Advice on getting through 4-5 rough days

[Harmredux]

Hi all, I have been at t same dose of combo of oxy/hydro for 10 years, about 200mg a day (120 of it oxy) and it's basically impossible to get through the month. This month though is particularly bad because I am extra short.
I am tired of this. I need to work a few more years before retirement and so don't really want to pursue disability.
I have enough (I think?) subox for a few days, but I would have to be sick for like 48 hours before taking it, right? I tried once before around the 16 hour mark with bad results.
Should I let myself start getting sick Friday so I can take it M-W and get to work, or just use whatever I have left as slowly as possible and deal with wd for a week until I get refills and next month just deal with the pain and not withdrawals?

I drink too much as well, about 5 beers a day. Maybe not drinking will help? Pl don't suggest thc, I don't want to get high and it doesn't agree with me. I have high blood pressure from the pain and it just makes that worse and makes me feel depressed. Kratom just makes me jittery in the dosage I would need to cover my meds.

I am depressed and in pain and so tired of going through all this. I feel like I have reached the end of the rope trying to sort out everything. I don't have any sources for opes to buy on black market and I am not going to go cruise through the hood looking for alternatives.
So I can't think of anything besides trying the subox again or just being sick, in pain, and depressed for a week.

 

[Snafu in the Void]

How much suboxone do you have?

I would definitely stop drinking during this period, it will only make things worse. I would advise stopping alcohol altogether. If you are a chronic pain patient this is not helping you, daily alcohol (even just 5 beers) is going to produce chronic inflammation and high blood pressure, especially if you are older in age.

Drinking alcohol during opioid withdrawal is a disaster and epic anxiety/hangover.

 

[ĐmantuNJofra]

as you have high blood pressure can you get a clonidine from your doc, its a great med to add with a buprenorphine, it helped me with RLS, insomnia, it's not a miracle but it shouldn't be hard to get prescribed and mechanism of action is not like beta-blocker it's well you can wiki it.
From my experience is great med to calm the whole aut. nervous system, not a doctor just talking from my and experience from people around me f.e. my aunt is older and she was on couple blood pressure meds then she asked for clonidine as it's not on the list of meds but can be imported and she sleeps better and feel better

 

[Harmredux]

I have about 4-5 8mg strips. Tried clonodine, might even have some but the point here is whether or not to play the sub card for 3 days

 

[Harmredux]

>help< :/

 

[Opana313]

I am not sure if subs and alcohol are a good or bad combo but it doesn't seem like it helps being dependent on alcohol especially if you are switching to subs, this could had been reason for bad results previously?

Otherwise I say taper and stretch out what you have left and last as long as you can and then take the subs but I am not sure on how much you should really dose.

Also if things get too wild with cold sweats/diarrhea go and take loperamide(immodium) it says no more than 4 in a 24 hr period so I would try 3 or 4 and go from there. I've personally taken up to 6 or 7 spread out within 24hr period, it definitely kills alot of the withdrawal but imo it has it's own dysphoria.

 

[Harmredux]

Thanks. I was considering posting this in opiates because I really would benefit from some more advice about whether taking subs for 3-4 days is worth the cross tolerance it will create when I get refills on Wednesday.
I have so many responsibilities and I feel terrible about everything right now. Work. Family. Holiday things. My family are aware that I have problems making the full month last but it's like they don't care or just want to stick their head in the sand. I am not getting high, I am treating clear pathology from surgery.
I am trying not to be selfish and still making meals, driving kids around, getting to work, but I can't take this anymore. If I am in bed in pain and sick I get treated like a leper. I have never been in trouble with the law, kept a job without a single day jobless in 25+ years, and I am at the end of my rope. I am getting CBT therapy but

Right now I just need advice on whether or not to take this suboxone or just deal with the hate I am going to get for being in pain and sick for 3 days. Help!

 

[Opana313]

Well I take about 2mg every day sometimes 4mg BUT my D.O.C. is oxycodone..as soon as I get it I go ahead and dose but barely feel a tickle keeps me out of suboxone withdrawal..then a day or 2 in and higher dosing then I feel more of the euphoria but as far as switching from oxy to sub...for me personally I wait until I'm cold sweat rattling which FOR ME 24hrs works fine with no precipitated withdrawal.

 

[Harmredux]

I am afraid taking the sub will mess up pain relief I absolutely need from oxy, but I can't handle wd' ing again.

I know half is a mental thing. But let's say I get precipitated wd, how long before you can take more sub to get out of the precipitated wd?

 

[EPL1]

Hi all, I have been at t same dose of combo of oxy/hydro for 10 years, about 200mg a day (120 of it oxy) and it's basically impossible to get through the month. This month though is particularly bad because I am extra short.
I am tired of this. I need to work a few more years before retirement and so don't really want to pursue disability.
I have enough (I think?) subox for a few days, but I would have to be sick for like 48 hours before taking it, right? I tried once before around the 16 hour mark with bad results.
Should I let myself start getting sick Friday so I can take it M-W and get to work, or just use whatever I have left as slowly as possible and deal with wd for a week until I get refills and next month just deal with the pain and not withdrawals?

I drink too much as well, about 5 beers a day. Maybe not drinking will help? Pl don't suggest thc, I don't want to get high and it doesn't agree with me. I have high blood pressure from the pain and it just makes that worse and makes me feel depressed. Kratom just makes me jittery in the dosage I would need to cover my meds.

