Thursday, March 28, 2024

Can Suboxone Help With Depression

Abuse Of Suboxone And Xanax Is Dangerous

Suboxone For Depression: Can It Actually Help Your Depression & Anxiety?

Using these two medications as prescribed in combination poses some risks. However, abusing either drug in excessive amounts is much more likely to lead to severe complications and overdose. The greatest threat to any person who uses these drugs is respiratory arrest, which is more likely to occur when different CNS depressants are used in conjunction.

Benzos like Xanax may be abused in this situation because the abuse of Suboxone can result in adverse effects that can prompt immediate withdrawal symptoms. Buprenorphine itself is considered to have a relatively low potential for abuse, and with the addition of naloxone, its potential decreases even further. Conversely, Xanax is a prevalent drug of abuse, but if it is abused independently of other substances, it is unlikely to be lethal.

For this reason, individuals who use Suboxone and Xanax may not realize that there may be dire consequences of doing so. Overdose notwithstanding, combined abuse also places a person at a higher risk of experiencing adverse health consequences in both the short- and long-term.

Concurrent use of these two substances has also been found to reduce the likelihood that the person in recovery from another substance, such as heroin, will sustain long-lasting sobriety. Also, if an individual continues to abuse Xanax after Suboxone has been stopped, this in and of itself can contribute to a relapse.

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Allergy Cold And Flu Medications

Many allergy, cold, and flu medications contain acetaminophen or alcohol. Mixing any alcohol with Suboxone is extremely dangerous. Mixing acetaminophen with Suboxone may cause liver damage. It is best that you do not take allergy, cold, or flu medications when you are on Suboxone, unless your usage is strictly supervised.

Weighing The Pros And Cons Is Always Important When It Comes To Making Important Treatment Decisions

If, after stopping Suboxone, you begin to experience addictive thoughts and feelings, such as cravings for opioids, it may mean that you will do best to resume treatment for a longer period of time.

Going back on Suboxone does not mean failure. Avoiding a dangerous relapse on opioids by resuming treatment is a huge success. Often, when a patient does resume Suboxone treatment, they are able to take a lower dosage than what they were taking previously.

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Get Help To Fight Depression At Oxford Treatment

Co-occurring depression is common among people with opioid use disorder, and research shows that integrated treatment of both conditions is superior to treating them separately. Oxford Treatment Center is equipped to provide comprehensive treatment for addiction and co-occurring disorders, with treatment plans tailored to their individual needs.

Depression: Whats Buprenorphine Got To Do With It

Buprenorphine Treatment for Opioid Addiction

Buprenorphine is an opioid medication typically prescribed for treating opioid use disorder. However, literature supports its utility for treatment-resistant depression . Buprenorphine has a unique method of action: it is a partial agonist of mu opioid receptors and an antagonist of kappa and delta opioid receptors . Recent research shows that the kappa opioid receptors role is crucial in buprenorphines function as an antidepressant . Acute administration of kappa opioid receptor antagonists has been shown to produce antidepressant effects, while agonists exhibit prodepressive effects .

The function of buprenorphine as an antidepressant is intriguing, since it is common for patients with substance use disorders to have a co-occurring mood disorder. One study found that in patients with a substance use disorder, 53% had a comorbid psychiatric illness . Additionally, patients with co-occurring substance use and mood disorders have a higher risk of suicide . Health care professionals often categorize such patients as “substance abusers” or “drug seekers,” which minimizes the impact of their mood disorder and impedes its treatment . We present a case of co-occurring disorders, in which buprenorphine-naloxone fulfilled both its prescribed purpose of treating opioid use disorder while also treating the patients severe depression.

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Suboxone And Depression Overcoming Opioid Addiction With Treatment Can Lift Your Mood

For many people, Suboxone makes depression better. Your depression may not go away completely with Suboxone treatment, but it will likely improve.

Is the reason for Suboxone treatment helping with depression because it treats addiction and blocks addictive feelings and cravings? It makes sense that making a positive move forward in your life would help to make you feel less depressed.

