How Long Does Suboxone Stay In Your System?

Part of the complete guide to understanding addiction
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How Often Do You Take Suboxone?

Individuals who take Suboxone are often advised to take their medication dose daily at the same time. The daily recommended dose is a 16:4 mg ratio of buprenorphine to naloxone. However, an individual’s doctor will be the one to decide what is the correct dosage for each person, given their respective medical history.

Here are some of the factors medical professionals take into consideration when prescribing an individual Suboxone:

• Overall health
• What medical conditions do they have
• What opiate they are addicted to
• How severe their opioid addiction is
• Where are they in their treatment journey?

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Suboxone and Half-Lives

When trying to understand how long Suboxone stays in one’s system, it’s important to understand what a half-life is. A drug’s half-life is essentially the time frame of how long it takes for the concentration of the drug to become reduced to 50% or ½. For example, if you have a 50 mg drug with a half-life of 60 mins, it would be estimated that after 60 mins from taking the 50 mg drug, only 25 mg remain¹.

When it comes to Suboxone, which has two active components — buprenorphine and naloxone, we have to pay attention to the half-lives for both of these drugs. Buprenorphine has an estimated half-life range of 24 to 60 hours, while naloxone has a range of 2 to 12 hours. Researchers strategically created the half-life of buprenorphine to help manage opiate withdrawal effects.

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What Type Of Testing Methods Are Available For Suboxone?

Suboxone can be detected in a few methods such as blood, urine, or hair tests. Many programs require frequent testing as a part of a Suboxone treatment plan. Often other drugs are being tested for detection as well at the same time.

Suboxone is an important player in the multi-part plan to help individuals struggling with opiate addiction. Health care providers perform these routine Suboxone tests to track whether or not the patient is taking the medication, using the proper dosage, and/or determine whether or not the patient is abusing other substances.

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What Factors Generally Impact Testing For Drugs?

When testing for drugs, three key factors impact whether or not a drug can be detected:

1. Dosage use
2. Frequency of drug use
3. The duration since the drug was used

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How Long Does a Suboxone Strip Stay In Your System?

When a single dose of Suboxone is taken, the drug’s effects will last for 24 hours in the body. In healthy people, the drug will be completely gone from an individual’s body within 5 to 8 days. This is due to the half-lives of both buprenorphine and naloxone.

In healthy people:

• Buprenorphine’s half-life elimination ranges from 24 to 42 hours
• Naloxone’s half-life elimination ranges from 2 to 12 hours

However, this time frame is dependent on the health of the person taking the medication and their drug history. For example, if an individual has a history of a compromised liver system, the drug can take up to 14 days to be fully eliminated.

So how long does 2mg of Suboxone stay in your system? Since buprenorphine has a half-life of 24–42 hours and naloxone has a half-life of 2 to 12 hours, 2mg will remain in your system for up to 8 days.

Given that, how long does 1mg of Suboxone stay in your system? It will be the same amount of time as the 2 mg dose of Suboxone, the amount taken will not change the amount of time necessary for the drug to completely leave your system.

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How Are Buprenorphine and Naloxone Metabolized?

The active components of Suboxone, buprenorphine and Naloxone, are both metabolized differently. Buprenorphine is digested and removed within feces and urine, while Naloxone is digested in the liver and then excreted via urine.

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How Long Does Suboxone Stay In Urine?

When taking a urine drug test, buprenorphine can be detected within 40 minutes of the drug’s consumption and can remain in the system for up to two weeks for long term users. Urine tests are the most commonly used tests to detect Suboxone.

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How Long Does Suboxone Stay In Hair?

For a hair test, the build-up of the drug’s metabolites can cause the drug to be detected 1 to 3 months out from consumption. However, it is important to note that this type of testing is not the most reliable testing available for Suboxone.

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How Long Does Suboxone Stay In Blood?

Blood tests are uncommon when testing for suboxone as their invasive nature make them unsuitable for most testing purposes. Also, although they offer a high level of accuracy, blood tests can only detect suboxone in the system for a few hours after taking the drug.

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How Long Does Suboxone Stay In Saliva?

Saliva tests are very common, easy to use, and offer a high degree of confidence. Saliva tests are popular because they are the least invasive and easiest test to administer for suboxone. Saliva tests can detect suboxone for a few days and as long as a week from last usage.

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Resources To Assist With Abuse and Addiction

If you or someone you know is looking for medication-assisted treatment, SAMHSA is an invaluable resource for substance abuse services and finding a buprenorphine provider near you.

A provider will set up an individual with a Suboxone regimen, regular follow-up visits to check on progress, and outpatient therapy. This regimen can help an individual greatly when starting on their road to recovery.

Avenues Recovery offers medication assisted treatment in many of our locations. If you think this form of treatment may be right for you or for a loved one suffering from addiction, please contact our admissions team now. We’re ready to help you find your way home.

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Sources

¹https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554498/

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