My boyfriend has been on suboxone for 3 weeks, what will happen if he drinks beer? Will it be ok?
Can you drink alcohol when you are taking suboxone?
Question posted by HisGfriend on 13 Aug 2011
Last updated on 2 January 2023 by YoYo1220
4 Answers
YoYo1220
2 Jan 2023
Coby/Thor
I'm having the same experience as you guys. I usually have a few cocktails after work. I immediately noticed - after I started on Suboxone - that I don't catch a buzz anymore. For now I kind of like it. When I was on opiates, I became a lightweight at drinking. 2 drinks, and I'd be slurring my words. Now it's the opposite.
misfourtune
21 Aug 2011
Im taking subs and drink beer while on them i think they just were off faster.
Thor283
14 Aug 2011
Beer mixed with Sub shouldn't make him sick in the way another opiate would, but he still may get some kind of sick feeling.
I used to really love beer. I quit drinking before being on Sub, so I'm not really looking to get drunk. But once a year I go out on my Birthday, and I would like to catch a beer buzz. To my dismay I have found I really can't get a buzz off alcohol anymore. Instead, after 2 beers I start to feel bloated and full. If I persist in drinking a 3rd beer I often will get a sick feeling stomach.
Tell him to realize that he's mixing alcohol with an opiate, and he should think of it that way. The Bupe in Suboxone is a unique opiate, but it is an opiate. Which basically means the beer and Bupe will amplify each other.
If he does it, I'd like to know if get's a high from the beer? I know I sure don't.
Thor
Coby416
15 Aug 2011
Played golf yesterday. Took my normal 2 mgs of suboxone in the morning and then while golfing, first time in months, I felt petty good. No intensity or a whole lot of desire to be competitve but I felt good to be out doors. I also had 5 beers. I normally would have felt a little woosey but I can not say if I felt all that different. Not sure if I had a buzz or not. I did have a post headache this morning though. I guess what I am saying is the same as you Thor, no high. I have had wine a few times and with one glass felt a little slurry. Ok, it was a big glass. My Dr. told me a couple of beers and a glass of wine would not bother me or make me sick. Said do not drive or operate machinery. I did ok in the golf cart though.
regards Coby
Thor283
16 Aug 2011
Hey Coby,
Thank you for admitting this. A lot of people claim they can still get drunk while on Sub, but I can't. I think you're the only other person I ever heard admit to this. I tend to wonder if everyone else is just not admitting it to us, or if they're in denial and not admitting it to themselves?
I want to say that for the most part I couldn't care less about getting high anymore. I really ruined my life with the whole "party, getting high" lifestyle. So I kinda don't care. BUT ... what pisses me off is that I was never told Sub would do this, or even that it was a possibility that Sub could do this. From what I see, if a person takes Sub long enough, he can kiss good bye getting high on anything. Not just other opiates. And I don't really care. But damn, sometimes I would like to get an alcohol high. And I can't.
To make matters worse, after 5 years on Sub I was taken off Sub and put on Oxycodone and MsContin for 1 year. After about 8 months off Sub I bought a bottle of wine, one night. I drank about 1/2 the bottle and was then sleepy, so I stopped drinking and went to sleep. There was no buzz, none at all. Two nights later I tried it again. Still no buzz.
I'm really not sure how I feel about this. I tend to think that if the doc had told me that going on Sub will prevent me from ever feeling high on anything ever again, I may not have taken it. However, the 1st 5 years I was on Subutex I was on the Name Brand because that was all that existed. For those 5 years I never even wanted any alcohol. But now I'm on generic Subutex, and after 4 & 1/2 months I want some beers whenever I get upset. I need to be back on NB Subutex, but I can't afford them. So I don't know what is going to happen with me. I just know that I believe the doc's should tell us that this can, and probably will happen.
Thor283
16 Aug 2011
Hey Coby,
Thank you for admitting this. A lot of people claim they can still get drunk while on Sub, but I can't.
Coby416
18 Aug 2011
Thor, Nice to hear from you and I have to agree with you. In fact I can provide further proof. Whats is better then sitting in the nice sun light on a beautiful day and having a couple of beers watching the ballgame. Yesterday I took my best friend to the Red Sox game ( Sat right in the first row of the Monster seats) he is also taking Subos's ( he calls them ). My intent was to try to speak to him about lowering his usage. He is prescribed I think, 5- 8 mgs srtips per day. he has taken up to 5 or 6 at a time. What I did not know; he had already lowered to twice per day. I sent nim a post here where it explained that anymore was a waste and did little. He read it and lowered on his own and felt little difference. he now reads this site all the time. He weighs about 320 and had lost 26 pounds in 4 weeks. Back on point, during the game he drank 12 maybe 14 beers. After, we had dinner and he had 2 Knob Creeks and 2 more beers. I swear, he was not at all noticeably drunk.
Says he can drink forever and does not get drunk unless he drinks a 5th of Vodka, some beer, which he says he does often, along with a box of wine. Though during the day or night he usually forgets who he spoked to or texted and when he sleeps, he forgets most of the previous day. But, says he does not get a buzz. I tend to agree with him. Though I know the alcohol abuse is killing him, he says it helps numb the pain. I had beer too maybe 6 but did not feel anything. I was up at 5:30 AM and drove my 1 1/2 hours to work. Thor, I did not know this either. And, I am not sure how I feel about it. Sometimes when I am stressed and the pressure of life or the job gets to me and I just like to have a few beers to relieve or numb the senses but I suppose that is not to be. I just know the cycle of the pain pills then to suboxone and all the in betweens is and continues to be frustrating.
It is all the more incentive for me to get off them. Not so I can get a buzz but so I can feel real, normal once again. You know maybe I would like to get a buzz, who knows. I just know i like to have that choice. If that is at all possible.Time will tell and I will keep you apprised. Keep strong my friend and have a good day.
Coby
LaurieShay
13 Aug 2011
Hey HisGfriend,
Really depends on how much he drinks. The following link states the interaction between these two:
https://www.drugs.com/interactions-check.php?drug_list=1034-14582,439-2040
A beer or two would be fine, though too much can be very dangerous.
Best wishes,
Laurie
HisGfriend
13 Aug 2011
Thank you. He just didn't want to drink a beer and the be extremely sick.
LaurieShay
13 Aug 2011
Nope, a beer won't make him sick.
Related topics
suboxone, opiate dependence, alcohol
Further information
- Suboxone uses and safety info
- Suboxone prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Suboxone (detailed)
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