Please Help! Sick from Subutex?

[Sithtiger]

First of all I'm not sure I'm posting in the right area but here goes anyway. Ok, so I'm taking Subutex for depression.  I know it's used for getting people off drugs like Heroin or Oxy's but it can work for depression in some people.  At any rate, I take 2mg (one tablet) a day.  I don't abuse it.  Well to go back a bit, I was first taking Suboxone.  I originally took 4mg a day (two tablets) and I started having weird breathing problems..... especially at night.  So I went down to one tab a day.  It was fine for a month or two and the same thing started happening.  So I went down to a half a tab.  Eventually after another month or so the same thing happened and then something really weird happened.  I took it as I always do and I got sick....I mean really sick!  I got VERY nauseous and it lasted all day and I finally threw up.  I thought it was something else so the next day I took it and it was worse....much worse.  I felt like I was going to die.  So I stopped and even then it took about 3 days before I started feeling better again.

Ok, I thought maybe it's the Naloxone or whatever it's called that's doing this.  So I asked for Subutex instead.  Keep in mind, I haven't been abusing it at all!  So I've been taking Subutex for about 3 to 4 weeks now and last night I had the weird breathing problems.  The breathing problem feels like my body just stops breathing and I have to manually take a breath myself.  This lasts all night and sometimes in the day if I try to sleep.  I just start gasping for air all of sudden.  It's very frightening and I don't understand why.  At any rate if I don't take it, I can breath Ok after the first or second day being off of it.  So, now, back to last night....had the breathing problem again and then I took it today and I went to the gym and when I left I started feeling slightly nauseous.....nothing major, but by the time I was going home, I thought I was going to hurl.  I took Omeprazole, it's used for lowering the acid in your stomach and it generally makes your stomach feel better.

So, back to my question.....can Subutex make you sick like this.  I mean I know Suboxone does and I don't understand either but I don't get this?  I did have a bad addiction to Vicodin about 3 years ago.  At one point I was taking 100 of the lowest dosage....5 something a day.  So last year I had a kidney stone and I was prescribed Vicodin.  Of course I started abusing it but something weird happened.  I started having trouble breathing...during the day and the night.  Anyway I stopped and then after a few months started with the Suboxone.

Has my body just changed and won't stand ANY opiod based drug.  Even though Suboxone or Subutex doesn't make you high (I've heard that if you shoot it or snort it it will, but I don't do that) but it makes me feel good.....feel normal.  I so much don't want to stop taking it.  It's easy for me to stop taking it.  The withdrawal symptoms from stopping aren't that bad at all and only seem to last a couple days....very light...just light sweats for a day or two and that's it.  So it's not like I'm addicted.  Because of the problems I've experienced with both I've started and stopped a few times and I don't worry about the w/d's.

Is there anyone out there that can tell me WHY I'm getting sick like this.  I mean, I'm not taking any other opiods and I'm also taking Welbutrin XL and Lamictal.  These are new.  Even when I was taking the Suboxone, I wasn't taking anything at all except that to make sure it was nothing else.  I just don't understand it.  If I'm allergic to Suboxone and Subutex, then why doesn't it make me feel like right away?

I'm just scared to go off because I don't want to be depressed.  I should note that when taking it, I still get a little depressed, but it's totally manageable.  Please Help!

[Oxy480Jim]

It may well be, But it wasn't meant to be. I can't make that up either.

Read the literature from Reckitt &Benckiser Pharmacuticals inc. Prescription use of this product is limited under the Drug Addiction Treatment Act.

It was never intended for use as a painkiller.  And at first it could not be used for anything else. Things change however, don't they.

[Oxy480Jim]

  BuTrans patches come in  35, 52.5 and 70 mcg.  Big difference from a 2mg suboxone or subtex pill.

And it will still lead to the same end.

[vicki595]

Subutex is used quite often for pain...I can't make this stuff up...!    HaHa!

[Oxy480Jim]

Yea I heard that.  Guess they are trying to be like lawyers,  Getting a habitual crimminal off so they can defend them again, except it's treating there patients in a way that they will have to treat them again.

I should have said Suboxone or subtex, that was the Buprenorphine formulation and strength  literature I was referring to.

[vicki595]

Buprenorphine is indeed administered for pain relief in a controlled environment. In it's transdermal form it is prescribed under the name BuTrans.

Also,there is a group of medical professionals who are embracing the use of opiates in depression and this is well documented in the literature.

[Oxy480Jim]

But that doesn't explain his vomiting and nausea.  He is taking Lamictal and welbutrin as well, so CNS depression is a good possibility as well.