Buprenorphine, Subutex & Suboxone

[Chris5555]

Years ago i had an injury that warranted opioid meds....Fast forward a few years of consistent opioid regiments and BAM....My body is dependent on these things and as a result I was put on buprenorphine.  Just curious how many others on the forum use this useful med to control pain and or addiction.   How long have you been on, and intend to stay on?  What kind of positive and or negative impact have you had as a result of taking it??

Thanks

[Chris5555]

Wow, congratulations on your sobriety. I can appreciate anyone who has the strength and will power to refrain from using, their substance of choice, especially when it becomes detrimental to their lives. It drives me crazy that our nation is in the midst of an Opioid epidemic, but does not implement the use of buprenorphine to help addicts get their life back on track.....

[andybones]

about the same story here, moved to Fl and got into 30mg roxies, 80mg oxies in 2006-2008. Moved home to get away from the itch, but ended up getting into h, and iv use quickly. went down hill fast, eventually got in some legal trouble, 6 month ACOD along with completion of outpatient recovery (which truly saved my life. drug testing per week, and they were cool. looked the other way on the pots, even though i could go to jail) id piss dirty for traces of opiates once in awhile for the first 3-4 months. then something hit me and I just said "enough".. since then been clean. (i was using suboxone off street during all this, they didn't test for it back then) I don't think many do, but idk, i heard it's expensive. I've had a dr for about 3 of the 10+ years I've used (clean 3+ months right now). Same story though. the dr was real cool, (looked other way on the pots as well during my monthly urine analysis). they wayyy over prescribe this stuff. I was getting 16mg, and only taking 4-8mg. I eventually saved up enough, as the co-pay was $220, but the dr was really cool and worked with me, and did $160 for me. He knew I wanted off and tried to keep me. But was the same as I read about, in out first sessions he talked about possibly needing to be on 4mg forever. tough to say. Im doing well off it, but bupe is an interesting drug. I got a few months of buprenorphine (Subutex generics), felt cleaner, but those suboxone strips were way better. they're already making generics! and the patent isn't up til.. 2023.. i believe. so they are going to be gold soon! hell they were $20 off the street! just a few years ago, prob more now. I have manufacturer boxes of 30 laying around. Man Life is Karmatic! anyway, yea I saved up to ween myself off. the dr was cool, and sent in 120ct of 4mg for my last free script, which really helped as those were very easy to cut into 1 and 5.mg pieces when coming off. theres horror stories, but do it right, like anything and it's ok. i didnt sleep for about 2 weeks. but i got through it.

[Chris5555]

Yea if you lived in florida during that time......And survived the pain clinic fads, man oh man god bless you.   God has a purpose for you no doubt.   It amazes me the madness that went on in Florida.   People honestly thought you could get away with running a cash for Roxy's,  Oxys, benzos,  plus muscle relaxers.  Im sure it was fun in the beginning, but all those people eventually started waking up and realizing they needed those opioids to function, just to get out of bed.   Well, thats when the party is over and you have a serious life long battle ahead of you.   That killed alot of people and seriously altered alot of lives.   Im proud of those who made it through that mess, and decided to turn their lives around.   I know buprenorphine can really help start the process, of getting clean and getting their lives back.   For those who did that, my hats off to you, and I have nothing but respect for you.

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Years ago i had an injury that warranted opioid meds....Fast forward a few years of consistent opioid regiments and BAM....My body is dependent on these things and as a result I was put on buprenorphine.  Just curious how many others on the forum use this useful med to control pain and or addiction.   How long have you been on, and intend to stay on?  What kind of positive and or negative impact have you had as a result of taking it??

Hi Chris5555 - I had a bad injury, compound fracture of my foot, required 6 screws to be inserted, I am lucky I have no pain now and made a full recovery, was supposed to be 9 months and not able to jog again, but I can run 3 miles with little to no noticeable pain, ran 5 miles at 6 months and made one of the fastest recoveries the docs had ever seen from this type of injury.  

Anyways, they started me out very high on oxy - 80mg a day, tried to taper me down 10mg every week for 10 weeks until I was at 5mg a day. Didn't matter, I was already dependent, began getting them off the street (very expensive) and was using at my max 150mg/day. Once the hospital cut me off. I hobbled into a pain clinic about 2 months later, and of course rated my pain a 9/10 - doc asked me what I had been getting prescribed - I told him 90mg/day, he wrote the script like candy (this was 3 years ago so somewhat surprising). They also tapered me down 10mg/day every week. I continued to supplement with hydros, or any other opiate I could get. generally took 80-150mg a day for 4+ months. 

Then once they got me down to about 30mg a day, I began to hold off as long as I could each day to take and would take them all usually by 10am. I was in full blown withdrawals. Girlfriend at the time thought I always had the flu. I finally told her and basically begged the pain clinic to prescribe me more, but I healed very fast - I swam a ton, did tons of physical therapy, and my favorite past time during my comeback was taking 30-50mg and going to gym, 5-6 days a week and riding a exercise bike 60 minutes day with my boot that fit in the straps. 

The pain clinic denied me anymore oxy, said I needed to go 48 hours into full withdrawals and was placed on 8mg of suboxone a day. It was amazing how it took away all the withdrawl symptons for me. Did some for pain, but by then I really didn't have more than 3 /10 on the pain scale anyways. 

Was on 8/mg a day for 4 months and then they cut me back to 4/mg for final 5 months. Had to take a urine analysis every month when I picked up script. I tested positive every time for marijuana they looked the other way on that, docs didn't even care (I haven't smoked in 2+ years) and also was a heavy drinker but would quit for 4 days prior to my UA and usually passed. Then my last 3 months my drinking got out of control, and I started to test positive for alcohol (very hard on liver, subs + alcohol) and was given a warning, then a second warning, then cut off and told to go to treatment. 

