Do it now, do it right and don't suffer, get off opiods..

[therealme]

It took me six years of the same cycle.  docs scribing 2 40's and 4 10's per day and running out early around day 20, getting an early appointment, filling early at retail and then doing it all over again with that one thing on my mind, 24/7 even when having a blast.

just wanted to share that it can be easy and doesn't have to last weeeks without end....after six years, i went from about 120-200mg of oxycdne per day to zero per day.  I used a bloodpressure patch from my pain docs (they are so thoughtful-pushers) and some tramadol+clonazapam for the first four days.  Was mostly in bed tired, but not dying like true cold turkey.  I started to run out of the Trmadol and things were beginning to really suck.  Then on day six, i found a doc who agreed to see me right away, i brought my bottles for history, they took a quick urine test and started me immediately on suboxone.  within 30 minutes, no symptoms.  a few hours later, very dizzy, but only that once.  I strongly suggest to find a doc now while you still have a few oxys/whatevers and make an appointment.  stop taking them 18 hours before, or more if they are time release and you didn't crunch....and within hours, you will be a new you.....this is no BS.  Suboxone killed withdraw, gave me cognitive ability back, killed the crave and helps a lot with the pain...why not do it to0?

[aam1077]

Hi, I started taking oxy after a bout of severe diverticulitus that left me with an ostomy in July 08. I kept taking oxy until the reversal surgery to close the colostomy in Oct 08. During the second surgery, I was put on morphine which did nothing to kill the extreme pain I was in after the second surgery. I requested that I be taken off the morphine and be given the oxy because I felt the oxycodone was far more effective at pain relief. I was quickly discharged (after 5 days from the second surgery) to go home. I soon discovered that Oxy ceased to be as effective against pain relief. The prescription called for 2 pills every 4 hours. I was getting only 2.5 hours of pain relief so I requested a different drug. I tried tramadol but this did nothing. I then got a prescription for hydrocodone (vicadin). I found that this drug helped provide pain relief for 6 hours. (2 pills as proscribed.) Now, 4 weeks later from the second surgery, I was discharged by my surgeon. My regular doctor has told me to reduce taking the vicodin to only 2 pills per day. I feel that I am going through some sort of withdrawal, shaking, sweats etc.
I am a strong willed person with no desire to be addicted to any drugs but would like some practical advice on how to decrease the dosage to a point of quitting and can a person get addicted to drugs having been on them for pain for only 5 months?
This is truly scary.
BTW, I have successfully stopped taking Ambien after years of taking it simply because it appeared to me to stop working. (I don't increase dosages.)
What should I do? How long does the sweating/ shaking last if you are forced to go cold turkey?
Thanks

[122 Tactical Fighter Group]

I am a chronic pain patient also....parachute malfunction, boat crash, and several car wrecks (one quite dramatic) - - - - and advanced arthritis- - - - - I did the sub in the European form of Temgesic.....only did it for one month and did it raher haphazardly as I thought it was more like oxycodone...I had no adverse effects from the dosing, but it did nothing for the pain. For my adventure I cold turkeyed about 120mg methadone that I was on to get off the previous stuff - - what a nightmare......I literally jumped for my life at that point in time....the methadone was quite an experience.....I never even knew you could be affected for a year because of withdrawals.....but it happened to me!!!  My friends stayed on the sub and had a similar experience to my methadone experience. And I was with them all the way through it....................talk about comparisons!!  So thats a lot of my story - - - not all by any means, but some....good luck to you - do what works for you - -  - -eagle

[therealme]

I respect and have gratitude for all advice and warnings about suboxone use.  I have done a lot more research and clarified/verified your observations & statements.  I will try not to be Artie Lange and call it the 'miracle drug' and push people towards long-term use.  I'll definitely be more careful about that.  

Though I jumped on sub due to withdraws from oxy, I have only have the withdraws due to wishing to stop the cycle of craziness that I cannot control with oxy.  If I could control the oxy, I'd simply stay on it.

ochooked, theeagle and refusing bondage: IS SUBOXONE CONTROLLABLE, relative to Oxy?  The second question is:  why did you start taking and why did you stop taking the other opiods and start suboxone?  Are you a pain patient?  Also, Why did you stop the suboxone?  No judging, cause I certainly can't without looking in a mirror!  It just might mean we have completely different needs.  

