Mixing Benzodiazepines and Buprenorphine
- Benzodiazepines also called
- benzodiazepine, benzos, benzo, xanax, alprazolam, valium
- Buprenorphine also called
- subutex, suboxone, bupe, bup, buprenorphine/naloxone
Unsafe
The main cause of death in people taking buprenorphine. The ceiling does not extend to GABA-A depression. Prescribed benzodiazepines alongside buprenorphine treatment are not automatically dangerous and stopping either abruptly carries its own risk — the danger is recreational dosing on top, especially of short-acting benzodiazepines.
The risk here is to the body — breathing, heart, temperature or organs. Set limits before you start, because this kind of harm does not announce itself in time to react.
Can you mix Benzodiazepines and Buprenorphine?
Risk of serious physical or psychological harm. Not recommended under any circumstances.
- Buprenorphine
- Partial agonist — displaces other opioids off the receptor
- Buprenorphine precipitated opioid withdrawal: Prevention and management in the ED setting. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0735675722003126
- Buprenorphine-Precipitated Withdrawal Among Hospitalized Patients Using Fentanyl. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11437388/
- Practice-Based Guidelines: Buprenorphine in the Age of Fentanyl. SAEM. https://www.saem.org/education/substance-use/practice-based-guidelines-buprenorphine-in-the-age-of-fentanyl
Checking more than two?
Combinations of three or more carry risks that no pair-by-pair chart can show. The checker rates every pair at once and flags the whole-mix ones on top.
Open this in the checkerRelated combinations
Rated unsafe. Educational information only, not medical advice. Absence of a documented interaction is not evidence of safety.