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Bupe Suboxone Assistance Program - Free Suboxone For Low Income Patients

ok i know i sound stupid but i want to get everything clear before i try this. I really need suboxene. Pills have and still are ruining my life.

Ok so i have no job... no insurance and no money at all. Does it sound like i qualify? I just dont want to get my hopes up that ill qualify and then it not. If i cant get it then i cant quit and i cant function and its just fucking me up. Do i just start calling the doctors offices in the area and see if i can get it?
 
suboxone assistance

I have been taking suboxone for nearly 6 months now... the first few months i was still using opiates heavily and sold most of my script. However, I lost my job a few months into treatment and asked my doctor about some financial assistance (In Ohio, the average cost per suboxone pill at a pharmacy is between 8-14 dollars). He told me to fill out the application and he submitted the information to the manufactuer ( i had to FAX some of the info in myself). My income met the guidelines and my doctor was able to GIVE me for FREE 60 8mg tablets each month. I've heard some doctors give out 90 8mg tablets per month, but 60 was plenty for me. Once I actually quit using opiates all together, I took 8 mgs every other day, only when I really felt anxious/cravings/withdraw symptoms. I've been completely clean from opiates for 25 days and I am down tom taking 2-4mg every other day. Narcotics Anonymous is not everyone's cup of tea, but I have been struggling with drug addiction for nearly 10 years (i'm only 26!) and I don't think I would've been able to stay clean even this long if it weren't for suboxone and NA... Just food for thought. But back to the topic, YES the program does exist, and as long as you are able to submit your income tax returns for the past 2 years, (i believe it was 2 years) your doctor will be able to GIVE you your prescription totally free of charge at his office. you will not have to take a script to the pharmacy to get filled. I still had to pay the office visit fee, which was only $100/month to see the doctor, but my script was 100% cost free!! Knowing I'd been spending $100 and more PER DAY to get high, paying $100/month to stay clean was very very worth it! Opiate addiction and withdraw is a bitch, but if i can get through it, anyone can! keep ya head up! Recovery is possible!!!
 
sxeirishgirl said:
ok i know i sound stupid but i want to get everything clear before i try this. I really need suboxene. Pills have and still are ruining my life.

Ok so i have no job... no insurance and no money at all. Does it sound like i qualify? I just dont want to get my hopes up that ill qualify and then it not. If i cant get it then i cant quit and i cant function and its just fucking me up. Do i just start calling the doctors offices in the area and see if i can get it?

from the first page. but your username makes me think youre irish, which in that case would make this unavailable for you. it's an american scheme


You have to meet certain income guidelines, and your doctor has to fill out an application for you, but this patient assistance program supposedly pays for 100% of the cost of your suboxone prescription! It sounds too good to be true, but if I was going to be taking suboxone after this month (I'm currently working on weaning off) I would be all over this!

Suboxone Patient Assistance Program

866-512-2216



Eligibility Guidelines and Notes: The patient can have no public or private prescription insurance and have an income at or below $25,500 for an individual ($34,500 for a family of two, $43,000 for a family of three) The patient must be 16 years or older. A doctor can only have two patients on the program at any time, unless the doctor is treating over 60 patients with opiate addictions, then the doctor can have three.

Application Process: The doctor/doctor's office should call for an enrollment form. The enrollment form is faxed out. The completed application can be faxed or mailed back. The doctor is notified of acceptance or denial.

Application Requirements: The doctor must fill out a section and sign the application. The patient must fill out a section, sign the application and attach proof of income.

Program Details: Up to a 30-day supply is sent to the doctor's office. The doctor/doctor's office must contact the company to arrange refills. Every 3 months a new application is needed.
 
yea I have the form my Dr set me up with this but of course it was when I finaly was geting OFF suboxone....I aint even gonna think of the shady ass possibilities for folks with "sales experience"....Shit, If i had a clean record and wasnt a fool in the past, I would be all over that, 100% profit...BUt that aint for me no more, ha, I would have to be the stupidest bitch alive to even think about goin back into THAT game...

