Can You Be Allergic to Suboxone or Have a Negative Reaction While Taking Suboxone?
The answer is “yes” you can have an allergy to Suboxone, but it requires some explanation:
Suboxone is a brand name for the drugs Buprenorphine and Naloxone. Suboxone is manufactured by Indivior UK Limited.
Most people who claim to have an allergic reaction to Suboxone are actually experiencing an allergy (or negative reaction) to Naloxone. Naloxone is the “blocking agent” in Suboxone that helps prevent relapse, and helps reduce cravings.
The good news is, the drug Buprenorphine can be prescribed without Naloxone, which can still provide near complete relief from withdrawals and cravings.
Buprenorphine is available as a generic tablet, and is also available under the brand name Subutex. Subutex is the brand name for Buprenorphine, as manufactured by Indivior UK Limited.
How Do You Know if You’re Allergic to Suboxone?
The best way is to see a Suboxone doctor and get prescribed Suboxone. If you have a reaction that can be documented, some (not all) doctors will prescribe Subutex (Buprenorphine without Naloxone) which still provides relief from withdrawals and cravings.
Want to get Tested to See if You are Allergic to Suboxone (Naloxone)
Schedule an appointment with Nashville Recovery today to get tested for a Suboxone allergy.
Call or text (615) 431-3701, or click the button lower right to book your appointment online. You can even prepay and save $10 off your first appointment.
In 1988 I was waiting for 3 years 3 months to get back surgery. The Doctor Called me on Monday and said stop taking all your Meds you are having Surgery Thursday mourning, check in Wednesday afternoon. They had me on a cocktail of meds, Lortab, Soma and Valium. I finally got my surgery I had waited on for 3 yrs. + Insurance Company went bankrupt a week later. Three days after surgery I went into valium withdrawal. for twenty days(this suboxone is worse than Valium Withdrawal). I have been in Suboxone withdrawal Three months and it comes in stages, the worst can’t eat anything solid goes strait though and a horrible skin irritation , burning now an itch. Could I be Allergic. The Doctor that put me on this My Primary said oh this the new Methadone. WRONG! So now has put me though this year and I am 65. Been in Bed 3mos.I have 11 herniated disk and 3 stenosis in my neck etc 12 back surgeries. The Doctor said this would work for pain Wrong again. The reason I went to primary was to get a referral my pain cold turkeyed me off 120 mg of Methadone i had been on for fifteen years. It had worked great, no problems no side affects withdrawal again this was several months before this one almost killed me, I was put on 6 blood pressure meds, Ativan and Clonazepam, By the grace of Jesus I am still alive. somehow. I need some direction . What to do. Help.
Hi Michael, I’m hoping you have found the answers you were looking for and can maybe give me some advise. I have been on Percocet for quite a few years. Inflammatory osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and so on. I was looking for an increase in my meds and my family doctor said I would have to go to a chronic pain clinic for that. I went and their goal is to get a person on the lowest dose possible and try other non opioid meds all of which I’ve tried over and over again with no success. The doctor stopped my Percocet and gave me Oxyneo. He said it’s the same as Percocet just it’s long lasting with 2 pills a day. Oxyneo is OxyContin. He said he was giving me the equivalent of my Percocet. After going through four days and nights of hell I had to call the doctor back. I’m not a depressed person but I was on Oxyneo. I was a mess, kept crying, high anxiety and anger and severe headaches that turned into migraines. I’m back on my Percocet for now but he wants to try Suboxone. He said it works for chronic pain. I had the same reaction a few years ago on the Butrans patch except on that I would have killed someone. Same with Amitriptyline. Butrans and Suboxone both have Buprenorphine in them. I’m scared I’ll have the same reaction. I also started Cymbalta yesterday and felt like a zombie today. I’ve real a lot of extremely bad reviews on it saying not to take it as coming off it is worse than opioid withdrawal. I talked to my pharmacist about it all today and he said they wouldn’t keep me on Percocet forever and that the doctor will cut me off. I said I’d love to not have the pain and not have to take Percocet but don’t want to take meds that cause such bad reactions to the point where I could hurt someone. I don’t know how some of these meds are on the market. Any advise from what you may have learned would be greatly appreciated. Also I don’t get a single side effect from Percocet just pain relief, I just needed a little more.
I don’t mean this in a mean or hurtful way, but the reaction you had just sounds like addiction. I’m an addict and that’s how I act and feel when I’m not getting the stuff I really want, the agitation, everything. Could it be you like Percocet not just because it takes your pain away but also how it makes you feel?
Get back on the methadone bro! Hey another pain doctor who knows that methadone is THE BEST pain medication out there. Nothing works like methadone. Methadone lasts for a day or two with no side effects and you don’t have to keep increasing the dose every other day.
To Micheal L , regarding ur statement , I also get a rash / ictchy and my cheek swells up , I believe it’s the naloxone , because I was on Subutex , and I never had such issues , now I do ,
Dear Nashville Recovery,
On your website, you cite performing allergy testing for Naloxone in patients who claim to have an “allergy” to Suboxone at your clinic. Could you please include details on how exactly you test patients for such an allergy and if there are any peer-reviewed references?
Thank you
Great question. We refer patients to an emergency room with Suboxone in-hand to have the test performed. The patient has to take Suboxone (with naloxone, obviously) in a monitored environment that is capable of handling the possibility of a reaction. We’ve read some people have a respiratory response, so the ER is necessary. However, we’ve yet to see anything drastic. Years ago we had a couple of patients who had been on Suboxone claiming they were having a reaction. They then took the Suboxone in the presence of a physician. We witnessed only two results:
1. No reaction at all.
2. Red skin and/or rashes, much like a sunburn, though very rare.
When someone calls asking for Subutex but cannot provide supporting medical records usually means there’s abuse involved. I will say we greatly reduced the number of Subutex patients. The State wants to see a Subutex population of no greater than 5%, so we adhere to that as well.
Hope this helps. Have a great day.
Hope this helps.