Break free from Medicaton-Assisted Treatment
An FDA Cleared Alternative to Medication-Assisted Treatment
Want to get off opioids but afraid of the side effects of the The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved medications to treat opioid use?
- Don’t want to miss work?
- Don’t want to be hospitalized?
- Don’t want to go through all of those painful withdrawal effects?
Medication-Assisted Treatment/MAT
- The FDA approved three medications— methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone – to treat opioid use disorder or OUD.
- The use of these medications is called Medication-assisted Treatment (MAT) or Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD).
- If I should choose MAT as my road to Opioid Use Recovery, what are the risks/side effects associated with these medications?
Buprenorphine
Common side effects of buprenorphine include:
- Constipation, headache, nausea, and vomiting
- Dizziness
- Drowsiness and fatigue
- Sweating
- Dry mouth
- Tooth decay
- Muscle aches and cramps
- Inability to sleep
- Fever
- Blurred vision or dilated
pupils - Tremors
- Palpitations
- Disturbance in attention
Serious side effects of buprenorphine include:
- Respiratory distress
- Overdose
- Adrenal insufficiency
- Dependence
- Withdrawal
- Itching, pain, swelling, and nerve damage (implant)
- Pain at injection site (injection)
- Neonatal abstinence syndrome (in newborns)
Methodone
Common side effects of methadone include:
- Restlessness
- Nausea or vomiting
- Slow breathing
- Itchy skin
- Heavy sweating
- Constipation
- Sexual problems
Serious side effects of methadone include:
- Experience difficulty breathing or shallow breathing
- Feel lightheaded or faint
- Experience hives or a rash; swelling of the face, lips,
tongue, or throat - Feel chest pain
- Experience a fast or pounding heartbeat
- Experience hallucinations or confusion
Naltrexone
Common side effects may include:
- Nausea
- Sleepiness
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Vomiting
- Decreased appetite
- Painful joints
- Muscle cramps
- Cold symptoms
- Trouble sleeping
- Toothache
Serious side effects may include:
- Severe reactions at the site of injection
- intense pain
- tissue death, surgery may be required
- swelling, lumps, or area feels hard
- scabs, blisters, or open wounds
- Liver damage or hepatitis is possible
- stomach area pain lasting more than a few days
- dark urine
- yellowing of the whites of your eyes
- tiredness
- Serious allergic reactions
- Skin rash
- swelling of face, eyes, mouth, or tongue
- trouble breathing or wheezing
- chest pain
- feeling dizzy or faint
- Pneumonia
- Depressed mood
More important information
- These medications can present with a period of sustained dependence which can be debilitating and can prevent people from working and leading an active life.
- These drugs may also cause mental and physical harm and opioid withdrawal can be very unpleasant.
- Acute withdrawal effects can be intense.
- Sharing these medications can cause death in another. Death has been reported in those who are not opioid dependent.
- When a physical dependence on these drugs occur, you cannot suddenly stop taking them or you could become sick and have greater withdrawal symptoms because your body has become used to the medicine.
- These medications can cause serious and life‐threatening breathing problems, coma, and even death.
- There are many reasons why you can’t take these medications. Here are
some of the reasons. If you have:
- trouble breathing or lung problems
- a curve in your spine that affects your breathing
- Addison’s disease
- an enlarged prostate gland (men)
- problems urinating
- liver, kidney, or gallbladder problems
- a head injury or brain problem
- mental health problems
- adrenal gland or thyroid gland problems
Transcutaneous Auricular Neurostimulation - Sparrow Ascent
- There are no known systemic side effects or drug interactions
We use a cutting edge medical device. This device is cleared by the FDA for withdrawing you from opioids WITHOUT the use of any Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT).