Suboxone miracle?

[Dog55]

I have read some negative posts about suboxone, but I'd like to say that it certainly IS a miracle drug. I'm on day five, so I don't have the full range of experience on it yet, but to me it's miraculous that it immediately took away my mild WDs from Vicodin and any cravings since then. Of course, when I say it's a miracle drug I know sub isn't THE answer. But just the fact that it ends the vicious opioid cycle, at least temporarily, is amazing. If nothing else, it provides you with an opportunity to sit back and assess the whole addiction thing without dealing with it on a daily basis. I don't see how people can be negative about it. I guess they just want others to realize that it's not a cure-all, but I knew that going in. I know I'll now have to deal with getting off this drug, too. But I'm convinced that it will be more workable that going cold turkey off the hydros, especially since I discovered that I could start on a low dosage. If anyone wants to hear about or share any good comments about this medication, I would be happy to oblige.

[puranx]

yep did the same sh1t, got of sub back to perc just to get clear of the sub. IT made oxy 120mg a day habit look like a joke during w/d. I c/t 120mg a day ten times easier then trying to just jump off a 2mg dose of sub.If people need another opiate to get straight so be it but subs an opiate and the w/d will be just as bad if not worse for most. Subs place is to get people out of there habit and thinking but you end up still looking for your little pill each day so dont know how well that helps. Good luck on whatever choice you take and i hope it works out in the end. Just stay on it as short and as little amount as possible. Subs true calling is helping people who got duped into methadone.

And if havent gotten off sub yet, you cant say its a miracle. When your clear of sub to and it was easy as pie, then praise it. And its not any persons fault who are stuck on subs, its the Drs. You guys are all trying to do the right thing. If you feel you just cant do it without sub then go for it and dont look back and get living again. Just dont let em rope you into being on it too long, although the prescription and detox rules are changing as we speak for sub anyway. Do whatever you think you have to to get off true opiates like oxy and perc asap. Just also know theres no easy way.

[malenurse57]

Don't know most of you but I belive in all of you. Keep up the good fight.
God Bless

[toomanytimes]

This is a really good thread- i'm having my go-around with sub-but i know i could not taper or go CT from opiates.  I'm also convinced my drs don't really know what they are doing with this drug so i am trying to go on the positive info i get from this forum and on my own instinct.  I thought i was going to taper more quickly than i actually am, and yesterday i slipped and i took a perc. Duh. why i just didn't take a sub i don't know-well i do know-its the addict in me-but now i am going to go slower, i took 1 mg this am and i will take another 1mg as needed for a few days and then cut down again, and i will do my best to be done with it in 21 days. i'm on day 13 now. Its good to hear positive things here and the support i get from a dedicated few with my daily posts does wonders for me. Please keep posting Dog! We can do it!

[missmarmee]

my husband is in treatment as we speak. i spoke w/ him yesterday and he said they started him on suboxone. from what i understand, he has to work a very strict program to continue on w/ the suboxone. several AA meetings a week,  frequent drug testing, and traveling to the suboxone dr. (which is 3 hrs away from where we live. we live in the middle of nowhere) once a week. i don't know first hand the affects of suboxone yet, but it got to the point for him that there was no other way to get clean besides going to treatment. he tried to taper, he tried going cold turkey....he couldn't do it. i should include that he had a massive pain pill addiction. vicodin/lortab, then to oxy's, then withdrawl hell from the oxy's, but his dr. started prescribing lortab's again AFTER  she knew he withdrew from the oxy's. he was up to no less than 20 lortabs a day. reading the stories here has been very encouraging. thank you.

