to your doctor before using Suboxone for pain management. This is because using this drug outside of its intended purpose can have risks. The pain management benefits of this medication are significant.
But you should way these benefits with the risks it carries. Some of the common side effects include blurry vision, dizziness, and nausea. You may also experience insomnia, excessive sweating, and vomiting.
Some people may not experience any side effects when taking this medication. For some, the side effects are so severe that they have to discontinue the medication right away. Taking this medication can be especially dangerous if you have never taken opioids.
There have been a few reports of people dying from taking this medication. These deaths were those of opioid-naive people. This means they were not addicted to opioids or going through opioid withdrawals.
What You Need to Know
Death may occur if you take a dose that is too high for your needs. This is why it is important to talk to your doctor. Your doctor will likely start you on a very small dose.
If this helps with your pain, you may continue taking the medication at the same dose. This medication is often used to treat those who are going through opioid withdrawals and also have chronic pain. Opioids are often prescribed to treat severe pain.
The problem is that opioids can be very addictive. This is especially true if they are abused. This involves snorting, inhaling, or injecting them.
Suboxone is a good alternative because it has no abuse potential. It also targets the same opioid receptors in the brain. This is why it helps with pain management.
You must balance the pros and cons of this drug before taking it. If nothing else helps your pain, this may be a good option.
All about Suboxone for Pain Management
Suboxone is an FDA-approved drug that treats opioid withdrawals. But doctors are starting to use it off-label to treat severe or chronic pain. It helps with pain management because it contains buprenorphine.
It also targets the brain’s opioid receptors for pain relief. To learn more about this medication and its uses, check out our treatment options.
