Aa
subutex
I tapered off methadone (slowly)which I had been on for over 15 years,when I got down to zero after a couple of weeks of still being very sick I decided to go on subutex. I take on an average of 6 mg. a day. Doctor prescribed 6mg. to 8mg. a day. So far I have felt great, no more withdrawal symptoms, and I feel normal a sense of "well being". Not sedated as I did when I was on methadone. My question is: How long should I stay on? I am also a chronic pain patient (arthritis) and I am currently on predensone for a short time. So this is also helping with my pain issue. The physician told me that I can stay on indefinietly or come off after a short period when I think that the most of the methadone is out of my system. I have heard it can take months before your body is rid of methadone, esp. being on it for so many years. Thanks for your input.
Sharon
Sharon
I have been reading for info on Subutex...I hit this thread and read and read...I hit your comment..I took Suboxone for almost 3 years and I felt the SAME WAY your describing. My husband is still on Suboxone..I switched tothe Subutex a few weeks ago. I feel somewhat better overall...not too much though. I wanted to talk to you about the baby....I was pregnant while taking Suboxone and I cut my dose down to a HALF OF A PILL A DAY, which is next to nothing compared to the full 3 I had taken prior...and my baby would be very restless inside my tummy when I would take the meds late....and when I delivered him I had been off the meds for 4 days, having bad withdrawls....and MY BABY HAD THEM TOO. If I could go back, I would taper down super slow, and get down to a quarter of a pill (which I know its NOTHING for a dose, but its enough to keep your withdrawls at bay) and GET OFF OF IT....my baby is 2 years old in a few days, and he cries ALL THE TIME and he throws tantrums that nobody can believe, and he wakes up about every other hour at night...and hes been that way since day 1. He also is very allergic to dairy products and refuses alot of foods. I have 4 other kids, currently living in Texas with Family until we move back (we are outside of Minneapolis Minnesota right now)...and thank GOD my kids are taken care of because my baby boy tests my will to live DAILY! :)) Its tough...I love my lil guy...but I am convinced that the Suboxone is fully to blame, and I live with the horrible guilt all the time. Even though I did the best I could, I should have realized the impact it would have on a BABY if it had such an impact on ME! My delivery was hell....almost died during complications, and made the newspaper headlines because of the ordeal.....please consider what you can do..even if its just reducing the dose by a ton...DO IT! God Bless you, in your struggle....your struggle is my struggle everyday! Hugs! Kristy1979
This thread is really old, hon. You'll get a lot more input if you start your own thread. Top right of the page, look for the orang button that says "post a question", then copy/paste your reply here into a new thread.
I think it's VERY reasonable to want to wean off the Sub. Some people DO choose to stay on it long term, but I personally think it's a good idea to try to wean off.
Perhaps get a second opinion from a new sub doc?
A 2 mg daily dose IS high enough where w/ds would be pretty significant stoppping (like you've said). The trick to a sub taper, for better chance of success is a slow and steady decrease. The sub doc I worked for wouldn't recommend anyone jumping off completely until they got down to at LEAST 0.5 mg/day...some even went lower to minimize any w/d's.
This is YOUR decision hon. After you have your baby (CONGRATS BTW!)....have a very frank discussion with your sub doc...or find a new one who is willing to work with you to help you meet your goals. Sadly, some sub docs prefer to keep people on it, rather than encouraging tapering...for profit reasons.
Very best to you..start that new thread if you need more input, okay?
I think it's VERY reasonable to want to wean off the Sub. Some people DO choose to stay on it long term, but I personally think it's a good idea to try to wean off.
Perhaps get a second opinion from a new sub doc?
A 2 mg daily dose IS high enough where w/ds would be pretty significant stoppping (like you've said). The trick to a sub taper, for better chance of success is a slow and steady decrease. The sub doc I worked for wouldn't recommend anyone jumping off completely until they got down to at LEAST 0.5 mg/day...some even went lower to minimize any w/d's.
