Long term suboxone users...please read

[Alex250877]

Hey everyone. I want to share this story with you...I was on painkillers for years, I will spare you all the misery of my addiction. I finally made the choice I wanted to quit... I went to a suboxone dr, and after taking the first pill I felt great! Finally back to feeling normal...No longer the chase for pills, no longer the first thought in my mind when waking up how many I have left?? how much money I have to buy more?? It was great for a while. But he kept me on that stuff for over half a year!! Hell..to this day if I didn't stop seing him!  High dose as well 16mg a day! That is crazy ..the more research I do I feel that SUBOXONE IS NOT MENT FOR LONG TERM TREATMENT! I tried stopping the suboxone 2 months ago..man it was bad. I did try to jump off at a high dose but the withdrawls were even worse then a CT detox from pills.!! The only reason these pain clinics prescripe you this long term is because either they don't know better..or they want your 150 bucks every month.. I'm sure a combination of the two...
I actually went back to the painkillers for 40 days, now this might sound crazy ,but I made a choice to do it because I wanted to get all the suboxone out of my system!.Not to get high!  Just taking enough to not feel like ****. about 6 10mg perks a day,  plus few Oxy's  Last week I stopped the perks and Oxy, and used the suboxone the way it is ment to be used. I threw out all I had left, but one 8mg pill...broke that in 3 pieces. when I started feeling like hell the next day I waited few hours more and then took that 3rd of a pill... (I guess thats just under 3 mg.) And you know what...thats all it takes to feel ok.  I say ok, not great, not in a cloud, just no withdrawls... Did the same the next day, and day three even broke that 3rd in half and felt ok. On day 3 I went to see my regular dr and got all the supplies for the Thomas recipe. plus all the vitamins and minerals...I took my last painkiller 8 days ago, then those 3 days of suboxone...and now nothing!!! for 5 days, but the Thomas recipe! I feel great, sleep a lot due to the Valium, but I really feel all the vitamins and minerals help as well! ( also get that leg cramp stuff from Hylands, its homeopatic but really works.) I am determined to make it last this time!! I actually woke up today, took a stroll along the beach with my baby, and could smell the flowers, the fresh cut grass and felt amazing.
I know how hard it is to stop suboxone, I am just starting..., and of course I would hate to say to an addict like myself to go back to his DOC for a good month to get that sub out of your system. and then use it short short term.. It just seems to work for me... I just wanted to share this story, and maybe warn people about the long term use of suboxone. It is a incredible powerfull drug, and be carefull. Wish me strength to keep this up. All the best

[mr.lucky66]

I think methadone is a better drug to be maintained on for a hard core addict. Sub is a good step down drug from methadone and good for short term detox but beside that people who take it for long periods could get in trouble if they need to take narcotics and it doesn't satisfy drug hunger like methadone. I was on and off methadone for many years and finally made if off everything and that's the best way to go but it seems like some people need a maintenece drug for  "harm reduction" and methadone can work well or can be abused . all the best

[MareStorm]

Um don't listen to the people that say methadone is better than suboxone. Methadone vets u high plain and simple. I have been off and on it for 7 years from heroin addiction. And it is much much harder to get off of than subs. I have endured ct from 110 mg of methadone and also I've detoxed from sub. The key with the subs is to taper your dose. This is easier to do than tapering froM methadone b/c meth gets u high and as addicts is just too hard to control. Some migh say subs get u high too but not if you were a hardcore addict with a methadone habit. I'm telling u meth is the strongest opiate out there. Anyway, your mom needs to taper 1mg every five days until she gets to 2mg. Then she needs to taper .5 until she gets down to a crumb (.25). Then she needs to take that every other day then every third day and so on. I'm not saying she won't feel any withdraws but they won't be as bad as methadone. Let me know if u have more questions

[Alex250877]

Hi All!  Just a little update...day 9 after my last oxy! and day 6 after my last little piece of suboxone. And I have to say that I feel good! Trying to keep it up, want to thank everyone for their support!

[mr.lucky66]

That's a horrible story. It sounds like the doc who put her on sub from methadone didn't know what they were doing. If she went to a private detox or special detox doc which costs a few thousand that wouldn't have kept her on sub for so long and now she has to pay so much. Maybe she should go back on methadone. It works better than sub and isn't much harder to get off of. all the best.

[tray120]

How do I help my mom ween of the sub ...she had been in a meth clinic for about 6 yrs when my dad passed 2 yrs ago I mover her here to delaware they kept her on meth another 2 yrs she decided she wanted to detox off the meth well instead of decreasing her dosage weekly they just bumped her right to suboxone of course she had gotten sick body had to adjust ,,,.well she lost her job a few weeks ago she would pay 25.00 for a months supply of suboxone has now jumped to 160.00 for 21 pills she was going to go cold turkey but she was sick i could not let her be in that kind of pain so I paid for the pills 160.00 21 pills she takes 1 a day how do i help her ween gradually off the pills without her feeling sick any advise please

[mr.lucky66]

Bikerdad didn't read your post throughly enough and he usually writes good stuff. This is not the first time I have heard of people going back to opiates in order to get past the sub withdrawal. I never liked sub for more than detox except to step down methadone addicts for a month or 6 weeks. I think it can be good for a short term detox but in many cases for replacement or harm reduction, I think methadone is a better choice than long term sub. all the best

[whitie]

thanks for that story. your story is not uncommon.  another example of the money making sub doc system.......there have been some sub docs that do it right with a short term program. but if your body stays on replacement NARCOTIC opioids for long periods of time, its only natural to go through major wd's, when getting off them.

until your brains receptors have to get back to normal,  which means no opioids of any kind, you wont be clean.you will find out soon if you escaped the well known misery of sub wd's. I hope you did

[Alex250877]

Thanks for the comment! Just to clarify, I never combined the two.... I stopped taking suboxone, then after 3 days I could not take it anymore, then went back on the pain pills.. jumping from one to the other you might say, but have very little trouble now! Think because I only used one pill to get through the first 3 days!! Thanks for your wishes. the same!

[BIKERDAD1963]

WOW you are playing with fire doing opiates while on that sub. The sub boots the opiates out very quickly and will throw your body into horrible withdrawals. i no you said you did your own research but i think you missed that part. The sub attacthes to all your opoid receptors so no other opiate can. Then the other opiate just gets booted out. I am glad you are off that junk and hopefully people will do the research first. I know I did and i very quickly saw that Sub is a last resort type of resolution. Dont get me wrong, it can help some out there; especially methadone people. But it isnt for your average opiate addict. It is dangerous and needs to be used perfectly for it to work or all you are doing is trading up on your addiction. I can write all day on this topic but last time I did it disappeared into thin air. Congrats on your sobriety and I do wish you all the strength in the world.