i didnt say you were judging. and before oxycodone there were PLENTY of opiates being used. morphine and hydromorphone to name a few.
you are very naive when it comes to this situation, and you should be thankful. Not everyone has the willpower to cope with everyday life without the assistance of some sort of chemical. I, myself, have a physical ailment that leaves me in almost constant pain, not only that i also have a few situation in my life that broke me emotionally.
im not going to tell you you are wrong because you are right plenty of people have kicked heroin by way of suboxone or subutex and plenty of people have kicked suboxone and subutex as well. another point of subutex or suboxone maintenance is to give the user a chance to experience life without being high so they can learn coping skills while on it so they have a better chance of being productive once they are off the suboxone. when you kick an opiate cold turkey the physical sickness is only the tip of the iceberg. after all of the physical nastiness is over the user will most likely encounter weeks, if not months of mood swings, depression and anxiety because their bodies are not used to being opiate free. once you quit an opiate cold turkey you will still not be living a normal life because the post acute withdrawals will have you acting and feeling absolutely insane so the suboxone allows your body and brain to recuperate at a steady pace instead of having nothing in you and your body and brain go into a panic mode for weeks or months until it subsides....and the PAW themselves will be traumatizing for a lot of people
i will venture to say that you are ignorant to the entire situation, and that's fine, but you are walking a fine line coming in here and having a sort of "better than you attitude" and you may not be trying to come off that way but you kind of are. not everyone who tried heroin DIDNT like it, not everyone developed the coping skills you did as a child
edit: also just out of curiosity...what WOULD you use for a pain management drug? say you are a surgeon and you just performed a 12 level spinal fusion on a patient....what would you give him for pain?
a lot of people who are not farmiliar with opiates would say the same thing you are...that oxy shouldnt be used as a pain suppressant because it is so powerful. well i have tried multiple drugs for my pain issues and tbqh oxy really isnt that strong when relating to pain...
editx2: also every painkiller has a high likely hood of dependence and addiction
This is an EXCELLENT explanation. I love how people who have never been in the situation love to judge or say this and that regarding their opinions on subutex. I was a junkie for ten years. Since being put on subutex, I have gone from being homeless to having my own (nice ☺) apartment to having a car a full time job and about to graduate college.
Needless to say I personally think I have made tremendous strides, there was a time I thought I would die a hopeless loser junkie, and what a legacy that is. My point in saying your explanation was perfect is this: subutex isn't just to replace other drugs and fill the opiate receptors in your brain. It allows you to change your lifestyle, habits, behavior etc. Being on the medication allows you to make life changes by giving you a time period where you are completely free from copping, doing, and all the other drug behaviors that have been so ingrained in your life for so long. For me at least, this helped change the most important things that needed to be changed in my addiction, the drugs are the symptom the lifestyle is the problem.
I also think its so funny that everyone is making comments on how I must be addicted to subutex. Subutex isn't like methadone, you don't stay on it for years. Yes, often people become physically dependent but physical dependence and addiction are two COMPLETELY different things and should never be confused for each other and are not interchangeable.
I am weaning OFF of the subutex, and I simply want to do it at my own pace so I am comfortable and I do it right so I don't risk relapsing back into the dark life of drugs. I personally am not a fan of methadone but if someone needs to be on a medication for their whole damn life to allow them to live a quality of life like that of a normal person just so they can wake up in the morning and live like anyone else who is anyone to judge? Keep your own house in order and don't be looking through other peoples windows, it is not anyone's place to judge.
That being said, if my only option for staying clean was to be on a med for my whole life as opposed to shooting dirty disgusting drugs in my veins and being homeless and estranged from my family I would stay on that med! I am one of the lucky ones who made it out of a horrible addiction alive, and yes I believe subutex allowed me to change my habits and make the lifestyle changes that were crucial to creating a new life and getting out of the addict zone. I may be physically dependent On subutex but there is an end in sight as I am tapering off, and being dependent on subutex does not reqch anywhere close to the horrors of my life as an addict.
I now have my relationships back with my family who I love more than anything, and anyone can say whatever they want about sub but I say their comments and judgements (especially about my situation, you dont even know it! Lol) are ignorant and naive and totally irrelevant, most especially when they have no knowledge of the subject, firsthand or otherwise.
Also to comment on what Memphisx3 said about painkillers: so many people love to talk about how oxy shouldn't even be prescribed, its potential for misuse, abuse, addiction, aversion is too high blah blah etc etc have obviously never had the horrible experience of dealing with intense and severe pain. My aunt is a RN and is not working right now because she has herniated discs in her back and has had multiple surgeries and now, just 2 weeks ago got diagnosed with breast cancer. She once told me in confidence that her pain was so bad she goes to bed most nights wishing she just wouldn't wake up, otherwise you wouldn't even know her pain level because she doesn't complain about it. It took her trying to convince 4 doctors to give her an MRI because she knew something was herniated, and it ended up being the case and the disc was in her neck. So for all you judgers out there, she should just be miserable and not be prescribed oxy because its addicting right? I love self-righteous people whose opinion is baseless and worthless.
Again Memphisx3, two thumbs up, and thanks. It sucks when you are trying to recover from an addiction and all you get is judgement and negative opinions all around, its hard enough dealing with my OWN feelings trying to sort out how crappy I feel about my past less having to deal with others criticizing me about my present situation.