How to Become Completely Drug-Free After Suboxone Therapy
When you’re gripped by opioid addiction, it’s understandable why you would want to grab on to any lifeline to help you beat it. Suboxone has helped many people to break free from addiction to heroin or more potent opioid medications. But because suboxone is a weak form of opioid medication in itself, the time eventually comes when you must quit taking that as well. Quitting suboxone can be challenging, but it is definitely attainable when you get the right help.
Why Should You Quit Suboxone?
Cognitive therapy will teach you how to cope with cravings so you can avoid relapse.
Most people are first introduced to suboxone when they’re trying to break an addiction to heroin or more potent opioids such as oxycodone. Because it has a “ceiling” that limits the degree of high you can get from the drug no matter how much of it you take, it can be an ideal way to help people step down. But because suboxone is a weaker form of an opioid, it’s still addictive. As such, it has many of the same negative side effects of other opioid medications.
Some of the side effects of suboxone include the following:
- Nausea
- Excessive sweating
- Constipation
- Headache
- Feeling faint or dizzy
- Sleep disturbances
Most people also experience withdrawal symptoms if they miss a dose of suboxone, which is an effect of being physically dependent on the drug. For those who are trying to live a clean and sober life, being dependent on any drug is a troubling thought. Withdrawal symptoms include depression, anxiety, muscle aches, cravings for the drug, chills and irritability.
How to Quit Suboxone
Just as many people develop a dependence on suboxone in rehab for other opioid medications, it is possible to quit suboxone in rehab as well. Most rehab programs include treatments such as group therapy, art therapy, supervised dosage reduction and cognitive therapy for suboxone addiction.
Cognitive therapy for suboxone addiction is particularly helpful in getting over the dependence on the drug. Cognitive therapy techniques help you to retrain your thought processes. As a result, you learn to have more positive reactions to situations. Drug cravings are one of the first situations you may learn to manage by controlling your thoughts. When you learn to tell yourself that you can get through a drug craving without giving into it and taking more of the drug, you develop mastery over your addiction.
Treatment Strategies for the Long Term
Cognitive therapy for suboxone addiction is only one component of treatment. Addicts who have stepped down to suboxone from other opioids already have some success with getting off of one drug, which improves their chances of becoming completely drug-free. One reason for this greater success is the self-motivation that helps people complete a rehab program in the first place.
Many people find that 12-step programs such as Narcotics Anonymous are very helpful in maintaining long-term abstinence from drugs, including suboxone. Narcotics Anonymous is beneficial because it provides a community of other people who understand exactly the type of struggle you’re facing. You’ll get accountability partners who will become your new friends and can replace the negative influence of your old friends.
You’ll also have the benefit of getting a sponsor, who has already walked the road that you are currently on. A sponsor is someone who knows what you’ll be facing in the months and years after getting clean and sober. As a result, they can help you to resist falling into many of the more common pitfalls that lead back into active addiction again. You can always call your sponsor at any time that you feel tempted to go back to using suboxone or any other drug.
Your sobriety is the most important factor in having a happy and healthy future. Call our helpline today at 888-646-0865 (Who Answers?) . We would love to help you take that final step toward becoming drug-free, once and for all.
