Aa
Opinion of Suboxone please
Hi everyone...
This is the first time I have both alcohol and percocets out of my system. I went to detox, and saw the addictions specialist who prescribed me 6mg of suboxone. As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I didn't feel the euphoria or high like I did on percocets. I've been reading threads about this medication, and now I'm scared becuase it looks like I am taking another opiate???? The doctor explained that it also was an antagonist (sp?). The cravings are gone for both alcohol and pills. Today we talked about a slow taper plan starting in about 5 weeks.
Does anyone have any "successful" experiences with this medication. Now I really don't feel clean :(
This is the first time I have both alcohol and percocets out of my system. I went to detox, and saw the addictions specialist who prescribed me 6mg of suboxone. As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I didn't feel the euphoria or high like I did on percocets. I've been reading threads about this medication, and now I'm scared becuase it looks like I am taking another opiate???? The doctor explained that it also was an antagonist (sp?). The cravings are gone for both alcohol and pills. Today we talked about a slow taper plan starting in about 5 weeks.
Does anyone have any "successful" experiences with this medication. Now I really don't feel clean :(
Best Answer
I guess it,s different for many. all I was saying was I had a good experience with suboxone treatment.in 08 I was entered in to rehab by intervention from years of taking 7to 8 80 oxys a day .at that time suboxone in my opinion saved my life. I was on 16 mil a day after 2 weeks I cut back to 8 mls aday .and stayed in it for almost 2 yrs. I cut back more because I was out of pocket no ins. cut back to 2 mls a day and some days I would forget to take that .I put them down shortly after that no withdrawals.my last relapse happened because I had quit working a program of n/a a/a . I relapsed in 2012 and started taking meds for kidney stones that I knew I should,nt be taking. percs, hydros etc. now my family ,my doctor and my friends know I,m an addict .started going back to n/a/ meetings last week. that's just my exp. with suboxone. peace out!!!
The doctor quoted, Scanlan, runs Palm Beach Detox center. His web site has some great articles by Scanlan himself. I followed Dr Scanlans opinion in my use of subs. Great articleABN.
Wow, I am SO grateful that I posted this question, because even though I think my doctor is a perfect fit for me, he can't respond to my questions like you folks can.
You have made me REALLY be careful with this med. I'm glad that my doctor is in agreement to taper me within 4-6 weeks. I take 6mg once a day. I don't want to exchange one drug for something else!!!
Thank you so much for the article , I am doing further research, and will definitely look up what you suggested ABN !!!
You have made me REALLY be careful with this med. I'm glad that my doctor is in agreement to taper me within 4-6 weeks. I take 6mg once a day. I don't want to exchange one drug for something else!!!
Thank you so much for the article , I am doing further research, and will definitely look up what you suggested ABN !!!
I was on suboxone for 6 years. While on it, about half way through, I started to worry I would never get off of it. It definitely took the cravings away and I was able to live normally, get my life together, take care of my daughter, and be sober....how could that be bad? You just have to do a realllllyyyy slow taper. I tapered from 16 mg all the way to .05......but going from 1mg to nothing took almost 2 years. I had no withdrawal symptoms at all, feel great now (96 days in), no cravings, just living life. I think you will be ok. Work on getting your life together while on it....break away from triggers, especially people. You will be fine! Good luck!!!!
Suboxone is just another drug making huge profits for the pharmaceutical companies.
I would have posted the link to the full article but have been warned against posting certain links. If you want to read the full article you can access it by doing a google search of "The Great Suboxone Debate" By Jennifer Matesa
COMMUNITY LEADER
OMG!!! I absolutely love the above article and I don't think it could be MORE RIGHT! I love the reference to the increase in sales in 2002 b/c I remember when I got on it I thought it was a miracle drug and tried to research what pharmacy was making it to attempt to purchase some stock b/c I figured all drug addicts were going to start taking it! This article sheds some true light on the subject of suboxone and I think should be posted on the main page of this forum!