It was also good to find out how truly strong buprenorphine is, as I had no clue and focused more on the literature that called it a "partial agonist vs. a full opiod receptor agonist like oxy/hydro/heroin". Do you believe this to be true?  From what I've read, it causes less dopo..release and less high/euphoria and is therefore less likely to be dose abused, though withdraw is long due to the long half-life of the drug? I certainly wish to use a low dose, though with my doc, I will need to figure out how long I should stay on it, as I am not a good candidate for successful pain reducing surgery, but have significant pain when untreated.  I would be willing to take the oxy forever if it was not so all-encompassingly addictive to me psychologically and if it did not cause such a cognitive slow-down due to increased dosage...

What are your thoughts, when my goal is to stop the cycle of monthly run-out, craving, etc?  I know a doc who does prescribe suboxone for long-term pain relief of addiction prone chronic acute pain patients.  I may stay on suboxone if it works on pain and doesn't make me an addicted maniac.  I have cervical disc herniations, spinal nerve stenosis, and osteophytes causing central and foraminal stenosis (I have significant pain in my neck, head, shoulders and down my arm and am a chronic pain patient).  there are obviously many treatments to retry.  In the meantime, I need to get the monkey off of my back.  

[122 Tactical Fighter Group]

Good luck to you. Please do post after you go off entirely and let people know how you are doing. I, for one, will be curious to your thoughts after the fact.............dont talk anyone else into extended sub thereapy until you are totally through it.............and once again...best of luck to you......................................................

[refusingbondage]

Hi Realme.  I just want to second what ochooked said. I am a post sub user and will tell you please do not get tricked by 'sub miracle'.  I started sub to avoid withdrawal from opiates and upon quitting sub I suffered months and months of terrible withdrawal too.  I am on day 57 and only  beginning to feel good (finally!)   Some short term users have reported a great experience with sub, but many like oc suffered as well.  I have not talked to even one long term sub user like myself (2 years on subs) who did not suffer miserably.  I am not saying this to scare you but I WISH someone would have told me the truth when I started and stayed on suboxone.  I can tell you that when I was ON suboxone I sang its praises to all who would listen -- I did not expect the he11 I paid for using suboxone.  It boils down to this, Suboxone is an opiate just like oxy - in fact it is much much stronger, this is why you feel no withdrawal..  Because of the naloxene in it you arent really high while taking it and because of its long half-life you only really need to take it once daily... all these things are FANTASTIC to create that sense of normalcy in your life.. and for that I will give credit to Suboxone.  You no longer feel like an addict cause you no longer need to feed other than your sub daily dose.  You will stop all those addictive bahaviors.  However ultimately you crave the sub, you need the sub and you are sick without it.  This is because sub is an opiate.  Esentially you are avoiding oxy withdrawal by taking an opiate that is much stronger than oxy.  Again, I dont want to scare you, but want you to be fully informed.  Bottom line you have taken a courageous step in recovery and I wish you the best of luck truly.   I would just want you to be fully informed - from all sides, pro and con, re suboxone and make your decision from there on how long to stay on it.  Many of us were not so fortunate to know all sides. Best of luck to you and God bless.  

[liscamdave]

When you stop the sub. come talk with us....hope things work out for you...

[ochooked]

Hi Realme ----  I notice that it has been many hours since you posted and since no one has responded to you, I thought I would.   Many people on this site have also gone the Suboxone route.  Sub is a very powerful Opiate --- much stronger than Morphine.  The reason you do not have W/D's is because you are taking an opiate to replace the one you were on.  Sub does work great ---- the only problem with it is that after a short time on it you will not be able to get off of it -- it is powerfully addictive and about ten times worse to quit than Oxy or almost all of the pain meds out there.   The W/D's last for months - similar to Methadone.   I hope you will do the research on this powerful drug and not just listen to the doctor.  You can go back on this site and read the many posts from those of us who took Sub to get an idea of what you may be in for.  Your last question of "why not do it too?" has a very good answer -- many people read these posts and opted not to get re-addicted to a new drug.  What you have done is to delay the W/D's until you try to come off of Sub.  I had a similar Oxy addiction to yours and used it for 21 days - starting at 2 mg and tapered to only a crumb before I jumped off.  It was not soon enough and I suffered W/D's horribly for two months.   Hope you will continue to post your own story as you could be a big help to others that learn of the 'miracle' of Suboxone.  All the best.