avinza to get off suboxone?

[peter9]

I have a friend who always took oxy and meth exactly as the doctor prescribed, eventually decided to get off both as neither worked, he felt worse with more and with less. Detox was with suboxone. This is problematic - he still has the original pain, deals with huge pain through out body, shower water is even too painful on account of detox over two months ago, and with one off and two days on sub, he is not very hopeful. A new doctor will use avinza to ease him off suboxone. Anyone have experience using avinza for this purpose? I am extremely wary, as he is odd in his responses to drugs. Persistent detox pain mystifies his doctor(s), except for one who expected it! Thanks very much.

[mellie4]

What exactly is your friend's diagnosis?  Or do they have one?

[peter9]

Thanks for the info. My friend never abused anything, hates taking drugs, became expert in natural endorphin release and diet in an effort to deal with his original pain. Failed after some years with symptoms both unknown to medical science: after swimming, which formerly put his endorphins at max and gave him a few hours of pain relief, he instead experienced anxiety and more pain, which got worse the next day after his swim, and he could not continue dealing with the opposite of the "flight or fight" response: exercise should use up the adrenalin, not increase it. IF ANYONE HAS EXPERIENCE WITH THESE SYMPTOMS, PLEASE WRITE. His doctors have no idea what is going on, so put him on oxy and meth. He yearns to get back to swimming. Instead, if he completely relaxes, he has a seizure, but remains completely conscious. This too is unheard of. It relieves tension to an extent, but the shaking is not good for his upper spinal cord - he sees stars while shaking and gets a headache. Tranquilizers now help him get 4-6 hours of light sleep if pain is not too bad.  
He is now on Suboxet as a means of getting off meth and oxy. Detox, which his doctor thought would take two weeks in a locked psych ward, was of course insufficient, but he was discharged, and after 6 weeks of extreme pain, I found him a better doctor who recognized that suboxone requires a long taper. He continues tapering 12 weeks later and is down to .25 mg every other day using suboxet to avoid possible side effects to naloxone component of suboxone. This new doctor told us that in Europe, 0.5 mg tabs of suboxone/suboxet are available. Here, he said, the drug company has a lot to gain by people remaining addicted to suboxone because they cannot taper it sufficiently. So, they are content not to do the FDA testing required to put a half mg tab on the market.
I will use the community forum. He, a former computer expert, but is too sick to use the computer for more than a couple minutes - cannot reason it. Yesterday he told me he spent 4 hours, resting between efforts, at adding fresh cilantro, more beans, and onion to the salad I made for him the previous day. He could not, he said, figure out the onion and cilantro. Yet emotionally and physically, this was one of his better days.  Thank you very much.

[IBKleen]

Hi Peter,

Suboxone is not often prescribed for pain management. While it does work for some, those with chronic pain will not necessarily find relief from it.

Avinza is a morphine sulphate, so he may find himself back in the same boat pain wise. It is an extended release medication and is to be taken every 24 hours. It is generally used for moderate pain and, so I have heard, and it works well for lower back pain. That may be a good thing for him but if it does not work, more will put him back to square one.

I don't know if your friend is seeing a pm doctor but that may be the way to go.

You didn't mention whether or not he is an addict and has been abusing his medication. If so, then Avinza is not for him.

Tell you what, MH has a pm community where you may get additional help and suggestions for his situation. I have provided the link to that community below:

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Pain-Management/show/53

Good luck. I hope your friend finds help.