Should I take Suboxone? Please Help!

[confused0313]

I am very confused about what I should do. I have been on 5mg of Oxycodone 4-5x's day for 10yrs. I have been recieving it for a chronic back pain issue from the same dr. In the past I never had a problem not taking it for a few days if I did not have pain. Recently I have found some alternative methods & my back pain has subsided. I don't believe I need the medicine anymore but now I am having a problem stopping. I also would like to add that the past few months I was going thru a stressful period in a relationship & started to take the oxy's w/ a glass of wine & liked it & began taking more than perscribed. It is obvious to me I am addicted to these pills & I need help. The problem is I can't seem to find info. pertaining to my situtation. Most of what I have found are people who are on much higher doses or IV drugs.
The withdrawl symptoms I've experianced in the past are severe depression, direrrha, low energy & craving for the pills. The worst is the emotional symptoms, not the physical.
I saw a dr. on Friday & he gave me a rx for 8mg of Suboxone. I think that dose is too high & I would break it in 1/2 or 1/4 if I decided to take it but everything I've been reading on here has scared me. I don't want to create an addiction worse than what I have now.
Please help! I'm in the 1st 24hrs of not taking anything & I don't know what to do.

[allaboutmary]

My opinion........................You should exhaust all other avenues to getting clean before going on Suboxone.  It is very addictive. I am on Sub and know this first hand. I'm not bashing Sub, it has it's place in treating addiction and saving lives. I would try to taper or going cold turkey first. Neither is easy, but getting off the Sub isn't easy either. Keep reading and posting on here. It really helps.

[azeman]

You have no choice! I have been on Suboxone for almost 2 years. Going through W/D's is the worst. If you are trully ready to stop and move your life forward than it is time. Go see an addiction specialist. They will definately decide what is best for you. Going through W/D's is very damaging to your body! However, You need to see what it is like if you are ever going to stop. Suboxone, has been a great help to me. I was on 8mg a day. I just started to taper off(yesterday). I only took 4mg. I feel fine. No problems. Don't let people scare you about this drug. Yes, I agree you are trading one drug for another. However, This drug lets you normalize your life. It is expensive though! I pay $100 for the office visit and about $200.00 for 30 pills($6.67) each. Good luck! let me know if I can help you in any way. Email me ***@****

Thanks,
Evan R

[jess8487]

I believe strongly that suboxone saves your ,life if you are truely addicted and cannot stop..I am on it now and it really has saved me. I have my life back and I take care of myself better and also my family..So if you seriously believe you cannot stop then I would say do it..I would much rather be addicted to something that can save your family,marriage,and life than something that can and will destroy it! Good Luck!

[avisg]

I agree with mary I would try everything before I would try sub its addicting .you are on a low amout of 25mgs a day if you are taking 1 5mg 4 or 5 times a day.You could try tapering first if you wanted too but if you have gone 24 hours I would just keep going you can do it .

[outotown]

I was on sub 13 months it saved my life, its a tool to help in recovery not a quick fix. I would exhaust all options before the sub., If you talk to your Dr they can give you comfort meds to get thur the w/d but you do need after care. It sounds as if you suffer from depression right now, that is what led me to abuse my pain meds. You may need some help with that, so you can move into recovery. Sub can and will work under aDr care and taken as directed and it is a long slow taper, taper to fast and the w/d are hard and long. I will be happy to talk with you about sub pros and cons send me a privite message and we can chat about sub. but if you can go off the oxy with the help of your Dr and stay off sub ME I would do that. You also know you better than anyone. As you said yourself you have not been a a large dose but you have had extended use. What ever you decide good luck and were here for ya

[TysonRed]

Like the above posts I do believe that suboxone should generally be used after other methods have been tried. Your first options should either be cold turkey or tapering down to a lower dose and quitting. I too used sub in the past to get off of methadone and it did work, but I do think that I could have gotten clean without it as well. Im not a sub hater but at the same time I do think it does get over-prescribed for various reasons. When I did detox off suboxone I didnt find the physical w/d's quite as bad as oxycontin or methadone but it for sure had all the emotional/mental aspects as any opiate detox. You have to do what you feel gives the best chance for success, you know your mind and body better than anyone, if your really determined to getting clean dont sell yourself short on your ability to do so. I wish you the best of luck with your recovery, take care.

