Preparation is everything. 

Time commitment:
You should expect the first day of treatment to take about 45-60 minutes. It is probably best if you don’t work that day. You   will be prescribed approximately 8 mg to 16 mg on the first day.

Withdrawal symptoms:
It is imperative that you be in withdrawal before taking your first dose of Buprenorphine. If you are not, you could experience severe withdrawal symptoms. This would cause you to think that the medication doesn’t work.

Why? Buprenorphine is much stronger at the brain’s receptor sites than any other opiates – such as heroin, painkillers, or methadone. This means that some Buprenorphine will be used to throw the other opiates off the sites causing the experience of violent and rapid withdrawal. Then there may not be enough buprenorphine left to re-occupy the opiate receptor sites. This is called precipitated withdrawal. If you are already in mild withdrawal, many receptor site are empty so most of the buprenorphine can be used for occupying them and little wasted on expelling other opiates.

Do not fool yourself. There is no way around the fact that you must be in mild to moderate withdrawal before taking Buprenorphine for the first time.

Another reason to be in withdrawal is that it is one way for the doctor to determine what your proper dose should be.

Expected doctor visits:
This will be discussed at your first visit. Most doctors will want to see you at least twice in the first week and at least once a week until you are confident in your ability to take the medication correctly, and until you are confident that the right dose has been achieved for you. There are other things that must be accomplished early in treatment such as finding a counselor and doing lab work. 

Pharmacy:
Your doctor knows which pharmacy has Buprenorphine. We do not dispense this medication at our office.

Urine testing:
Urine toxicology will likely be done before you begin treatment to check for all substance use, and then periodically, perhaps randomly, thereafter.

How you will feel during the first week:
It is normal to feel uncertain about whether the medication will really eliminate or at least minimize withdrawal symptoms. You will soon learn that it does work. But there is still work for you to do. Continued drug misuse will mean that you will never feel quite right because your brain receptor sites will not be allowed to fully calm down. They will be tossed in and out of some level of withdrawal. If taken properly you will feel normal by the end of the first week. Some patients say they feel like they did before they ever did drugs.

When you will be able to work:
To ensure maximum comfort for yourself, try to take the first day of treatment off. After that you should be fine to return to work, even if your job is physical in nature.

Sleep:
If you have a history of sleep problems prior to your drug misuse, you may have them again after starting Buprenorphine treatment. Most patients report that they sleep well almost immediately. If you find that you are wide awake at night it may be that you are taking your medication too close to bedtime.

Family relationships:
Families are deeply affected by the addicted family member. They find it difficult to trust and believe them. They have often been let down or neglected by the person who was totally fixated on finding, paying for, and misusing drugs.

Remember; if they are still in your life at this point they have been patient with you.

Most likely they have never stopped loving you, but they have stopped trusting you. It takes time, faithfulness, and patience to regain trust. Give them as much of your patience, time, and honesty as you can and talk about this with your counselor. Remember; if they are still in your life at this point they have been patient with you. You may know you are going to remain abstinent, but they have to go by past experiences.

Friends:
One of the most important things you will do early in treatment is to distance yourself from any friends that are still misusing substances. Even if you can spend time with them and NOT use, the moment will come when you give in. Regardless of how strong you feel you are, the constant temptation keeps your thoughts on drugs. You cannot resist drugs without thinking about them. It is better to be in a situation where the idea of drugs does not even come up. You must put the odds in your favor and eliminate as much risk as possible.

Counseling:
A genetic predisposition to risky behavior does not alone account for drug misuse and addiction. Take advantage of counseling to learn all you can about what makes you tick and what ticks you off. Develop strategies with your counselor for handling the inevitable stress of life. NA and AA call this “learning to live life on life’s terms.” This is a necessary skill for all human beings.

People with addictions quickly train themselves to be short-term thinkers. For example they take their needs one day at a time – where to get the drugs, where to get the money for the drugs, and how to prevent withdrawal. Counseling will help you learn to be a long-term thinker again. If your substance misuse began as a teenager or younger, long-term thinking and planning may be a skill you have never developed. Thinking in terms of short-term, medium- term and long-term goals is incredibly rewarding. Ask your counselor to help you develop strategies so that you can do this in your life.

