Bupe Suboxone/Buprenorphine FAQ and Megathread v.1; 2007 - 2010

[KnowBudz]

I got on suboxone after trying to taper off 270mg/methadone/day by myself. I got below 80 before having problems, went to a bupe doc who started me at 16mg/day.
I had to fill it at friggin' Walgreen's and it was $8.78 for 60 8/2 tabs.
I was using both for a while trying to hold myself, byut gradually made the switch.
It was NOT an easy thing! While I'm adjusting well, I still feel a bunch of side effects after dosing....nausea, hot/cold flashes, diahhrea.
The stuff works, but it f you're stable on the dollies...stay with them!

 

[Carl Landrover]

I'm surprised that you have to give a blood test to use Suboxone. You don't even have to do that to get on state sponsored methadone here.

Every 3 months (maybe every 12 weeks?) I have to take a piss and blood test and I had to do that initially when I first started.

This is probably a stupid question, but they can't check liver function from your piss can they? If not, I think the blood test is more to check out liver function than anything.

Why would a doctor want to drug test you before he puts you on Suboxone? Isn't it a given that you've been using drugs anyway, hence needing to be put on the bupe? Must suck to have such a nitpicky doctor...

I just made an appointment with my doctor, walked in and walked out within 15 minutes with my new prescription.

Suboxone can be sold pretty easily, the doctor wants to make sure that it actually needs to be prescribed and that you're actually taking it.

 

[TDogUSA]

No, actually ive been on 4/6mg for only a few weeks. I fucked up, because I was on 2mg and then I started IVing the bupe, so my tolerance has gone up.

That is strange, only 2 days apart you and I. And yeah, the price is terrible, but its better than any other "price" id be paying without it, know what I mean?

I must say, I am totally envious of that methadone you have. Id actually prefer to be on methadone at this point in time simply because it could provide a little more of a high for me, but really I shouldnt be saying that. Im sort of hypocritical when it comes to this whole issue. I think if you are getting clean, you should get clean for real, but then again I still try to get high every now and then. I guess you can say I definitley do not practice what I preach. Do as I say, not as I do. That sorta thing.

Anyways, keep in touch. Its cool being in something like this with someone else. PM me anytime.

IMO suboxone is better than methadone when it comes to long term treatement. I wen fom suboxone maint. to methadone maint., then back to suboxone maint. Suboxone is easier to get and produces better effects IMO than methadone (in long term use), since with methadone maint. you have to go to a clinic everyday and after 2 weeks (usually less IME) you stop feeling the "nice" effects. true people could say the same thing about suboxone, but IME suboxone has just been easier to deal with plus you can take it 2 or 3 times a day unlike on meth maint.
not sure if this is on topic or makes any sense, but i am in a chatty mood. PM me if you have any ?????'s

 

[sixpartseven]

^ i totally agree suboxone is better for long term maintenence. With methadone, the daily trips to the clinic would be the first thing that would turn me off of the whole idea. If I didnt have suboxone as another option, Id go straight back to the streets. Methadone is good if you wanna detox quickly, but suboxone is better. IMO, suboxone is better than methadone in every aspect when it comes to quitting opiates. Yeah, methadone can provide a high, but that isnt part of quitting opiates, is it? Not in my book. I see a future where suboxone runs methadone out. I dont really see methadone having any benefit over suboxone.

And no one can say that because of some peoples high tolerance to methadone that they cant use suboxone. First, all you ahve to do is get there tolerance down then switch them. And second, with suboxone its really hard to increase your tolerance. I know someone who has been on suboxone for 2 years and hasnt budged from 8mg a day. Co-administering nalaxone with the bupe, I think, is what keeps tolerance from increasing. It could also have something to do with the bupe itself, who knows? not me. But there have been studies that shown nalaxone administered with another opiate keeps tolerance from developing. So what Im saying is, if they were on suboxone in the first place, they wouldnt have to deal with constantly increasing their dosage like they do with methadone.

I dont know. In a way Id sort of like to see methadone be replaced by bupe. By no means do I want it to disappear from medicine completely. Its an excellent drug for pain management. I really dont see why its not used more often in PM. Long duration, its very potent. I guess there may be a fear behind prescribing it. Who knows.

 

[mr Bungle]

^^ true. I would agree with that.