[LateAugust]

You need to do a lot of research to help in what is best for you....  however this is my post  orginally in March   then copied to May  and now   here it is almost July  and I am copying it one more time.  My daughter is doing fabulous......  but it was not  an easy  or rash decision


"Original post  in early March 2009 .  To this day  my daughter is doing incredible in so many ways.  Does she have hard days  YES   Does  she crave and still have dreams  of using YES   Does she love going to aftercare and NA/AA daily NO   but most importantly    Has she relapsed in anyway  NO   Is her Suboxone dose monitored carefully by her doctor  reduced on a very small scale monthy YES          Suboxone has not made it a cake walk,  but it certainly has given hope after a bazillion relapses.    Please know we checked out all doctors  their  knowledge of suboxone and  addiction in minute detail.  It was not a hasty decision,

I am the mom of an oxy addict,  she had everything in control and everyone fooled until her addiction got way out of control.  Rather than being able to smoke/rail oxy   just in the morn and at night,  she needed to use several times  a day.  Working for a bank and going to college  doesnt really facilitate constant use, or what her body needed due to the tolerance she had built up.   She ended up with nothing.     She has been thru rehab 2 times, addiction couselors, psychiatrists, CT with an addiction specialist, IOP with a psychiatrist.....  the list is endless as is the number of times she relapsed.  The physical of W/D was not the problem,  she is pretty strong... but the mental  aspect was a completely different situation. SHe relapsed so many times I can't tell you,  normally at the 2 week period after W/D.    It is not for me to judge or to recommend what treatment is right or wrong, it is an individual decision one makes after a lot of research and education on their specific addiction.   For my daughter, she did go on Suboxone, 3 weeks prior to entering in patient rehab again,   her 3rd time in rehab, this time tho she focused and no one begged her to stay, which was a first.  She completed in-patient and now is in IOP classes 3 times a week 3 hours per session.  In addition she attends 4 NA mtgs per week.    Also for the first time she sought out and has had a  sponsor in  NA for several weeks.      For her the Sub has allowed her to not only accept but to embrace  and follow thru with the help she has been offered.     This decision was made after exhausting all other avenues for her over the last few years.     To simply say you are "trading a drug for a drug" is way too judgemental   in my humble opinion.  If that were the case with my child, she would still be out of work, out of school, out of control,  stealing anyone around her blind and manipulating and lying.      Her life is on the right track for the first time in a very long time.  but this has not been an easy journey, nor were any decisions made without a great deal of research.    
I can only recommend you read as much as you can, talk to some professionals, and get help SOON  as the destruction of drug addiction will only get worse and take you to places you never imagined possible.     I wish for you to find the answers you are searching and recovery.


Fast forward to May.  Today she attends IOP one day a week,  still  NA/AA daily,,,,,,,,   has a good job,  going to college,   is an incredible child that I am so fortunate to say is my daughter.  No relapses, only forward acomplishments.........  her life is for the first time in 2 yrs  in contol, "          

As of today, she is doing very well.......   a normal life......

That is our story..........      please research everything you can to ensure you have the treatment program that will take you into sobriety,   THere are alot of different options available,  Lord knows  we have done so very many.........   never give up.

[armyman102]

I have been Lortabs for 5 years I was on suboxone for 1 year during that period. I am currently going cold turkey from "Tabs" and the withdrawls are nothing compared to what the withdrawls were with suboxone. I feel as if I traded a monkey for a gorilla at that point in my life. I leave for the army next week and I decided to quit I would rather have 4 or 5 days of withdrawls than what i went thru with the subox. Only you or your doctor know whats best for you but I definitely DO NOT RECOMMEND taking that little orange stop sign. IT WAS A LIVING HELL...