Opioids Is subutex/suboxone the answer for junkies?

[uptinglesdown]

Alright so basically I used to be a pretty bad heroin addict, I mean i'm talking 30 over doses, 3 deaths (yea I died from that shit), and kept using for years in New york with my current fiance. Art school was very..not accepting, but tolorent of the rampent drug use in the school and nobody ever said anything (because most of the teachers at this school probably have used it before at some time in their lives) Anyway, years later I end up moving back to florida and snag as many xanax and oxys I could! It was awesome, until I ran out and couldnt pass a drug test at the doctor. I went to a methadone clinic..it was a long wait list so I said fuck it i'll find a old doctor. Somebody said they had a lot of luck with subutex (or suboxone for those that like that extra neloxone bullshit filler, ha). Life started to turn around for me at this point, no more sleeping in abandoned squats and under bridges for me. One day I realized you could IV the subutex! Holy fuck, all my troubles melted away, deja vu it felt just like dope only a lot weaker, but still in some ways similar. As days went on I travelled all around amerikca, i've lived in almost every major city, and now reside in SF (fuck this place die techie scum! in all seriousness do not move to SF unless you have a job offer here. Its horrible and EXPENSIVE compared to NY, even miami is better than here. Thats not important though the point is i've been fighting the subutex dragon for over 5 years (mixed with my script of 2mg xANAX) It keeps me off dope as I do have 1.5 yrs clean off heroin, just Too many of my friends have passed away from it so I cant recommend going down that rabbit hole, but if you do always use with a friend!! have narcan (they give it out at needle exchanges free!) You dont know how many times ive saved someone who would have been fucked in the middle of the wooods without the narcan shot. In all seriousness, I can't help but think I'm just replacing heroin with a socially acceptable version of it(aka subutex)? Perhaps. I guess what really matters is I havent had an OD in years so at least I got that. It took a lot of trial and error to get that heroin monkey off my back, one of the hardest things i've ever dealt with. I'm no pro or anti heroin, it's a drug like any other and the person is gonna do it no matter what you say, the best way to keep them alive is to be around them and not isolate them and let them be alone, that happens so often. Anyway I got a lot of stories of travel sorts to tell but i'm tired and that sub is making me hungry. (subutex is an opiate antagonist so I wasnt sure which prefix to pick)

 

[My3sons]

I did the same thing my first time around. I started shooting suboxone which led back to a relapse. For me methadone worked out much better. It was way more strict and controlled which I needed. Forced me to change my ways until the habit was broken and I was over other addictions that go along with IV use. It's been 9 months for me and I honestly feel great. I'm totally stable on mmt, don't crave dope or the needle anymore. I personally like methadone better. I was able to fuck around with the subs too much.

 

[strity1994]

Look at the facts on paper. U haven't had a od in yrs, still alive and off the dope. Thats awesome dude.

 

[Burnt Offerings]

For those who absolutely need an opioid in their lives, yes, it could be the answer. It's undoubtedly better than a needle full of street drugs in your arm.

But for those who want to break free from opioids on a long term/permanent basis? It's an imperfect and temporary solution at best.

 

[Screaming_Skull]

It hasn't been for me... I have struggled, tons of relapses. I start on 16mg a day of the films, went down to 8. My dose was never steady. I usually took 4-8mg SL. Then I started slamming the strips, taking whatever else I could get my hands on. I slammed them to get a stockpile going, and do have some to trade for nerve pills/gas money etc...also slammed them to get a glow at least with each dose. Well, all the slamming to save was working, until 40 just got stolen recently(my xtra a to taper if I HAD to, like getting kicked outta the program for pissing for weed, which almost happened last month) sooo I woke up fed up with slamming and plugged 4mg today, I have only 18 now, as I use to always have atleast 60! So pissed. So next visit I hope everything goes ok, gonna ask to get bumped up to the 12mg strips. My insurance only covers till December. Only reason I'm in trouble is cuz of weed, which the doctor said would be ok if I was in a state where it was legal(wtf?!) I've been on it 3 years, thinking of going to poppies or methadone. I would be just fine with methadone and gabapentin(again my doc said it was ok to to take the GABA, but she would not write it i would have to go to another doctor...wtf again! I have crappy insurance so that's just another bill to this 225 a month visit. But I'm with ya, what kept me from using was slamming them and having my nerve pills or gabapentin at least. Know if I go on done benzos are a no no so hope the GABA will be ok, if not I take phenibut, but prefer the GABA as it works better for my anxiety...neway, THREE YEARS with this doctor, she new I smoked but always blamed it on 2nd hand smoke(lol) and now wants to kick me out if it comes up again. Also will not write me the GABA to save me another bill. I'm fed up, Dsnt help 40 or so were stolen. Soo poppyseed or done here I come. I think the clinic being more strict would actually help me. Neway, rant over. Edit: will probly be pods if I go that route, I have no experience with seeds. Did have a pod hAbbit a few times(in the glory days of them being cheap, to what they are now?. No experience with seeds. If I go that route at least I can smoke bud and take some nerve pills if I want to. My 2nd go round with pods I switched over to Kratom, rough week but I adjusted. Then just used iv morphine/roxis with it, then went on subs. My opiates of choice were the iv morphine/roxis, and norcos/percocets by the handfull, no heroin in my area, dope here is known as crystal..