[christos24]

to each his own. everyone reacts differently to suboxone treatment, and the withdrawals from opiate/opioids, and suboxone withdrawal. I am on 32 mgs and am starting to drecrese my dose. I was on that dose for 6 months and now and moving down to 24 mgs and am slwoly tapering my suboxone. I think its amazing how well the suboxone has helped my cravings for pain killers, especially heroin and oxycontin, the two devil's themselves. If you have insurance it is defintely am easier, better, and more guaranteed treatment for opiate addiction. I have tons of success stories, I have also seen personally horrible withdrawals from lack of suboxone, and have experienced them my slef, but if tapered right you should feel very ltitle discomfort, have some benzos just in  case and be weary with them too. To me suboxone defintely saved my life, I ahd given up hope completlely and jsut wanted to waste away, high of course, but going to detox and starting a treatment plan with subooxone included saved me. I am soooo much healthier and happier now that I am off heroin, vicodins, oxys, etc...you couldnt even recgnize mea nd im only 22, good luck to you, you are taking the right steps and I hope everyhting works out alright...remember to beleive in yourself and you can beat this disease, it amy seem imopossible but its definitely doable...peace

[worried878]

Toomanytimes keeps up posted on her taper from suboxone...she is getting off fairly quickly...i guess each person has their own program to work and each case is different...i hope u keep us informed on how u r doing as many come on and say they got on sub, how great they feel, and then u never hear from them again...so keep us posted so people can learn what to expect...flmagi and mary are both tapering as well and they keep us updated...getting clean and staying clean is everyone's goal...good luck

[allaboutmary]

Dog,  Yes it is much easier to taper on the suboxone.  I never could taper off the perc's & vic's either.  

Lonesome,  Great post !

[LONESOME]

YOU GUYS ARE MY HEROS RIGHT NOW I'M SO SICK AND TIRED OF LISTENING NEGATIVE THINGS ALL THE TIME ABOUT SUBOXONE, LETS FACE IT THE NEGATIVE IS NOT THE DRUG IS THE PPL THAT USES THE DRUG AND HOW FOR HOW LONG AND FOR WHAT?

I'M ON SUBOXONE MY SELF AND YOU KNOW ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS POSITIVE THINGS I DO BELIEVE THAT IT SAVE MY LIFE AS WELL BECAUSE I KNOW THAT IF I CONTINUED TO USE 35 PILLS A DAY I WOULD HAVE DIED NOT BECAUSE OF LORTAB IS A BAD DRUG IS BECAUSE I WAS ABUSING IT!!!!!

I STARTED ON SUB 11 WEEKS AGO AND I HAD THE WORSE DOCTOR THAT GAVE ME 120 2MG PILL SCRIP WITH OUT ANY WDS OR ANY INFO I WENT TO HER TO GET INFO AND SHE JUST GAVE MY THE SCRIP JUST BC I'M IN THE MEDICAL FIELD ANYWAYS I GOT EVERYTHING TOGETHER AND STOP THE LORTABS.

IS BEEN 11 WEEKS AND I STARTED AT 10MG AND DOWN TO 1MG NOW FOR 2 DAYS AND YES I DO HAVE SOME CHILLS BUT NOTHING TO HATE SUBOXONE FOR.

DOG AND ALL OF THE PPL USING SUBOXONE JUST GET INFORMED AND POSITIVE AND WE WILL BEAT THIS ADDICTION.

GS

[bolpak]

some of us were guinne pigs when sub first came out and the Dr.'s did'nt know exactly know how long people should b on sub.  I've been on it foir 5yrs now and an only now realizing that I should have been taken off the stuff loooong ago ..  My only question now is what long term effects staying on sub. would have on a person and how should I proceed now that I realize that???? When I started I was the first person in 150mile radias that had access to sub. and nmow I feel like the Dr.s have forgotten that Im still here..........................What to do??

[122 Tactical Fighter Group]

two more cents worth - cocolisa is right when she says its better to get clean this way than no way at all...

[cocobeanlisa]

I have to strongly disagree with you....

You are clean when you are on suboxone and it's that thinking aand
your comment that scares people.

