Suboxone Abuse (Page 5)
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My son has been on suboxone for over 1 year now. He was a herion addict for over 12 years. Been clean off and on during that time. I have seen a personality change in him which is almost intolerable. It is like he is fine one minute and then goes off the wall the next. Has anyone who has been on suboxon or knows someone who has been seen a personality change.

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Thanks so much for your reply. We will give it a try...YT

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I am enrolled in a new suboxone trial starting Mon. 8/13/2011. Does anyone know what I might expect; such as the medication itself; testing of blood etc. Also any information would be helpful. I am now on the strips and have been on subs for about two months

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Bill,

At your wife's next dr appt ask your dr if he has any room left on the Patient Assistance Program. Each dr is allowed 3 patients. It will pay for the medication for a full year. Google it if you want to get a head start on the paperwork. Good luck with it.

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My wife has been taking sub (under the tongue) for almost 2years now. She was addicted to Morphine which was prescribed for rhuematoid arthritis in her neck. I'm trying now to find a way to get her off it. Our insurance refuses to cover it and it is costing me over $500/mo, which is more than our mortgage payment!
On top of that, I have now become disabled and must wait 5-7 months to see if social security will accept and pay me my due...fingers crossed but in the meantime, must live off savings and the cost of the sub is killing it.
Anyone, any thoughts please?

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Ink,

If there's any other questions you have feel free to ask and I'll try to answer. Subs are just one of many tools your husband will use in his road to recovery. Coming off subs completely is definitely a good goal. Addiction is tough on everyone involved- ESPECIALLY spouses. I'm sorry you're going thru this.

Just keep doing what you're doing- ask questions and get as much knowledge as you can. One thing about addicts is we're pretty good at bulls***ting the ones we love. I can honestly say that NOW, I appreciate my wife getting involved even though at the time I didn't.

Hang in there. :-)

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Nogroovin
thank you so very much for taking the time to answer my questions and helping to figure out some of the answers to my my crazy life. ; ) you have helped me out more than you know.
i have a million more questions and hopefully they will get answered over time tooooo !!
i truly wish you the best in your recovery process.......you are only as strong as YOU believe yourself to be .much luck and good ju ju to you.

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Inkmaster (cool name),

I decided it was time to try to taper because I had spent time working on my recovery (rebuilding relationships, undoing some of the damage I did while in active addiction etc etc) and was seeing the positive results from that work. I began not only feeling normal, but actually forgetting to take my subs at times. That's a good thing. When you go from living to take pills and get high to forgetting its time to take your meds that means they're working.

They're really is no downside to long term suboxone use. The side effects are minimal when the dose is correct (same as any other opioid- constipation, initial drowsiness etc etc), and there's been no evidence of long term effects. The upside is the addict gets to work on their recovery, put their life back together etc etc.

Yes, people on suboxone are absolutely dependent on it and they WILL suffer withdrawals if they stop too quickly. But that's no different than any anti depressant or beta blocker, or any other med taken daily over a period of time. But there is a huge difference between dependent & addicted. Addicted is when you're risking your livelihood, freedom, relationships, home and so on.

Suboxone helps many people and I honestly would have no issue if either myself, or another family member of mine, tried to go without the suboxone and decided the risk of relapse were too high and went with long term suboxone treatment.

Thanks for the nice words- I am proud- staying sober is going to be a challenge but I think I'm up for it. :-).

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nogroovin
i agree with you to an extent. taking something "less addictive" , for a small period of time, to get through the worst of things is completely understandable. you did 4 months and worked you way down. that sounds, to me, completely normal and logical. (you HAVE to feel amazingly proud of yourself right now.... and YOU SHOULD !!!!)
i , also, agree with ......if you begin to crave, want, need whatever you have been addicted to ..... return to the suboxone, for another short period of time.
but ............i am terribly confused on how you would ever KNOW if you can make it with out the suboxone, if you never TRY ?? it is scary ... for the addict, BUT also for the FAMILY/FRIENDS. I have tried my hardest to be as supportive as possibe, and am trying to gain the knowledge needed to find a clear path to clean living after the massive destrction caused in our home .
i do not want to force ANYTHING at this point.
how did YOU, PERSONALLY , know that after 4 months you were ready to get off the suboxone? was it your choice or the way your medical provider prescribes??
thank you for answering me and taking me as "concerned" , not "mean".

