Using Suboxone for Detox
Jay Rau shares his experience witnessing opiate detox "cold turkey" versus managing the discomfort by using the Suboxone titration method. Our detox facility uses Suboxone when safe and appropriate and our treatment centers also have consulting psychiatrists for our clients who need to maintain a dose of Suboxone throughout early sobriety.
Kicking Opiates (like Heroin and OxyContin) "Cold Turkey"
Think for a minute about what it is like to detox from opiates.
You’re dripping with sweat because you’re hot and nothing can cool you off, but you’re covered with 
goose bumps because you’re freezing cold and you can’t warm up.
Every cell in your body is aching, especially your legs, your legs will not stand still because they kick erratically and on their own free will.
You tell your legs to stop but they will not listen. The clothes you are wearing or the blanket that you are wrapped up in feels like sandpaper against your skin. You are starving, but everything that you try to eat tastes like cardboard and will not stay down.
No matter how much water you drink your saliva feels like cotton mixed with steel wool. When you go to the bathroom you can not decide to sit or “worship the porcelain god.”
You are incredibly tired, but you can’t sleep although you try and try. You can not pick anything up because your hands are so unsteady that when they shake all anyone can see is a flesh colored blur.
You feel like you want to die and pray for it.
The above description is what it is like to stop Opiate use “Cold Turkey” without the help of Suboxone.
The Benefits of Suboxone
Suboxone is a drug used for the detoxification of Opioid based drugs. It has two main active ingredients that are very effective. The first is Buprenorphine which is a partial opioid agonist. A full opioid agonist would be heroin, oxycodone and other opiates. This gives a slight drug effect, but only enough to make the addict feel “well” but not high. This will help the alleviate the misery of the above description of a "cold turkey" detox.
The other effective ingredient is Naloxone which is an antagonist. This is to discourage people from injecting it. When Suboxone is dissolved under the tongue, as directed, very little Naloxone will reach the bloodstream. An antagonist is an opiate blocker as well which means that if opiates are used the patient will not feel the effects of it. You may read more about the ingredients of Suboxone at
http://www.suboxone.com/patients/suboxone/
Titrating Down on Suboxone
When Suboxone is taken using the titration method I have witnessed miracles. Usually, titration takes about two weeks. The doses start out high and will get less each day. I’ve heard one patient describe it as the difference between landing a plane or crashing it. When you land the plane with Suboxone you will feel a few bumps at the end but it feels a lot better than crashing the plane. For the two weeks the patient not feel too much discomfort until the end. When the titration ends there will be some discomfort for two or three days, but nothing like what the above “Cold Turkey” feels like.
So if you are addicted to any kind of opiate and would like to have a safe and comfortable detox from please contact us at Sober Living by the Sea. Our staff of physicians and addiction experts applaud that you have the courage to change your life and we want you to be as comfortable as possible.
- by Jay Rau
