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To Sub or not to Sub - - That is the question?

This subject seems to keep popping up every few days as more people read or hear that Suboxone or Subutex may be “The Answer” to their addiction problem.  About two months ago the debate raged pretty intensely between those who were pro or con on Sub.  Most of the regulars on this site know of my negative experience with Sub –as I have tried my best to share it, but I may have, in my zeal, discouraged some from even wanting to quit their DOC.  That certainly was (and is) not my intention.  Let me share that after 3 months of being totally clean, life has not been this good in a very long time.  Sub is a tool that can be successfully used to stop Opiate addiction.  It works very well as almost everyone will agree – the point of disagreement among present and past users is whether it is appropriate for use in all Opiate addictions.   My take on it is that if a person is on Heroin or Methadone, then Suboxone is probably justified.  Perhaps even for those on very heavy doses of Oxycontin -  (over 200 mg/day) may be justified in using Sub to kick the addiction.  However, anything short of that may result in only swapping one drug for another.  Sub is 40 times stronger than Oxy and although it does not give the ‘high’ we were accustomed to, it is more addictive than most people’s DOC.  Knowledge is power – and those who are serious about quitting need to know both sides of this debate.  Again this is only my opinion but using Sub to kick an addiction to a class 3 narcotic like Norco (Vicodin) would be like using an atomic bomb when you only need a hand grenade.   Even heavy doses of Hydrocodone can be tapered and then quit with only a week or two of withdrawal symptoms.  However Sub withdrawals can last for months.  As long as someone is taking Sub they will not have W/D’s but only a very few on this site have testified that they are glad they used Sub for their addiction.  Many have said they felt deceived by the doctor who started them on Sub.  Once hooked on Sub they felt helpless to free themselves from it. To add insult to injury, most have also stated that the doctor started them on a dosage that was far too high – thus increasing their potential addiction.

So, the point I want to make is – Buyer beware – get educated as much as possible – read all you can and then decide how you will get clean.  I encourage all who are considering using Sub to read the post that Avisg put together on the Health Pages --- The title is “Members experiences coming off of Suboxone.”  I do appreciate the posts of those who successfully used Sub to come off of their DOC -  I hope that more people will continue to post their own experience with Sub --- This is a great forum to air all sides of this issue and I hope it will continue.  All the best.
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Avatar universal
Ill just add that after a 2 year addiction to Vicodin and oxygen I started Subs. I felt normal and actually like myself for those few months before I relapsed and then went to a methadone clinic. Methadone is where I have been for 4 years. I'm now 24, married with my first kid on the way. MDone makes me feel like a shell. I work and get by but I am not myself. I decreased from 90 mg. To 20 without severe w/d but feel stuck. I guess my point is given the choice of subs or MDone subs can let u live a much more normal life. Again I wouldn't reccomend either as apposed to a support group and medical w/d or rehab.
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Avatar universal
Can we agree if you have the choices between sub. And methadone then sub is way better? I had a Vicodin/  oxy habit for about 2 1/2 years. I had tried MDone from my pill Guy and loved it. I went straight to the MDone clinic and have been on it for 4 years now. Ill add that for a short time before I started @ the clinic I did begin suboxone and felt normal for those 3-4 months.(although I now know it was just a substitute, not a fix)
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1691730 tn?1306066166
I really hope that you are ok. God has brung you a long long way. I know you posted April 20, but I am praying for you. I too am a "chronic relapser" and it is a problem in and of itself. Some folks just get sober, end of story. I mean sure its hard for them, but they do it. Then there is us. I have an aunt that is only 49 years old and she is in a nursing home due to an overdose. She too died, and they brought her back. She had a stroke however and is now in a wheelchair and can hardly speak. She was however able to wheel herself down the hall and steal a pain patch off an old lady! Honest to God true story, and funny..yet so so sad. Her son recently went to Afghanistan, she wasnt there to wave goodbye, in fact she doesnt even remember she has a son.But she d@mn sure remembered she was an addict and stole that pain patch. I am not doing well myself right now and have been considering sub, however I think I will just go cold turkey, cause either way I am still a prisoner. And isn't that the whole point? Not to be a prisoner to "something" for the rest of my life? D@mn right it is! Good luck to all of you. BTW, I have had 6 years of sobriety and they were the best years of my life. If only.....
