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Is Discontinuation Of Suboxone 4 Days Before Surgery Advisable?
Question: I'm taking 1/2 mg of suboxone . i have surgery 5 days from now . Iam going to be off sub for 4 days before surgery. Will that be long enough to take meds for pain?
Brief Answer:
certainly but.....
Detailed Answer:
That isn't the largest issue.
The first question is how the entire issue integrates into medical care. The surgeon and supervising physicians should all be made aware of all medications and history including suboxone and history of drug abuse. Testing for HIV and hepatitis is important.
Then, post-surgical pain is a trigger for relapse and everyone has to acknowledge that and be cautious.
The suboxone when it is added back does not have quite the same effect on pain as buprenorphine alone or a pure agonist narcotic. Suboxone likely will not be as strong as other narcotic pain medications. If the pain is small this isn't an issue.
The naloxone wears off in 1-2 days or less.
The duration of action of naloxone is ENTIRELY based on how fast it gets absorbed because once it is entirely in the blood stream it's half life is ONE hour.
so... if it stops getting in by 4 hrs (maybe much less) then at 5 hrs half is gone, 6 hr 3/4 is gone, 7 hr 7/8's is gone.... etc. Gone pretty quick.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/0000
certainly but.....
Detailed Answer:
That isn't the largest issue.
The first question is how the entire issue integrates into medical care. The surgeon and supervising physicians should all be made aware of all medications and history including suboxone and history of drug abuse. Testing for HIV and hepatitis is important.
Then, post-surgical pain is a trigger for relapse and everyone has to acknowledge that and be cautious.
The suboxone when it is added back does not have quite the same effect on pain as buprenorphine alone or a pure agonist narcotic. Suboxone likely will not be as strong as other narcotic pain medications. If the pain is small this isn't an issue.
The naloxone wears off in 1-2 days or less.
The duration of action of naloxone is ENTIRELY based on how fast it gets absorbed because once it is entirely in the blood stream it's half life is ONE hour.
so... if it stops getting in by 4 hrs (maybe much less) then at 5 hrs half is gone, 6 hr 3/4 is gone, 7 hr 7/8's is gone.... etc. Gone pretty quick.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/0000
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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