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Inkmaster,
You're not an addict. You don't have that dreaded, rotten gene that causes addiction. You're lucky. Addiction is a disease- sometimes you have to look at the consequences of NOT treating your disease. If a pill (or film) per day keeps a person out of active addiction what's so bad about that?

If a person had cholesterol, or high blood pressure, you wouldn't question why they took a pill everyday would you? Same concept for some addicts. Addiction is a disease (this isn't opinion, it's been proven as a fact already) and sometimes it needs to be treated that way- medically.

If your husband is having side effects maybe he should consult with his dr. As with any medication a certain % of people will have side effects & need to adjust their dose accordingly. I was on suboxone for exactly 4 months & tapered off. I've been off completely since march but if I were to have severe cravings, or felt my sobriety was in jeopardy, I'd have no problem going back on suboxone. I've lived the alternative & I won't take that chance again by not treating my disease.

Did that answer your question? I hope it makes a little more sense to you now. I know it can seem strange to non-addicts. I respect that.

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MY HUSBAND IS AN ADDICT ( PILLS), NOT MYSELF. i am not judging ... just questioning.
why would you all not want to be free and clear of all of this>?? all drugs, subs, meths, etc? i guess what i mean is... why not taper down? some of you ( i read all 121 comments) have been taaking the suboxone for YEARS .... is there a method to this madness?
my husband has no personality left... no feelings, no happy place. it hurts me and it has to hurt him.
i want him back and i want to hear from someone that actually QUIT taking everything and how they are doing.

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My experience with Percipitated Withdraws is as follows:

Oxycodone takes 12 hours to get out of my system . I wait 12 hours after taking a dose .....then take suboxone and have never had an issue . The 72 hour wait period is one of the MANY lies the " addiction " doctor tried to pass off as fact .

The one drug that stays in your system longer than expected is Fentanyl . My experience with the synthetic pain killlers leads me to believe a longer wait is neccessary .....24 hours at least . I stick with Oxycodone . I was on Fentanyl for a few months and did experience percipitated withdraw and that was the last time I ever took " the patch " .

IMHO the reason people keep taking narcs is because they don't wanna withdraw . If everybody could get Suboxone folks could stop taking narcs .

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Cookievdjqp...How's your progress getting off the Subs? Is your doc tapering you off? You might be right and I may regret this choice, but for now, Suboxone is like an antidepressant that actually works!

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Doesn't make sense to me switching back and forth and the suboxone should help with pain, When switching to suboxone you should be withdrawing from the opiates otherwise you can experiance precipitated withdrawals. Why not just take a 3 - 4 day holiday from the opiates every few weeks, and stick to the one medication.

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Yes, makes sense. Thank you. Hope you get totally out of pain soon. Best wishes.

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If I was using my pain meds as perscribed I would be forced to take them EVERYDAY . I'm not in pain all the time...maybe two weeks in a row....This has been going on for four years . I take the meds , switch to suboxone for a few weeks once the pain subsides . If it wasn't for suboxone I'd be forced to stay on the narcs so I wouldn't withdraw . Make sense ?
edzll

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glad you are getting better but i have a question. if you are using your pain meds as perscribed why do you go into withdrawal?

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I spent 7 months in the hospital . One of the results was a massive narcotic addiction . After a few months out of the hospital I went to an addiction doctor to get suboxone . This guy was pure scum . He could have cared less about my situation . He just wanted my money .

I was able to develope some connections in my ctiy's blackmarket and was able to buy as much suboxone as I needed for CHEAPER than I could get them legally .Therefore I told the addiction doctor to go to hell ...where I'm sure he will end up ....and got my subs from the blackmarket .

I still have a perscription for narcotics...and take them when I need them .....and use suboxones so I don't have to go thru withdraw in between pain issues .

I have no problems with mood swings etc . Suboxone is a life saver .

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JKT - I am a little confused with these posts and the order of replies> it is not always clear. For who is your post?

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Well said! Another "latest & greatest cure"; we've been down this road before. Those that succeed in kicking a habit usually decide and go "cold turkey"! Most of these opiate substitutes are for "official" pain management entities and are always more costly than the last "latest/greatest" agent.

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Suboxone is Buprenorphine HCl and naloxone HCl and is typically used for opioid addiction. buprenorphine is an opioid antagonist and naloxone is a agonist. Go to Wiki or google for the details. i believe that there is a potential to overdose when taking Suboxone and heroin.

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