Suboxone Detox

Truly love it as an RN and so do the patients. Helps much better than detoxing with dilaudid or other opiates.

We are switching from methadone detox to suboxone. Primarily this is because there are less negative outcomes with suboxone.

I'm a charge nurse at a drug and etoh treatment cetner and at my facility, we offer inpatient opiate detox with methadone and have outpatient methadone maintenance and suboxone. We have been doing Suboxone for a little over a year. For clients abusing a moderate amt of opiates (ex 1-2g heroin) they typically stabilize on 8-24mg of Suboxone based on an individualized dosing schedule and either maintain for up to 6 months or come down over 30 days. They report a dramatic decrease in their cravings as well as minimal withdrawal sx after the initial stabilitzation period of about oneweek. Mild sx seem to be more easily managed- (such as insomnia, body aches, and of course anxiety is still a frequent sx reported)- because of the bupenorphine. One thing our facility does not do but I wish it did were random pill counts. After the first week, our Suboxone clients detox at home and meet with counselors weekly and see the MD or NP every couple weeks- I find it hard to track the amt of Suboxone they need and we have had many cases of clients taking some of their RX dose and selling the remainder. Have also seen at least 3 of our longer term suboxone clients return to inpatient detox for relapse (while on suboxone) this past week alone. All three reported they were selling their suboxone to support an increased heroin habit. Ultimately, I think it works for some and not for others and requires compliance with the program and a lot of support and accountability. Hope this helps!