I detoxed with suboxone and it saved my life. My hydrocodone habit was so
large that I could NOT GO c/t.  Like Dog said if it is done under a DR's care
and each time your dose is dereased you should not have anty w/d's.

I took about a total of 2 months or so for me to be off of the
suboxone and at the end I was taking 1/2mg every other day until I just forgot
to take one.

Now Dr's are treating Pain mangement with Suboxone, it provides the pain
control and does not allow you to feel the High effect.  I do not recommend
that people stay on it long term, but it allowed me to get a sponsor, to go
to meetings and establish a program of recovery so by the time I was off the suboxone
I had everything in place.  I highly recommend it to the people that are scared of
w/d's.  It's better to get clean this way than no way at all.

Good job Dog, and it only gets better
cocobean

[122 Tactical Fighter Group]

I would even go further to another post just down the page some - its titled -  "Getting off sub -Help"    People are all diffeent

[122 Tactical Fighter Group]

You gotta do what works for you. Unfortunately all of your arguments were also used for methadone when it first came out,,,,didnt work that way....Keep educating yourself and try and dump the sub within 30 days to hopefully miss out on bolpaks new and improved w/d's....and best of luck

[addictedme]

guess not

[Dog55]

Thanks for your comments, mary. I know I still have something to deal with, not the least of which is coming off suboxone now. My point is that the drug at least stops the immediate despair the opiods presented and allows us to decide with a slightly clearer head how to finally get off the merry-go-round. Glad to hear you're tapering well. I plan on beginning a taper schedule very soon, as I don't want to stay on these very long. How is it working for you? Is it easier to taper off subs than off vic? Because I tried and couldn't off vicodin.

[addictedme]

Same ole question. Are you actually doing something for aftercare to have a chance of not using again or are you just on sub. You say sub allows you to not deal with your addiction on a daily basis but if your an addict and you dont deal with it daily you will use again.gl to ya

[allaboutmary]

I am also on sub and have been for 4 months.  It has been a lifesaver for me and my sister's.  I am down to about 1/4 of a mg now and have tapered down pretty painlessly.  Just make sure to do a long slow taper off and you should be fine.  It sure beats what I was doing.  I am not risking my life on a daily basis taking very dangerous amounts of Percocet and Vicodin. There will always be horror stories on any drug, not everyone reacts the same, and some didn't not taper properly.  

[bolpak]

You are not clean if your on suboxone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   The side effects are almost exactly the same as opiates............ bolpak

[bolpak]

Do you want the real or what they tell you when you first start???  I've read that the sub. has a stickiness effect but it lasts longer,  way longer than 3 days.. I know I've been on it too long but when I first started they said 3days no prob.  and now after a couple of years I find that I may never come off......bolpak

[Dog55]

Gee, thanks for the encouragement, bolpak. You're a real pal.

[bolpak]

Glad to hear your feeling so well on suboxone..  Wait till you come off!! That is if you take it for more than a few months..  I found out the hard way that something that makes you soooo well always has side effects and let me tell you what side effects you'll have with long term use.  Remember how bad you felt the first time you went through withdraw?? NOW add about 4 or 5 BRAND NEW symptoms. new and improved..I wont tell you what they are yet because you'll start to have them you'll know them when you feel them........   bolpak

[cathy5841]

hi, i am glad you realize how powerful it is.  must ppl agree that while they are onit it is a lifesaver.  the problems i have read about come in when getting off.  but, i think its all in how you taper.  the ones thathave been on it short term and did a taper have done okay i think.  i personally went c/t off alot of oxy and am 5 months clean.

[CadillacJack]

OK,Dog. I appreciate the info. Many for it, some against it.

[johnnykelly]

Hi Dog,I would like to say congratulations on chooseing the route of sobriety through the use of Suboxone.I would excentuate the positive.The treatment you choose,if that keeps you joyous,happy and free.Then thyat is living life on lifes terms.Foget the Nay-sayers,you are clean,so F54k them.All the best john