Buprenorphine(Suboxone/Subutex) and liver problems

Yes I have been on suboxone for 5 years now, I had hepatitis B 30years ago bur by liver counts ere always ok until after a year on Suboxone now My liver is so bad they want me to stop the suboxone cause of liver inflammation but how do you stop after 5 years so either I stop and go into withdrawls and after 5 years would be a death sentence or keep taking and need a liver transplant. This stuff is worse than methodone or any other opiate..

Anyone taking Suboxone with liver problems should take Milk Thrisle every day it will help keep your liver counts down.

At a guess, because I have seen this at my clinic, it's the naltrexone added to subutex that screws your liver. Although now off it, subutex for 9 years didn't damage my liver. I agree with taking Milk Thistle.

Ive been addicted to opiates for 15+ years a heavy i.v. user for most of that. I was on methadone for a year then suboxone when it first hit the u.s. started around 2006 then finally subutex. I spent years i.v.ing every pill you can. I did the o.p 80s that you had to supercook into a black sludge to i.v. i did the opanas you had to breakdown with heat (transmission cleaner) and burn off, cocaine cut with baking soda and god knows watelse. After all of this maybe 2 collapsed veins thats it. I started iv.ing subutex abt 4 yrs ago and yes i probably shouldnt say this in a forum for addicts but it hit me harder and faster with what resembled the sensation of a rush albeit a very weak one. I am an addict i somehow covinced myself this was ok as long as it was wat i was prescribed and it kept me off the streets. I was forced to quit i.v.ing this drug when my veins completely hardened and collapsed even a rigorous workout with excess water and a steaming hot bath could no longer get me a vein. Personally i think suboxone is amazing and very helpful subutex should never be given out it is to easy to abuse. You must remember these drugs are for addicts drug abusers like myself. The label has a warning and the instruction tell you how to do it properly? LMAO I was a hardcore heroin addict seeking help, someone who could find a way to abuse vitamin c. Of course i was gunna try to shoot it. Yes shooting it did increase its effect no this was not some sort of mental placebo from being addicted to the needle. It destroyed my body in 18 months faster than all my previous abuse. It hardened my veins all my vessels my heart my liver. Im developing signs of diabties liver disease. My feet and hands swell constantly and my entire body retains way too much water. Giving a drug abuser a drug that WILL KILL YOU if you abuse it is worse than giving a 5 yr old an assault rifle in wartime. Please read this there was no info on these drugs when i did this its important for those who have had these experiences to come forward. Subutex is a bad drug and a terrible idea. suboxone only and maybe subutex for pregnancies thats how i feel. Hope this helps somebody else.

I have been on it for over 2 years. Going this weekend to get results. I been dizzy and not feeling right

Shooting subs is the worst thing you can do. It will kill you that shut clogs and thickens your blood which can't get through your heart example heart Palos please stop if you hooked on shooting do something else

i was on suboxone for 2 years have liver damage from it...i've been so sick with the withdrawals..some days i can't even function

I hear you all.
I'm terrified myself because my husband and I both take this terrible (imo) drug. We have a little girl and if we drop dead, who will care for her?! We're on Subutex. I take between 4-8 mgs a day and he takes slightly less. Both of us were active alcoholics (nightly drinkers - at present we have a year sober, the both of us) and being extremely paranoid about my health (for family history reasons and just because I have a truly debilitating anxiety disorder) I kept a close eye on what what going on w/my liver. All was well until I stopped running for a year (as I began to age I guess, I'm currently 32 and the dehydration became overwhelming - this was last yr). During that year, a sonogram revealed a fatty liver (though I'd not had this fatty liver 12 months prior when they did a sonogram) however, I've had no elevated enzymes or abnormal tests (I had elevated enzymes one time in my life only - that is when I was 25 and I was drinking around the clock as part of my truly ill-conceived plan to use alcohol to expedite the detox process from methadone. Brilliant, right?! I cut that out pretty quickly and for the next 5-6 years drank nightly.) I started the subs about 3 years ago. Stopping exercising (even for that one year) seems to have been the kiss-of-death for me though as that's when they found the fatty liver.)
I want to get off the sub but am currently trying to quit smoking which is possibly harder than quitting opiates (I've not yet decided...) AND I feel that the sub is keeping us both SOBER. A sonogram a month ago for me revealed a fatty liver (still) that "appears to be reversing" - that means healing. I have been getting liver tests every six months and everything is clear but still I'm thinking something is v wrong. I struggle with MAJOR Depression and debilitating anxiety. At times I feel I can barely function and I'm currently ON PROZAC too - the subs are keeping me stable. I'm very, very, very worried and I have pains in my right side (around ribs and a strange tingling in back on right side) that two GI doctors have attributed to IBS (aka "nervous stomach" I guess?) I have been to a cardiologist (also, my cholesterol is normal/"good".) The GI drs also did endoscopies which came back normal. One last thing about medical tests: this one GI swears that there is a blood test that is replacing liver biopsy - this test tests for fibrosity (like scarring) of the liver. I got the test done and had an F zero come back as my results (that means no scar tissue whatsoever) however, that is not too much of a comfort as I still have fatty liver symptoms (i.e. pain on right, slightly dark extremities, reddish eyes) .
I don't know what to believe though ... Is this all "my anxiety"? I'm not a Dr.! My psychiatrist also swears this "miracle drug" and "medical magic bullet" (I mean Subs) could not be damaging my liver but I think otherwise...
How in the hell could I ever remotely hope of continuing to function if I get off of this? I have to be stable for my family and subs keep me that way. I cannot imagine going thru one more year-long detox. How also with how full my life has become could I possibly hope to keep my life together during it? Quitting drinking was tough enough and quitting smoking is H.E.L.L. I'm so, so, so scared you guys, for myself and my husband (whose ankles are swollen every day as mine used to be before I gave up drinking. His are still swollen and his liver enzymes are still elevated though he is NOT drinking AND he quit smoking - both 11 months ago.) I'm also so so so tired of the constant struggle of living w/the disease of addiction. I must have f-ed up in a past life? I'm so scared 50% of my life I can literally taste it.
P.S. I may not know much but I know this:
To anyone who is shooting subs, though If you're still alive, please, get to treatment ASAP - there are free-county-based programs at least in the DC area where I live so I'm sure there is something comparable by you.

