Making the switch to a safer and easier opioid addiction treatment plan
Transitioning from Methadone to Suboxone can be done. However, if you are on methadone and doing well without any problems, you may want to continue with it. Experts consider Methadone to be the gold standard of treatment for opiate and opioid addiction. Yet, if you are not happy with the restrictive lifestyle and risks of Methadone, you may be interested in making the switch.
Methadone can be dangerous.
While it can work well to keep you clean from drugs, Methadone can also be dangerous. This is why it is so highly regulated. To get treatment, you must go to a daily clinic visit to get your dose. The drug carries a high risk of causing respiratory depression and overdose. It also has a high abuse potential.
Methadone is inconvenient.
If you are in treatment, you are enjoying your drug-free life. You can be with your family and go to work without sickness and obsessions. Yet, after a while, you are going to want to live a more normal life. The early morning visits to the methadone clinic get old after a while. How can you go away on vacation? What if you don’t have transportation one morning? The clinics are strict and unforgiving. They have to be in order to comply with federal regulations. Methadone works, but it is also a dangerous drug.
Suboxone is easier and safer.
Suboxone has a much lower risk of overdose compared to Methadone. In fact, if you take no other medications other than Suboxone, the risk is minimal. Experts have determined that Suboxone is so safe, it can be prescribed by doctors for up to a month at a time. There is no need to go every single day to the clinic. You can even choose to get treatment in the form of a monthly injection! With a whole month between doctor visits, you can now go away on vacations and sleep in on weekends.
Making the switch from Methadone to Suboxone
In order to make the switch, you must first reduce your methadone dosage to a low dose, usually no more than 30 to 40 mg daily, and hold it there for at least a week. This is the published clinical convention, and it is a change to make with your clinic doctor, not on your own. If you are taking more than this, ask your clinic doctor to work with you to cut back your dosage. When you are stable on 30mg daily, make an appointment with a suboxone treatment doctor. To make the switch the traditional way, you will have to wait after your last dose of Methadone before taking your first dose of Suboxone. That wait is usually 36 to 72 hours, and sometimes longer, because methadone leaves the body slowly. Your doctor will want to see clear withdrawal symptoms before the first dose, not just a number of hours on the clock. There is also a newer approach, called low-dose initiation, in which very small doses of buprenorphine are started while you are still taking methadone, so that no waiting period is needed. Ask your doctor which approach fits your situation. During the transition time, your doctor may prescribe medications to make you more comfortable.
If you are determined to go from Methadone to Suboxone, you can do it.
This article is educational. It is not medical advice, and reading it does not create a doctor-patient relationship. Decisions about starting, continuing, or tapering any medication should be made with your own physician.
