Nausea

My son started taking suboxone this morning starting with a half tablet and then another half at noon.  He has been throwing up since then.  Five times.  Is this normal.  We called the nurse and she said the nausea might be part of the withdrawals but my son said he didn't have nausea when he was having withdrawals.  Has anyone else had this problem?

[GA Guy]

Just checking...he is putting them under his tongue, right? I've heard of people swallowing them. It may just be him getting used to the medication..or possibly precipitated withdrawals. What opiate was he taking? How long after his last use did he take the Sub?

[Wolverine819]

How long after he stopped did he take the Suboxone?What dose is he on?I am taking it and never got nausea from it,my stomach problems were from the WD.How long ago did he stop taking the opiates?

[avisg]

yes how many hour were between he last pill and when he started the sub

[phillip52]

He did as the dr. said and did not use for 24 hours before he went into office.  He put a half under his tongue at the office about 11:30 and then another about 12:30 or 1.  He threw up so much that he did not take last night.  He has been throwing up off and on today when he eats or drinks.  The nurse said he could take phenagen.  I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem.  There is a virus going around so we think maybe he has it and it is just coincidence that he got it the day he started his suboxone.  Any imput on this will be greatly appreciated.  

[Ali1226172]

I doubt he has a virus...what was he taking before the suboxone and how much?? And how many mgs are the subs? I don't understand the doses -taking a half every hour??? A half a suboxone is verrrry strong, and if he didn't wait until he felt at least some Withdrawal before taking the suboxone than that is why he is sick- what happens is that he can go into Instant withdrawal if he doesn't wait long enough.  I am not a doctor, but make sure you tell the doctor exactaly how much of whatever it was that he was taking!! And ask these questions, get on their *** cuz he shouldn't be getting sick, it is suppose to ease the process! PS- has he done rehab?? Suboxone can be another addiction in itself just to warn you, make sure your son is attending therapy at least or meetings! Suboxone alone is a ******** answer for a serious life-threathing problem!!

Good luck, i'll keep him in my prayers

[bkwrm679]

I've had some bad experiences with suboxone before that seemed sort of coincidental. One example - I had been on oxycodone, waited 24 hours, took a suboxone, and then got extreme nausea, threw up over and over. Fortunately I had Phenergan at home. I called an urgent care place, the nurse said it was okay to take Phenergan, and I took it. I called my sub doc and he said it sounded more like food poisoning. I had eaten leftover sushi exactly twelve hours before onset.

At least one other time (can't remember the specifics) I had a similar experience. Other times, I had no issues.

Another thing weird about suboxone. For me it was like I had to wean off of it, it was like my tolerance was lowering. If I was on two x 8mg a day, after a while it started to give me headache and nausea unless I lowered it. I tried going up a couple of times (counter productive, I know) with the same effect.

Either way - food poisoning, suboxone, virus, whatever, you need to keep him hydrated (hard without an IV) and get him either some Phenergan or Compazine or something like that. I would try an urgent care facility or even the ER.

Just a quick FYI - if he's ever trying to detox of the opiates and starts throwing up, these medications will fix that, but might give him TERRIBLE RLS for a few hours.

[bkwrm679]

Almost forgot - if he starts throwing up yellow and/or green foamy stuff, that's bile. Basically that's what starts coming up after everything else is gone. Not good, but not terrible in itself (tastes terrible though). However, really hard vomiting can rupture the esophagus, so it's best to treat this ASAP if it's not abating.

[allaboutmary]

I waited the time my doctor told me to and I still got sick. I guess it was precipitated withdrawal. I had 24 hours of vomiting and then I was fine. Go figure.  Sub affects people so differently.

[mtgoat911]

most people do this when starting suboxone, good luck

[bkwrm679]

If you were just vomiting it wasn't precipitated withdrawals. I got precipitated withdrawals once and called the paramedics to my house. First you feel a chill go down your body. Then it feels like you got hit by lightning as every opiate receptor in your brain is ripped out all at once. Your adrenal system goes into overdrive and you feel like your heart is going to explode. You immediately go into about ten times what regular withdrawals feel like on the worst day. Supposedly Naloxone has about a 40 minute half-life, but when it happened to me, the precipitated withdrawals lasted for 13 hrs. Then I got to go through regular withdrawals for 3 more days. Taking more suboxone did absolutely nothing for it, and by that time I was so saturated with it that taking regular opiates wouldn't have helped either and might have OD'd me. Some studies have indicated that buprenorphine may have a higher affinity for the opiate receptors than naloxone in certain situations. I've got to say I think that's the case. Probably the only way to have remedied my situation would have been to go to the ER and have them hit me with Naloxone until it bumped all the buprenorphine off the receptors. It was a confusing situation - still not sure I understand exactly what chemicals did what, but you'll know for sure it's precipitated withdrawals if you're ever that unfortunate.