Suboxone Induction: I'm Scared And Worried
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Hi, my story in a nutshell, I caught a major and rare infection a few years ago and almost died. Lost a lot of tissue on foot and ankle and causes pain every day. Got home after a couple months in hospital, slipped and fell, broke my hip. After several orthopedic surgeries to try to fix the broken hip they finally did a full hip replacement. Lots of bone surgeries means lots of pain pills. I switched to a pain management doc cuz ortho was writing huge percoset scrips and we were worried about the acetaminophen/liver damage. PM doc put me on OxyContin plus oxycodone for breakthrough pain. I started going up in milligrams, of course, as efficacy worsened. Then I needed to have surgery on my other (good) hip for a torn labrum (kinda like the ACL in your knee). Needed to see a specialist for that surgery, snd he would not prescribe any narcotics since I have a pain doctor. So I had to take lots more of my prescribed meds to beat back the post-operative and PT pain. So I was gonna run out before the end of the month / refill at pain doc, who wouldn't up my meds levels. So, running short, I had to start augmenting my regular oxy scrips with street-bought oxy. And then I couldn't go back down in med levels. Then came the day when my dealer guy didn't have any oxy for sale just H. So to avoid the withdrawals I added it to my stable, thinking one heavy duty narcotic is the same as another. I only used a little bit, but if course that started going up too. Used it insufflutated, never any IV/needles. Now I've reached the end of the line, depression, guilt, anxiety, self-loathing.... I decided enough is enough and I gotta get clean or end up dead or in jail. I have an appointment Wedbesday with a suboxone doc that I picked after a lot of research - not a sketchy junkie joint but a seemingly kind professional who is reportedly kind, treats the whole person, counseling, etc. So..... my question is... if I am on maybe 800mg or more of oxy a day, or sorta the equivalent in H, will the suboxone replacement work? My fear is the sub won't fill all the receptors, I'll end up withdrawing and not able to take anything to compensate the WD. Not from inducing too early and getting precipitated, but simply because the sub won't be strong enough. Is this possible? And, if I am withdrawing because the sub isn't enough, what would happen if I took oxy or worse on top of the sub, would it help take away any residual sickness? And if so, would I have to wait a long time to then essentially re-induce back on the sub? That's it! I'm hopeful to start a new drug free life but scared about this transition....

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Hi Verwon, yes my question is, what about the 'ceiling effect' I've read about? If I induct, and the sub doesn't fill the receptors enough, isn't it likely I would go into withdrawal and have no way to prevent it or help it? I just want to get clean and I can't do an inpatient stay....

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The doctor should adjust your dosage of Suboxone according to how much of the other drugs you were taking to prevent the withdrawals and cravings from them.

And no, you won't be able to take anything on top of the Suboxone, it contains Naloxone, which neutralizes other narcotics, to prevent their abuse, while someone is being treated with it.

This is a narcotic analgesic, so it has the potential to be habit forming and may cause side effects, such as nausea, dizziness, drowsiness, dry mouth and constipation.

Are there any other questions or concerns?

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