 

[InfamousPsychonaut]

Yes it is a god send... with that being send that godsend is short lived, because coming off of suboxone is one of the worst things you
could imagine.
So if you plan on staying on it for life it could be the answer. I had to get off of it and it was terrible, but I didn't want a crutch like that forever.

 

[keeping]

kinda, i mean as answers go its not the best case scenario.. fyi that would be an instant detox&tolerance reset via a wonderful cleansing enema applied by cara delevigne.

medical science has some way to go til then i guess..

 

[MrRoot]

I've been doing a ton of research on buprenorphine lately as I am about to start ORT as soon as there is room in the facility in which it is started (this or next week).

I've been addicted to oxycodone for years with one rehab and lots of taperings and cold turkeys on my own. I can deal with the acute withdrawals easily but the post acute phase is much worse for me and I relapse after weeks. Also I need some kind of pain management for the rest of my live so ORT is an option for that too.

What I have gathered around buprenorphine works damn well for cravings and the anxiety which always comes to me during PAWS so I am quite sure I will benefit from buprenorphine opiate replacement therapy.

 

[Ilove2nod]

Although i love bupe and believe it is the answer for some people, i also know i have an addiction to it now since starting maintenance over 4 years ago. I have relapsed a few times binging on oxy, H, and dilaudid for anywhere from weeks to months at a time, then getting back on subs. My last relapse was like 6-8 months ago i think, and i did H for like a week after coming into some good money and finding some really good ECP. Since then i have abstained from all full agonist opioids and just taken my sub. I cant say bupe has made my life better though because now i am addicted to IV subutex and cannot go back to taking it any other way, as i find it works so much better and you get the 100% BA from IV. I also take klonopin with it on a daily basis. And sometimes do coke of any kind both soft and hard if i have the money, and just recently started taking Adderall for my adhd. So basically when i was fully addicted to opioids it was only opioids. but since being on subs i have become a poly drug addict, the only thing about bupe that is better for me at the moment is i save a lot of money and it is not nearly as dangerous as full agonists, since i take less than 8mg a day, even mixing benzos and stims with it, i think its less of a danger and i save money and don't have to worry about being dopesick everyday. So its helped me but also hurt me at the same time, but i am stuck now, if i were to try and get off subs, i would no doubt relapse on opioids and still have a benzo addiction and stim addiction along with it and that would be dangerous to mix everyday. I am always going to be a junkie of some kind and have learned to accept that. And since being on klonpin and Adderall as well as bupe, i have become much more productive, so its a very conflicting situation.

 

[Screaming_Skull]

I to have become waaay more of a poly drug addict. Before maintaince it was just weed and opiates. Since weed was a no no I started taking Xanax/Klons/gabapentin/and phenibut. I rarely touched benzos while doing opiates. Started to iv cuz it gave me a glow and when I relapsed I wldnt blow thru all my money as I can feel another opiate fully 12 hours later. JUST started plugging again but already wanna go back to iv cuz now I'm really craving other opiates, guese the whole nor bupe thing maybe??? I dnt wanna start again unless I have micron filters but probly am. Plus bupe helped physical but not mental cravings until I started to iv and take with benzos or gabapentin or both. Was just reading it's popular to shoot bupe and zanaflex together sumewhere..sure it blows but now I wanna try it.. Bah. This is why I'm thinking of going to done', kiss benzos goodbye and get on gabapentin as it helps my anxiety, or start opium tea again so I can smoke weed and dnt have to put up with doctors. Plus also as I said my insurance is running out neway unless she will switch me to subtext I cnt afford subs and no insurance.

