Suboxone and Alcohol: Side Effects and Overdose Risk

The most serious consequence of mixing Suboxone and alcohol is the risk of overdose and death. Follow the directions on your prescription label and read all medication guides. Never use this medication in larger amounts, or for longer than prescribed. Yes, buprenorphine is a Schedule III controlled drug, which means it has a potential for abuse more than those in Schedules 4 and 5. If abused, it may lead to moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence. Buprenorphine-naloxone combinations are also available to be used for opioid addication and include sublingual film (Bunavail), sublingual film and sublingual tablets (Suboxone), and sublingual tablets (Zubsolv).

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The lists below describe some of the more common side effects that buprenorphine may cause. These medications are available in different forms and strengths. Healthcare professionals may administer some forms of the drugs. Generic drugs may have different fillers and inactive ingredients compared with their brand-name drugs.

With misuse, a drug is taken in a way other than how it’s prescribed. And with addiction, a drug is taken even if it’s causing harmful outcomes. Misuse of buprenorphine can increase the risk of overdose, and in some cases, even death. Due to these risks, there are special rules and regulations in place for prescribing buprenorphine patches.

Concurrent opioid and alcohol withdrawal management

When they are taken together, Subutex and alcohol act synergistically, that is, their effects are greater than what would be expected if you added the effects of alcohol with the effects of Subutex when used independently. Do not stop using this medication suddenly, or you could have unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. Belbuca buccal films are used for around-the-clock treatment of moderate to severe chronic pain.

• Here, we describe briefly how alcohol and medications can interact, and we provide a few examples of common medications that could interact negatively with alcohol.
• Before you start treatment with buprenorphine, your doctor will discuss its risks and benefits with you.
• Suboxone and other buprenorphine products indicated for opiate addiction are NOT approved by the FDA as pain medications, but some doctors may prescribe it off-label for this use.
• Deaths have occurred when buprenorphine has been misused by injecting it (“shooting up”), especially when used in combination with benzodiazepines (such as diazepam) or other depressants such as alcohol or additional opioids.
• Buprenorphine works best when the first dose is started after signs of opioid withdrawal have begun.

What happens if I miss a dose?

• Therefore, we designed the current pilot study to emulate the procedures that could be followed for a future fully-powered clinical trial, but with a smaller sample.
• Drowsiness, dizziness, constipation, or headache may occur.
• For buprenorphine patches, the recommended starting dosage depends on whether you’ve already been taking other opioid pain relievers.
• This increases your risk of breathing problems, drowsiness, confusion, coma, and even death.
• More resources for a variety of healthcare professionals can be found in the Additional Links for Patient Care.

Buprenorphine is available in combination with the drug naloxone. And these combination products come in both brand-name and generic versions. If you’d like to know more about generic versus brand-name drugs, talk with your doctor. And, read this article for more information about generic and brand-name drugs. Buprenorphine is also available in combination with the drug naloxone in both brand-name and generic versions.

Addiction Science & Clinical Practice

This excessive intake significantly increases the chances of overdose or other harmful effects. Beyond the examples noted above, alcohol has the potential to interact negatively with many other buprenorphine with alcohol commonly prescribed medications. The resources below can help alert you and your patients to important potential risks. Any medical care provider who treats you should know that you are being treated for opioid addiction and that you are on buprenorphine.

A person caring for you should give naloxone and/or seek emergency medical attention if you have slow breathing with long pauses, blue colored lips, or if you are hard to wake up. Just one dose can cause death in someone using this medicine accidentally or improperly. Ask your pharmacist where to locate a drug take-back disposal program. If there is no take-back program, flush the unused medicine down the toilet.

Medicines used to treat severe pain:

If your doctor has prescribed more than 2 tablets per dose, place the correct number of tablets under your tongue at the same time and allow them to dissolve completely. Do not eat or drink anything until the tablet has completely dissolved in your mouth. Never crush or break a pill to inhale the powder or mix it into a liquid to inject the drug into your vein. Here we describe the study design and protocol of a pilot randomized controlled trial of the novel MIAPP intervention tested in hospitalized patients with OUD who use methamphetamine initiating sublingual buprenorphine during hospitalization. The primary goal in conducting the pilot trial is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the novel intervention and to inform the design of a future larger-scale trial.

Protect yourself by avoiding alcohol if you are taking a medication and don’t know its effect. To learn more about a medicine and whether it will interact with alcohol, talk to your pharmacist or other health care provider. Specifically, buprenorphine injection and patches have a boxed warning for misuse and addiction. Buprenorphine can cause serious breathing problems known as respiratory depression.

Do not stop using any medication without first talking to your doctor. The MIAPP pilot study will test a novel intervention to improve buprenorphine adherence and linkage to outpatient treatment for hospitalized patients with OUD who also use methamphetamine. This initial pilot will be the first opportunity to test the delivery of this new intervention to a sample of patients with OUD and methamphetamine use who are started on buprenorphine. This will allow us to identify unique challenges to enrolling into a clinical study in an inpatient setting and to assess how receptive the target population is to intervention being offered.