suboxone

[marylou00]

Can anyone tell me about suboxone? Tomorrow will be my first day with out taking oxycodone. I was taking 2 pills a day each 80mg. I am completely stopping the meds on my own and after doing some reading up from everyone I have taken off the whole week of work to prepare. I have even went out and got some vitamins and a few other things to be ready. But upon reading up on these things I ran across people talking about suboxone and wondered if this was a good choice to make. Is this a med that I will also become addicted to or will have some withdrawal symptoms from after I have to stop taking it too? I do not want to have to get off of one drug and be addicted to something else. If that is the case, I would rather just stop cold turkey with out the help of anything. I know its going to be a bad week and am ready to face it all. But I have made up my mind that this is what I will do. I am completly out of pills so , I wont have the temptation of taking them again.  But I really need someone to help me out with giving me some info on this suboxone. I cant afford to take off of work any more after this week and dont want to have to go through any other withdrawals after I face this. But if this med will help me with the withdrawals and I can stop taking it with no problme I would love the help of it. Anyone have advice?

[cathy5841]

there are many here that take sub.  i dont see any online right now.  you can message flmagi, allboutmay or hopsing they are all taking it.  it is a gret tool for getting clean.  hopefully you will get to the issues that make you use and deal with them in order to stay clean.  thats where the work comes in.  someone on sub will be here soon.  good luck to ya,

[NautyOne]

You will get more responses tomorrow.....definitely check-in in the morning/afternoon.

considering what you said........if you have the money then you can definitely give it a try.  It is not withdrawal free, but if used properly and tapered correctly, the withdrawals can be very minimal.  The longer you stay on it ......I hear the withdrawal is worse, so you basically need to start tapering after the first week on it......some say it was a miracle that saved their lives, and some a disaster.  When used correctly, it can be a life saver.  when in withdrawal......anything is worth a try, and don't expect that vitamins are going to help you much if you have to work.  going off 160 mgs of Oxy is not pleasant......down right miserable from what I hear.  I'd wait for some more responses..........

luv,
Nauty.............

[marylou00]

well thats my other problem, once i do get off of the oxys i will have to find another way to deal with my pain. I had my neck fractured on two seperate occasions. I had c-3 and c-4 fused and a year later had c-5 and c-6 fused and have very bad neck pain and headaches that are unbareable. Then there is the back pain i have. So, where i head to releive the pain next is beyond me but i dont want to be on the oxy path anymore. But also cant afford to have anything else goign into my system that is addicting either. So, if suboxone is in anyway addicting I cant afford to take it either. Cold Turkey would have to be the way for me. I have one shot at this and thats it. And I have a week to do it. So, its all or none......... Thanks for your advice Cathy..... :)

[marylou00]

Is suboxone covered on insurance? I do have that......Im just learning about all this and have no clue. But I will check in the morning. But again, if its in anyway addicting, im thinking clonodine will be a better choice for me, I hear thats not addicting and will help....

[worried878]

forum is slow...holidays and all....many taper from the dose u r taking.....lately many choose sub...not a choice i would make unless i had tried to quit on my own...but that is me ...sub is a very strong narcotic but if used properly can be a good tool to quit along with aftercare and the total commitment to being clean...i have not used it to quit but have seen alot of people try it to get clean...i dont know many who have stopped it tho and stayed clean/as a matter of fact i dont know many who started it and got off of it but they may not post afterwards...post about it as a topic and perhaps someone with experience can help

[marcatj]

i'm on Sub.  and i have 2 herniated disks - c-5/c-6 and c6-c7.

the Sub helped me get off opiates AND with the pain.

however, if you think you can get off opiates without Sub, and see if your pain is manageable, i might try that if i were you.

while i am a big "supporter" of Sub, and it has helped me alot, if it can be done without - since it is another drug - it's your best bet.

and often times, getting off narcotics, after a couple weeks you will find (alot have, anyway) your pain was alot more manageable than you thought it was...

that all said, it has really helped me.  again though - know it's another drug, and you will have to taper off of it when you go off.  however, you don't get "high" from Sub, so you're not chasing any kind of euphoria, or any kind of high. it doesn't work like that (which is the great part.)  it just takes away the desire for opiates for the most part, eliminates w/d's, as well as manages pain for many (it's been used in Europe for many years for this reason.) as well, it gives your brain time to "heal" the damage that's been done from too much time on opiates (has to do with receptors, depression, etc.)

think it through, though.  while i can't say i'd do anything differently, if i thought at the time i could have gotten off of, and stayed off of, the vic's, AND that my pain would have been manageable without anything, i may have chosen differently.

but it has worked for me....

please feel free to PM me anytime if you want any more info...

good luck!
mj

[marcatj]

btw - many choose it for the short term (and many have stayed clean.)

statistically speaking though, long-term maintenance on Sub has a very high success rate in keeping people from relapsing. like 90%.

so, for chronic relapsers, it's a very good tool...

[flmagi]

Suboxone is addictive if taken longer than 15-21 days. You need to be in withdrawels to start the Sub, so if this is something you are seriously concidering, find a doctor soon.  I would normally only recommend Sub for those who have relapsed a number of times. So you may want to just keep going with the cold turkey, It can be done.
If you do go get the Sub, only use it to get past the severe withdrawels, although 99.9% of the doctors will say you need it longer. (don't listen to them). Tell the doctor ok, but just take it very short term. Alot of doctors are after the money as it is pretty expensive..the appointments and the script.  Some insurance companies do cover it.