This is YOUR decision hon. After you have your baby (CONGRATS BTW!)....have a very frank discussion with your sub doc...or find a new one who is willing to work with you to help you meet your goals. Sadly, some sub docs prefer to keep people on it, rather than encouraging tapering...for profit reasons.
Very best to you..start that new thread if you need more input, okay?
I have been on Suboxone for 3 years and I have been switched to Subutex recently because I am pregnant. I have remained clean and sober besides taking my prescribed Subutex everyday. I am only on 2mg but if i don't take it i feel like death. I am also a graduate of the University of Phoenix and have my degree in addictionology/substance abuse counseling. I never in a million years thought that i would become addicted to the Suboxone like I was w/ Oxycontin. I was taking 6-8 80mg tablets of of Oxycontin daily for about a year straight and I was tired of living my life like this. Now after being on the Subs for so long I know i am addicted to it. Now that I am 31 weeks pregnant I want to be weaned off before i have my second child. The doctors keep telling me NO because they say there are no studies proving what it would do to the baby if I wean off the drug. Now I am no doctor but I think If I am feeling fine and i don't have withdrawals than my child will be fine as well. I could be wrong. I just want to be able to live my life normally and not have to take a pill everyday to feel normal. I don't have the same energy that I used to have, I cant sleep, I barely eat and I have no motivation to do anything. I feel as though I am a bad mother to my 4 year old daughter and a bad wife to the most amazing man I could ever ask for. My husband and I have sex maybe once every 6-8 months and I know this is not normal. The Subutex has ruined my sex drive and lately it seems as though there is no pleasure in anything I do. I just want to feel normal! My doctors told me they will take me off the Subutex as soon as I have my daughter but I really don't want to have a new born baby and be having withdrawals at the same time. I know I am going to feel like death when I stop and I know its going to take a few months if not longer for me to feel normal. Sometimes I think its all in my head and if I tell myself I wont be sick than I wont be. Does anyone think that its true that some people should be on this medication permanently? I cant imagine having to take this for the rest of my life. I want to feel NORMAL!!!!!! I want to feel the way I did before I ever touched an opiate. Is that to much to ask for.
Apparently some writers on this board don't know about the other, state-of-the-art, uses for Suboxone and Subutex. They are both used to treat moderate to severe pain for extended periods of time as a primary use--not just used to manage addiction. Suboxone is used for those who have suffered from addiction, and Subutex is used for those who have a lower addiction risk and need only pain treatment. Suboxone has a substance, an opiod protagonist, that makes it so if you take any other narcotic than Suboxone, your brain's opiod receptors will not accept it, will reject it, and you will feel awful.
Subutex is the fastest working drug I have ever used, as it is delivered sublingually. It does taste nasty, but it does not metabolize through your liver because of it dissolving into your tongue. It doesn't hurt your stomach to take it. About ten minutes after taking it, rather than an hour or so, my pain is largely relieved. I have used it for three years, for my fairly mangled back and neck, after going to the point of diminishing returns with greater doses of more powerful narcotics. I detoxed myself off of a large, twice-daily dose of morphine, and immediately found a physician certified to receive Subutex. The relief was fabulous. I am highly educated, and had lost 10 years of university and the ability to practice due to the fog of narcotics. I do not experience foggy thinking with Subutex, although I am on the highest dose available. I am excited to return to work.
My daughter, 30 years old and suffering from severe Rhematoid Arthritis, uses BUTRANS, which is Subutex in a transdermal patch. She is a new person who is reclaiming her life and is again able to parent her two young sons. AND, GET THIS, any physician can prescribe the patch. The limit on patients and certification of physicians to prescribe Suboxone and Subutex is due to the requirement they monitor patients who are in addiction therapy. Physicians who are treating for pain also have to be certified to prescribe oral Suboxone and oral Subutex, but Butrans is a great alternative--the same drug with even release for 7 days at a time--and can be prescribed by your family physician. The only downside, and perhaps the reason it can be prescribed by any physician, is that the dosage cannot reach the maximum obtainable on the Subs.
