Hey, no I'm in the uk. Seems here that subutex is prescribed more than suboxone which is strange! Yeah I have my routine too, always make sure my teeth are clean etc, I don't smoke until about ten mins after tabs absorbed. Mine absorb really quickly, I don't know how people manage to keep it there for twenty mins! I must have a juicy mouth haha! Good luck on your detox
Hiya. Im a fellow female heroin addict from the UK. I found your thread doing a Google search.
Can I ask what your previous heroin usage and ROI was? Coz to be on 12mg a day you must have either had a huge habit for a very long time, or, as is more likely, you've got a completely clueless doctor.
Less is most definitely more when it comes to subutex. And by less I mean waaaay less than 12mg.
I don't want to scare anyone reading this I just want people to know the score about sub before they get on subutex in the first place or get put on a dose that's too high. Being on a dose that's too high can make you feel terrible and even longterm iv addicts mostly only need 2-4mg a day.
I was subutex naive when I went into rehab. I had a 6 bag a day IV habit. They put me on a rapid taper that went like this:
Day 1 8mg
Day 2 7mg
Day 3 6 mg
Day 4 5 mg
Day 5 4 mg
Day 6 3 mg
Day 7 2mg
Day 8 1mg
Day 9 0.5mg
Day 10 finish
I spent the next week feeling like I'd found the miracle cure for heroin withdrawal. Yep you know what's coming right? A week later I was in hospital because the withdrawals kicked in so badly I couldn't even keep a sip of water down. I had to shuffle across the floor on my bum like a baby because I had literally 0 energy and was crazy dizzy.
The rehab I was in was one of the "best" in the country, certainly one of the most expensive but let me tell you clueless isn't the word. Being a 12 step based rehab most of the therapists and house managers are all ex addicts/alcoholics. As an example of how great this rehab was one of the house managers in charge of dispending the meds laughed at me when I told her that subutex is an opioid. Being abstinence based 12 step rehab the only other meds allowed during the stay was 6 zopiclone! Thats in totality not per week. I wasnt even allowed anything apart from metaclopramide (? think that's what is called... for nausea and vomiting). The doctor actually prescribed a tiny dose of lygactil because at tiny doses it doesnt give the usual doped up effect it just stops you being sick. It's a horrible feeling where you do still actually vomit but it stops before it comes out of the mouth if that makes sense. But when the rehab director found out he stopped me from taking it! I was projectile vomiting and he just over rode the advice of a doctor!. During group therapy which was 7 hours every day i was so poorly i couldn't sit on the chair. One of the therapists told me in front of the group that he thought i was faking the withdrawals for attention because you don't withdraw from subutex! He was even an ex heroin addict but before subs were available and he'd been on methadone so you'd think he would have had more empathy.
During clucking i was also expected to cook for the other 8 housemates and do my share of housework. Im not complaining about these things per se I'm just trying to draw attention to how utterly clueless even so called professionals are when it comes to subutex. I was even told that my experience of feeling depressed post heroin/subutex was abnormal lol. This experience made me try to find out as much about this medication that because of clueless doctors nearly killed me.
Anyway my point for posting is really as a warning to anyone who is about to go onto subutex and who's doctor has started them at a dose of 8mg or more. 8mg is a huge dose of subutex. Shit 4mg is a huge dose of subutex. They give late stage cancer patients something like 1mg a day ffs.
If anyone is looking to get high from their subutex obviously they're not ready to quit their DOC in which case they should do themselves a favour and just stay on it until serious about quitting because unless they've got a really caring doctor, getting on the subs will likely be a decision they will come to regret.
Please don't think I'm demonising subs. Im not. It truly is a good thing IF the prescribing doctor is knowledgeable and sadly most aren't. In fact people on these forums probably have more of a clue. In order to be licensed to prescribe subs a doctor has to complete a short online course and by short I mean hours.
Admittedly opiate addicts who have been on it for years and who've tried everything else might benefit from subutex maintenance but people with small habits who have only been at it a while have no business being put on subs for longer than a few days.... and those few days should not resemble the protocol they put me on. Subs have a 72 hour half life and if I was any good at maths I would work out how much sub was in my system when I stopped taking it. But I'm betting it was significantly higher than the 0.12mg dose that's recommended to jump off of lol.
I've detox ed since from a hefty iv heroin habit with one single 8mg pill. If you're ready to quit and can put up with minimal WDs you should consider this route. Of course the usual applies regarding having a good support system in place for after withdrawal. I think that sometimes having to go to the chemist every day or every week etc just keeps you in the drug life mindset. I'd personally rather get the WD out of the way and get on with life . I think that's why 12 steps/NA never really helped me. Being told that I would die a hopeless addict unless I went to meetings most days for the rest of my life didn't help.
Anyway I hope that this post gets even one person to think carefully about getting on sub longterm and i hope everyone who wants to get off the opiates does so and finds all the happiness there is to be had in life.
Love Phoebe x