Hi there chicky,
just want to lend some support......I am not first hand experienced with subs, but I am really really good at replacing one addiction with another.
I'm not suggesting that you would become dependant, a lot do though.
I just wanted to say that whatever you decide to do,......you will always get positive support here.
Continue to do your research and congrats on your journey.
hugs hope and health.
just want to lend some support......I am not first hand experienced with subs, but I am really really good at replacing one addiction with another.
I'm not suggesting that you would become dependant, a lot do though.
I just wanted to say that whatever you decide to do,......you will always get positive support here.
Continue to do your research and congrats on your journey.
hugs hope and health.
Thank you all....Yes, I was a chronic relapser ever since I started taking opiates in January 2011. I appreciate your comments on this issue, and I hope my Doctor has my back (so far, I believe him) I went to see him with a list of questions about this drug, tapering, withdrawals, so he knows I am not planning on being a long term user on this. Congratulations on 16 days Kelly!
I too questioned how can it be an opiate yet an antagonist at the same time. All I know is the percocets and alcohol are out of my system for one more day, and I'm really happy about that. I go to AA and NA.THank you again for your time in answering me.
I too questioned how can it be an opiate yet an antagonist at the same time. All I know is the percocets and alcohol are out of my system for one more day, and I'm really happy about that. I go to AA and NA.THank you again for your time in answering me.
I've been on and off subs for 4 years the first year i took them i though they were the best thing since sliced bread i took them as prescribed for a year maybe a little longer i always wanted to come off them then i did and without any aftercare i relapsed for about 7 months then went back to the doc and abused them using them only when i had no pills so i wouldn't get sick i think if i had started going to meetings and took my sobriety seriously the first time i wouldn't of relapsed but i thought i was fine had no clue thought i could take "just a few pills" yea not possible everrrrr I'm would never take a high enough dose to kill my cravings after i went on the the second time i didn't want to i hated taking them and still do I'm tapering off them now down to 1mg and I'm going to NA and AA meetings that makes all the difference and today i am 16 days pill free i dont like subs at all you go from one addiction to another but they save lives for some people I'm rambling i know but thats my opinio
COMMUNITY LEADER
I have mixed feelings about suboxone. I was on it (24mg) for a very long time (7 years). I quit c/t on Jan 1st and have been clean ever since.
I went to subs for opiate addiction (7 yrs on opiates). I think I was on them WAAAYYY too long and honestly, I knew that. My dr didn't offer to taper me, she just kept collecting my money every month. I feel like if you can stay on it for a VERY short time, and then wean off, you should be safe. The subs are an opiate antagonist, but they are still opiates; something I didn't understand when I first started taking them. And b/c I was getting them from a dr, I convinced myself, it was o.k. I'm not quite sure why these detox centers prescribe the subs after treatment, unless your a chronic relapser??? Maybe they feel if they can give you some time with no cravings, they will go away? I didn't have any cravings almost immediately after starting the subs....but all I did was switch drugs. This is what I do know....in my N/A group (which I attend now 4 xs a week) we have had many people come in and out with subs...I find if they've been on it for along time, they don't come back? The shorter time, the better!
I went to subs for opiate addiction (7 yrs on opiates). I think I was on them WAAAYYY too long and honestly, I knew that. My dr didn't offer to taper me, she just kept collecting my money every month. I feel like if you can stay on it for a VERY short time, and then wean off, you should be safe. The subs are an opiate antagonist, but they are still opiates; something I didn't understand when I first started taking them. And b/c I was getting them from a dr, I convinced myself, it was o.k. I'm not quite sure why these detox centers prescribe the subs after treatment, unless your a chronic relapser??? Maybe they feel if they can give you some time with no cravings, they will go away? I didn't have any cravings almost immediately after starting the subs....but all I did was switch drugs. This is what I do know....in my N/A group (which I attend now 4 xs a week) we have had many people come in and out with subs...I find if they've been on it for along time, they don't come back? The shorter time, the better!
