-
Suboxone is a form of buprenorphine that contains the chemical naloxone in it
- Naloxone is used to prevent the user from experiencing any euphoric symptoms from the opiate maintaining drug
- Suboxone is used to help people detox off opiates, such as oxycodone and heroin, however, once the person stops the suboxone they withdrawal from it as well.
- This makes the withdrawal symptoms less intense for the time being, if given for a short amount of time, 3-7 days, however, it has a much longer half-life than most opiates and therefore may cause a delay in withdrawal symptoms, causing the person to experience more mild withdrawal symptoms over a longer time interval
- Suboxone binds opiate receptors together and prevents them from continuing to progress.
- Suboxone maintenance programs are intended to prevent the individual to continue the progression of accelerating opiate receptors, however, once the person stops other complications may occur
- Suboxone is a semi-synthetic opiate.
- It is partly natural as it is derived from thebaine, which is one of the main components of the naturaly grown opium plant
- It is later synthesized used a chemical-based form of photosynthesis to enhance the effects of the drug similarly done with oxycodone.
- Despite the manufacturing being done like oxycodone, it is more like heroin as it primarily binds to the mu-opioid receptor and has a weak binding affinity to the Kappa opiate receptors.
- This would suggest that it is not effective in preventing people from necessarily experiencing euphoric effects from short-acting opiates in addition to the effects of the suboxone, since it does have a strong binding affinity to all the individual opiate receptors.
- The side effects of suboxone are like short-acting opiates, however, they are milder but at the same time last longer.
- A tablet contains four times more buprenorphine than naloxone, measured by mass
- The naloxone is not as effective at blocking the euphoric effects of the opiates, since has a low bioavailability factor. It does not stay in the bloodstream for very long and is strongly dominated by buprenorphine bioavailability factors. This does increases if taken intravenously.
- Suboxone lasts roughly twenty-four hours and has a half-life of about thirty-seven hours. and continues to have these effects over a longer period in comparison to short-acting opiates, however, the tolerance does increase over time, like any other form of opiates
- The danger involved is that it may take longer for the tolerance to increase in comparison to short-acting opiates, but it also can also take a longer duration of time for the opiate tolerance to go down
- Suboxone blocks sodium gated ion channels to the receptor-binding site. This makes it difficult for the opiates to cross over into the blood-brain barrier, making it difficult for the user to achieve unnecessary effects of euphoria.
- Like other opiates, it does help people from dealing with physical pain, while minimizing the effects of euphoria, which decrease the likelihood of the user to consume large quantities at once.
- Long term use of this drug can cause such painful withdrawal symptoms that the user may sometimes switch back to street drugs, to avoid more deadly withdrawal symptoms.
- It does, however, prevent people from purchasing drugs on the streets, decrease the chance of overdose, and allows people to be somewhat functional.
- This does not mean that they are still emotionally numb because of the drug.
- Unlike other opiates, the drug is primarily processed in the liver. This makes it difficult for people to naturally cleanse their systems.
- It may avoid some other deadly health risks of opiates, but in the long run, it can cause people to have a deadly health problem at a slower rate, which will become more deadly over time.
- It is like heroin and morphine in the sense that is more water-soluble, unlike oxycodone and Vicodin, which are more oxygen-based.
- The chemical structure is similar to oxycodone and heroin, containing elements such as carbon chlorine, hydrogen, and oxygen, however, the chemical composition is more individualized, containing a hydrochloride compound that causes the drug to remain in the system for longer in addition to a water molecule in order to enhance the duration of the short-acting effects of oxycodone, due to its oxidation properties.
