My son is in treatment for heroin addiction. It started with prescription pills, then went to heroin, I guess because it is cheaper and easier to get in most cases. Now, he is detoxing and from what I understand, these have been the hardest days of his life.
When we went in for a family session with his counselor, he said that our son could take suboxone to help with the cravings for opiates (heroin and pills like Vicodin and OxyContin), but we were skeptical.
Substance Abuse Counselor
A substance abuse counselor at a recovery center for young adults knows what he’s talking about. He and his coworkers have helped thousands of opiate addicts get clean, so I am sure suboxone isn’t terrible to be on, but we wanted to sort through the pros and cons of suboxone before agreeing to have our son take it. He was all for it, by the way, but his counselor did recommend that we talk about it.
The pros seem to be that suboxone lowers the physical cravings for opiates. It can help our son immensely in the moments where he is doubting sobriety and would rather get high. His body and brain will not react the same way to heroin or pills while taking suboxone, so there’s not really a reason to use.
Is It Right For My Son?
The counselor told us that our son can be on a titration schedule, meaning he will slowly take less and less suboxone each week or whatever they think is best for my son’s case.
The cons seem to be that suboxone is in the same drug family as opiates. if my son takes suboxone, he is still giving his body a bit of the substance that he was addicted to, and that took over his life. If he is going to get clean, why wouldn’t he be fully substance-free?
Could having some form of an opiate in his system keep him an active drug addict in some capacity?
Even after weighing the pros and cons of suboxone, we are not sure what decision is best for our son. We want him to stay sober and begin a life in recovery, so many the use of suboxone will help. I guess only time will tell.
For more information on how young men can get drug treatment at Shadow Mountain Recovery call 1-800-764-7250!
Blog Post By Dana Taylor, Admission and Business Development, Shadow Mountain Recovery
The post Pros and Cons Of Suboxone appeared first on Extended Care Residential.