How to Handle Suboxone's Horrible Taste

It can be difficult to keep on track with your meds if you dislike the taste of Suboxone. However, there are a few options for dealing with the flavor. When you consider all of the difficulties and suffering that substance use disorder may cause, the taste of our medications seems like a little annoyance. When coping with the ups and downs of addiction recovery, however, every roadblock matters. So let's talk about how to deal with the taste of Suboxone (buprenorphine/naloxone).

Why does it have such a horrible flavor?

The truth is that most medicines are unpleasant to eat. The active chemicals (the ones that make medications work) have a metallic, salty, or bitter taste to them. However, when we take pharmaceuticals in tablet form, we swallow them quickly and then wash them down with water, so our tongues don't get a chance to taste them. Suboxone is a sublingual film that you place beneath your tongue and wait for it to dissolve (or some people let it dissolve pressed against the inside of their cheek). This implies that the drug will be in your mouth the entire time, and you will be unable to avoid tasting it. Suboxone doesn't taste any worse than other medications; it's just that you spend more time tasting it than you do with other medications.

How do people get over their aversion to food?

People in medication-assisted treatment (MAT) have devised a plethora of strategies to cope with Suboxone's flavor! Here are a few ideas that have proven to be successful in the past. Don't try any of these while you still have the pill in your mouth! Allow at least 15 minutes for the strip to dissolve completely.

• Candies. Candy is a tasty treat that is typically inexpensive, pleasurable, and readily available. As a result, they're a popular approach to get rid of Suboxone's aftertaste.

• Sour candies like Warheads, lemon drops, Sour Patch Kids, and tamarind candies have a strong flavor that helps to mask the medication's taste while simultaneously making the mouth water and wiping away remaining flavors.

• Hot sweets, such as Red Hots and other cinnamon candies, produce a burning sensation in the mouth that can help the brain forget about the Suboxone taste.

• Strong mints, such as Icebreakers or Altoids, provide a strong flavor and a cooling menthol feeling to help you forget about the medicine. Many powerful mints are sugar-free or low in sugar, which is an added plus.

• Chocolates, particularly dark chocolates, can be useful because the bitterness of chocolate helps cover the remaining bitterness of the drug. Allowing a small piece of chocolate to dissolve in your mouth rather than chewing and swallowing it works wonderfully.

• Beverages. A drink might be a simple way to wipe away a bad taste.

• Coffee has a bitter flavor that, like dark chocolate, helps to disguise any remaining harshness.

• Fruit juice has a tartness and sweetness that can help you get rid of the Suboxone taste in your mouth. Citrus liquids, in particular, can be very beneficial.

• Milk, Mountain Dew, and sports drinks are some of the other liquids that have been advised.
  

Obviously, we aren't advising anyone to start eating a lot of candy and drinking a lot of coffee! A well-balanced diet is essential for everyone, but especially for those in recovery. But if a little sweets or a drink may help you take your medications as prescribed, it only makes sense to try it!

What you should not do

There are conflicting reports on whether or not you should clean your teeth or use mouthwash. Some individuals find it effective, while others think it to be a dreadful combination of orange juice and toothpaste. So go easy on the toothpaste or mouthwash until you figure out which group you belong to!

One clear and fast rule is that you should not use alcohol to mask the taste. Alcohol should not be mixed with Suboxone, according to the prescription handbook. The reason for this is that alcohol depresses the central nervous system, and mixing it with an opioid (such as buprenorphine) can be harmful.

Swallowing the strip rather than allowing it to dissolve beneath your tongue is also a major no-no. Because buprenorphine is poorly absorbed by the lining of our digestive tract, taking it by mouth will not provide you with the full benefit of the dose. When dissolved under the tongue or on the cheek, it is quickly absorbed, allowing the maximum amount to be utilized.

Finally, don't try to utilize anything until the film has totally dissolved, whether it's on this list or not. After you've placed the medication beneath your tongue, try to wait at least 15 minutes. You will interfere with how well Suboxone is absorbed and hence how well it works if you eat, drink, spit, or smoke before it has dissolved.

Opioid use disorder might be the difference between life and death. If you still can't stand the taste of Suboxone after attempting all of the above, speak with your doctor.