If you’re getting ready to start your first day of suboxone treatment then you should pat yourself on the back. Treatment programs for opioid withdrawal are difficult, and you’re taking a major step by getting involved with a suboxone clinic, even online suboxone treatment. If you’re at this stage then you recognize that you have a problem and that you are willing to do what it takes to fix it.
The good news is that suboxone treatment online can be very effective, with high success rates. We believe that you are on the right track, doing the right things, and that, if you stick with it, you’ll be leading a better life in the days to come.
The First Day of Suboxone Online Treatment
Suboxone, when taken as prescribed, is an effective way to reduce opioid abuse. Suboxone as a prescription (buprenorphine and naloxone) are taken as sublingual film–that means under the tongue–and you should start to feel the effects of suboxone within 30-45 minutes. Because this is medication-assisted treatment, you will have medical personnel who will be checking in with you to make sure that you do not misuse suboxone, and that you are taking it in the way it was intended.
These medical professionals will help you with the side effects that you feel as you come off of opioids long term. Your suboxone doctor, who gives you the prescription medication, will be monitoring your progress.
Before you start suboxone, you will be in withdrawal already. This is important because, if you’re not in withdrawal, then taking suboxone can make your symptoms worse. We understand that this is going to be hard, but remember that this is the path to healing.
These withdrawals can include aches and pains, increased heart rate, chills, vomiting, insomnia, anxiety, and difficulty focusing. These are normal, and you will experience some of them. Your prescriber may give you additional medication to help with these symptoms, but may not.
The good news is that once you take your first dose of suboxone, these withdrawal symptoms should decrease or disappear. If you don’t experience a loss of symptoms, your prescriber may adjust your dose. And the better news is that once you are on suboxone, your craving for other opioids should drop off if not disappear entirely. This may take weeks or months, but on your first day, you are on the road to recovery.
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Author
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Medically Reviewed by: Daniel R. Karlin, MD, MADr. Daniel R. Karlin, MD, MA, is a psychiatrist, addiction medicine specialist, and medical informatician who serves as the medical reviewer for Recovery Delivered's published health content. He works at the intersection of health and technology, focusing on psychiatric drug development, novel measurement instruments, and data-driven strategies for clinical research and clinical care.
Dr. Karlin earned his BA in Neuroscience and Behavior and his MA in Clinical Informatics and Cognition (Biomedical Informatics) from Columbia University, and his MD from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He completed his psychiatry residency at Tufts Medical Center, where he was named Executive Chief Resident after just two years.
He brings that training and his experience treating addiction with medication to Recovery Delivered's clinical content, helping ensure patients receive accurate, current, evidence-based information. Explore his published research on Google Scholar and PubMed.