''With methadone, the daily trips to the clinic would be the first thing that would turn me off of the whole idea. ''

- I supose it depens where you are with this statment. I'm no sure what its like in the states, but from 'lisening' to you guys its a daily pick up 'thing' over there. Where I'm from the UK you can have a weekly pick up with this too. And if your going on holiday and you let them know in advance, they 'll sort you out for that too. (sorry for just going on about the UK but i can only give you my own personal experiences)

- over here in shitty, rainy, gray, England, - if your on methadone - they generally make you drink it in front of them in the pharamacy (by law they should have a small room set aside for this - 'Consultation Room' - unlike the old days - when you drank it in front of old women picking up their incompatence pads - looking at you like you've just ate their baby grand daughter) for around a week , two at most. Then you go daily and pick it up - take it home, generaly in a nice little bottle - as they tend to use the liquid form over here (tables on holidays- (sometimes)- less dodgy at airports). Once you have been picking it up daily for a month, or less and you have been goin to your Drug Support Worker and talking to them (when I was in a city they tested my urine, now im at my small home town they dont bother - I say im not using and they believe me -things are relaxed, over here.)When they think your not using and 'on the right road,' they'll let you pick the methadone up weekly. If you blagg there heads, give them a good storey I reckon you could get a few just monthly pick ups too.

question - just curious, who does it work over in the states or wherever?

Do you have to drink it infront of them?

Is it very pricey?

No way of getting a weekly pick up?

what about if your going abroad do they give you aload to take away with you?

sounds like things are rule by fear, with an iron fist over there.


(IForget - ''Anyways, keep in touch. Its cool being in something like this with someone else. PM me anytime.'' - thanks, i might do that, same back at you.)

((please forgive my terrible Dyslexia - hope this ramble makes some sense))

 

[Gum Base]

I went to the bupe doc for the first time today. I din't get any piss or blood test like i was preparing for.(I read in the suboxone pamplet that they might give you one or both) I got 15 8mg suboxone. He said start at 2mg's and no more than 8mg's dialy. I got to call him tomarrow and tell him my dose.
At first he was going to give me 30 2mg's then he's like since your self pay no insurance i'll give you 30 4mg's so I called a few pharm's and no one had 4mg's only 2's and 8's. So I called doc back and got 15 8's instead. The 15 8mg's cost me $101 no insurance. I asked how much for the same mg of 2's and they were over 100 more.
Thanks for the help everyone.. I'm glad I got something for my dependance thats legal finally.

P.S. I go to my local pain clinic for my bupe. Are all the Suboxone Doc's for the pain clinic? As I was in the waiting room someone elce got called by the nurse and she had a grip lode of Fentanyl patches in her hand.

 

[sixpartseven]

^ lol thats because they dont make 4mg pills. You doctor seriously tried to prescribe you 4mg pills?

Congratulations, though. Im glad you made it on. Im sure youll be very happy you did. Good luck, and remember if you have any questions or just wanna talk, shoot me a pm.

 

[motiv311]

all i did was actually ask my doc for 16 mg / per day prescriptions (every time i see him, which is whenever i want)

I told him it would be more economical to me, and he is a really cool dr. . . but others want to keep you coming back for copays, so look out for those greedy bastards

 

[Gum Base]

Iforgett. Yeah I still got the paper scirpt for 30 4mg suboxone's.
yeah my doc seems streight as hell also. He's more of the type that askes what I want. if that makes sense.
I have no health insurance so i'm glad The bupe doc is at the local hospital where I can continue racking up the bill.
Also, The suboxone smells orangy. Are they orange flavored? I haven't taken once yet since I did morphine today. I should wait till tomarrow to dose correct?

 

[eon_blue]

Also, The suboxone smells orangy. Are they orange flavored? I haven't taken once yet since I did morphine today. I should wait till tomarrow to dose correct?

Yeah, well...they're "lemon-lime" flavored. Not quite if you ask me...they're actually pretty gross tasting if you accidentally let it get on your tongue or snort it and have to deal with the drip.

How long since your last dose of opiates (and what were you on?)? If you were on dope, then 20-24 hours after your last dose should be fine. Last time I went on a dope binge, I waited 20 hours after my last shot and then dosed on my bupe and felt that sweet, sweet relief it brings.

 

[Gum Base]

The last thing I did was morphine about and hour ago. yeah I'll wait like till 11 or noon tomarrow.

 

[sixpartseven]

The last thing I did was morphine about and hour ago. yeah I'll wait like till 11 or noon tomarrow.