I am depressed and in pain and so tired of going through all this. I feel like I have reached the end of the rope trying to sort out everything. I don't have any sources for opes to buy on black market and I am not going to go cruise through the hood looking for alternatives.
So I can't think of anything besides trying the subox again or just being sick, in pain, and depressed for a week.

Hi Harmredux,

It's nice to come across a fellow pain patient, although I see you're having a hard time, as I sometimes do too.

I wanted to offer you my support, and feel free to pm me, if you ever need to talk.

Take care,

Ashley.

 

[Jabberwocky]

If it was me and I had the same fears of oxy plus hydro not working after reintroduction I would do the following. Check for withdrawal signs and once it hits 12 on COWS take 0,5mg of buperenorphine, wait few hours, then take another 0,5mg and do that until you hit the lowest amount of buprenorphine that keeps you just out of the hardest wothdrawal. If that is 3mg then I would dose 2mg the day after. Basically find the lowest dose of buprenorphine that will enable you to be miserable but functional. This way you would be on low dose of buprenorphine and you wouldn't have to wait long for your prescription opioids to start working when you get them. Another thing that could be useful is to take slow release medications that you have (presumably oxycodone but nevermind which) first and day before induction take imidiate release ones. This way you would have the best chance to quickly go into full on withdrawal cause neither oxy nor hydro last very long if they are not XR/SR formulated.

Regarding meds that can help you while you're waiting for withdrawal to start I would advise against any. Again my opinion and experience. They are welcome for sleep to keep you on the lowest dose of buprenorphine but will mask some withdrawal symptoms and you could end up waiting longer than needed. Once you get on buprenorphine then 3 days worth of pregabalin (be careful with the dose cause it lingers in the body following day) and some short acting benzodiazepine can be useful. If you get pregabalin use it when you get home from work so you're not impaired on work following day. And use "comfort meds", if you can, responsibly and only for the sleep. Drop them when youre going back in your prescription. Hope you pull this one off and I am very sorry that somebody close to retirement is dragged this way by the medical and law enforcement "communities". I wish you the smooth transitions. Take care!

 

[gigachud]

dude. if you have that much suboxone, youre fucking golden. that shit will get you a long way. wait at least 24 hours before you try taking any. just beyond the point when you get a runny nose and everything starts leaking. then take 2 mils. just cut a strip up. you should be able to get through an entire week with like 2 or three of those strips. afterwords, wait a while until you try taking any opioids. that naloxone is gonna cock block your pain meds. give it a day or so. 5 beers is a lot by any measure, ive been through this with a 18 beer a day habit. trust me it wont be an issue. youre not gonna wanna be anywhere near a fucking beer. load up on gatorade. get comfortable. you got this. nothing to sweat man, that suboxone is your ticket through this. no fucking problem. eh, get that blood pressure checked out though. drugs are hard on ya. take care of yourself.

 

[Jabberwocky]

@gigachud youre right but OP wants to take have the least disruption of his life when he gets his prescribed meds. He doesn't want to be in pain for 3 days waiting for the buprenorphine to leave hus system. Slight correction- buprenorphine is on it's own more than enough to block pretty much every other regularly prescribed opioid painkiller. Naloxone is there so people would not IV pills/strips. Buprenorphine is a mixed agonist-antagonist with high affinity at both mu and kappa opiate receptors. It also has long duration of action so if one takes too much of buprenorphine alone nothing (except maybe fentanyl) can brake through its grasp on mu opioid receptors in any significant amount for several days. I believe that that is OPs biggest concern - how to bridge till prescription without blocking mu receptor so muc that his pain meds can't help him for several days. But again, youre absolutely right in everything else.

 

[gigachud]

@gigachud youre right but OP wants to take have the least disruption of his life when he gets his prescribed meds. He doesn't want to be in pain for 3 days waiting for the buprenorphine to leave hus system. Slight correction- buprenorphine is on it's own more than enough to block pretty much every other regularly prescribed opioid painkiller. Naloxone is there so people would not IV pills/strips. Buprenorphine is a mixed agonist-antagonist with high affinity at both mu and kappa opiate receptors. It also has long duration of action so if one takes too much of buprenorphine alone nothing (except maybe fentanyl) can brake through its grasp on mu opioid receptors in any significant amount for several days. I believe that that is OPs biggest concern - how to bridge till prescription without blocking mu receptor so muc that his pain meds can't help him for several days. But again, youre absolutely right in everything else.

no youre totally right here and its a good point to make. theres some time between the pills and the bupe to be accounted for, and also the bupe to the pills. time which could potentially fucking suck. youre also correct in that the bupe alone is enough to block anything else and yes it will also take a bit to leave the system, but as long as hes not taking a ton and for a long time (which is not/will not), i dont suspect it will take a full 3 days to clear his system. this is just my subjective, and uninformed opinion, but i reckon he would be fine after a day. the short and long of this is that theres probably no great way to float through this without a little pain. if you use opiates, whether for fun or as prescribed, pain and wd is going to be a fact of life at some point. theres no clean way out of it. there just isnt. but like i said, as long as he has that much goddamn suboxone, hes golden. the shit is gonna be cake. this could be a lot worse. so much worse. count your fucking blessings op. godspeed.