This Suboxone Doesn ’t Work!
Today on SuboxForum people were writing about their experiences with different buprenorphine formulations.  Doctors occasionally have patients who prefer brand medications over generics, but buprenorphine patients push brand-loyalty to a different level.  The current thread includes references to povidone and crospovidone, compounds included in most medications to improve bioavailability.  Some forum members suggested that their buprenorphine product wasn’t working because of the presence of crospovidone or povidone.  Others shared their experiences with different formulations of buprenorphine and questioned whet...
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - June 16, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Jeffrey Junig MD PhD Tags: Addiction Buprenorphine pharmacology Psychodynamics side effects Suboxone Withdrawal exipient opioid dependence povidone zubsolv Source Type: blogs

This Suboxone Doesn’t Work!
Today on SuboxForum people were writing about their experiences with different buprenorphine formulations.  Doctors occasionally have patients who prefer brand medications over generics, but buprenorphine patients push brand-loyalty to a different level.  The current thread includes references to povidone and crospovidone, compounds included in most medications to improve bioavailability.  Some forum members suggested that their buprenorphine product wasn’t working because of the presence of crospovidone or povidone.  Others shared their experiences with different formulations of buprenorphine and questioned whet...
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - June 16, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Jeffrey Junig MD PhD Tags: Addiction Buprenorphine pharmacology Psychodynamics side effects Suboxone Withdrawal exipient opioid dependence povidone zubsolv Source Type: blogs

Obama ’s Lousy Suboxone Offer
I was reading more about Obama’s executive order over at Dr. Burson’s blog.  I guess she is a ‘competitor’ in the blogging world, but I have to admit that her blog has a lot more detail about the issue than I do.  If you haven’t been there yet, check it out.  Keep coming back here too of course! She wrote recently about the rules that would be required by the Feds, in order for them t o allow us the ‘right’ to treat people with buprenorphine.   I wrote to Dr. Burson after reading her post that she is providing the facts, and I can’t help but provide the emotion.  And af...
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - May 15, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Jeffrey Junig MD PhD Tags: Addiction Buprenorphine Public policy Suboxone treatment heroin addiction obama suboxone treatment Suboxone treatment cap TREAT Act Source Type: blogs

Obama’s Lousy Suboxone Offer
I was reading more about Obama’s executive order over at Dr. Burson’s blog.  I guess she is a ‘competitor’ in the blogging world, but I have to admit that her blog has a lot more detail about the issue than I do.  If you haven’t been there yet, check it out.  Keep coming back here too of course! She wrote recently about the rules that would be required by the Feds, in order for them t o allow us the ‘right’ to treat people with buprenorphine.   I wrote to Dr. Burson after reading her post that she is providing the facts, and I can’t help but provide the emotion.  And af...
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - May 15, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Jeffrey Junig MD PhD Tags: Addiction Buprenorphine Public policy Suboxone treatment heroin addiction obama suboxone treatment Suboxone treatment cap TREAT Act Source Type: blogs

Obama and the TREAT Act
I just read an article in the Daily Beast that reads like a better version of something I would write about the value of medication-assisted treatment of opioid dependence.  I appreciate Christopher Moraff telling a story that has been untold far too long, and I hope the story raises questions across the country. But I have something else on my mind that deserves a story of its own.  I am just a small-town psychiatrist in the Midwest, of course, and so I could be missing something.  I watch Veep and House of Cards, but I assume that the political games in those shows are grossly exaggerated.  I’ll offer a bit of ...
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - May 12, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Jeffrey Junig MD PhD Tags: Addiction Buprenorphine Legal Public policy Suboxone treatment heroin addiction Obama patient cap TREAT Act Source Type: blogs

Prince Missed Suboxone Lifeboat by 12 Hours
One of the links from this page connects to the ‘OD Report‘.  I set up the connection to highlight the epidemic of overdose deaths, not to sensationalize the issue.  But the Prince story is sensational and tragic at the same time. And the connection to buprenorphine only magnifies the tragic circumstances that are wrapped around the use of a potentially-life-saving medication. I read some time ago about Prince’s chronic pain problems, primarily involving his hips and secondary to years of dancing in high-heeled shoes.  Shortly after his death, TMZ reported that Prince’s plane made an emergency st...
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - May 6, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Jeffrey Junig MD PhD Tags: Addiction Buprenorphine Chronic pain Suboxone andrew kornfeld Dr. Kornfeld Prince overdose Recovery Without Walls suboxone treatment Source Type: blogs