I was on suboxone for well over 2 yrs. it worked very well for me. I got to the point that I did,nt think about using.after I got out of treatment they put me in outpatient suboxone. that's wherei think I should have drawn the line some of these guys will keep you on this med for indefinite periods of time.i got down to 2mls a day and gave it up.then later relapsed. I think for hardcore can,t stay straight addicts it,s a godsend you can live a normal life on it. hope this helps. peace out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Addiction: Substance Abuse Community
Is treating glaucoma with marijuana all hype, or can hemp actually help?
If you think marijuana has no ill effects on your health, this article from Missouri Medicine may make you think again.
Julia Aharonov, DO, reveals the quickest way to beat drug withdrawal.
Tricks to help you quit for good.
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
________________________________________________________
The Great Suboxone Debate
But like so many other drugs, the data the manufacturer showed the FDA for approval of Suboxone told only part of the story. Most clinical trials are small, short-term, and selective, so once the drug is marketed—and Big Pharma is nothing if not a marketing juggernaut—its long-term effects in large numbers of people begin to show the drug’s true colors. As was the case with OxyContin, Suboxone is widely promoted by doctors as being nonaddictive, but the experience of many addicts proves otherwise: bupe can be harder to kick than methadone—and methadone is a beast to kick. At the high doses many physicians prescribe—8 to 24 mg—some say it’s almost impossible to do without professional help.
Meanwhile bupe sales continue to skyrocket. In 2002, some 20,000 US patients were being prescribed the drug; by 2009, that number was 640,000. The Guardian reported last year that Reckitt Benckiser, the maker of Subutex and Suboxone, saw its pharma earnings shoot up by more than sixfold between 2004 and 2009, largely thanks to US sales of the drugs. "Buprenorphine is now the 41st most prescribed drug in the US. Five years ago, it was 196th," Scanlan says. "It's a money machine."
While studying anesthesiology, Scanlan became addicted to fentanyl—the strongest prescription painkiller available—and he detoxed in the 2000s using Subutex. He’s frank about attending the 12-step meetings he was introduced to during the program he entered to save his medical career. “I want people to understand I know what they’re going through,” he says. “You want to lead by example. I want them to say, ‘I want to do what you did.’” One thing he did was to make a point of not taking bupe for longer than three weeks, on the advice of his detox doctor. “Or else I’d be dealing with a whole different problem,” he says.
“I’ve seen what long-term Suboxone does,” says Scanlan, who switched his specialty to psychiatry in order to help other addicts kick prescription drugs. “People come in with endocrine problems—thyroid dysfunction, low testosterone,” which kills sex drive, “and hair loss. Tooth loss with Suboxone,” which is orange-flavored and is usually dissolved under the tongue.
Scanlan’s big concern: bupe’s 37-hour half-life, which makes the drug build up in the body when dosed every day. “Look at it this way,” he says. “If I maintained you on oxycodone, and every day I gave you one milligram more, you’d never complain, right?”
One treatment model for Suboxone is as maintenance—to keep patients on the drug for months or even years while their brain chemistry, which has been severely damaged by heroin or opiate addiction, heals. But Scanlan is a fierce opponent of such long-term bupe use. “There’s no way your brain chemistry can heal while on buprenorphine,” he says. “You’re continuing to give someone a narcotic.”
Buprenorphine is estimated to be 25 to 45 times as powerful as morphine. Scanlan says patients who want to get off the 8 to 16 mg levels physicians typically prescribe must taper very slowly because of the drug’s half-life. “When I hear that amount,” he says, “I think, ‘This is going to take a year.’” Addicts who are used to detoxing from heroin can be in for a rude surprise when they try to kick a bupe addiction—the lack of energy and the depression can overwhelm.
Most people, including doctors, don’t understand bupe’s strength, Scanlan says. He has noticed that at long-term doses of even 2 mg, bupe can block almost all of a person’s emotions. “They say to me after they’re off for a while, ‘Wow, I’m really having a full range of feelings,’” he says.