Starting your journey toward recovery from opioid use disorder can help you live the life you want. But that journey can come with different challenges, including coping with changes to your medication.

Medication, like buprenorphine, is often a core part of treatment for people with opioid use disorder (OUD). It helps stabilize the brain’s opioid receptors and reduce withdrawal symptoms and cravings. They also lower the risk of relapse or overdose.

Buprenorphine is a medication for opioid use disorder, or MOUD. It’s meant to help people manage and reduce their opioid withdrawal symptoms, which includes cravings.

Buprenorphine is an effective option for many people with OUD. However, you may need to stop taking it for a variety of reasons, including:

• Allergic reaction
• Severe side effects that impact everyday life
• Co-occurring medical concern, such as surgery

You may end up stopping buprenorphine because you and your provider think that a different MOUD, like methadone, could be a better fit for you. It’s also important to remember that while buprenorphine is a long-term treatment for many people, it’s possible to no longer need it after significant progress in treatment and maintaining recovery. It may be time to withdraw from buprenorphine and continue along your recovery without needing the prescription.

Regardless of the reason that you’re no longer taking buprenorphine, you should be safely tapered off under the guidance of a medical professional to reduce the risk of complications. Withdrawal symptoms are still possible, but there are ways to manage them. Read on to learn how.

12 possible buprenorphine withdrawal symptoms

Deciding to discontinue buprenorphine can come with the risk of withdrawal symptoms. Since you’ve gone through withdrawal from opioids before when you started treatment, it’s OK to feel worried about experiencing them again. In fact, a study showed that many people taking the MOUD had a fear of withdrawal, such as a worry about flu-like symptoms or jitters.

But by learning about the possible withdrawal symptoms beforehand, you can reduce some of the uncertainty. You may find comfort in knowing what could occur so that you’re not taken by surprise. Here are 12 you could experience:

1. Headaches
2. Sweating
3. Muscle pain
4. Nausea
5. Mood changes
6. Difficulty sleeping, or insomnia
7. Decreased appetite
8. Anxiety
9. Irritability
10. Runny nose
11. Cramps
12. Diarrhea

The severity and duration of the withdrawal symptoms can vary depending on treatment, which we’ll get into in the next section. There are other factors as well, like how long you’ve been taking the MOUD and the dosage.

It can take a few weeks for mild symptoms to fade, but the first five or so days tend to be the most severe.

How to manage buprenorphine withdrawal symptoms

Withdrawal symptoms are often uncomfortable and make it difficult to go about your daily routines. The good news is you don’t have to endure them without support.

When you’ve decided with your provider to stop taking buprenorphine, they’ll guide you through options that can help you manage your withdrawal, which includes proper tapering. They’ll help you figure out which courses of action will be the safest and most effective for your circumstances for the best outcome.

• Planning before you start

There’s nothing wrong with thinking ahead. The key to making a withdrawal as safe and comfortable as possible is making the right preparations beforehand. You want to be in a safe space where you can recover from the symptoms privately. But you still want to give access to loved ones who you rely on for support.

You should also keep your provider informed every step of the way. This may include scheduling check-ins with them. They can monitor your progress and the severity of your symptoms to see if anything else needs to be done.

This is also when looking far into the future can come in handy. Plan your long-term treatment goals on paper that you can refer to when withdrawal feels too difficult. It can serve as a way to cope with the temporary challenges by seeing what you’ll gain from going through them.

• Medication

Buprenorphine itself is a medication that’s used to help people through withdrawal. But if you’re switching to a different MOUD, or discontinuing it altogether, there are still types of medications that can help you reduce the physical side effects.

Your provider can help you through medications that are specific to your symptoms, but not withdrawal as a whole. For example, if you’re experiencing muscle pains or headaches, they may recommend over-the-counter pain relievers, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol).

If you’re starting a different MOUD, such as naltrexone, your provider may start you on low doses of the new medication, which may help to lessen the withdrawal effects. However, starting too soon could cause precipitated withdrawal.

• Counseling and coping strategies

Withdrawal of any kind can take just as much of an emotional and mental toll on you as the physical effects. You’re dealing with a change in your recovery journey. That can bring a lot of different emotions and thoughts about the future, along with symptoms that impact mental well-being. For example, you may have mood shifts, anxiety, and depression.

Talking to a licensed counselor and attending support groups as you manage your withdrawal can help you overcome the negative thoughts and emotions you may be having.

Along with talking to your support system, you should also lean into the coping mechanisms that you have likely learned throughout your recovery journey. A few ways to help you work through the challenges of withdrawal include:

• Deep breathing
• Journaling
• Opening up to a loved one
• Spending time in nature
• Changing negative thoughts

Whatever helps you to improve and protect your overall well-being during withdrawal should be your priority.

Groups can help you figure out if it’s time to withdraw from buprenorphine

Buprenorphine is often seen as one of the first choices for OUD treatment. The “ceiling effect” of the respiratory depression tends to make it a safer option than other opioids that are full antagonists, as opposed to its own partial agonist features.

At Groups, we provide fast access to Suboxone. It’s one of the gold standard treatments for OUD. It combines buprenorphine with naloxone, which reduces misuse by deterring snorting or injecting. However, we put your safety and health above anything else. If something needs to be adjusted, we’ll take the proper steps needed. We want to help you continue on your recovery journey.

We stay in contact with your other providers, such as your general practitioner. We make sure to stay on top of your body’s response to buprenorphine. If the side effects get to be too much, or you’re having an allergic reaction to the ingredients, then we’ll help you through the withdrawal process and make sure you have what you need.

Along with monitoring your buprenorphine prescription, Groups helps to address the other aspects of your life that are impacted by OUD treatment. To help with your mental health, we hold weekly group sessions, either in person or virtually. You can open up about your challenges in a safe, judgment-free area. You’ll also be able to learn from others who are having similar issues and gain perspective on your own.

We also pride ourselves on giving you the support that will help long after your treatment with us is finished. Our Recovery Support Specialists provide custom life goal assistance. They help you set and strive toward your personal goals. They can connect you with resources for employment, transportation, housing, and more.

Give our Recovery Support Specialists a call today for more information or to begin your recovery. We provide treatment across the country — and we’re always expanding. See if we offer care in your state, either online or at one of our 130+ local offices. If Groups doesn't offer treatment in your area, you can locate other treatment options here.