Buprenorphine(Suboxone/Subutex) and liver problems

Absolutely- my liver function trsts were good and i do have liver issues - fatty liver- with no scarring or fibrous - as soon as i take suboxone i am itching which is attributed with liver problems. I know its causing this in some not all individuals and not just because of liver issues. I take motrin and i dont itch or pristique- everyones body reacts different.

My dose is 18mg a day for about 9 months now. 8mgs didn't touch my cravings for opioids.

I know this is an old post but please get tested for hep c. I thought my alt and ast were elevated because of suboxone but I had hep c. I took Epclusa and was cured. I’m still on suboxone but since clearing hep c my liver enzymes are back to normal.

People can and do get high....32mg is WAY to high of a dose

Try some Imodium. It fills the opiate receptors in your mouth muscles of the digestive system helping to slow them down. Also, try bentonite clay. It's very healthy, removes toxins, and will solidify u right up!

I heard recently that people with hepatitis should not take suboxone because it causes liver damage so I read the information included in my meds packet and saw the study showing that all peothatwho have any kind of liver damage are at risk of it worsening the damage by 100 to 1000 times. The effect of naloxone is damaging by more than a thousands times for people who already have severe damage to the liver. People with mild liver damage would experience 100 times more damage by taking suboxone/ (naloxone) specifically causes the damage not the subutex. So obviously it causes liver damge Regardless. The condition of your liver determines how much damage you revive from the naloxone. Ive been on subutex and suboxone interchangeably for almost 5 years and have Hep. C with stage 2 liver scarring.

The liver problems come from the naloxone it has been proven in several studies and there is even a warning in the packet that is given out with suboxone. So be sure before you go telling people it it all in their heads. You want to judge people but seriously 32 mg a day is waaaayyyyy more than a totally f*****g ridiculous dose!!!! There's NO WAY u don't get high off that and that's coming from a person who has used everything and anything mostly hard drugs for 13 years, then got clean and started on suboxone and Ive taken subutex for the last 2 years. Total of 5 years clean on subutex and suboxone interchangeably depending on when I was pregnant and breast feeding. The VERY MOST YOUR DOCTOR SHOULD PUT YOU ON IS 24mg a day point blank period. That is 3- 8 mg pills or strips a day...more than enough and still a higher than normal dosage. Most doctors only prescribe 2 a day for fear of having their license yanked for prescribing narcotics. Your doctor is a quack who doesn't give a shot about your sobriety. You are basically abusing your meds with your docs permission. Its called titrating look it up. The whole reason your on these meds is to stop abusing drugs not to change the drug you are abusing. Good luck and god bless.

I don't take suboxone/subutex. BUT my friend who has been on suboxone 15 years now has stage 3 liver cancer, and 2 different oncologist say it's suboxone. Now how do you possible get off of that duration

It’s nice to read a sane, well thought out opinion. I just started Subutex as an alternative to Percocet and I am really happy. My pain level without meds is a consistent 7-8. With meds @ 6 a day was 4-5 with normal activity and 2-4 being sedentary. BUT with Subutex my pain level is a consistent 1-2 active and not active. But what makes me equally happy is that there is none of the mental fuzziness or fatigue that traditional opiates give to long term users. My only concern is that a doctor has to have a special certification to prescribe Subutex. So if I move or my doctor retires the search is on.

If you take suboxone then theirs no naltrexone and no worry about liver problems then? Congrats btw for getting off of subutex if you could share with my your method or tapering regimen I’d greatly appreciate it. Obviously my DR just thinks when your ready and down to 1mg you can just stop. But I’ve heard withdrawals can last for 2-4weeks. Ugh at that point I’d rather withdrawal from DOC.

