I have been on Suboxone for 8 months now for an opiate addiction. Around 8 months ago I started having occasional back pain and told my doctor about it. I asked if it was from the Suboxone and he told me it wasn't (although it is a side effect). 4 months ago I started having constant and severe back pain. They told me I was having muscle spasms and prescribed me muscle relaxers and told me to start physical therapy. A few weeks after my back pain started, I started having widespread pain into my legs, neck, shoulders, head, etc. I did physical therapy and chiropractic for two months with no impact on my back pain. They then did an MRI on my back and the results came back normal. They have also tested me for hep C, thyroid problems, a vitamin D deficiency and whatever else they can test for in the urine and blood and all the results were normal. I have seen several doctors and a couple have told me my symptoms are in agreement with the diagnosis of fibromyalgia. I also had a spine specialist tell me to get off the Suboxone because that could be causing the pain. I have greatly decreased my dose from 32mg on my worst days to 8 mg and am not feeling better yet, although I'm sure I am feeling a little withdrawal too. To me, it seems that if Suboxone were causing this pain, then the pain would have started when I started the Suboxone instead of 5 months into my treatment. So I ask you, could Suboxone be causing my pain? HELP PLEASE- I have lost my job and all semblance of a normal life because of the pain and I am only 24 yrs old...
Can Suboxone cause severe and chronic pain?
Question posted by bidwella686 on 4 April 2011
Last updated on 9 June 2022
7 Answers
I have been on it (8 mg tabs) for 8 months and I started them because I had an addiction and I kicked it but we bought a farm and i opened a horse boarding business and run it myself so I have a VERY physically demanding job running this business / managing 71 acres plus 2 Toddlers and a hubby who travels (and doesn’t support my use of this medication) and I have always had back pain but now excruciating morning pain… and mild back pain all day but unfathomable body pain in the AM’s to the point where I’m even too cold some mornings where I hurt and am cold and can’t get out of bed for almost 30 min-1 hr and that’s after drinking bedside coffee (with personal-sized water heater and personal sized coffee press). I’ve also started taking a few other meds at the same time for depression and anxiety. It could be the stack but the Suboxone makes my pain better (I think I’m one of the rare few that it DOES help my pain, but I think I push myself to do more than I should and that’s why I hurt.
Sweetheart… Pharmacists believe it or not know way more than your Dr. Does. I would definately talk to your pharmacist extensively and maybe find a new Dr. I’m having the same problems with my Dr. Instead of me telling him how I feel… he tells me how I feel. I absolutely hate these dr.S that basically know it all and don’t listen to their patients. I’m 62 yrs old and have had severe chronic pain since the age of 14 and I’ll tell you…. It’s been very challenging to say the least. I list my dr. If 39 years and it’s been absolutely devastating trying to find a dr. That actually listens to you. I wish you the very best sweetheart but never give up and keep looking till you find the answers you need!
I have been on Suboxone for ten years now, and my back pain started a few months after getting on suboxone. Same exact pain as described, my whole right side of my back aches "every single day" when I get up. The longer I sleep, the more severe the pain. Definitely all muscle aches, and my back definitely gets inflamed every morning. Tylenol, advil, Aleve, nothing touches the pain. As soon as I dropped down to 2mg a day, the pain has started to subside. Not a doubt in my mind it's from suboxone use. 1000% certain. Cut down to 2mg or less, and the pain lessens each day. The longer between doses greatly helps as well. Working on tapering completely off sub. Been way to long with this pain!
Id like to add that i take strip for recreational use and yes i started having back problems from taking them.
The back pain (lower back i assume) is relieved when the drug is out of your system? This med has an extremely long half life, so the pain can still be there quite a while after the recreational response has disappeared.
I just read that 22 percent of people have stomach and body pain. I would talk to dr that prescribed it for u again
I am so glad i have found this thread. I to am having severe back pain. Starts at my lower right side of my back and radiates all the way down my leg. I asked my doc at my last sub appointment and he told me it was my siatic nerve. Im 29 and have had surgeries, broken bones, along with other circumstances that had caused pretty bad pain in the past. BUT NOTHING!!! has been as bad as what im going threw right now. At first i could just take a few adville a day to help, but as of right now taking 12+ a day is not even touching the pain.some days it almost to the point where im in tears. Nothing i do helps. Sitting, standing, bending down, lying down, nothing.
