Suboxone

[lady1981]

Hey everyone - I am on Day 15 of Suboxone. I have dealt a lot with middle of the day fatigue and even my first few days on Sub, I would catch myself dozing off at work!!! If I had to guess why, Id say it was my body's way of telling me that my dose was too high! Since then, I have gotten my doses figured out (with the help of my Dr.) and now I take one 8mg pill every night before bed and sometimes 4 mgs the next day around noon, if needed (more often than not these past few days.) With that dosage, I seem to be functioning pretty "normal" (or what I remember what normal felt like before I discovered evil opiates.) So I stumbled upon Fladdict's profile and I read the Suboxone FAQ's (I don’t know why in the hell I didn’t find it BEFORE I got on Sub) but what was written scared the **** out of me and it made me really question Suboxone.
I told my Dr. in the very beginning that I wanted to be on Sub longer than to just detox, and that I needed to break my one month record or being clean and re-learn how to live healthy and sober. She agreed that I needed to be on it for a while to retrain my brain, and threw something like "6-8 months" as a proposed timeline for my usage of Suboxone. Up until this afternoon, I thought it sounded like a fantastic idea. Until I read Fladdict's journal post. (Thank you FL addict, by the way. You have shed some serious light on the subject for me.)
So, it sounds like getting off of Sub can be pretty gnarly if you don’t do it right. However, if you do do it right, it can be done. But regardless of how well you do with the initial w/d's, you almost always have PAWS to deal with. (Right Fladdict?) The thing that scares me is that rebound headaches from the Vicodin were one of the reasons I even looked into Suboxone. Every time I would get clean, I would stay clean until I started to experience the horrible rebound headaches! And tylenol or ibuprofen wouldn't even touch it, and I would end up drug seeking. But when I got my hands on the Vicodin, I wouldn't be able to control myself, and I would use way far beyond the headache was gone, and I would end up getting myself into a lot of trouble. (Welcome to the life of being an addict.) So I sought out pain meds for legitimate pain, but I would abuse them when I got them. In essence, I was willing to try Sub and just get my mind out of the hypothetical "relapse gutter" and thus far it has worked wonders. I haven't thought about relapsing, nor does the thought of scoring even appeal to me anymore. I haven't had my notorious headaches. I feel normal and functional and all seems to be ok in my world. But I know it wont always be this way, and the longer I am on Sub, the harder its gonna be to get off of it, and the worse the w/d's and rebound headaches are going to be. :(
The only thing I am having a hard time with now is "Do I stay on the drugs for several months to give my brain the proper time to heal and in turn, experience a world of headaches and discomfort in the PAWS when I get off of them?" Or do I "Get off of them now to reduce the potentially horrifying detox/PAWS of Suboxone and just hope and pray that my headaches don’t get the best of me and just stay clean?"
How's that for a loaded question with the longest preface know to humankind? Lol!

[wait2long]

suboxone headaches do subside. i have been on sub since may, i havent had a headache from the sub in months...i also have chosen long term maintenance...i too have relapsed too many times "on my own"  that i KNOW i am not strong enough or do i have all the tools needed to stay addiction free on my own...i need enough time as possible away from the drugg additction and its horrible habits...i need to change that, and for every minute of every day that i am on sub, it keeps me away from my drug of choice, away from the addictive behavoirs and gives me time to retrain my way of thinking and to also tend to what led me to addiction in the first place, TIME TO HEAL PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY....fladdict has good info for people who are planning on short term detox, and kyjobr has good info (a long PDF file) on the use of sub for long term and/or pain  management...i would recommend to read all information pertaining to sub, any information you can get and read will help you make the best and most informed decision in what is right for YOU and what YOU need to do to accomplish this...YOUR  treatment plan should be tailored to suit you and your needs, everyone seems to have a different plan of their own when on sub treatment, because everyone is different as everyones addiction is different also...if you have any ???, i MIGHT be able to help or at least point you in the right direction to help you make the best choice for you...

[beachtowel]

For the Suboxone headaches just take some extra strength tylenol......that will take care of it.....

Headaches are the #1 bad side effect of the drug....

[beachtowel]

I don't understand the last part of your post referring to PAWS.......
would you explain that better.....
exactly what part of paws do you think you destoyed your brain?

[Gobig]

I wouldn't (unless you really, really need to) go on sub maintenance - you'll do more to fix your brain by really being clean.  Go to meetings and get a sponsor and work a program - if you do that, headaches won't make you relapse.

[allaboutmary]

HMMMM...... Tuff one. I think only you can decide. If you are truley afraid that you would relapse because of headache's .  Then there's your answer.  The goal is to get you off this stuff for ever.  So If staying on the sub longer gives you a better chance of long term sucess. Well that's the way to go.  I am a cold/turkey girl and don't know much about subs.  So you will need to do what ever you think you can stick with to get clean.  I am sure others will respond with more insight.  Hang in there and get clean any way you can.   Mary

[beachtowel]

did you and your doctor also talk about a quit date to get off the suboxone........?