Went to treatment and was smoking a lot of pot and drinking regularly the three weeks leading up to treatment when I was cold turkey off the subs, I honestly felt no withdrawal from the subs, but sure it was masked by pot and booze. 


FYI - I am sober now, off all those mentioned in this post. 

Used correctly, suboxone was an amazing drug to cure my withdrawal symptoms from the oxy - took all that away and blocks receptors from being able to use oxy to have any effect on you, so wouldn't bother supplementing. Everyone I spoke to at treatment said the opposite though, that getting off subs was extremely difficult for them but not as bad as getting off the oxy.

That was my experience...stayed off booze for 6 months, relapsed briefly for a week, now have another 6 months in and off everything except 2-4mg of Klonopin a day, or 10-20mg of Valium a day - which I am prescribed for anxiety disorder. A lot of days I don't even take them. I am big into AA now and hit the gym regularly, 5-6 days a week. 

If taken correctly, suboxone was a huge relief for me - unfortunately I had other issues to contend with abuse wise.

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One other thing, the doctors basically said as long as I passed my UA's it was up to me to stay on the 4/mg a day. Was expensive thought even with insurance, I think like $90/month. They said some people stay on them for years - I know heroin addicts that get 16/mg a day and plan to stay on them for the rest of their lives to stay of the heroin.

I think it all depends on the doctor and if you want to get off, somewhat up to you.

Great Job on the hard work and will to improve your life, I have nothing but respect for those who have turned their life around, via abstinence 12 step, NA, AA, buprenorphine and any other  method of recovery.

[Chicci]

I had a car accident 6 years ago and broke my neck.  
I was on oxycontin and morphine for 4 years. 
Like a lot of ppl after that time it was hard to quit. Plus I still had and have pain issues. So they prescribed me subuxone 16mg/day.

It helpen me tremendously. in about a year they bought the dose down to 4mg. It also was excellent as pain relief.

Last year they changed it to 30mg codeine per day for the pain.

[Chris5555]

I had a car accident 6 years ago and broke my neck.  
I was on oxycontin and morphine for 4 years. 
Like a lot of ppl after that time it was hard to quit. Plus I still had and have pain issues. So they prescribed me subuxone 16mg/day.

It helpen me tremendously. in about a year they bought the dose down to 4mg. It also was excellent as pain relief.

Last year they changed it to 30mg codeine per day for the pain.

Wow Chicci, that tells alot about your will power, discipline and determination.   Not an easy thing to do.   I think that doctors have got to get more creative and find ways to use buprenorphine in place of full agonist opioids like morphine, heroin, oxycontin.   It helps with pain, and more importantly allows people to function and reclaim their lives.  Great  job on titrating down to codeine.

[Chicci]

I had a car accident 6 years ago and broke my neck.  
I was on oxycontin and morphine for 4 years. 
Like a lot of ppl after that time it was hard to quit. Plus I still had and have pain issues. So they prescribed me subuxone 16mg/day.

It helpen me tremendously. in about a year they bought the dose down to 4mg. It also was excellent as pain relief.

Last year they changed it to 30mg codeine per day for the pain.

Wow Chicci, that tells alot about your will power, discipline and determination.   Not an easy thing to do.   I think that doctors have got to get more creative and find ways to use buprenorphine in place of full agonist opioids like morphine, heroin, oxycontin.   It helps with pain, and more importantly allows people to function and reclaim their lives.  Great  job on titrating down to codeine.

Thanks Chris that means a lot.
The last two months I switched from dihydrcodeine to codeine. And that is what I am on now 30mg/day. I only use the dihydrocodeine if I have some serious pain. Unfortunatly they only selling codeine in my country in combination with paracetamol and my stomach cant take that. So I am forced to order it.

But the plan is to stop alltogether by the end of the year..or at least try.
But you are right..doctors should up their knowledge about subutex and subuxone. It took away my cravings and I was able to fuction at a lot higher percentage. It had no recreational value..no rush or euphoria. And at that point it was just as goid for my pain. It really changed my life. People still underestimate oxy..morphine etc. Almost impossible to fuction at 100% on that stuff. I tried to get off it before..very hard. Well subuxone made it easy.

[Chris5555]

You just gotta keep fighting the fight, because your life and happiness is worth it.   There are alot of people losing the fight with opioids right now, because they cant afford or dont have a doctor DEA waivered to prescribe buprenorphine.  Actually there are other buprenorphine drugs that are new to the market which dont require anything special and they are still not utilizing it.

You got to ask, does our country really want to help people, or just give the illusion of helping people and saving lives.

[Chicci]

Luckily I am in country where the heath system is pretty fair. So it wasnt a problem to get on subuxone.
I couldn't have done it without subuxone.

Another terrible idea imo is to put ppl on benzos to recover from an opiate habit. Long acting benzos can help for a couple days..2 weeks max. But not as a replacement.

[Chris5555]

Luckily I am in country where the heath system is pretty fair. So it wasnt a problem to get on subuxone.
I couldn't have done it without subuxone.

Another terrible idea imo is to put ppl on benzos to recover from an opiate habit. Long acting benzos can help for a couple days..2 weeks max. But not as a replacement.

If you are in a country that provides inexpensive suboxone, be very thankful.   Where I am at it is so very expensive.    The doctors that are able to prescribe it alot of times charge people close to 300 a month, cash only and thats not even including the medication.  Did I mention its expensive?  Its expensive..... Like opiate dependent people much less addicts are going to have a stockpile of money.......Like I said we want to put on a show and act like we care about stopping the opioid epidemic, but dont behave or act like it.