Suboxone Treatment Option at The GTA's Addiction Treatment Clinic

Suboxone is an alternative treatment to methadone. Its effects are similar to the methadone treatment program with an improved side effect profile. However, it isn’t necessarily right for everyone. Seek help from the physicians at Toronto Addiction Treatment Clinics to decide whether Suboxone option will work best for you. We are the GTA’s trusted source for Suboxone treatment that is helpful in blocking the effects of opiate usage. Suboxone is taken orally in a tablet form and is a quick tapering process.

Before starting off with the treatment plan, our physician will ensure an individual is in moderate opiate withdrawal state. Further, the doctor will administer a test dose of Suboxone and the person may need to wait in the clinic for at least an hour. Then, the physician will reassess individuals to make sure they have not gone into the precipitated withdrawal. Post examining the individual completely and with the satisfaction of our physician, the dose of Suboxone will be administered.

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What is Suboxone?

  • It binds very tightly to the opiate receptor. This is particularly useful with regard to treating addiction.
  • If a patient on Suboxone attempts to continue abusing opiates they will have very little or no effect. In other words, the patient will not get ‘high’ off of opiates of abuse. This ‘negative reinforcement’ of drug use usually results in the patient discontinuing opiate drug use very quickly.
  • It is a combination of two synthetic opioids: Buprenorphine: a partial opiate receptor agonist and Naloxone: an opiate receptor antagonist (it is included in the formulation to prevent abuse).
  • It has a ‘Ceiling Effect’ in that increasing the dose to a certain point where it will not cause an additional effect. All the opioid receptors will be occupied yet they are still only partially stimulated. Therefore, it is much more difficult to cause respiratory depression (and death), compared to other opiates, even when suboxone is taken in excess.
  • It acts as a full agonist with respect to treating pain. As such, it is as good as other opiates for treating pain; however, in order to do so, Buprenorphine would have to be taken 3-4 times daily.

Learn More about the Suboxone Treatment Option

Prior to starting with the Suboxone treatment option, the individual should abstain from opiate use for 24 hours. In addition, the patient should be in moderate withdrawal before starting Suboxone so that the results would be effective. During the treatment, the patient should make regular visits to the clinic and go for urine testing. Depending on the progress of the treatment, the doctor can allow carrying Suboxone doses to home for the methadone treatment. This will be on the basis of stability, abstinence from drug use, and in consultation with the physician.