Can Suboxone be Used For Pain Management?
Managing pain, especially intense pain, can present you with a wide range of prescription narcotic drug choices that, if misused, could send you down a dangerous and sometimes deadly path.
Interestingly, some have chosen suboxone to relieve their pain. It is interesting because it was not intended for use for chronic pain. It was created for use in the treatment of narcotic addiction.
So knowing what it is, the big question is should you use suboxone for pain? What are the risks? Are there alternatives? These questions will be answered in this article.
What Are the Risks of Suboxone?
Because Suboxone is a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only for opioid addiction treatment, using it to treat chronic pain violates federal regulations. A licensed doctor would never prescribe suboxone for pain – unless they are okay with losing their license.
Even if a doctor could legally prescribe it for pain, he or she must monitor its use closely. It is a mild narcotic and things can still go wrong.
You would also expose yourself to other more dangerous risks as well. People are not always careful when it comes to alcohol use. But alcohol use while taking suboxone can be lethal. At the very least, it can cause long-lasting harm.
Lastly, because it is a mild narcotic, it is not nearly as effective as other narcotics actually created for the purpose of treating prolonged pain.
So the risks and its lack of true effectiveness make a case against the idea of using suboxone for pain.
Are There Any Pain Management Alternatives?
As we just discussed, suboxone as a mild narcotic is not as effective as others designed to treat chronic pain. That being said, there are other more effective drugs. All the same, each carries its own risks, and no one drug can be recommended here. Most of them alleviate pain effectively but are not recommended to use long term.
The best course to take is to consult your doctor, whether or not you happen to be recovering from opioid addiction. They can inform you of the risks of any drug being considered so you can make an informed choice.
Based on the inherent risks that come with it, and the fact that its legally-determined purpose is for treating addiction, it would be inadvisable to recommend suboxone for pain. There are more – and better – alternatives that will effectively address it, so consult your doctor to discuss your situation so he or she can help you choose the best option.