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The National Alliance of Advocates
for Buprenorphine Treatment

Buprenorphine (Suboxone®, Subutex®3, Zubsolv®4, Bunavail™5, Probuphine®6) is an opioid medication used to treat opioid addiction in the privacy of a physician's office.1 Buprenorphine can be dispensed for take-home use, by prescription.1 This, in addition to the pharmacological and safety profile of buprenorphine, makes it an attractive treatment for patients addicted to opioids.2

Patient Stories

"I am approaching 3 months on Suboxone, and I have my life back."

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I got all the pills I could get out of my country doctor for a period of 3 months. By that time I was up to 20-25 10mg Percocet a day. My wife has been a pain-management patient all our marriage and for all those years I would never touch her medicine cause she truly needed it. After I became addicted, I lost control and began to take her drugs to keep the withdrawal away. This went on for about a year.

leaning treeThen I found what I thought was a friend who kept me supplied for the next year, but cost was killing us financially. I tried many times to wean down, NEVER got very far. The time I would run out were like living a nightmare, it was awful. By this time I was up to about 200-250 mg of oxycodone a day. I would even wake up at night and need to dose so I could go back to sleep, I always hated that because I felt like I was wasting the drugs. I had more wean-down sheets than you could imagine, I tried everything.

Then during a family reunion I told a uncle about my back pain and asked him for some pills. He was a Vietnam vet who got blew up in Nam, He had all the drugs you could imagine and rarely took them, so he started supplying me with OxyContin® 40mg tablets. I didn't chew them at first – then I figured out they worked better if I chewed 2 or 3 at a time. This went on another 6 months, at least now I wasn't paying for the pills, they where free to me. Then I told my uncle the truth about my back and the fact that I was severely addicted to opiates. He had what I thought was my answer – METHADONE. It did stop my withdrawal, but within a year I was doing an average of 80mg per day. I always took enough to get high, when I would build a tolerance I would keep increasing. This whole time I told my wife my back needed pills so I could work.

About the first of March, 2006, my uncle passed away, and I was faced with no supply. I tried desperately to wean down, again it didn't work. I prayed so many times for God to deliver me from this horrible addiction. On 3-15-06 I went to a methadone clinic for help, At this time I just wanted to be under a doctor’s care, I was afraid I'd die sooner or later. The clinic wasn't taking any more patients but they did tell me about a medicine called Suboxone® and a doctor who would see me. I went home and called him and to my surprise he actually talked to me that day. He said I was on too high of a dose to switch to Sub, I told him I would do whatever it took.

He set up an appointment 10 days later and told me I had to be at 30mg or less for a week. I did everything he said, even thought I thought I would die. I was sick as a dog for over a week. I showed up for my appt 2 hours early that day and had every withdrawal symptom there is. I had lost 10lbs the week leading up to my appointment. He started my first dose at 4mg, I felt nothing, then he gave me another 4mg, still nothing. When we got to 16mg I still felt bad but told him I was ok. After I got home I called and took another 8mg. I stayed on 24mg the first week of treatment. I am approaching 3 months on Suboxone, and I have my life back. I've successfully dropped down to 10mg a day. I wish I would have found Suboxone a lot sooner but I’m not a computer person so I had no way to discover it other than God answering my prayer.

If you are out there stuck in addiction, I am living proof that this medicine works. My addictive behavior is long gone. I am doing things I never thought of while on drugs. This is a life-saving medicine – not a miracle pill – you still have work to do. But it is by far the best tool we have today to fight the disease of addiction. I wish some people I know that have died from overdose would have had the chance I did. Once I beat this monkey I will never feed him again, It feels so good not to be addicted to anything.

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The Purpose of Buprenorphine Treatment:

To suppress the debilitating symptoms of cravings and withdrawal, enabling the patient to engage in therapy, counseling and support, so they can implement positive long-term changes in their lives which develops into the new healthy patterns of behavior necessary to achieve sustained addiction remission. - explain -

The National Alliance of Advocates for Buprenorphine Treatment is a non-profit organization charged with the mission to:

  1. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA Talk Paper, T0238, October 8, 2002, Subutex and Suboxone approved to treat opiate dependence.
  2. Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Clinical Guidelines for the Use of Buprenorphine in the Treatment of Opioid Addiction. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 40. DHHS Publication No. (SMA) 04-3939. Rockville, Md: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2004.
  3. Subutex Discontinued in the US market in late 2011.
  4. Zubsolv (bup/nx sublingual tablet) FDA approved 7/3/2013 see buprenorphine pipeline graphic -in pharmacies now.
  5. Bunavail (bup/nx bucal film) FDA approved 6/6/2014 see buprenorphine pipeline graphic -in pharmacies now.
  6. Probuphine FDA approved 5/26/2016 - FDA Probuphine press release