Tired, tired, tired

[Sasha341]

First try, here. I can't put anything into "Topic" So I don't want to write a whole big question and then have it not go through.
3 weeks on Suboxone, changed to Subutex. Used to take 30 mg a day of Norco. Doctor put me up to 22 mg Suboxone, Now I'm taking 4 mg. I've had the weirdest set of effects than I even can explain. Headache, first week, energy, severe sedation, and tired, tired, tired. I think I'm still on too much, just went down to 3 mg. It's so unpleasant, I hate it. I'm afraid it's not going to work. Does it not work for some people? last week on 8 mg, I had the "low tide" sedation. That's when you are sitting there and your consciousness makes you sink deeper and deeper towards sleep, even though you are talking to someone, or, at least, listening. It feels like the tide going out on a flat beach. Today, on 4 mg, (took last night at 5 pm) I was SO tired I left work early. I was getting dizziness, like spiraling down until I would stop at about the level of the chair seat. That was subjective, of course. No one seems to see how I am feeling.
I haven't had any withdrawal yet, at all. At first I used to think that some of the side effects, like stomach upset, were withdrawal. So I would go up (all approved by the doc - who, by the way, doesn't seem to know much - started prescribing last fall. ) Anyway - I'm trying to get on a dose that feels "normal" so I can work on myself without going through withdrawals from the Norco. I hate how tired I am now, and unmotivated. I also take Celexa 20 mg, and neurontin (Gapapentin) cut down from 200 mg to 100 mg - it's for anxiety. All you guys asking about if benzos are dangerous with Suboxone. YES, that's the only way people have died from Suboxone, using it with Benzos. Probably a lot of benzos - but the doc wants to be on the safe side. He will not let me take any at all. I was just taking .15 mg Ativan at bedtime, but haven't taken it at all, no alcohol, no Norco, no nuttin.
Any advice? (I'm seeing the doc tomorrow, (I see him every week at $75 a pop. -) but like I say, he doesn't know much. He sez to me, he sez, "It doesn't matter how much Suboxone you take - if you go over the amount you need, it just has no effect on you." Duh! What are they teaching them in that 8 hour course they have to take to get certified!!!! )
I'm getting my best information from Chatrooms, like this and like the NAABT one.
Well, one thing, bless his heart, he did allow me to take Subutex, to allay my fears that I might have an allergy or bad reaction to Naloxone. I don't think I do, but still glad to be sure that none of my weird reactions are from Naloxone.
Well, here I am writing a lot anyway. I really wish I could read more written by people who are so tired.
Is it possible that I was taking so little Norco that Suboxone (Buprenorphine) won't work for me?
I'm gonna keep going down as low as I can. But even right now, with the 3 mg of Sub in me for an hour or so, I'm getting those little dizzy, swooning feelings. Not a lot, just a little. And my stomach is a little upset. But no w/d, which for me used to start with a little aching. Bowel reactions. sniffing. none of that..
Anyway, I'll try to stop writing now!

[insearchof4]

I'm so glad that you clarified why you said "this is not a social forum" in your second post.  But I think it would have been better to be more clear in your first post because so many people are brand new to the forum.  It might turn people off.  You may have been using the website/forum for a while and assume that most people understood your intent, but it did come across in a negative way.  Glad that someone challenged the comment and that you clarified.  We all need to be so careful with potentially negative statements in our posts...last thing we need is to turn someone off.

[bostonbrian]

Thats crazy, you really got too find a new dr. i was doing almost 2 grams of h a day and or atleast 3 80 mg oxy a day for 7 months and my doctor put me on 16 mg a day.  The first two weeks i had very bad mood swings and felt tired, but it seems everyday gets a little bit better the last week I felt better then i have in over a year and half.  by the way you get dizzy on subs if you get up too quick, say if your laying down or even just sitting.

[Sasha341]

Thank you for your support and comments. Triedeverymed, you didn't read my whole post. That's okay. It's just that 8 mg was not a good dose for me, much too high. It wasn't that I was coming down off a stable dose too fast, it's that I was never on a stable dose. I've given up the Suboxone, warned by people here that it's so hard to get off, and the way I wanted to use it was sort of as a substitute drug, and that's not what it's for.
This is very hard and sad. We had a memorial service for a dear member of our family yesterday and it's so sad. It was my son in law, only 48, died from cancer which took him in a year and a half.   I'm not back to where I was on Hydro, I've still got suboxone in my brain. That's making it much harder. But I am glad I was on Suboxone not hydro when my son-in-law died, I was more present, even as weird as I felt.

[Mikeinthesouth]

Oh I was not refering to you when talking of John Doe and his sprained ankle. By no means am I minimizing the addiction and the strength it has I deal with it everyday battling tro stay clean just one more day so as I said I can relate. I just think the dosage you take is a strange amount to choose to put someone on an alternative drug rather than to help them get clean the old fashioned way. You are not at fault here the blame for that action can be placed elsewhere but the addiction is your responsibility to get clean of and I think and pray you will. Be careful in the year you plan to continue using that your usage does not increase dramatically because it seems to have a tendency to do so. Again my prayers are with you... Mike

[triedeverymed]

Forgot one thing, God for you for admitting you do not want to be on nothing. I was the same way when I was quitting. If they pulled me down to quick on the sub I would tell me doc and he would put my dose back up because he knew I would just end up back on vicodin and that's not what he was treating me for, he was there to help and I have 3 1/2 years sobriety and I owe it to that doctor. He was great. They do know more than we think sometimes.
Hang in there!!

[triedeverymed]

You are going to make it!! I was on Sub to in order to get off 400mg of Vicodin a day, yes that does say 400mg. The sub can make you tired, give you a headache, and all that stuff but I think what's really happening is you are still adjusting from being on Vicodin to being on Subutex. You aren't on your drug of choice anymore and you body is all screwed up. The sub is to help you avoid withdrawls while coming off the vicodin, it's not a cure for addiction. You will be slowly weaned off the sub but it takes 30 days to wean off 8mg of Sub. That's per my doc. So if you try to cut down to fast, you'll be in w/d. Let the doc take you down slowly and make sure you're on an antidepressant. Coming off Sub isn't easy but it's a whole lot better than going cold turkey with vicodin. You body just has to regrow new nerve cells in the brain which takes about 6 weeks and you have to adjust to a life without drugs. I think that's the hardest part, that's why I always tell people to get into AA or maybe NA if you can find a good meeting. You need to be surrounded by sobriety, hear about it all the time, to live it you know? It really helps to go to meeting because your mind is focused on conversation and topics not about will I take another pill.
You are going to make it, hang in there, keep coming here, we've all be there or are there and together we help each other. If you ever need to talk, feel free to message me!!
Best of luck!!