Oh and selfmeditaker, sub SUCKS DICK when it comes to pain. horrible, shitty substitute, do not even bother

Dont matter, IMO Methadone is a much more successful and helpful treatment and i actually been able to stay clean for the first time in my life while bein on it, on sub i never made it past like 5 or 6 days, just long enough to piss clean for dr tests or probo tests and then get right back to slangin the pills and leave myself just enough to stay OK for a week and use the rest for dope money...sigh...sub really enabled me to stay usin matter fact. Its all about ur willingness tho. somebody whose ready to stop can do it with sub if they eally want to. IM jus saying that in my experience and my opinion, methadone makes it alot easier to be willing cuz u feel better emotionally and physically when ur off dope, so its easier to stick with than sub which always felt really shitty for me and never made me feel "well" instead of dope sick it was just like bein dopesick with the edge took off....even at like 24mg..8mg, 16 mg, 20 mg a day, all the same shit, it just didnt work for me but everyone different. just puttin the thoght out there
 
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Wikipedia said:
On October 8, 2009 Roxane laboratories won FDA approval for a generic preparation of Subutex and as of October 23, 2009 announced that it is ready for distribution nation wide in 2 mg and 8 mg sublingual dosages.

Do we now have a generic version of buprenorphine available?

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...&gl=us&sig=AHIEtbQ00Xqx0dWUrGtPqRYlokKkFEoTtw

https://www.roxane.com/tpPortal/app...c=00054017713&_pageLabel=rli_allproducts_page

http://bidocs.boehringer-ingelheim....4964_01+Buprenorphine+HCl+Sublingual+Tabs.pdf
 
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^ Yes, it is available. There is a generic subutex, but not a generic suboxone. I have a script for it, as do many others. There's a thread about it somewhere, where people are sharing their experiences with it.


Here's a pic:
NSFW:
Buprenorphine4(a).preview.jpg
 
@Lacey
If you're habit is high, no amount of sub is gonna help for the first week or so. When I switched from 2 bundles/day, the first two weeks were bad even with lots of sub. In fact, they were much worse than the current withdrawl I've been feeling trying to kick my sub habit. After about 2 weeks, you can settle in at a reasonable dose and be ok.
Methadone is much easier to come onto from a high dope habit though. It was 10 times easier to go from dope to meth than dope to sub. And since it's a full agonist, it helps with pain too, which was a large reason for my habit.
I don't know if I'd call being on methadone clean. You're still doing a full opiod agonist everyday. It's just controlled and allows for a much more stable life. I know I never considered myself clean on it. Not that I'm insulting your recovery in any way. I know that even getting to the point your at is very difficult...
You don't have to be completely clean to be in recovery. The main thing is getting your life in order, which obviously it helps do.

@C.H.
Can you signup for the assistance program w/o handing over money to a doctor first? I'm broke, out of work, and I hurt my knee (infection requiring surgery 2 weeks ago) so I can't even go back to work right now. I only just heard about this program, and would love to go, but I don't even have the $$ to see a doc for induction, let alone a couple visits until this program would kick in. As it is, it's cheaper for me to buy my 4 or 5 8mg subs a month on the street since I'm down to about 1mg/day. Even if I got free pills but only had to pay for a doc it'd still be cheaper my way. The cheapest in my area is 200/induction + 125 per visit.
I got kicked out of a program from my last doc cause I couldn't afford to pay him. I had $100 left to my name, and he wanted another 125 just a week after a $200 induction becuase he only gave me a script for 1 week the first visit. So, I took my 100 bucks and bought 15 subs and put them in my bottle with my name o nit. Lasted me half the summer.
 
^ Yes, it is available. There is a generic subutex, but not a generic suboxone. I have a script for it, as do many others. There's a thread about it somewhere, where people are sharing their experiences with it.


Here's a pic:
NSFW:
Buprenorphine4(a).preview.jpg

Can you split those 8mg pills up in pieces as easily as brand name Suboxone/Subutex? Or do you take 8mg at a time and would have no idea? I forget how much you're on.

