Suboxone Side Effects & MAT Programs
Suboxone has become a game changer in the fight against opioid addiction, helping thousands of people overcome addiction. Opioid addiction is a tough journey to navigate, with many variables to consider when choosing your MAT.
One of the biggest questions, “Do Suboxone personality changes happen?” addresses one of the most common side effects of opioid addiction meds. In this post we’ll get to the bottom of this, and explore if Suboxone treatment affects your mood or behavior.
When you’re on this partial opioid agonist you may experience personality and mood changes. But at South Shores Detox we help clients navigate substance abuse treatment, including the mood or personality changes that come with their chosen treatment.
What is Suboxone?
Suboxone is a medication for opioid withdrawal symptoms. It’s a partial opioid agonist that works with the opioid receptors in the brain. What makes it different from other things like methadone is the combination of medicines that come together to create the two-fold effect that benefits the user.
Buprenorphine
Suboxone contains Buprenorphine and Naloxone. Naloxone does help with opioid withdrawal but the main product is Buprenorphine. This is the partial agonist that works with the opioid receptors, giving the user a low dose of opioids and eliminating cravings and withdrawal symptoms of opioid dependence.
Naloxone
So what’s the role of the Naloxone? Naloxone is a full opioid antagonist. It reduces the potential for Suboxone abuse. When a client tries to abuse Suboxone outside of medication assisted treatment this is when the Naloxone comes into play. When a user abuses Suboxone they try to inject it or mix it with other opioids, severe withdrawal symptoms kick in. But these aren’t the typical withdrawal symptoms of opioid use disorder.
These are what’s called precipitated withdrawal and are much more severe than the typical detox side effects. This is one of the biggest side effects to watch out for during this type of opioid use disorder treatment. Taking Suboxone and heroin or other opioids together or generally misusing Suboxone causes withdrawal that can affect your physical and mental health.
Precipitated Withdrawal
When you take Suboxone for withdrawal symptoms you may experience precipitated withdrawal. This type of withdrawal is more intense than the standard kind, and happens over a few hours instead of several days. Symptoms include:
- Sweating
- Stomach cramps
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Crawling skin
Precipitated withdrawal is mostly physical but can still affect mental health. Going through this type of withdrawal after suboxone use may make you hesitant to try medicated addiction treatment in the future.
But what about the direct impact on mental health? One of the side effects of Suboxone is addiction. Can too much cause long term problems with mood swings or behavioral issues?
Suboxone Side Effects: Mood Swings and More
Suboxone side effects are physical at times but the bulk of the problems are the mood swings and other attitude shifts. When someone abuses Suboxone those around them may notice changes in them mentally.
Treating these mood swings is crucial as mental health is just as important as your physical health during detox and addiction treatment.
Types of Mood Swings
Mood swings are defined as intense emotional shifts, happiness to sadness and anger to irritability. These emotional roller coasters can destroy your mental health especially when you’re already dealing with the demands of addiction treatment.
While addiction treatment programs with Suboxone are meant to make life easier, sometimes they can create situations and feelings as described above. Remember Suboxone effects the same areas of the brain as opioids. Although they’re designed to reduce opioid dependency and eliminate severe withdrawal symptoms, that doesn’t mean they don’t cause mood swings.
Can Suboxone Help a Person’s Mental Health?
Remember not all mood swings while on Suboxone are towards negative feelings inside or outside of treatment programs. This tool for opioid misuse treatment has effects similar to anxiolytic antidepressants and benzodiazepines. What does that mean for you?
Anxiolytic and Antidepressant Properties
Because the body responds with effects similar to an antidepressant or Benzo for feeling sad or anxious, common effects happen during opioid treatment with Suboxone.
How Does Suboxone Act on the Same Receptors as Anti-Depressants?
Besides preventing relapse, the effects that mirror antidepressants can reduce sadness, hopelessness or loss of interest in activities that happen during the recovery process. The anxiolytic-like effects help the brain release anxiety, get rid of restlessness and promote a calm mood.
The Positive Effects of Suboxone on Mood
Suboxone effects on mood can manifest in many ways—while it can cause mood swings it can also bring relief from depression and anxiety. Being aware of these feelings can prepare you for the bumps along the way.
Eventually your brain will calm down. Naturally relapse prevention will become more manageable and you won’t need the Suboxone effect to feel good mentally anymore. The bad Suboxone effect always happens in the beginning. You can focus on full recovery after you get past these bumps.
South Shores Recovery Supports Lasting Recovery
At South Shores Detox we’ve helped many clients overcome physical opioid dependence using Suboxone with behavioral programs and family therapy. Whether you’re on short-acting opioids or long-acting opioids, Suboxone can be the key to get you to long term recovery.
We prescribe Suboxone as part of our MAT program for opioid abuse but we know to monitor our clients closely.
We also note that we’re here to help with the increased risk of depression and anxiety. We know the mood changes that come with Suboxone and these need as much attention as the initial opioid use disorder.
While the effects of Suboxone are primarily positive, our staff is here to help you navigate the Suboxone effects on your mood and Suboxone addiction for those who misuse their medication.
For more information on how we can help you with anxiety, depression and other Suboxone or opioid withdrawal symptoms side effects, contact our admissions team today. We’ll help you with the initial opioid dependency and any side effects of MAT. Don’t wait, contact us today.