If you are in a Suboxone program to help treat your opioid addiction, you are most likely going to feel good about yourself. You can, for the first time in a long time, have hope for the future.Interestingly, if Suboxone helps with your depression, it may be due to more than just improving your life. Suboxone may have a direct effect on your brain to reduce depression.

How To Stop Suboxone Without Withdrawal Or Anxiety By Bruce Semon Md Phd

This blog post is about how to stop suboxone without withdrawal or anxiety. This is based on my professional experience. I have been seeing patients for opiate problems and prescribing Suboxone for more than 10 years. I am a board certified psychiatrist and a DEA Authorized Suboxone prescriber.

Suboxone is a lifesaver for so many people. It allows them to get off heroin or pills. Once on Suboxone, they have no more concern about going into withdrawal. They are not anxious about whether they will be able to find opiates on the street.

But eventually, many of my patients tell me they want to stop Suboxone. They tell me that family pressure, insurance and costs or just the wanting to be off pills, makes them want to stop.

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Mixing Meds: Weighing The Pros And Cons Of Adding Benzodiazepines To Buprenorphine Treatment For Individuals With Opioid Use Disorder

Benzodiazepines may be prescribed to patients who are receiving buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder . Clinicians accept that there are both risks, and potential benefits associated with combining these medications. To help aid clinical recommendations, Park and colleagues examined some of the risks and benefits associated with prescribing buprenorphine and benzodiazepines together using government records from the state of Massachusetts.

WHAT PROBLEM DOES THIS STUDY ADDRESS?

Benzodiazepines are commonly prescribed to manage anxiety and insomnia in patients receiving buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder, with approximately a third of patients taking buprenorphine also being prescribed benzodiazepines, and up to another third regularly using benzodiazepines obtained illicitly. Though it is thought that combining these medications may help some individuals stay engaged in treatment and reduce risk for return to opioid use because their anxiety and/or sleep issues are being managed, combining these medications also confers significant risk. This is because combining benzodiazepines with other medications with sedating effects can substantially increase risk for overdose by increasing respiratory depression, leading to hypoxia and eventually death.

HOW WAS THIS STUDY CONDUCTED?

WHAT DID THIS STUDY FIND?

Figure 2.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY FINDINGS?

BOTTOM LINE

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What Is Opioid Maintenance Therapy

I AM BACK on Suboxone, helping my depression?!

Opioid maintenance therapy is a branch of therapy thats dedicated not to helping an individual achieve immediate abstinence, but to providing them with legally sanctioned versions of drugs similar to those that theyre addicted to. This allows the user to rebuild their lives: getting a job, repairing damaged relationships or returning to school are all things that are often difficult to achieve when struggling with an illegal drug addiction.

Opioid maintenance therapy typically uses one of two types of drugs for the treatment: methadone or buprenorphine.

Methadone is a long-lasting potent opioid narcotic thats usually available in liquid form. It isn’t as popular anymore because studies have revealed that its incredibly destructive to bones and teeth.

Buprenorphine is another long-lasting, potent opioid thats available in several preparations, most notably Suboxone and Subutex. Doses are typically quite low – they start at the 2mg range – but considering Suboxone is around 80 times stronger than morphine, this is still a very active and addictive dose.

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Benefits Of Suboxone For Depression

1. Improved mood: Many people report an immediate improvement in mood upon taking Buprenorphine. It works as a partial agonist on the mu-receptor and increases serotonin and dopamine both of which are linked to mood improvement.

2. Increased pleasure: It is common for activities to become more pleasurable as a result of taking this medication. Since the pleasure chemicals are increasing in your nervous system, it makes sense that youd have an increased sense of pleasure.

3. Feeling normal: Some people take this medication and report that they feel normal for the first time in years. If you have significantly low levels of serotonin or dopamine, this can help boost them.

4. : In some people, they report decreases in anxiety and increases in relaxation. This is in part due to the fact that it acts on the mu-receptor in the brain and increases both serotonin and dopamine.

5. Increased wellbeing: Some people report overall improvement in wellbeing. They are able to be productive members of society, wake up in the morning, be social, and positively interact with the world.