 

[Kramathin]

Suboxin was amazing when I was able to get it. DEA put a choke hold on it here in AZ, and pretty much have to be an IV user who is pregnant to get ahold of it. But it always got me up and out of bed when I didn't have heroin, and somewhat normal feeling. The urge to get high was always there. It worked when it got me well enough to call a dealer, slammed some shit and didn't feel a thing. In some cases I think I tricked myself into thinking I got high while on suboxin, but I honestly don't think I did. I would really suggest not IVing the stuff though. I've had the extremes of both ends, getting high off it, then most/worst times I remember is going into immediate withdrawal moments after I pushed the plunger. When I took it correctly I was able to successfully get off herion and live a drug free life... For a while. A lot of bullshit (alcohol is the devil available at most stores, stay away!!!!!) has happened since then and have gotten back into heroin (dealers are also not your friends, don't ever kid yourself into thinking so) But I would chop off my left arm for 8mg suboxin too get clean again. Methadone never worked for me, it's called liquid handcuffs for a reason~ good luck, hope any of that helps.

 

[ErgicMergic]

For those who absolutely need an opioid in their lives, yes, it could be the answer. It's undoubtedly better than a needle full of street drugs in your arm.

But for those who want to break free from opioids on a long term/permanent basis? It's an imperfect and temporary solution at best.

this^

 

[Treefa]

Despite the propaganda commonly believed about drug addicts, no 2 junkies are alike!!

There's all kinds of areas of shaded gray.

For somebody like OP, yeah I can see Subs being a Godsend. For some of my friends, Subs have been a Godsend.

However, for someone like myself, Suboxone provides too much of a buzz, and not enough pain-relif, which I need. So while it can prevent withdrawals, even make me feel pretty decent, my pain is still much more intense than it would be on a full agonist. So for that reason I try to stick with full agonists as much as possible.

I don't do Heroin though, and I think if somebody's on Heroin, they might as well switch to subs. Even if it's only because of how dirty, cut etc....American heroin is, that would be a good enough reason for me. Subs are at least clean, accurately dosed...pure.

However, I think if people are on Rx pain pills, they should just be prescribed an adequate amount(assuming they function on the meds, and don't compulsively increase the dose for no reason) of pain meds, as to not create pseudo-addiction which, I believe, is becoming increasingly more common as doctors cut back on the amount of Rx's they write for pain meds. Thus creating a whole other genre of drug addict....which is really a shame. These kind are the kind who are really in pain, but due to red tape, they get either shuffled off to alternative pain management, forced off meds altogether, or switched to suboxone, and all because their doctors are ignorant cowards, basically. These patients often have to resort to the street to get their meds, thus feeding the growing black market, and the rising prices of pain meds in said market.
People in pain should be treated...Period.

There's also the "addicts" I've read about on other forums, LOL some of these people....they'll take 5mg Vicodin 4X a day for a month for dental work, then they start worrying they're addicted (because they've been conditioned to), go and research it(poorly). Then they come back with all this info about "Suboxone" and start threads asking if they should go on suboxone to get off Vicodin...like LOL am I right.
Those kinds of "addicts" sure as hell don't need Suboxone....though it would be funny to watch em' get completely smashed off 2mg and puke all over the place, lol.
Lol some people don't even have any business taking baby aspirin, much less Suboxone.

See OP there's all kinds. Suboxone is very right for many(like my buddy, now on Subs for a year, doing quite well), and very wrong for most(like the last example). You know yourself, but nobody knows everybody.

I think Subs are ESPECIALLY helpful to people who chronically Overdose, compulsively raise their dose for a buzz, and the like. That is a symptom of serious addiction and craving, which Suboxone can pretty much eliminate, when used correctly.

Good luck

 

[Nether Animal]

I came off of more than one moderate heroin habit using neurontin alone.... that and lyrica are godsends and aren't opioids. Try it.

I've been IV heroin user for over seven years and I can count the number of times I've taken suboxone/methadone on one hand.