I recommend to anyone who is in serious, real pain, or who needs an effective way to detox and get clean and manage the pain that started the addicition, that they seek out a properly licensed pain clinic. The physicians in such a clinic are normally certified for both Subs, and can help you get through the madness of pain and the more serious madness of narcotic usage.
Best wishes, Alyson
Subutex is the fastest working drug I have ever used, as it is delivered sublingually. It does taste nasty, but it does not metabolize through your liver because of it dissolving into your tongue. It doesn't hurt your stomach to take it. About ten minutes after taking it, rather than an hour or so, my pain is largely relieved. I have used it for three years, for my fairly mangled back and neck, after going to the point of diminishing returns with greater doses of more powerful narcotics. I detoxed myself off of a large, twice-daily dose of morphine, and immediately found a physician certified to receive Subutex. The relief was fabulous. I am highly educated, and had lost 10 years of university and the ability to practice due to the fog of narcotics. I do not experience foggy thinking with Subutex, although I am on the highest dose available. I am excited to return to work.
My daughter, 30 years old and suffering from severe Rhematoid Arthritis, uses BUTRANS, which is Subutex in a transdermal patch. She is a new person who is reclaiming her life and is again able to parent her two young sons. AND, GET THIS, any physician can prescribe the patch. The limit on patients and certification of physicians to prescribe Suboxone and Subutex is due to the requirement they monitor patients who are in addiction therapy. Physicians who are treating for pain also have to be certified to prescribe oral Suboxone and oral Subutex, but Butrans is a great alternative--the same drug with even release for 7 days at a time--and can be prescribed by your family physician. The only downside, and perhaps the reason it can be prescribed by any physician, is that the dosage cannot reach the maximum obtainable on the Subs.
I recommend to anyone who is in serious, real pain, or who needs an effective way to detox and get clean and manage the pain that started the addicition, that they seek out a properly licensed pain clinic. The physicians in such a clinic are normally certified for both Subs, and can help you get through the madness of pain and the more serious madness of narcotic usage.
Best wishes, Alyson
If your addicted to pain killers please read!! I have been on Morphine for over 5 years. Very heavy doses and have decided to come off. Subutex WORKS!! I had one night of some shakes and discomphort but nothing like running out. Klonipin and coulzapan (spelling is bad) relieved the first night issues.
This works, if you want off this is the way to do it without the issues of withdrawl. I never thought there would be help but there is. Pick up the phone, call a doctor it is worth it
This works, if you want off this is the way to do it without the issues of withdrawl. I never thought there would be help but there is. Pick up the phone, call a doctor it is worth it
hey just wondering if anyone knows if you are currently on methadone and want to switch to subutex don't you have to make sure all the methadone is out of your system first or the subutex will send you into withdrawls?
Subutex and Suboxone was designed for one purpose and one purpose only and it is meant to completely get off the opiates immediately. Both were designed to alleviate withdrawls and once the patient feels no one withdrawls from the primary opiate or opiate synthetic, then immediately stop taking Subutex and/or Suboxone! If you do not, then you will also become addicted to Subutex and Suboxone and experience depedence. The proper way, let's say if you were on heroine, is to substitute Suboxone and/or Subutex until such time as you stop sweating in the middle of the night which should be in most cases 5 to 7 days. During those 5 to 7 days you should be on Subutex and/or Suboxone and once you stop sweating, then you immediately stop taking Suboxone and/or Subutex and then immediately you will no longer experience withdrawals and the problem accomplished. However after 12 days on Suboxone and/or Subutex you will also experience addiction and then the circle starts all over again and you defeated the purpose. Please take it from a pro as I am, I know what I am talking about unfortunately.
