What are Suboxone Strips?

Suboxone strips(sublingual film) are small pieces of thin, medicated film. A patient places one or more strips under the tongue to dissolve, a technique known as sublingual drug administration.

Suboxone strips contain all the same active ingredients and the same dosages as the Suboxone pill.

How the sublingual route works?

Saliva contains both digestive enzymes (i.e. salivary amylase) and liquid that dissolve the Suboxone strip into a liquid medication in a matter of minutes.

The cavity underneath the tongue is a mucous membrane that readily absorbs any chemicals that come into contact with it. The tissue beneath the mucous membrane contains numerous capillary beds. Capillaries directly absorb the medication, introduce it into the bloodstream, and carry it throughout the body.

Are Suboxone strips easy to take?

Each Suboxone strip comes individually packaged in a sealed foil packet. To use a strip, cut or tear along the package's side seam, remove the strip, and place it under the tongue on either the left or right side.

Do not chew or swallow the strip and allow it to fully dissolve. Smoking, talking, eating, or drinking before the strip dissolves completely can alter the absorption. For full efficacy, avoid such activities as much as possible.

Your healthcare professional may prescribe that you use more than one strip at a time, so always follow your specific orders for dosage and timing.

Benefits of Suboxone strips

Suboxone strips are more difficult to abuse. In its pill form, patients can abuse Suboxone by crushing it and injecting, or snorting a crushed tablet. When a patient uses Suboxone in this manner, the opioid antagonist portion of the drug, Naloxone, takes effect and may cause severe withdrawal symptoms.

Suboxone strips can only be used under the tongue, so there is less chance for patients to use them inappropriately. Additionally, patients should not notice the effects of Naloxone at all when using Suboxone strips correctly.

Individual packages can be safer and more convenient. Children should never handle or take Suboxone, and the foil packaging could discourage a child from inadvertently consuming the drug.

The convenience of small, transportable packets could make it easier for patients to follow their medication schedules even away from home.

Sublingual Suboxone enters the circulatory system more quickly. It takes time for a drug to pass through the stomach and digestive system before it can enter the bloodstream. Sublingual administration is usually a faster route for a drug to achieve therapeutic levels in the bloodstream.

Sublingual administration avoids first-pass liver metabolism. Taking a drug by mouth requires it to pass through the digestive system and enter the liver. Since a Suboxone strip does not enter the body through the digestive system, the drug is less concentrated once it reaches the liver.