Researching Suboxone

[InLoveWithButchie]

Please help me.  I am in love with a great guy.  He was a Heroin addict for 8 years.  He started suboxone on March 14th.  He gets 42 pills every two weeks.  Most of the time he takes two a day and sells the rest.  I have a serious issue with this.  I say that selling them is dealing, bottom line.  And he also will "hook up" his boss during the two weeks leaving himself short.  Tonight he is heading out to "cop" some suboxones to carry him and his boss over until his next doctor's visit on the 2nd.  I feel that he should tell his doctor he only needs two a day and then take them correctly.  None of this borrowing, buying, lending.  I feel it is still the same old drama of the drug chase.  And no, we don't need the money.

Also he refuses to read the forums here to become informed about the seriousness of not taking Suboxone correctly or how to taper off safely. One day he will take 1 1/2 and the next day he will take four.  And I think the doctor he sees is a quack who doesn't know a thing.  We pay him $100.00 cash for a six minute visit every two weeks.  He doesn't drug test him to see if he is taking the medication correctly.  Doesn't he understand that a maintenance program means monitoring.

Sorry for rambling.  I am so frustrated and scared.  I thought that the Suboxone would help him begin to feel stronger and more successfully as he starts to recover but instead he can't sleep at night, our sex life is suffering and he is often depressed.

I have been reading the forums for months now and I can't thank all of you enough for sharing.  I am hoping that you might write back to me and my guy and maybe if he hears it from others who are struggling, he will open his eyes to the seriousness of this medication.

God Bless All of You

[sw9281]

I have written extensively about Suboxone and related topics of Pain Drs, the manufacture of the drug, lack of education on proper intial dosages, then proper taper and followed by the w/d which for most is not as easy as the pain dr paints it to be. I can’t retype all my posts but please take the time to read them, mostly in the April and May period of this year.

My recommendation to you is to take over control of the situation if you can. You take the pills from him and dispense them to him. Create a sensible taper program. For example he is being given 3 pills a day and I assume they are 8 mg due to his severe addiction. This is a high dose, the FDA recommends starting out no higher than 16 mg. But your circumstance is unique and 24 mg may be okay. The key is to develop a taper schedule and track it day by day. For example drop the dosage by 2 mg every 7 days until you get down to 8 mg a day. From that point drop 1 mg a day every 7 days until down to 2 mg and then cut buy ½ mg per day until the taper is finished. Then he will have to deal  with about 3 tough weeks of w/d usually starting to ease after 10 days or so. Everyone is different so there are no set rules. The FDA did not have any research on tapering when they allowed this drug to be used in the USA. What I show above is an example of how a taper program would work, but you may alter this to a faster or slower taper based on how the taper is proceeding.

I have just done this myself. My pain dr did not prepare me for taper or w/d. After a couple of weeks of 16 mg on subs I realized he wanted me to stay on this dose for months and then start to taper. I said thanks but no thanks and tapered off the subs over a 64 day period. Then I had 10 terrible days of w/d followed by another 10 slightly better days until I was able to see the rainbow at the end of the tunnel. I am now 2 months off the subs and would say I am as close to 100% as I will get. I was on opiates for 5 years before trying the subs. Although I had to figure out the sub taper and w/d issues by myself (and the help of this board) I had good results by using Subs.

But my mindset was in a different place than your boyfriend. I made a commitment to myself and my wife not to fail. I was singlely focused on no matter what happened I would not allow any outcome than success. He needs to be able to visualize himself off off drugs including suboxone for this program to work. If he does not see this as a likely outcome it will be at best a struggle to be successful.

I am not a dr. I am a corporate finance guy who did a lot of research on this topic when I started to feel a little better. Again if you read all my stuff you will find out things about suboxone you will not find elsewhere. I think this info can help you and others finding out the hard way that subs do not have enough info available for us, the pain drs do not even know what they don’t know, and  it is hard but it can be done. Suboxone allowed me to gain my life back.

Good luck and I hope this helps you some.

[worried878]

it was kinda obvious from ur post that he did not do this willingly...and u r right..do not let someone ruin ur life if they do not plan to make some changes...this stuff dont get any better..only worse as time goes on...everyone has a different bottom they must hit in order to convince themselves it is time to let go...maybe sumpin will happen to make him realize the wasted life he is living..it may come down to losing u to make him decide to quit..or it may take a whole lot more...addicts r good at manipulating so until he proves himself to be clean for quite a while i would not believe a word he says if u leave and he tries to get u back by quitting again...u really gotta think about urself and ur life and ur future...if it were me//and i met "me" a few yrs ago i would run like he11...and it sounds as tho this guy is in pretty deep...he will possibly wake up one day and smell the roses...but u will not be one of those roses if he takes too long about it!

There r groups for things like this...to help those who love an addict or alcoholic..it may help..u can listen and learn...decide where u r at and where u wanna be...prayers r with u and i try and always follow my heart..cept in a situation like this..then u gotta use ur brain..good luck

[avisg]

He is dealing and using it is absulte addictive behavior .I would really wonder if he was not using sometimes.You deserve so much more then this plz take care of your self ...

[cathy5841]

i totally agree with worried, he is still using addictive behaviors.  in order to make it in recovery you have to change your friends and your lifestyle...you need an aftercare program....and then it is still very hard to stay clean.  i can tell you if i hung out with the ppl i did oxys with i would be back on them...you have to work at recovery, it dont just come to you.  if i were you i would run...addicts are notorious for lying and believing it themselves and making you believe it....good luck to you!

[InLoveWithButchie]

Thanks for writing.  He has been on probation for 19 months.  He came up dirty for coke, dope & weed in March.  He went to detox and then began the Suboxone.   He is off probation in 18 weeks and I am scared he will go right back to Heroin since, as you say, he still leads an addicts life.  He is still in contact with the "boys" he used to run with.

I can honestly say I love him but I love me more and if he continues this behavior or starts to use again, I will kiss him good-bye, wish him the best of luck and walk away.

[worried878]

it sounds as tho he has not let the "addict" behavior go as of yet..he is probably wd free at this point but mentally it doesnt sound as if he is takin this seriously..is he going to meetings or receiving some sort of aftercare?  i anm sposing they r 8 mg subs and not 2 mg subs....which would put him at a 16 mg dose since he sells the other pill he gets each day....he would be wise to stash his extras cos there is a good chance he may relapse when he gets off the sub at the rate he is going so he may need them again...but it is best to go thru a dr and a program always..but if u r not honest with ur dr about where u r at with recovery, how can he really help ur hubby?  dishonesty and manipulation are 2 parts of addictive personalities and he is still practicing dishonest..and most of us have been dishonest with our dr on more than one occasion...but part of recovery is changing addictive behaviors

He should really be the one posting..but he is realy lucky to have u..it is obvious u love him very much..and he did take a big step by getting on the sub....was he forced to quit or was it a voluntary thing?