I should have mentiond earlier that iv been on sub for almost 4 years now. Came down 2 months ago from 3-8mg. strips to 2-8mg. a day. I am starting the taper down method. 4 years is long enough. I have my life back and havnt touched any kind of drugs since iv been taking the sub. Iv since got married, bought a house, and have our first babby on the way. And that is the main reason im wanting off the sub. Why is it just now starting after all this time. Maybe it isnt the sub and i really have something screwed up in my back. We will find out friday when i go to a real doc and have xrays and mri's done. But know that i know about this awful side effect i will mention it to him if nothing is found in the test they run.
I apologize if this post is hard to read im not the best writer. And thanks for listening to my problem.
Thanks, jason.
Did you back pain ever go away?
Every once in a while we do see a post here where someone starts subs and has major pain, but it usually is when they first get on it, and sometimes when they are switched to the films as opposed to the tablets. Increasing pain levels are not the norm for suboxone when it is being used to treat opiate dependence. Pharmacists are actually the true experts when it comes to medications, and will likely be the best people to ask about this, and you should probably ask a few of them, see if you can find a compounding pharmacist, and ask a couple of them. I think anything is possible with suboxone, but can not be sure it is causing the pain, but it could be. Sounds like you have done everything else you can to try and figure this out, you got a second and third opinion, you did physical therapy, and had many tests to rule things out. Hope you get and answer and some relief very soon. You are in my Prayers.
Patti ps, you might give subutex a try, just to see if it is being caused by the naloxone in the suboxone, if the pharmacists all agree they don't think it is the suboxone.
Sub does cause back pain as it happened to me and didnt happen until i was on it a while.The pain was down the bottom left side of m,y back.It went away when i cut sub down to 2mg... it was the sub that caused it for def.
Sorry.the pain was on My bottom right side of the lower back.
You are absolutely right.Suboxone DOES cause back pain and it is not spoken about much.When I went on 16mg of suboxone I developed pain in my right side of my lower back.The doctors gave me anti immflamitories but they didnt do much.My back was actually a bit swollen most of the time.I had the pain for around 2 years.Ive been on and off suboxone for many years and when I come off it the pain went away like magic.Around 10 months later I went back on the sub and,bingo,the back pain came right back.I eventually weaned down the suboxone again and when I got down to 2mg the back pain eased off again.It took me around 4 months to detox and when I was off it again the pain went away and has not bothered me since.It does cause back pain in certain people and its not spoke about much.Also.Suboxone,at high doses, causes an elevation in liver enzymes which will show up if you have a liver function test done.This is not spoken about much either.
I have been taking suboxone for 2 years approx. Reason one is addiction and reason 2 is for chronic pain. I take 3 8mg tabs a day and am pain ree and off narcotics (opiates) I truly doubt that the pain is caused by suboxone.
The back pain was from the suboxone.I had it all the time I was on it.It isnt spoken about much.If you read the leaflet inside the sub box it tells you backpain as a side effect.Everyone experiences different side effects when on it... mines was back pain.
It is FOR SURE the sub because I started having bad pain also in my back, neck, fingers, and especially in my knees. I started wondering if there was something wrong with me, but then I started thinking that I never had problems like this before until I started taking sub. It didn't start until after I took it for a few months and it's gradually getting worse. I'm thinking about stopping this medication and just biting the bullet because this kind of pain is getting to be so unpleasant that I almost can't candle it. I wake up feeling worse each day and it almost feels like my body is falling apart. I'm only 34 and shouldn't be feeling this way!! It does help but this is a side effect that I don't think I can deal with here.
Can you please tell me if you pain went away after you stopped taking?
Suboxone was originally intended to use for addiction recovery to help addicts get off their opioid that they were using. It was not made for use as as first-use med for relieving pain. It was made to help addict patients ease off of the opioids in recovery from their addiction. It will not even deliver enough pain relief because it is not designed for initial or chronic. I do not know when or why some doctors started using this drug to treat initial or chronic pain in the first place. Get off of this med. It takes about a week to get out off the system. Then go to the doctor and ask to be given a med like codeine (i.e.Tylenol with Codeine), morphine (pills), hydrocodone or oxycodone. Those meds will give much better pain relief than Suboxone.
Related topics
suboxone, drug dependence, pain, back pain, addiction, doctor, chronic, opiate
Further information
- Suboxone uses and safety info
- Suboxone prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Suboxone (detailed)
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