HELP! Suboxone

[hellokymmie]

My husband just began using Suboxone Thursday the 14th. His dose is 8mg once daily. He took his first dose at 4pm. Bad idea. He looked so high, I couldn't even bear to look at him. He was sweating profusely, running around the house like the energizer bunny and cleaning up everything. He couldn't sleep hardly at all that night and ended up leaving at 330am to go work out at the gym.

His history: according to what he tells me, he was taking up to 7 Lortab's a day. He'd start with two early in the am, then two more a couple of hours later. If he felt he was too high, he'd take Xanax to come down. He'd do this all day long...opiates, benzos, opiates, benzos...russian roullette if you will. When he finally came clean about his problem, he first said it was alcohol. (But it was really the EFFECTS of the alcohol while on the Lortabs and Xanax). Then he said it was purely a Xanax problem with SOME Lortab use. Then he finally admitted it was pretty much equal amounts of Lortab and Benzos.

He admitted the Xanax on December 11th. Said he could kick it on his own. We all believed him of course. That weekend I went into pre-term labor with our twins and had to be admitted to stop the labor. The stress of his problem put me into labor. One week later we went to a therapist. She refused to see him until he got professional medical help, specifically inpatient rehab. He said it wasn't that bad. We went to Bradford that same day to just check out there outpatient program. He said he hadn't used since Dec 11th. He panicked when they asked him to take a drug test. Turns out it was positive for Opiates, Benzos and cocaine. Big shocker to me b/c at this point, he was supposed to be clean for about a week and I knew nothing about the Lortab or Cocaine. He refused rehab and we went home. I went into labor again that night, one week after the first time. Again, I had to stay overnight in the hospital to stop labor.

I caught him using many more times. But apparently I would only catch him if he had obviously taken too many Xanax. If he did a good job of controlling the Lortab/Xanax dosing, I didn't notice. I went into TRUE real labor when my water broke 6 weeks early. Our girl twin was born 3lbs, 13oz, and our boy twin was born 5lbs, 11 oz. He had to go to the NICU at a totally different hospital within hours of birth; she was able to stay at my hospital, but wasn't allowed to even come out of the nursery. He used while I was in the hospital recovering and I had to completely take care of myself after having a c-section and not having either one of my babies with me.

He used again while our little girl was at home, but we were visiting our little boy multiple times a day in the NICU. She came home at 10 days, and he came home at 24 days. He used again throughout Jan 1st. I told him he had two choices, go to inpatient rehab or lose his family. I couldn't take it anymore. I had given him one million chances and now I had to be concerned for my children's safety. He risked losing our house, our business, HIS KIDS, ME, everything! He agreed to go, then backed out one day before his plane would leave for Florida. Said he could kick it on his own.

He was straight for over 2 months, then went out of town and i noticed his voice was weird on the phone. I accused him of using again, he said I was crazy, he was just tired. He came home a couple of days later and was messed up out of his mind. At the end of my rope, i told him he was going to have to get help and I couldn't take care of everything for him anymore like I have been (yes, codependant). He then went to outpatient rehab and signed up for treatment from them.

He's been on the Suboxone now for 5 days. Definately only takes it in the morning. He can't sleep for longer than 2 hours at night. Last night he sweated so profusely all over his body he thought he had wet the bed! He takes baths in the middle of the night to try to relax. He says he feels better each day that goes buy.

I hate the way he looks. I can't stand to look at him with that look on his face, like he's high. I worry that he thinks he's got a free ticket to get high on opiates now. All the literature and MD's say suboxone doesn't get you high, but, i'm telling you, he feels something. He even says it's not the same feeling as Lortab and he doesn't have the desire to abuse any drugs though. He looks strange and I"m embarassed for people to see him like this. Our 6 year old is noticing that he is looking and acting weird. He's just not himself. Last night, as I watched him put pj's on the twins, he looked as if he was falling asleep as he was doing it. Whenever I look over at him driving, he looks as if he'll fall asleep at the wheel any minute. He reminds me of the way he looked when he used take "scoop", or GHB.

WILL THIS GET BETTER? IS HIS 8MG DOSE TOO HIGH? HE WENT 2 MONTHS WITHOUT USING ANYTHING, SO SHOULD HE BE ON A LOWER DOSE? SOME OF YOU ON HERE ADMIT TO ABUSING UP TO 40 PILLS PER DAY, HE MAXED OUT AT 7, SO IS 8 MG TOO HIGH FOR HIS USAGE?

I need some guidance from you all. Doctor's don't know s**t, pardon my language! They haven't taken this drug or even been addicts, much less lived with one.
Thanks!
Kym

[abear1017]

He needs to go back to doctor. If he looks high off the subs he probably is. He is right about one thing, its not like the high from Vicodin. I was taking about 12-15 vics a day and when I quit they sub doctor prescribed me 8mg 2x a day. That was too much for me. I am on 2mgs and I split them in half. If he is not on the suboxone film he should get them next time. I hope things get better for you both!

[udoschoices]

sounds like its too high to me - and yes, Suboxone can clearly get you high its actually 45 times more potent than morphine..  can't believe he was put on Suboxone for 7 lortabs... i went on it as a last resort after doing around 35 a day..  using Sub for 7 lortabs is like using a sledgehammer for a nail...

i would have him go back to the doctor and have the dose adjusted... a good doctor would start out with a small amount, say 2mg then monitor him - then wait a few hours, then another 2mg if needed, etc..  

sounds to me like he's nodding out and clearly getting a high off the Sub, and as i said - for someone only using 7 lortabs a day, 8mg of Suboxone is a HUGE amount.  2mg realistically is enough for most people, doctors overdose and overprescribe Sub..

the bigger issue is his usage of drugs overall, he needs to get some sort of handle on his addction because from what you are saying he is clearly all over the place with multiple drugs which is dangerous..