I agree 100% I've had to continue taking Subutex for almost 10 years I was 1 of the 1st to be given Oxycontin before anyone had heard of it in 2002 I have serious side affects from all pain killers vomiting, nausea, headaches, and fatigue, I was told this med was much heathier especially for my liver my 1st script was for 30mg Oxycontin 3x a dayit was an Ext Release which I'd never had before but I learned Dr.'s over perscribe so I never took over half of the dose I was given and I paid the Piper with Brain Damage, I am not producing Dopamine, Endorphines,and when I weaned myself off over a dozen times I trully would of rather been dead then feel as I did every time I tried, I also had half my colon removed due to OIC which caused Enlarged/Mega colon Caused from Opioid use, Dr.'s pushed the Opioids we kept having to come back monthly to every 3 months, 10 yrs of Opioid perscibing and now we have had 10 years of IBS, it is everywhere billboards, 25 new medications to help it, and it is an example of Cause and affect, we are dying or acquiring new diseases that take years to Diagnose, my Enlarged Colon after 2 1/2 years of no answers but a constant flow of Opioids' and increased doses I researched it and it took me 2 weeks and 1 test to confirm my Diagnosis as Enlarged/Mega Colon caused from long term Opioid use the surgeon removed over half of the colon and part of my Sigmoid. I hate what they have done to me I trusted my Dr.'s and I almost killed myself because I refused to take them anymore and within a cpl weeks i was barely hanging on and did make an attempt to end it, I have suffered the loss of a child and I survived that mostly for my other 2 children, but I never considered suicide, I can not explain the feeling of having no Dopamine. Endorphines and even Seratonin, you have not an ounce of joy, Death would have been better than feeling that or nothing at all, I was given Subutex when it came out and yes I was given 8mg 2x a day, but I took 4 mg 1 to 2x a day as needed never more, after a Mo. I went to 2mg 2x a day, another Mo. i alternated to 2mg 1x a day and the next day 2x a day, eventually I took myself down to 1 mg 2x a day and now I alternate the days of 1 x and 2 x a day, I did this in the 1st 4-6 Months and have myself just balanced, I feel only normal, I have tried to stop 2x and went right back to the same emotional mind set as i was in before, tests have confirmed brain damage and I may have to remain on 1 mg of Subutex for the rest of my life, but when you flood your body with dopamine/endorphines especially the amount found in Oxycontin 1 of these is equal to 8-9 Percoset, and I had no business being on this medication, I don't trust Dr.'s or Pharmacuetical companies at all, they have destroyed my life, health, and Identity for profit, I will say as to the Liver it is from another source mine is extremely healthy I had to be a doner for my sister who had scirosis of the Liver it was irreversible so she needed a trasplant, I have said this already but i've been on it for 10 yrs either you are taking way too much long term or the cause is not the Subutex, I am grateful cause I know I'd be dead right now if I wasn't put on the Subutex, the key is never take the perscibed dose they give you with this type of medication always start at half the dose you can always increase it but odds are you won't need to then wean down to 1 to 2 mgs a day, this is enough to stabalize your mindset and withdrawal's and get tested for any brain damage that was caused by the use of opioids, the Brain as a defense mechanism sends a message that the brain/body has too much dopamine/endorphines and eventually is not able to reactivate that part of the brain that is responsible for making sure these are receiving the message and are being produced, if you can not get off the last 1-2 mg a day of it without going back to feeling like death then you probably did suffer brain damage Good Luck to us all we will need it and please always start w/half the dosage of pain killers.

Wrong! Buprenorphine is NOT an opiate! It is an opioid that is part agonist and part antagonist. This is why it doesn't make you high, like ALL opiates do!

Shooting subutex will not put someone into immediate cardiac arrest

I'm recovering addict in severe pain due to stage 5 liver disease. I want to live my last years comfortably but am reluctant to get back on opiates. Is suboxone a good option for pain and what is worse for my already damaged liver?

1st. Stop SHOOTING it. All negative side effects you are having either existed before you were on it or have been caused by you using it in a way that is unsafe for any drug you take. I am on 32mg a day, and I've been on it for years. No problem. You need treatment !