Does Suboxone Make You Tired? Causes and When to Get Help

Yes. Suboxone can cause drowsiness or sedation, including when it is taken exactly as prescribed. Feeling tired does not automatically mean someone is misusing the medicine.

Mild tiredness and dangerous oversedation are different. Inability to wake, slow or abnormal breathing, or collapse requires 911 and naloxone if available. CDC: Responding to an overdose

Why tiredness can happen

Buprenorphine acts on opioid receptors and can cause sedation. Other contributors may include disrupted sleep, early recovery, withdrawal, depression, another health condition, or medications taken alongside Suboxone.

Alcohol, benzodiazepines, sleep medicines, and other sedating drugs deserve particular attention because combined effects can increase breathing risk. The prescriber needs a complete medication and substance-use history. FDA Suboxone prescribing information

Will it go away?

Some people find early side effects become less troublesome as treatment stabilizes. Others need an assessment or an adjustment. There is no fixed number of days after which tiredness must resolve.

Report drowsiness that interferes with work, driving, childcare, or normal activities. Contact the clinician promptly if it is worsening or follows a dose change or new medication.

Do not assume you should simply push through persistent sedation.

What information helps the clinician?

Note when tiredness begins relative to the dose, how long it lasts, and whether sleep has changed. Explain any missed doses, recent opioid use, alcohol use, or new prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

Also mention snoring or breathing concerns during sleep, low mood, and other symptoms. A dose that needs review is one possibility, not the only explanation.

What can you do safely?

Take Suboxone as prescribed and avoid alcohol. Do not drive or operate dangerous equipment while impaired or until you know how the medication affects you.

Ask the prescriber before changing the dose or moving doses to a different time. Do not try to counter heavy sedation with stimulants or someone else's medication.

If a benzodiazepine is prescribed, coordinate the plan rather than abruptly stopping it. FDA guidance advises careful management instead of automatically withholding opioid use disorder medication because of benzodiazepine use. FDA Suboxone prescribing information, warning on benzodiazepines and other sedatives

Keep treatment goals in view

Treatment should control withdrawal and cravings while supporting daily functioning. Persistent tiredness is worth addressing because it can make effective care harder to sustain.

A review may involve medication interactions, dose and timing, sleep, or another health condition. It does not necessarily mean buprenorphine is the wrong treatment or that recovery should continue without medication.

For more information, see Suboxone side effects.

Start Suboxone treatment online. Recovery Delivered's online Suboxone doctors see patients by video. The first visit is $89. Follow-up visits are $50 weekly, $75 every two weeks or $89 monthly. Visits are cash pay, and medication is priced separately.