Subutex and Suboxone was designed for one purpose and one purpose only and it is meant to completely get off the opiates immediately. Both were designed to alleviate withdrawls and once the patient feels no one withdrawls from the primary opiate or opiate synthetic, then immediately stop taking Subutex and/or Suboxone! If you do not, then you will also become addicted to Subutex and Suboxone and experience depedence. The proper way, let's say if you were on heroine, is to substitute Suboxone and/or Subutex until such time as you stop sweating in the middle of the night which should be in most cases 5 to 7 days. During those 5 to 7 days you should be on Subutex and/or Suboxone and once you stop sweating, then you immediately stop taking Suboxone and/or Subutex and then immediately you will no longer experience withdrawals and the problem accomplished. However after 12 days on Suboxone and/or Subutex you will also experience addiction and then the circle starts all over again and you defeated the purpose. Please take it from a pro as I am, I know what I am talking about unfortunately.
The buprenorphine is designed to gradually up your pain threshold. I just switched from suboxone to subutex this past weekend, and I feel like a different person. That feeling of wanting to go to sleep and never wake up is finally gone!! Prior to suboxone, I was on methadone for a couple years. In a freak incident, they put me on a 15-day detox that only took about 8 days. It was the worst thing I've ever experienced. I would willingly and gladly go through an entire year of oxy withdrawal's than to ever go back on methadone. Like I said, I'm on subutex now. People say the taste is worse than suboxone, but I couldn't even look at my bottle of medication without vomiting. My new doctor told me to take a couple tic-tacs and put them under there with the subutex. It works wonders, and I can see what I've been doing wrong in the way I was taking the suboxone. To be able to get it down, I would drink some juice with it, just enough to dull the taste. My first day on the subutex I was sick, but it was like being sick from getting the amount of medicine that I was actually lacking before. I am feeling better now and doing just fine. I finally have hope that I will get off this medication, and my days no longer revolve around having to take my medication. I feel the closest to normal I've felt in years, and I'm thrilled. To those of you who live in Michigan, if you are close enough, try coming into Indiana. That's where I just moved and my doctor alone has 8 different clinics in the nothern part of the state. Just a thought!
Yes Junig is very knowelable about sub and addiction, (he is a recovering addict), and advoctes sub and may take it himself. I don't believe it's a miracle drug as he says it is and it really hasn't been tested for lifetime maintenence.
Dr. Junig, who was at one time the Doctor who answered questions in the Addiction "Doctor's Forum" is an advocate of very long term Suboxone use for those he deems appropriate. He's done extensive research and makes some very valid points. I do know that he just wrote a new book that I believe that every Suboxone user should read. Anyone interested in his thoughts should Google his name or visit his websites. He was a great asset to MedHelp.
sharon,
That is a long time to be on sub or you ever planing on tapering off of it or do you plan on staying on it indefinitely .Do you get any recovery care
That is a long time to be on sub or you ever planing on tapering off of it or do you plan on staying on it indefinitely .Do you get any recovery care
I'm glad sub has worked for you and you don't have to go to a clinic. I was on many and some of them were hellholes loaded with criminals. I don't know what the long term effects of sub are and how good it is for lifetime maintenence and pain. If you need narcotics for pain then maybe you are doing ok on the sub for now but time will tell. All the best
The generic sub that you get from Walgreens is $156.00 for 60 tablets of what strength? 4mg or 8 mgs? I have been on subutex for over 5 years and paying big bucks, my pharmacy just recently informed me that they now have a generic, but at CVS, the difference was minimal.
So I went to Sams Club and they are having trouble ordering it. I was told to go a day or two ahead of time, which I did, now they are telling me they tried to order it, but they are out and have to wait....Any problems getting it at Walgreens? thanks..
Sharon
So I went to Sams Club and they are having trouble ordering it. I was told to go a day or two ahead of time, which I did, now they are telling me they tried to order it, but they are out and have to wait....Any problems getting it at Walgreens? thanks..