Counseling Schmounseling
I just noticed a couple of my recent posts….  these people have it wrong, and that person has it wrong.  One of these days I really need to print something positive and uplifting.  But not today. Excuse the self-flattery, but I like to think of myself as a physician scientist.  That concept motivated my PhD work, and cost me friend after friend in the years that followed!  A physician scientist isn’t all that difficult to be from an educational standpoint, especially in the age of the internet.  The one thing that is necessary is the willingness, or need, to question every assumption by the media, the gov...
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - May 3, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Jeffrey Junig MD PhD Tags: Addiction Buprenorphine Public policy Research Suboxone treatment addiction counseling heroin addiction medication assisted treatment Methadone opioid dependence Source Type: blogs

Addiction Treatment Has it ALL WRONG
Today on SuboxForum members discussed how long they have been treated with buprenorphine medications.  Most agreed that buprenorphine turned their lives around, and most are afraid they will eventually be pushed off the medication.  Most buprenorphine patients described a reprieve from a horrible illness when they discovered buprenorphine.  But most have new fears that they never anticipated– that their physician will die or retire, that politicians will place arbitrary limits on buprenorphine treatment, or that insurers will limit coverage for the medication that saved there lives. I joined the discussion with th...
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - April 30, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Jeffrey Junig MD PhD Tags: Addiction Buprenorphine recovery Suboxone Suboxone Forum addiction counseling character defects heroin addiction Vivitrol Source Type: blogs

Suboxone Withdrawal is Killing Me
A recent Q/A with a reader: I was on opioids for several years, for chronic pain and surgery.   I was taking up to 400 mg of MS Contin per day. Two years ago, my doctor suggested Suboxone to get me off opioids. I said yes. The first two weeks were hell, actually throwing me into […] (Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - July 31, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Acute Pain Benzos Buprenorphine Chronic pain receptor actions tolerance Withdrawal buprenorphine withdrawal opioid dependence Suboxone withdrawal tapering suboxone Source Type: blogs

Subutex vs. Generic Buprenorphine: French Smell a Rat
An article in Google’s Newsfeed for buprenorphine caught my eye today, for a couple reasons.  The article described a decision by the French Competition Authority (FCA) to fine Schering-Plough 15.3 million EUR, for unfair business practices related to Subutex back in 2006.  The article used the term ‘HDB’ for ‘high dose buprenorphine’, a phrase that […] (Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - March 21, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Buprenorphine Chronic pain Legal Reckitt-Benckiser recovery Suboxone Subutex company bashes brand over generic suboxone film identical to buprenorphine why won't doctor prescribe buprenorphine Source Type: blogs

QA Video: Ceilings, Half-Lives, Brands of Buprenorphine
Below is the latest video from the questions/answers series at SuboxForum.  Comments welcome.   (Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - March 18, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Buprenorphine pharmacology Suboxone best brand of generic Suboxone or buprenorphine buprenorphine ceiling effect half life of Suboxone Source Type: blogs

Suboxone Talk Zone Gets One Right
Working on my own in private practice, it is hard to know for certain whether I’m always on track with my thoughts about treating addiction, or whether, sometimes, my isolation has caused me to drift out of the mainstream– sort of like the ladies with blue hair who have nobody around to tell them, “YOUR […] (Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - March 13, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Addiction Drug Testing Legal pharmacology Suboxone drug diversion immuno assay drug testing Quantitative urine drug testing Source Type: blogs

Suboxone Controversy: Brattleboro Reformer gets a ‘C’
In their story about buprenorphine, Suboxone, and opioid dependence, the Brattleboro Reformer gets it about 60% right.   They describe the shortage of physicians certified to treat addicts with buprenorphine, correctly identifying most of the diversion of buprenorphine as desperate attempts at self-treatment.  They lose points, though, for allowing an ill-informed legislator to suggest getting rid […] (Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - March 8, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Addiction Buprenorphine Public policy Suboxone treatment cost of suboxone film patient cap on suboxone safety of buprenorphine and suboxone suboxone regulation Source Type: blogs

Suboxone Controversy: Brattleboro Reformer gets a C
In their story about buprenorphine, Suboxone, and opioid dependence, the Brattleboro Reformer gets it about 60% right.   They describe the shortage of physicians certified to treat addicts with buprenorphine, correctly identifying most of the diversion of buprenorphine as desperate attempts at self-treatment.  They lose points, though, for allowing an ill-informed legislator to suggest getting rid of buprenorphine altogether, without pointing to the example of Georgia, the former USSR republic, where the ban on buprenorphine resulted in the birth of krokodil, a nightmare drug now found in parts of the US. Cost concerns ...
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - March 8, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Addiction Buprenorphine Public policy Suboxone treatment cost of suboxone film patient cap on suboxone safety of buprenorphine and suboxone suboxone regulation Source Type: blogs

Suboxforum QA Video: Dopamine Reuptake and Addiction
(Source: Suboxone Talk Zone)
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - March 6, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: J T Junig Tags: Buprenorphine receptor actions Research treatment bupropion dopamine reuptake and addiction dopamine reuptake inhibitor monoamine oxidase inhibitors Source Type: blogs