NH Suboxone Program

You must be in withdrawal (dope sickness) to start Suboxone.

To ensure this:

• Methadone must be discontinued 72 hours prior to starting Suboxone.
• Heroin must be discontinued 4 hours prior to starting Suboxone.
• Oxycontin, Morphine, Vicodin, Percocet must be discontinued 12 hours prior to starting Suboxone.

Buprenorphine is not approved by the FDA for use during pregnancy and is classified as “Category C,” meaning there is limited safety data in humans.

However, you should be made aware of the fact that there are a number of recent studies showing neonatal outcomes are no different with buprenorphine than with Methadone.  There is also a significant drop in the incidence and the severity of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS).

Consequently, choosing to proceed with buprenorphine treatment during pregnancy is a personal decision that only you can make.  To help you with your decision, you will be supplied with a series of articles to read and pass along to your prenatal care provide.

Attachments:

Article: Buprenorphine over Methadone for Pregnant Opioid Addicts	02/17/2011
Article: Buprenorphine better than Methadone for reducing newborn's opiate withd	02/21/2011
Article: Buprenorphine treatment in pregnancy: less distress to babies	02/21/2011
Article: Pregnant and taking buprenorphine (Subutex or Suboxone)	02/21/2011
Article: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome after Methadone or Buprenorphine Exposure	02/21/2011
Article: Buprenorphine and methadone treatment of opiate dependence during pregn	02/21/2011
Article: Study of effect of buprenorphine on pregnancy, newborn birthweight	02/21/2011