On suboxone 1 week...I need truth of long term..

[got2bfree]

HI folks...I went from 200mg of mscontin (4years) to suboxone last week...I'm taking the 8mg a day...usually half in the a.m. then I was taking the rest in bits througout the day.....the first week I felt fine..actually great for a few days....I thought wow is this stuff good...clear thinking tons of energy...that was about the 3 and 4th days....now I've kinda come down...I must have sweat 10lbs off me which I don't mind...I think the morphine was causing me to hold water.....

Anyway there is just so much conflicting informatin out there......I won't deny I am afraid of being on nothing as I can't function with the blahs, and I can't take an anti depressent.....I woke this mornign feeling so disoriented, but an hour after the sub and I felt better.....

I have heard of hte 21 day limit or after that you are hooked and w/d's are awful if you want to taper...Can anyone please share there experience....both who have quit soon after starting and those who quit later 6 months or so, and those who are on it long term......I have to make a decision.......get off it , or stay with it......I've read that other brain function that we have messed up by long term opiate use can repair while on the sub....is this true or just bull that the pharm companies put out....they make is sound so good...easier to get off than other opiates.....

Is less better than more?

my doctor is new at it...and no other doctors around who prescribe it...he thinks its great....

thanks to all and good wishes to all who are stuggling with this illness of addiction.

Deb

[christos24]

i was on suboxone treatment for about 9 months. I was heavily addicted to Heroin and Oxycontin at the time of going into detox and starting that treatment plan. the detox sucked cuz i couldnt see the sub doctor till monday and I went into the hospital taking 1 5 mg percocet at 8 am saturday morning right before entering the hospital. well at 5:30 pm on monday i finally saw the sub doctor and he gave 4 mgs of suboxone and i felt amazing. it took my horrid withdrawals completely away and my cravings pretty much vanished. for the first week i got a buzz from the sub and it really helpe dme get over the hump of quitting the opiates, but after a few months it losts its miracle touch. i figured after a couple of weeks my body would adjust to it and i wouldnt feel the high anymore, but after a few months it completely stopped working, or my motivation was lost. and breaking my wrist did not help, it just started the vicious cycle all over again. some people wills tay on sbu treeamtent for a long time, others will use it as a key detox tool and get off of it, over all suboxone is a treatment option for people with milder addictions(not saying its not horrible or anything), and if youa re motivated and confident enough then a short term use of sub will work, but if you are like me or have a huge tolerance and addiction to opiates then methadone is a better option. it still blocks the effects of other opiates at stable doses, gets you as high as sub but after a few weeks levels off, and the withdrawal is jsut as bad, no matter how many agencies and centers may beg to differ, this is coming from a eprson with eexperience with all sides of the opiate treatment spectrum, and they are both repalacement drugs, they both have withdrawals that are horrible, but with proper treatment and counseling you cang et clean and stay sober for good...

[lovepat906]

My son was on 95mgs of methadone for 2 years. He tapered that down to 10mgs and then did 48hours of WDs before starting the sub. They started him on 8 went up to 16. He started a slow taper almost immediately. It has been 135 days and he has been completely off everything for 3 weeks now. He feels great and is very happy. He set a goal, made a plan and stuck to it. There were some WDs toward the end when he began skipping multiple days. But he was always functional and never missed a day of work. He was even in a car accident during that time and did not fill the pain killer scrips given him by the Drs. He went down to.25 and then started skipping days. He could still feel the .25- the stuff is very powerful. Good luck to you. You sound like you should be able to make this work for you.

[Girl_Interupted618vygyx]

I definatly agree with what liscamdave said about the hardest part not being the actual Physical withdrawl but the aftercare.

[Girl_Interupted618vygyx]

Hi there, I was on Sub too. I thought it was a miracle drug. I didnt use it properly and I wish I had the chance to try again and take it more seroiously but dont at this time. I think and I have read alot about it and been on it myself that you should be on it short term like 21 to 30 days and taper extremely slowly. I think you will have a good chance to succeed.

[got2bfree]