@C.H.
Can you signup for the assistance program w/o handing over money to a doctor first? I'm broke, out of work, and I hurt my knee (infection requiring surgery 2 weeks ago) so I can't even go back to work right now. I only just heard about this program, and would love to go, but I don't even have the $$ to see a doc for induction, let alone a couple visits until this program would kick in. As it is, it's cheaper for me to buy my 4 or 5 8mg subs a month on the street since I'm down to about 1mg/day. Even if I got free pills but only had to pay for a doc it'd still be cheaper my way. The cheapest in my area is 200/induction + 125 per visit.
I got kicked out of a program from my last doc cause I couldn't afford to pay him. I had $100 left to my name, and he wanted another 125 just a week after a $200 induction becuase he only gave me a script for 1 week the first visit. So, I took my 100 bucks and bought 15 subs and put them in my bottle with my name o nit. Lasted me half the summer.

Yeah I believe you can. I think you can go to your doc, ask to sign up for the plan w/ his sig, fax it to them for free. When they send the pills over is when you might be asked to pay a fee for your doctor's visit but it shouldn't cost too terribly much.

I don't know for sure though. If you call the doctor's office and ask they should be able to tell you.
 
Can you split those 8mg pills up in pieces as easily as brand name Suboxone/Subutex? Or do you take 8mg at a time and would have no idea? I forget how much you're on.
They aren't scored and are actually quite hard. They pretty much look/feel like pills made to be taken orally (they are much harder than suboxone), which is odd. They can still easily be broken by hand though, or a pill splitter if one prefers. I take ~1-1.5mg a day, and I just break off/eyeball pieces and it works fine for me (break in half, then 1/3 or 1/4 of that depending on how much pain I am in that day. They aren't quite as easy to break as brand name sub but in all reality its probably an extra 15-30 seconds a day. No worries there, lol, I have time to spare. If I were using them to taper, a mg scale or liquid measurement would be necessary.

Thats my experience - surely others may vary. Actually I believe I read a thread where people were having issues with it (I dunno why/how), but its like 99% the same and I get my whole script for as much as one pill used to cost [ridiculous, huh?].

IMO they also dissolve faster, which is very convenient. Taken whole it would probably take forever to dissolve, but with the small pieces I break off it dissolves faster than an equal amount of suboxone, and doesn't have a funky taste.
 
In the US there are hundreds of drug assistance programs for patients. I have no fucking clue what "Valium" is on about. There has been a suboxone assistance program here for years. Most docs that treat any low income patients will have their limit on the program (I think it's 3 patients / doc, it used to be anyway).

If you ever bother to listen to a commercial for a prescription drug here, you'll notice that they almost always end with "if you are having trouble paying for your prescription contact .... for assistance" and then there is the huge partnership for prescription assistance, and literally hundreds of programs.

This isn't new, but while I qualify, I couldn't get on it just because my doc had 8 patients on a waiting list. I didn't bother because I'm sure I'll be dead before all those other people started making enough money to get off of it - or before they clean up..
 
^ Yes, it is available. There is a generic subutex, but not a generic suboxone. I have a script for it, as do many others. There's a thread about it somewhere, where people are sharing their experiences with it.

So is this just a pill to be swallowed.. or is it sublingual like the original suboxone was/is?
 
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^ Sublingual. Buprenorphine has a very low bioavailability. The generic formulation doesn't change this.
 
I called today but no one was there. I will have to try again on Tuesday (MLK day is tomorrow). I am curious to see how it works since I am not on a suboxone program yet. I just don't have the money...
 