Counseling is about rebuilding your life. It helps give you the tools and strategies you need to remain happy and healthy. When most people finally seek treatment they feel defeated, the addiction has defeated them, not only physically but defeated economically and socially as well. Counseling helps you restore and rebuild .

Meetings:
Some patients find it very helpful to attend AA or NA meetings. This gives them the understanding and support they need. You may find that it is difficult to find the group that will work for you. Go to several meetings until you find the one that will best suit your needs. If they are against the use of medication to maintain sobriety, either find a different group, educate them about the fact that addiction is a brain illness like any other illness, or just don’t share that particular part of your story.

Remember, Buprenorphine is a new, cutting-edge treatment and not everyone has heard of it yet. The fact that addiction is a brain illness and not necessarily a sign of moral depravity or character weakness is, in itself, a new concept. Many help groups do not modernize their thinking as addiction science progresses.                         

Taking your medication:
In most cases it is best to take your full dose of medication at the same time every day. There are a couple of reasons for this.

1.) Soon you will feel so normal that it will be easy to forget to take your medication. Therefore we recommend that you take your Buprenorphine at a time, usually in the morning, when you can have time to be quiet and undistracted. For example, get up in the morning, have a glass of orange juice, take your medication and let it dissolve while you read the paper, or take a shower, or drive to work. The important thing is to do it at the same time, full dose, and do not talk or swallow until it is fully dissolved.

2.) Splitting your dose over the course of the day provides more opportunity to forget and reinforces old behaviors.

3.) Some people find that they have increased energy after taking Buprenorphine. It may last for a couple of hours. This can make it difficult to sleep at night. In that case it is better to take your dose in the morning or mid-day.

The exceptions to this rule may be: 
Some patients will be advised to split their dose during the day because it helps them to better manage their symptoms. One of the great things about Buprenorphine is the ability to customize the dose and administration. 

Feel:
The first feelings you will have on the first day of treatment will be at least the first three symptoms of withdrawal that are unique to you. They may be sweats, restlessness, anxiety, agitation, chills, stomach cramps, etc. This is good!! It means you will have a good experience and relief is just around the corner!

Twenty to thirty minutes after your first dose of at least 4 mg you will begin to feel those symptoms go away. You should be given a second dose approximately an hour later. After another 4 mg to 8 mg you will be very comfortable. Some doctors dose generously the first day or two. This will allow you to feel what is often described as “normal” in the first hour or so.

Caution: 
Occasionally we see patients who believe that they are completely cured in the first week or so, because for the first time in years they feel normal every day and night. It is the medication that is making it possible to feel this way. Do not be hasty to get off of the medication. Opioid addiction is a brain disease. It is manageable because you can make the symptoms go away with Buprenorphine, but the disease itself does not go away that fast.

What Can I Expect on Day 1? 
You will need to be in at least mild to moderate withdrawal. This means you will have dilated pupils, sweats, chills, nasal stuffiness, watery eyes, irritability and possibly stomach cramps and diarrhea. More specifically, you will have the first few symptoms that are unique to you. Do not take the medication until you are certain you are in at least mild to moderate withdrawal. Tell your doctor what is typical for you when you are experiencing withdrawal.

You will learn how to take sublingual medication, which means medication that is taken under the tongue. There are large blood vessels under the tongue that give direct access to the bloodstream because there is only a very thin layer of skin covering those vessels. Relief of withdrawal symptoms is achieved quickly when this medication is administered under the tongue. It is less than 20% effective when swallowed and may even cause nausea. Take the time to learn how to take it properly. The taste is bitter so it may be useful to have a bottle of juice, soda, or some hard candy available to take after the medication is dissolved.

You will be given a prescription for take-home medication. You will need to take your medication the same time every day, and the full dose each time, unless your doctor has a reason to have you take it differently.

You will probably sleep very well the first night and the nights thereafter. The exception is if you have a history of sleep problems.

You will receive your appointments for subsequent visits. You will be given information that is specific to being a patient in that practice.