thanks for the replies ..... how much did you take the first week?...if you remember way back then.....I'm trying to figure out all this w/d stuff....with an opiate morphine w/d wouldnt' I be thrugh the worst of it by now...?  8 days...I recall when I had the short dilaudid addiction (5weeks) but had taken it as prescribed for the 4 month leading up to that......once I detoxed 10 days I felt so much better....but that was 6 months in total and this is 4 years....do I need to be on a higher dose the first week just becasue of the intensive w/d symtoms and after day 10 or so be able to get away with alot less.....that is just my reasoning....Then the or.....lol.......or because I have been taking 8mg/day for 8 days, do I have to wean down slowly off this amount, or would a jump down to 5 or 6 be okay.......since I go to bed early as I like to get up and swim if I can (makes the world of difference in how I feel), but was use to the morphine giving me that umph to get out the door, should I take all the sub at once in the a.m. and jsut rest in teh evening....usually I'd feel my own endorphins kick in and from the swim and carry me part of the day.......I'm just so paranoid of walking into a trap with this stuff......If I could be maintained on 1 or 2 mg and stayed on it for 3 - 4 months as my brain recovers some I think I could be happy with that.....I'm 55 so I'm not goign to bounce back like a 30 year old....age plays a part in how we feel, and our level of fitness....I must feel well enough to get out to the pool....I can't walk too far because of my knee, so swimming is about all I can do.....1 - 2 mg surely wouldn't be too hard to w/d from down the road would it....I'm trying to the best I can....I do have a great desire to be pill free, beleive me I hate all this stuff, and being tied to a doctor, and pills pills pills, but I want to be realistic too and not set myself up for failure.....my doc would probably be just as happy for me to go back on the mscontin as I managed it fine, (odd time abused) only if I had a huge task, I woiuld take more to get through it....I know that is not good, and I shouldn't be on morphine, but because I know i could probably go back, and it is covered by my health plan and sub is not, and I'm poor, I don't want to feel so awful that after a one a say screw it and go back on the morphine....I want to live clean, but I've learned one thing in life you can't force things....timing is everything.....I do want to get down to as low a amount as I can as ast as I can.....

allabout mary........so that 1mg really does somethign for you?  obvioiusly it does or you wouldn't be taking it, it just seems like such a small amount that to me it seems like the effect would be minimal.....I ahve lots to learn.....I just dont' want to be trapped in two weeks time on 8mg still and not be able to decrease then.......

One improtant question.......does one need more sub the first 10 days just becasue of hte w/d off our drug.....I was sick sick....I put myself into w/d by taking th sub too early....fool me...uneducated people do dumb stuff...I'm educated not just on drugs, and what all the different ones do...the way my doc had decribed Sub was as this very safe alternative.that could be stopped anytime without any w/d from it......I think we have to be clear when asking questions whcih w/d are we taking about....the initiall one, off the drug doc if you like, and then later the sub one....  Okay so do we need more sub the first week, then drop quickly to a lwer level.....like1mg /day or every 2 days....to be down to 1 or 2 by the end of 2 more weeks.....

thanks guys I'm kinda obsessing right now.....

thanks
Deb

[allaboutmary]

I can only tell you my experience. I am still on sub , have been on it since Jan.   I got down to about 1 mg  in the first 2 months. I think its important to get to the lowest possible dose in the first 2 months. It seems to be easier to taper when you first start it. My sister didn't and is still on 6or 4 (can't remember).  I take a crumb now.  It's been a life saver for me and my sister.  I will eventually get off it all together, but have a few issues to deal with before I do that.    I was a constant relapser. I could get through the withdrawal part but after a few months I would relapse.  So I'm taking it slow on the sub.  It sure is so much better than what I was doing.

[feelingcrazierbytheday]

less less less.......you have to compare the two...if it took 200mg of ms contin to make you comfortable....than there must ALSO be potency in sub.  THere is a reason why sub. makes you comfortable.If you like I can find you a conversion table.  It is a great tool...but not a miracle drug.  Use it wisely.  

[tommm70]

Did you get a chance to read the Suboxone/Subutex faq in the health pages section? It was written by a guy on it long term (years) and is very accurate to my experience on Sub.
Sub W/D affects seems to be worse the longer you are on it. Tapering can lessen the effects, but Sub W/D is longer and more drawn out than opiate W/D. They say it is lesser, but the evil lies in the length of it.

[liscamdave]

Well, it all depends. I myself, did a sub treatment. While I was on it a little longer then 3 weeks, I got down to as little as I could, and spread it out every few days., I did still have some withdrawal but nothing I couldn't handle. So in my eyes w.d is inevitable, but it can be reduced greatly.

In your situation, you have to ask youself are you only taking the sub to bypass withdrawal. Or do you really want to quit. You see, so many people, including myself, make the mistake of thinking that withdrawl is the hardest part of kicking active addiction, its truly not. The aftercare is the hardest part. Its actually staying clean with no drugs in your system. For some people, staying on SUb is actually beneficial. Although it is still taking a pill everyday and it does have opiates in it, its still not abusing. ANd it helps eliminate cravings. So it may be beneficial for you to stay on it. For me, I wanted to be drug free, I wanted to be able to get up and not take a pill to function. So when I was ready, I weaned down to as little as I could and got off. And have been clean since. So if you are truly ready to quit, then you will. I hope this helps a little.

We used to have a woman here, she has been gone for a few months, but she took Sub for 10 days, and said she felt no withdrawal other then headaches. So for some, I guess it can eliminate w.d, but I don't believe it. But that is just me. So good luck and we are here to help.

Lisa