Can You Overdose on Buprenorphine?
The short answer: no. There are no documented cases of death caused by a dose of buprenorphine, no matter how large. In fact, rather than throwing your body into respiratory depression like other opiates in high doses, an overdose of buprenorphine sends you right into opiate detox, complete with all the harsh opiate withdrawal symptoms, especially if you’re physically addicted to heroin or methadone. This is called the “ceiling effect” of buprenorphine. Take more than prescribed and you won’t get high or overdose; you’ll just kick.
Buprenorphine Overdose
There are, however, a number of reports of overdose in which the person took buprenorphine and combined it with benzos and/or alcohol. Buprenorphine is, after all, an opiate and so when you combine it with benzodiazepines or alcohol—both depressants—the chemical reaction can be fatal. So don’t do it. Not even a little bit.
The Self Protection Measure of Buprenorphine
It’s actually a really interesting aspect of the pharmacology and chemical makeup of buprenorphine that, despite the fact that it is an opiate, you don’t go into respiratory depression if you take too much of it. This is an exceptionally good thing—aside from the obvious, you know, that you get to live even if you make a mistake or a bad decision—because buprenorphine does not respond to Naloxone, the drug that paramedics give you if you overdose on any other opiate.
Other Risks of Abusing Buprenorphine
If you decide to abuse buprenorphine by dissolving the tablets in water rather than under your tongue and injecting it rather than taking it as prescribed, you open yourself to a host of other problems. Using a needle to ingest any drug means that you’re taking the chance of developing thrombosis, cellulitis, and systemic infections with oral bacteria or fungi. If you’re addicted to an opiate and you inject the Suboxone version of buprenorphine, the one that combines buprenorphine with naloxone, rather than the Subutex version, you’re going to experience extreme opiate detox and get none of the benefits of buprenorphine.
So there you have it!
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September 2nd, 2008 at 9:19 am
i do inject suboxone you need to wait till your clean to start treatment but even if you dont the w/d effect will only last ABOUT AN HOUR THAN YOUR NORMAL AGAIN .i know shooting is not the safest way to do anything but if you use common sense and safe methods it can really help you. i cant afford two tabs of suboxone a day so if i shoot a quater of a tab filtered into a solution it keeps me well all day, quite a savings in cost and meds. so just be as safe as you can if you were shooting street dope than how much worse can injecting subs be? plus on dope i was injecting sometimes ten times a day ,now just one i think that is an improvement. my goal is to get off subs in a month or two when it cools down and i can take some time off from work. in closing im sure some people think this sounds stupid or crazy but it works for me!
shooter