Doctors Who Prescribe Suboxone

Doctors Who Prescribe Suboxone to their patients for treatment of opiate dependence must first obtain a waiver from the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA approved suboxone as a pain killer in 2002 making it available for use soon thereafter. Because it is a partial opiate (agonist) it is relatively safer than full opiates or agonists. The physician is permitted via a waiver to use it on an outpatient basis with no hospitalization involved for pain killers addiction and abuse. When Doctors prescribe suboxone for their patients, they must instruct the patient on how to ingest the medication. The directions for use require that the patient place the tablet under their tongue. The tablet will dissolve in ten minutes. The naloxone component in suboxone would cause severe withdrawal symptoms in patients with opiate dependence, therefore, the physical advises the patient to never chew or swallow the tablet.

Doctors who prescribe suboxone must first confirm that the patient does not have Hepatitis C, otherwise serious side effects such as sleep disorders, constipation, and sweating could occur if taken. Therefore, monitoring and extreme caution should be exercised. When prescribing suboxone for his or her patient, the doctor must be aware of whether or not the patient is allergic to opioids as the suboxone could interact with other opiates such as alcohol, benzodiazepines, or other depressants.

Doctors who prescribe suboxone should have an “exit” strategy to wean patients off the medication if the patient is showing signs of addiction. Also, when doctors prescribe suboxone to treat opiate addiction, they should have some knowledge regarding the principles of brief intervention and relapse prevention. As a matter of fact, when doctors prescribe suboxone for opioid addiction treatment, they must attest to their ability to refer their patients for appropriate counseling for behavior therapy. Many studies have been done about people, some youthful, who take suboxone for opioid addiction. At the end of the testing, which took five or six years, it was revealed that some of the youths tested developed Hepatitis C. They did not have Hepatitis C before testing began.

Doctors who prescribe suboxone for opioid addiction found that suboxone taken promptly for an extended duration of time may prevent Hepatitis C in patients addicted to opioids. Also, suboxone could play an important role in combating painkiller abuse in young users in the twelve to seventeen age group according to a household survey taken in 2006.