Possible Side Effects of Suboxone

Common Suboxone side effects are: constipation. These are fairly uncomfortable side effects that don't necessarily mean a bigger problem to the patient. Most patients only experience a couple of uncomfortable symptoms throughout the course of overcoming substance addiction. These are usually experienced in the first few weeks of treatment and will subside as the drug works through the body.

Some Suboxone patients also experience mild to moderate back pain. This is not considered to be a serious side effect of the medication, but it may cause discomfort for some. It is important to note that most Suboxone users undergo extensive physical therapy in addition to their medications in order to overcome substance abuse. Back pain can occur due to the body compensating for the lack of physical activity. Many times the therapy combined with the physical therapy helps to alleviate the back pain.

At times, Suboxone may produce other unpleasant and entirely different Suboxone side effects. These could include nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, agitation, and even fever. All of these can subside once the medication begins to work. While each of these could be troublesome or dangerous to some patients, most will receive comfort from the fact that most suboxone side effects will disappear within several weeks of starting the medication.

One of the more common reactions to Suboxone is its propensity to cause weight loss. Because the opioid receptors in the brain have fewer receptors when under Suboxone than they do when taking other forms of medication, the patient can lose a great deal of weight very quickly. This often begins a week after the patient began taking the medication, but will subside as it is gradually eliminated from the body. For some individuals, this is a desirable side effect since they need to maintain a healthy weight in order to maintain their mental and physical health.

There are some Suboxone patients who develop a tolerance for the drug and begin to experience more severe side effects. This is commonly referred to as withdrawal symptoms. When the dosage of Suboxone is reduced, more of the opioid is absorbed through the lungs and is distributed throughout the body. This produces a euphoric feeling for the individual taking the Suboxone. However, once the body adjusts to the amount of the drug being consumed, the patient will experience more severe withdrawal symptoms. This is also a common occurrence in patients who have used heroin over an extended period of time.

Other common Suboxone side effects experienced while taking Suboxone include depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Depression is a common side effect that is experienced by patients taking the partial opioid agonist. This is most likely due to the patient's inability to produce sufficient amounts of endorphins. Endorphins are the body's natural pain killers and have been shown to reduce depression. Insomnia is commonly seen in patients taking Suboxone because it is a mild sedative and blocks the production of natural light.

The number one cause of death in patients switching to heroin is death from accidental overdose, primarily due to the patient not following proper dose or duration guidelines. However, with the limited number of Suboxone patients who have accidental deaths, it is unlikely that this number would be as high if there were more readily available Suboxone medications. In addition, the number of people who die from accidental overdose on other benzodiazepines, such as Ativan and Valium, is unknown and probably underestimated compared to the numbers of people who die from accidental overdoses on suboxone.

Although Suboxone has been shown to successfully treat the primary symptom of a variety of addictions, the long list of potential complications is quite worrisome. The majority of patients who begin treatment with heroin or another opioid do so after a lifetime of abuse and addiction to highly addictive prescription opioids. Even after completing an extended follow up period with an at home or in clinic residential rehab, many opioids will be taken again for pain management purposes. If you or someone you know is addicted to an opioid, please seek treatment immediately.