Buvidal
Buvidal is a safe replacement for heroin or other opioids. It can help you to withdraw from opioids you’ve become dependent on by reducing cravings and limiting your withdrawal symptoms.
Buvidal is given as an injection under the skin into the thigh, buttock, abdomen or upper arm, either weekly or monthly. Only healthcare professionals should prepare and inject Buvidal.
How Buvidal is prescribed
One of our recovery workers and a nurse will assess you. If the assessment shows that Buvidal could be good for you, we’ll prescribe it.
Your prescriber will work with you to determine the correct dose of Buvidal, and together you can adjust your dose to meet your needs. You can switch between weekly and monthly injections according to your needs and your prescriber’s judgement.
After switching or adjusting your dose, you may need closer monitoring for a while to ensure that the adjusted dose is best for you.
If you’ve ever injected drugs, the nurse will help you to get a liver test, screening for any blood-borne viruses (including hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV), and offer any vaccinations that you might need.
The benefits of Buvidal
There are several opioid substitute medications that you can be prescribed, but there are a few reasons that people may prefer Buvidal:
Buvidal is safer around children. As only healthcare professionals should prepare and inject it, the injection will be kept in the clinic until you need it. This means that children won’t come into contact with it.
Buprenorphine helps reduce withdrawal symptoms and cravings over time, which can reduce the need to use illicit opioids.
You are less likely to overdose on Buvidal than with methadone. If you do overdose, it is less dangerous.
People are less likely to relapse due to missed doses, as it only needs to be given weekly or monthly.
It is more convenient for people with full-time jobs or caring responsibilities, who may find it difficult to collect other medication that need to be taken more regularly.
Taking Buvidal
Your prescriber will ensure Buvidal is the most suitable treatment for you before you start it.
If this is the first time you are receiving Buvidal, you will start on weekly injections. After four weeks of treatment, you and your healthcare team can consider whether monthly injections might work for you.
If you are already taking buprenorphine, you can be switched directly to Buvidal. During the dosing period after the switch, your healthcare professional will monitor you more closely.
If you are receiving methadone, your dose of methadone will be reduced to below 30 mg per day before beginning with Buvidal. You will take your first dose of Buvidal at least 24 hours after you last took methadone.
Every so often during your treatment, a member of our team will ask you to take a drug test to make sure your treatment remains appropriate and safe.
How it works
Buvidal begins to release buprenorphine as soon as it has been injected. It can start to reduce opioid cravings and withdrawal symptoms within hours.
It is important not to take other opioids while you are taking Buvidal, as this may give you withdrawal symptoms.
Coming off Buvidal
Once you’ve settled into your regular Buvidal prescription, you may choose to stay on it long term. Your worker and prescriber will look at your dose from time to time to see if it needs to be changed.
Alternatively, if preferred, your recovery worker will talk to you about how to reduce your dose and eventually come off it completely. This is called a detox.
Medication safety tips
Your medicine is for you. Never give it to other people even if their condition appears to be the same as yours. It may harm them.
Speak to your recovery worker or prescriber if you feel any side effects.
Drinking or using drugs on top of your medication can affect how it works, and may be dangerous.
Buprenorphine can affect other medicines. Always tell your prescriber about any prescription or over-the-counter medicines, vitamins or minerals, herbal products, or other supplements you are taking.
There are laws for drug driving like there are for drink driving. If you are being prescribed buprenorphine, you must let the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) know.
Keep your medication in a safe place away from children and animals. Ask your worker for a free lockable box to store your medication.
Always call 999 if you think a child has swallowed your medication.
Please give us at least four weeks’ notice if you’re travelling in the UK or abroad. We’ll work with you to make sure it’s medically safe for you to travel.
Naloxone saves lives
Naloxone is a drug that can temporarily reverse the effects of opioids like heroin and fentanyl. It also works on opioid substitute medications like buprenorphine and methadone.
If someone is having an overdose, naloxone could save their life. If you think someone is overdosing but don’t know what they’ve taken, naloxone could help them and won’t harm them.