Can You Take An Antidepressant With Subutex

Subutex can interact with several types of antidepressant medications, including SSRIs, SNRIs, tricyclic depressants, and MAO inhibitors.

Before taking Subutex or an antidepressant medication, make sure to tell your doctor about all of the medications, supplements, or vitamins you are currently taking.

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How To Restore Dopamine Receptors With Dopamine Brain Food And Other Brain Supplementation

Neurotransmitters in the central nervous system can be relatively depleted. Taking supplements that include neurotransmitter precursors and cofactors can help to reduce the depression that may occur after completing a course of Suboxone.

Serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, glutamate, and GABA are examples of important neurotransmitters involved in mood and are important for healthy brain functioning. GABA and glutamate are even available as supplements in health food stores. Some people take GABA for sleep, because of its calming effect.

Fda Okays Benzodiazepines And Medication

Suboxone Detox Guide

A new communication says benzodiazepines can be used with buprenorphine or methadone, if carefully managed.

The FDA has issued a Drug Safety Communication on the use of benzodiazepines and opioid addiction medications. Benzodiazepines and other drugs that can depress the central nervous system do not have to be withheld from patients taking drugs such as buprenorphine or methadone for treatment of opioid addiction. However, careful medication management is needed to reduce the risks of serious side effects.

The combined use of these drugs increases the risk of serious side effects however, the harm caused by untreated opioid addiction can outweigh these risks, the FDA stated in its safety communication. Careful medication management by health-care professionals can reduce these risks.

The new information will be added to labeling for buprenorphine and methadone, along with detailed recommendations for minimizing the use of medication-assisted treatment drugs and benzodiazepines together. Side effects of combining opioids and benzodiazepines include dizziness or lightheadedness, extreme sleepiness, slowed or difficult breathing, or unresponsiveness.

  • Educate MAT patients about the serious risks of combined use that can occur with CNS depressants.
  • Develop strategies to manage the use of prescribed or illicit benzodiazepines or other CNS depressants when starting MAT.
  • Taper the benzodiazepine or CNS depressant to discontinuation if possible.

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Have You Seen The Effects Of Buprenorphine In Your Own Practices

Roy: Its like night and day, seeing patients when they first come in versus when they are stabilized on treatment. Given the limitations I mentioned previously, not all of my patients stay on long-term some come and go. But if you look at people who remain on treatment, you would have no idea they had an opioid addiction in the past. My patients are able to regain custody of their children, run their own businesses. Its truly remarkable.

Avoid These Dangerous Suboxone Drug Interactions

There are over 150 known severe drug interactions between Suboxone and other medications. This number does not include moderate interactions. There are four ways to avoid a dangerous drug interaction. These ways are:

  • Stop taking the medication
  • Switch to an alternative medication
  • Suboxone medication dosage reduction
  • Engage in monitoring at a drug treatment center

One of these ways should prevent a dangerous Suboxone drug interaction. Unfortunately, the medications that Suboxone interacts poorly with are sometimes vital for your health and welfare. This is where a qualified treatment center can help. To avoid all of these interactions, call . We can help.

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If I Am Depressed After I Stop Suboxone Should I Take Suboxone Again To Feel Better

At first, you may think the answer to this question is a clear no. How could it make sense to go back on Suboxone because of Suboxone withdrawal symptoms?

You might think that it is similar to drinking hard liquor in the morning to get rid of a hangover. Is it always the right decision to fight through the withdrawal symptoms and avoid going back to Suboxone at all costs?

In most cases, if you have completed over one year of treatment and you feel ready to complete therapy, you should be able to get through any physical withdrawal syndrome that may occur after you stop treatment. By eating healthy foods and taking supplements, exercising, and practicing mindfulness, you will feel much better as you work through the withdrawal period.

However, there are situations where going back on Suboxone may be the best decision. Not everyone will do well stopping Suboxone treatment after a specific time period. While at least one year of treatment is recommended, some patients will do better to continue treatment for longer, even indefinitely in some cases.

