How Long Does Suboxone Stay In Your System?
Medically Reviewed By: Manish Mishra, MBBS
Written by: Dr Jason Martin Psy.D., LCPC
How long Suboxone stays in your system depends on its half life as well as your age, weight, and frequency of use. Suboxone can be detected on urine drug tests for up to two weeks after your last dose.
How long Suboxone stays in your system depends on a variety of factors including weight, liver health, and whether you’ve taken it with other drugs.
Suboxone is a long-acting opioid prescription drug that’s approved for the treatment of opioid use disorder. It consists of a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone and is often used as an alternative to methadone for treating opioid addiction.
Suboxone works by blocking withdrawal symptoms and decreasing cravings without activating opioid receptors in the central nervous system. This is why it’s often prescribed by healthcare providers to patients in addiction treatment programs.
Countless treatment centers in Ohio use Suboxone to help those with opioid addiction.
Suboxone Half-Life
The elimination half-life of Suboxone depends on the half-lives of the medications it consists of. The half-life of buprenorphine is 24 to 48 hours and the half-life of naloxone is about 2-5 hours.
While, theoretically, one half-life is the amount of time it takes half a dose to leave the system, it usually takes about four or five half-lives for the drug to leave the system entirely.
That means Suboxone is likely completely out of the system after 5-8 days after the last dose.
Suboxone Drug Tests & Detection Times
While Suboxone will likely not show up on a routine drug screening or even an opioid drug test, it will show up if buprenorphine is specifically tested for.
There are a few different types of tests that could be used, and they can detect Suboxone over different lengths of time.
How Long Does Suboxone Stay In Your Urine?
Suboxone and its metabolite norbuprenorphine can show up on a urine test at least 9 hours after you take the drug and up to 2 weeks after your last dose.
How Long Does Suboxone Stay In Your Blood?
The drug can show up on a blood test anywhere from 2-3 days after the last dose of Suboxone. That being said, this is an invasive type of test and can be expensive to have done.
How Long Does Suboxone Stay In your Saliva?
Saliva tests are usually used because they are noninvasive and easy to administer. Suboxone can be detected up to five days after the last dose.
How Long Does Suboxone Stay In Your Hair?
Hair tests can detect Suboxone in the hair follicles for up to 3 months after your last dose. That being said, it can depend on the section of hair taken. Because of that, it’s not always the most reliable test.
Factors That Affect Suboxone Detection Times
There are quite a few factors that can determine how long Suboxone can be detected in your system, including:
- body fat content
- weight
- height
- age
- how large your last dose of Suboxone was
- how long you’ve abused Suboxone
- frequency of use
- liver health
- if you’ve taken Suboxone with other drugs (some medications can increase the level of Suboxone in the body)
If you or a loved one live with opiate/opioid addiction and need substance abuse treatment in Ohio, you don’t have to deal with it on your own.
Ohio Recovery Center is here for you, and we offer a variety of addiction treatment options including detox, inpatient care, medication-assisted treatment, and aftercare support.
For more information, please call our helpline today.
- National Library of Medicine: StatPearls — Buprenorphine https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459126/#:~:text=The%20average%20half%2Dlife%20of,70%20hours)%20following%20sublingual%20administration.
- National Library of Medicine: StatPearls — Naloxone https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441910/
- National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus — Buprenorphine Sublingual and Buccal (opioid dependence) https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a605002.html
- National Library of Medicine: MedlinePlus — Opiate and opioid withdrawal https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000949.htm