Youll be fine waiting that long. You really only have to make sure you wait at least 24 hours if you plan on IVing, and sometimes if you plan on snorting it. Ive taken it sublingually the same day as using dope, and was fine. The worst that happend was I had to shit. That passes after like 20 minutes though. If you snort it, you can wait at least 18 hours, in my experience, so try at your own risk. Snorting it after 18 hours for, all that happened, again, was I had to shit, but it was more intense than when I did it sublingual. Also some very mild discomfort, but this too passes after about 30 minutes. If you are going to IV it, wait at least 36 hours. I IVed it at 24 hours once and went through hellish withdrawals, but yet again, it only lasted for about 30 minutes. But still, its 30 minutes you DO NOT want to have to go through.

 

[Gum Base]

I did plan on IV'ing it. I guess i'll wait longer to IV it. If I used a little amount of morphine at 4pm when do you think I could take some sublingaly?

 

[sixpartseven]

^ definitley wait. At least 36 hours. You can get away with cutting a few hours off and waiting 28 - 32 hours.

If you took morphine at 4pm today (monday), I wouldnt inject till close to 11pm - midnight tomorrow.

 

[Gum Base]

how about sublingaly? not tonight probably huh?

 

[Gum Base]

I took only 30mg's of morphine alittle before 4pm today before that I was w/d'ing for 24 hours. I'm starting to withdraw already. When could I take some suboxone sublingaly?

 

[rashandreflex]

^
it really depends on your personal chemistry. you really have to experiment on your own and figure it out. all anyone on here can tell you is that you should wait a day or day and a half to be on the safe side. i personally don't have to wait too long, but i've heard the horror stories of being thrown into WD. what i usually do is administer a tiny amount and see what happens and then keep bumping it up in tiny increments if i'm worried about precipitated WD. sorry that's not much help.

why the hell did you take morphine after you'd already waited 24 hours? you should've just stuck it out a bit more and taken the bupe or even taken it instead of the morphine at the 24 hour mark.

 

[rashandreflex]

Unfortunately the cost is what keeps a lot of addicts away from bupe therapy. That's why a lot people still prefer methadone (methadone literally costs about 5% of what bupe does to manufacture). So its more affordable to the down and out, homeless-addict type. Which is sad really, b/c bupe is so much more effective at allowing someone to eventually acheive full sobriety.

(obviously this diatribe is in reference to america)

yeah i agree that the cost aspect is pretty sick. because i moved from my summer internship to home and then back to college, i had three suboxone doctors in the span of three months. the first charged $600 for the first appt and $300 for each subsequent one (saw him three times.) the second charged $750 for the first month of appts, regardless of the number. the last charged $400 for the first appt and $200 for the subsequent ones (saw him three times so far.) that obviously doesn't count the cost of the medication although i'd recommend getting the 8 mg tablets and breaking them rather than the 2 mg bc the 2 mg are more expensive.

now presumably scoring mass quantities of opiates is more expensive than these doctors (i'm not sure bc i had an idiosyncratic path to addiction where i didn't spend much money.) even so, though, it does seem to me that some of these doctors are taking advantage of desperate people. i have no idea if the cost is deterring addicts from seeking suboxone treatment, but it pisses me off that some doctors are demanding a sizeable portion of a down-and-out addicts' income that is disproportionate to the services the doctor provides (there aren't too many psychiatrists who would charge $600 for an hour long session.) plus, once the initial appt is past, it's not uncommon for the doctor to spend way less than an hour with the patient.

yeah, it's not really price-fixing, which is illegal in medicine....and, yeah, the addict got him/herself into the situation....but it still goes against the priorities i think a doctor should have (provide care to provide care not to hoard money)....oh wait, this is america where profit factors heavily into medicine8)


also, i wanted to second whoever said that they get minor WDs for half an hour or so after taking suboxone as part of maintenance (not after taking an illicit opiate.) it's not the end of the world, but it's kind of shitty bc i don't usually have an hour to lie around and wallow. i'm assuming this is due to bupe pulling old bupe off receptors and not related to the naloxone....that is, do people on subutex also experience this?

 

[rashandreflex]

oh and sorry to triple post, but i am in need of advice.....like everyone else, i've read jasoncrest's posts about shooting bupe and antihistamines every day and getting kinda high so naturally my curiosity has been piqued...

has anyone who was needle-naive started shooting to get high off bupe?

 

[phr]

Right, docs charge whatever they think they can get, and it is usually exorbitant. They could get away with it since they're the only ones that could prescribe OST meds other than methadone clinics.

Unfortunately, even when Suboxone goes generic, these docs will still charge a high fee.