Buprenorphine A Mixed Partial Agonist/antagonist Is A Very Unique Medication

Update Wellbutrin/suboxine depression

Opioids that stimulate the kappa receptor, or kappa opioid receptor agonists, may make depression worse. So, if you are addicted to opioids and depressed, it could be partly due to a direct effect of the opioid on the kappa receptor. For example, this could explain, in part, why people addicted to oxycodone often feel depressed.

Buprenoprhine, on the other hand, blocks kappa receptors. Therefore, Suboxone treatment can be an effective treatment for depression for some people. At this time, however, it is unlikely that any doctors are prescribing Suboxone for depression.

Since many patients who take Suboxone for opioid addiction are depressed before starting Suboxone therapy, we are able to see how well the medication helps with depression. Studies have shown that it works. Suboxone can function as an antidepressant in addition to being an effective opioid addiction treatment.

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Buprenorphine Can Effectively Treat Major Depressive Disorder With Opioid Use Disorder

Diagnosis of MDD in individuals with OUD occurs more frequently than in the general population. Across studies, the prevalence of lifetime major depression in this group ranges from 38% to 56% and the rate of current major depression ranges from 16% to 30% . Depressed OUD patients may be less likely to comply with a buprenorphine treatment regimen and are more likely to drop out of treatment than their non-depressed counterparts . Additionally, depressed individuals are more likely to misuse alcohol and other drugs and OUD patients with a co-occurring psychiatric diagnosis are more likely to have an additional drug dependence . Indeed, 28% of heroin users entering the Australian Treatment Outcomes Study met criteria for current major depression , and those with depression were less likely to achieve long-term OUD remission . Interestingly, in the Prescription Opioid Addiction Treatment Study , a lifetime diagnosis of MDD was the best predictor of a good outcome with buprenorphine treatment for OUD . See Ghabrash et al. for a review of the literature investigating the relationship between depression and OUD outcomes. While the direction of causality is unclear and varies from person to person, patients with comorbid MDD and OUD may be more difficult to treat and are most likely to succeed in achieving remission of either disorder when both are adequately treated. Buprenorphine may do just that .

Can Suboxone Treat Depression

Notwithstanding the FDAs refusal to permit Suboxone as a treatment for depression, more and more doctors are acknowledging the antidepressant effects the drug has on patients, especially in cases where patients do not respond to traditional therapies. In some doctors opinions, the risk of developing a Suboxone dependence is a better alternative than living with the symptoms of a depressive disorder so strong that the usual therapies are ineffective.

Past research has demonstrated that physical and mental pain alike are controlled by the same chemical systems in the brain, to the point where generalized pain is a symptom of depression. New medications have been formulated in an attempt to address both forms of distress associated with depression, but Mental Health Daily notes that Suboxone already does this.

As a partial opioid agonist, Suboxone works on the particular opioid receptor that releases serotonin and dopamine in the central nervous system. Because of this, some doctors and scientists have suggested that Suboxone can, in theory, be used as an antidepressant.

This application of Suboxone would have to depend on several other factors being met. First, it would have to be proven that no other drug classes were effective that even drastic treatments like electroconvulsive therapy and adjunctive treatments like lithium, Adderall, and talk therapy were ineffective and that the patient still suffered from major depressive disorder.

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The Withdrawal And Post

The withdrawal phase occurs when a person stops taking Suboxone – or, indeed, any opioid – and the opioid receptors, which are used to being saturated with opioid drugs for as long as the persons been addicted – attempt to return to homeostasis, which is a state of balance, or the baseline state.

This process is very unpleasant and, for longer lasting opioids like Suboxone, can include a huge number of physical and mental symptoms. Depression is, indeed, one of the symptoms of Suboxone withdrawal, and there are other symptoms that can contribute to the depressive state:

  • Anxiety and agoraphobia
  • Lack of motivation and lethargy

Its also important to note that the post-acute withdrawal phase, or PAWS, is a much longer protracted form of withdrawal. This is typically an extension of the psychological symptoms of withdrawal, of which depression is quite common. Some people report depression for several years following the cessation of opioid drugs.

The depression will go away, naturally, but it can be helped along by taking herbal medicines and exercising, meditating, and doing yoga.

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