Opiate addiction is becoming an epidemic in the US... It's flooded every social class in the country, In every age group. I remember kids selling there dads 5mg percs in middle school along with there adderal. Give it a couple years and this countrys gonna realize that they have to do something drastic to help there citizens suffering with addiction. Some senators teenage son/daughter is gonna OD. Then we might see them actually try to fix this serious issue of getting people help before it's too late. Suboxone should be free for those with no insurance but monitored somewhat like a methadone program(For those who cant afford to pay),Only because there are some people who take advantage of and abuse anything free, It can be used early in someones addiction, And maintained during a high risk period, Therefore preventing them from becoming strung out bums living on the streets which is an even bigger problem. I know it would take a lot of the freedom away, But it would be better then not doing anything at all. As far as those who say suboxone withdrawal is worse then the DOC withdrawawal I say "Bullshit" If a proper taper is done along with regular exercise/cardio(Running a couple miles every other day if possible), I know the withdrawals are very mild from my own personal expierience.
 
^There are clinics that use suboxone instead of methadone that are free. I have one in my town.
But, if I have I had to put up with the hassle of going to a clinic everyday and all the stupid meetings and groups and compliance; I'd just rather have the methadone. It's a full agonist so it's much easier for induction, tastes so much better, and is much more effective in any pain you're having.
Don't get me wrong, I love suboxone, and without it I wouldn't be where I am. But, a large portion of why I like it is I don't have to goto a clinic everyday. That's one of the reasons I stopped doing dope. You have no control over your life. And going to a clinic everyday and all the crap is like liquid handcuffs.
I'd also like to see safe injection sites. The one in Vancouver has saved over 1,000 lives from overdoses.
 
Thats good i wish they would open them in every state. I think methadone is bad news for pill addicts, But for Heroin IV users i think it's an awesome tool(Anything legit is better then wandering the streets for needles and dope). When your on methadone your still getting high everyday. Your not learning anything like how to live life sober. I hate the way they operate as well, Someone could go in there with a 90mg a day oxycodone addiction, And they put him on 120mgs of methadone? I had a recreational methadone addiction for about 3 months at 20-40mgs a day, And that shit used to fuck me up more then percs ever did, Id be high for 2 days with one 40mg dose! There are people on like 300mgs a day of that shit? That would kill a fucking healthy horse.
 
hey guys, Im trying to get onto this program and am just wondering if anybody has any tips for me. A few ?s are do I just go into the doc's office and ask if they have any openings in the free program? I think they can have 2 people on it and 3 if they have 60 or more addiction patients. If I'm calling around different doctor's do I just ask the receptionist if I can be on the asisstance program? I know I will qualify so its just a matter of the doc having a spot for me. Are the doc's dicks when someone mentions the free program?

One more thing, will I be considered an 'addict' or w-e by society's standards because I am on or in the future, I was on Suboxone in the past? I basiclly want to get on sub so I don't have to take opiates and also want to see if it works on my pain. Thanks!
Yes you will be considered an addict by societies standards because YOU ARE AN ADDICT... Unless you live in a different universe than the rest of us, SUBOXONE IS AN OPIATE - and not only that but it has an extremely long half life. I have been taking it for 20 months and I have found that I am more addicted to SUBOXONE than I ever was to Heroin, Dilaudid, Fentanyl, etc... If you ever want to be able to get prescribed opiates other than Suboxone or basically any CI CII or CIII other than Suboxone then what you want to do is go to a bupe doctor and never allow them to share your medical info with any of your other Docs.

If you feel w/d symptoms when you discontinue taking opiates, YOU ARE AN ADDICT, and what society says about that doesn't really matter, you are still going to have to deal with opiate addiction on your own terms. I have extensively abused opiates and I now know that prolonged use of opiates, especially the ones with longer half life such as subs and methadone, will severely down regulate your neuro-transmitters and makes post acute withdrawal last for a very very long time.

If you really want to kick check out the opiate addendum by dr. David Arneson - you can find it on google and it deals with the neurochemical aspect of recovering from long term opiate addiction. A lot of recovery can be expedited by taking Vitamins / supplements / amino acids and adhering to a strict, healthy diet.