I like the original post, was put on subutex during pregnancy. I lost my galbladder almost immediately, that may well have been from my pregnancy craving eating habits. I have now been on subutex for over 3 years. For me, trying to come off of it is worse than any withdraw I've ever experienced from any other opiate. My Dr also reassured me that it has no ill effects on the liver. I can't imagine how this could possibly be the case being that my stools have been backed up to the extent that I've gone to the ER on many occasions to regulate my bowels. My liver enzymes have been off the charts high. The first time they did an enzyme test they already suspected cancer. After several ultrasounds, many bloodtests, and a catscan I now know that I have a form of fatty liver disease called non alcoholic stearic hepatitis. I believe it is directly related to the subutex. And I will be having a biopsy in two weeks, because once again my enzymes are so high that they have reason to believe it could be liver cancer as they thought a year ago.

All I can say is that it did stop my cravings and for that I am grateful, but it also completely killed my sex drive, it's killing my liver, and I have a list of other symptoms that go on for miles, extreme hair loss, numbness in my hands every night, edema, constipation, lack of energy and ambition, increased ocd symptoms, agitation, vertigo. I had none of these before I began subutex maintenance.

I hope this is useful to someone. It's a life saver that comes at a high cost in terms of declining health. My face has also aged a decade in the past 3 years, and weight gain although I eat extremely healthy. No gluten, no meat, I eat organic. Drink lots of teas and water.

I'm in the same situation and i feel the same way. The risks are too high on either side. I truly wish I would've cold turkeyed off of heroin and not taken the 32 MG of subutex they offered me during my pregnancy. Now it's a choice of loosing my daughter and possibly dying trying to come off of it, or rapidly aging, liver failing just as rapidly to be a half person for my child for my few remaining years.

I would like to post a few recipes that have helped me feel better. I've had many reasons in my life to nut trust big Pharma. Now is no exception. A very intelligent and wise friend (who saved her daughters life from the rare disease she had through natural medicine) she shared with me a recipe for a master tonic that has healed many ailments, cancer, liver problems. I use the tonic and a turmeric paste every day, I also do oil pulls and take dandelion root, ginger, and milk thistle capsules and in their natural form.

The master tonic, it goes like this. You peel these roots and grind them up, best that they all be organic : ginger root, horseradish root, garlic, onion, habanero peppers. Wear gloves. Use equal parts of all except the habanero, use less for obvious reasons. Fill your container with this pulp of all of this combined and pour apple cider vinegar (with mother) to the top of your container. Let it sit for a month in the dark. Longer it sits, more potent it gets. Take a tablespoon a day. It's extreme heat and is easier to ingest combined with honey, garlic infused vinegar, a 1/4 tablespoon of ginger and cayenne powder, and a tablespoon of turmeric paste.

The turmeric paste consists of 1 cup water (filtered) 1/4 cup of coconut oil (organic and unrefined) and, 1/2 cup of organic turmeric.


I am regaining my energy and am peeing so much more, I also gave up coffee. So I'm finally shedding some if the water retention and am avoiding high fructose corn syrup, sugar and salt. And gluten.

Well said..I have read and through personnel experience subutex(bup)certainly do help with depression, anxiety..They also do/can effect your liver,just as any drug can.Just because its prescribed it is a powerful,numbing drug.After 14yrs of self medicating I discovered Subutex .9yrs later I can nôt function without 0.8,I am desperate to know how I really feel.If I had 3months to not sleep throw up,want to cut my legs off I would stop these money making monsters.I have to look after my family and fear social services will take over if I stop as I would (have been)be sick for long time plus the anxiety and depression comes back ten fold.I have no desire to ever use street drugs but they was so much easier to stop then bup. Sending love and luck to all .

Every time someone has liver problems from subs they always have a guy that comments ohh its from something else it's from all the pain pills you took etc

Look just because you didn't get problems from subs doesn't mean the next guy is wrong

32mg per day is insane. Suboxone is a stacker drug. There is no clinical benefit after 8 mg per day. You have Dr.'s blindly prescribing this medication based on big pharmas recommendation. You better check on your liver again as soon as possible.

You have some good points but you are not entirely correct. Please stop acting like you are an authority on this subject.First off nobody needs 32mgs a day. That's a huge dose! I was a hardcore user for 7 years. 40-50 Lortab 10's a day. Blood work was done. No liver damage. Started suboxone. I've been on 8mg a day for over 5 years. I now have fatty liver disease. I don't ever drink and haven't drank in years. I take nothing but the suboxone. If you did your research you would know that because you're on only subtex you have no problems. That's because there's no naloxone in it. Naloxone is known to cause liver damage. Case in point , suboxone. You are correct in the shooting up of suboxone. Don't. Very stupid thing to do. Now years after suboxone has come out liver problems are showing their ugly heads. The new inserts in the sub box clearly states that subs cause liver disease which can be fatal. So, please do some research.