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Avatar universal
I have been on subs for about 4 years. It helped me to stay clean but now I have to take them everyday or I get violent withdrawals. I don't think I can just get off them on my own. I've tried and I felt like I was dying. I want to get off therm but I don't know how I need help. I really dont want to have to take them at all. Any suggestions please?
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Avatar universal
I have been on subs for about 4 years. It helped me to stay clean but now I have to take them everyday or I get violent withdrawals. I don't think I can just get off them on my own. I've tried and I felt like I was dying. I want to get off therm but I don't know how I need help. I really dont want to have to take them at all. Any suggestions please?
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Avatar universal
I'm sure that if your reading this or topics alike then your most likely looking for an answer, a friend or some kind of hope..I
I honestly don't know if we'll ever get the one we truely seek,from my personal opinion and experience once caught in the oh so enduldging open arms of addiction,we often find ourselves not wanting to return to reality due to loss of being "in touch",fear of w/d's,scared of everyone & everything we once knew,loved&cared for to be gone,changed or soo fed up&tired-sum of us ripping&running...well that is exactly where i found myself sometime in Nov.2008,I then decided to go the only place i felt I belong,the nuthouse,because not only do i suffer addiction but many mental illnesses and from not being on the much needed meds,i was detoxing/w.d/coming down from not only opiates but cocaine xtc alchol&many others but i was doing so without anything but being sick&tired of being sick&tired.a week later they diacharged me,without having a penny to my name or anywhere to sleep,I was tooken to rehab.ha.a lot of good that could've done aweek ago! Here i was already threw the worst with no suboxone,methadone..nothing & almost everybody there were being given so they wouldn't have to go through what i just thought to be hell,i wasn't aware of the so called miracle drug,long story shortened,i completed my 30days went to the place once called home is when the true journey began.. well 5months worth of meetings,groups,and ****** up situations i was still clean.one day i wasn't looking and it all came to an abrupt hault..I don't kno how or why but on april2nd,2009 my life &soberiety ended. Almost a week later i woke up with an i.v in one to many viens a tube down my throat with a machine keeping me alive,i later learned someone had drugged me and shot me up with a tenth of heroin,i o.d &i ended up dying before someone found me,I don't kno how nor why i was lucky per say but i was put on lifesupport and they told my family i wouldn't make it,if i did it was a 5% chance.well i woke up the day before they were to pull the plug.I've had memory loss,and few other things that effect me still,but after i was off lifesuppprt The hospital shipped me to another nuthouse due to the fact they believe i was attempting suicide,where i was given suboxone.mind there is no need for it,i was given a lethal dosage 8-8mg pills a day!! Yes eight whole eight mg pills a day. I couldn't function,i had no idea what was right @the time until i was given the okay to go home..i couldn't handle it so i just stopped taking so many,then when at a N.A meeting another addict,my so called sponsor took me to a methadone meeting,like all other doctors,i was sucked into that. Until recently i attended the clinic and didn't use or truely crave illicit drugs..yes the rumors are true that methadone withdrawls without the proper taper are horrible.worse then anything I've ever experienced. Well just my luck,i was being sexually harrased,so i went to my other p.c doctor and laid it out,he given me methadone tabs to taper from the liquid handcuffs i was just in,but he tore me down so quickly i gotten so sick i couldn't take it,so he wrote for 2 8mg. Suboxone a day..except thia time i was aware of what i was getting myself into...so i thought. All that did was throw me into the worst withdrawl ever!  So a weekend goes by and i quit takin the damn pills,once again he writes for subutex.   I'm in full blowen w.d's because my insurance needs a prior auth. And the doc is closed on the weekend!! So here i sit on Saturday feeling as if I'm going to die. I feel as if I'm moments away from going to cop that Detroit's finest...ughhhh i wish it were easier for us to get off drugs as it was to get on.. i just keep tellin myself i only have to be sick this last time, you only have to be sick one time. Just for today right?
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