Sharon
My opiate experiences started around 1992 and started with hydrocodone then oxycodone. Ater having back surgery in 2002 i was still having pain issues so i started going to pain management. Any way once in that setting i was on dilaudid 8 mg 3x daily 200 mg of methadone and duragesic{fentanyl} all very potent narcotics. Long story short i was sick and tired of the drugs they had started to consume my life,and i needed a change. So when i went to my next appt. i asked my Dr. What options were available,something that could help my pain and also not having to take a variety of drugs.He mentioned suboxone and i agreed,only problem being on a high dose of methadone i had to taper, but it was not easy at all total misery. I am now currently taking subutex because it is now available in generic at walgreens 60 tablets cost 159.00 A great decrease from what i was paying for suboxone without ins. And i would suggest this medicine to any one it has saved my life and family.
Hey everyone my name is tobias core, and I'm addicted to heroin. My problem is that I've discovered how to use subutex to function while still being addicted. I mean I function well, i have'nt missed a day of work due to wds in over a year. I get higth for acouple of days then go back on the bup. Since there is still bup in my system from days before, I rarely experience wds. I take bup for a few days then step myself down fairly quickly. The trouble starts when I try to come off the bup totally. I rationalize to myself that if I'm feeling this bad come'n off the bup, I might as well be on dope. Stupid I know, but it is a cycle I have not been able to break away from. Once the wds from the dope are over, I don't want to be on anything and I try to stop the bup, I;ve gotten down to a half of a mg a day of bup, and not made it off. Is there any hope for me at all?
Subutex is a miracle drug! It has saved my life. I was eating Duragesic patches (fentalyl) for about 3 years, and vicoden and Ultram for about 7 years before that. But, taking Subutex long-term it will cause withdrawal symptoms. I've been on it for 4 years and am now trying to get off. After about 8 hours without taking it, I start to feel the withdrawal which is pretty unpleasant. Haven't made it past that yet, so I'm writing this without that knowledge. My suggestion: Use Subutex to get off your drug of choice for 2-4 weeks, then taper and stop. Don't stay on it long-term. I'm not a doctor and am only speaking about my own personal experiences with it. So take it for what it's worth.
I had no problem finding a doc- I have been on 24 mg per day for almost 2 years and my doc says I should stay on it forever- its changed my life for the good.
ive been taking the subutex for 5 months now and i want to quit....thwy are great for staying away from heroin...no pain at all,but i need an answer how to get off the subutex without any pain at all......please help me...i know for sure that the sickness is not as strong as heroin but i am stuck on the subs and i hate it when i cant get them easyily or am trapped somewhere and cant get them...
hun, your words are so important to me, both kyjobr and FLaddict. I don't have alot of understanding people around me, just my fiancee, so i've gotten so much from you. FLaddict, I looked up what you said on my other post and though I thought you MAY have been wrong because my dr said otherwise, I find she lied to me and that you indeed were telling me facts. I didn't want to believe it because I was scared, but thankyou. I don't know if all the methadone will be out of my system but it should be close, it will have been over a week by like 12 hours and I'm young and rather healthy still (somehow) and this is going to be my greatest weapon. I will try to not take vics for at least 12 hours before, it will be hard but it may mean my suffering will end monday. no? thanks again you two.
So you were scheduled to start sub before but couldn't? Is all the meth going to be out of your system when you go in on Monday to start sub? Good luck. don't worry, I'm sure you'll feel much better when you start the sub. Please be sure to keep in touch and let us know how you're doing. Feel free to send me an email anytime too. I know I was scared to death when I started sub. I was actually crying when I took the first one. It's a major step and for me I felt that I couldn't handle failing again.
When I switched from vics to Sub i was told to wait 12-16 hours after my last vic to start Sub.. I waited 14 hours i think..started it and was fine no precipitated withdrawals.
And to be clear the FAQ I posted is not a negative side of sub.. but it is the info Docs and people in the 'honeymoon" phase of Sub won't tell you, i think of it as a disclaimer for people thinking about getting on it or people on it that their docs have no idea what they are doing.
And to be clear the FAQ I posted is not a negative side of sub.. but it is the info Docs and people in the 'honeymoon" phase of Sub won't tell you, i think of it as a disclaimer for people thinking about getting on it or people on it that their docs have no idea what they are doing.
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