Best of luck to all of you in your personal battle with opiates, there is no "right way" to do this. Just understand that opiate maintenance therapy, especially with suboxone or methadone is a dangerous business and if you really want to kick, you are better off doing it with a taper off of an opiate with a shorter half life. In my experience that is what I have found.
<3
 
Yes you will be considered an addict by societies standards because YOU ARE AN ADDICT... Unless you live in a different universe than the rest of us, SUBOXONE IS AN OPIATE - and not only that but it has an extremely long half life. I have been taking it for 20 months and I have found that I am more addicted to SUBOXONE than I ever was to Heroin, Dilaudid, Fentanyl, etc... If you ever want to be able to get prescribed opiates other than Suboxone or basically any CI CII or CIII other than Suboxone then what you want to do is go to a bupe doctor and never allow them to share your medical info with any of your other Docs.

If you feel w/d symptoms when you discontinue taking opiates, YOU ARE AN ADDICT, and what society says about that doesn't really matter, you are still going to have to deal with opiate addiction on your own terms. I have extensively abused opiates and I now know that prolonged use of opiates, especially the ones with longer half life such as subs and methadone, will severely down regulate your neuro-transmitters and makes post acute withdrawal last for a very very long time.

If you really want to kick check out the opiate addendum by dr. David Arneson - you can find it on google and it deals with the neurochemical aspect of recovering from long term opiate addiction. A lot of recovery can be expedited by taking Vitamins / supplements / amino acids and adhering to a strict, healthy diet.

Best of luck to all of you in your personal battle with opiates, there is no "right way" to do this. Just understand that opiate maintenance therapy, especially with suboxone or methadone is a dangerous business and if you really want to kick, you are better off doing it with a taper off of an opiate with a shorter half life. In my experience that is what I have found.
<3

Withdrawal symptoms does not equate to someone being an addict. I think you have quite a lot of learning left to do.

And don't be judgmental towards other people. Do you like being called a junkie or an addict? Didn't think so.

PS You have a lot of learning left. Down regulation is a good thing for people who were once addicted to opiates. Up regulation is what you need to worry about (growing more mu opioid receptors). Down regulation is a natural consequence of tapering lower and lower, and lowering your tolerance.

Please do more research before posting next time. :)
 
^ You probably should have checked into that before posting that, man, because he's right ;) - down-regulation is what leads to tolerance and withdrawal.

Definition of Down Regulation said:
development of a refractory or tolerant state consequent upon repeated administration of a pharmacologically or physiologically active substance.
from biology-online.com

Down-regulation from opiate use means your body decreases the amount of natural endorphins it is releasing because of the excess amount of foreign opiates present. It sees that there are too many opiates present, so down regulates how much is produced naturally to keep the level as normal as possible. Down regulation is almost always accompanied with an increase in receptor sites to take up the excess drug as well, but an increase in receptor sites alone is not the definition of down-regulation. This is where tolerance comes from - you aren't producing enough natural endorphins, so you have to rely on opiates to do the job. This is also what causes withdrawal. When you discontinue use, your cells have been down regulated so much that they aren't producing enough natural endorphins, and you also have a shit-ton more receptor sites to satisfy, and having relied on other opiates to fill them for such a long time, you experience withdrawal when you are no longer able to do so.

Up-regulation occurs when you quit taking an opiate. Over time, the body increases the amount of endorphins it produces to match the number of receptor sites available. Sometimes some of those extra receptor sites will die off, but not all of them. There's a theory that dependence returns to former addicts much faster than it originally manifested because of the extra receptor sites that stick around. It takes less heroin (or whatever opiate of your choice) to decrease the amount of endorphins produced, and because there are more receptor sites than before, even this small decrease has a larger impact. I can't remember where I read this, but again, that is just a theory, if I remember right.

You are right, however, that having withdrawals does not mean you are an addict. This is a very simple and common misinterpretation of what "addict" means. An addict is someone who continues to use a drug despite the negative consequences resulting from their use (jail, fines, friends hate them, family disowned them, etc.) while dependence is when someone suffers from withdrawals when they discontinue the use of their drug of choice.
 
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