Bupe I need serious help for a serious question

[scabi2323]

I went to a clinic for a year, taking 10 mg of suboxone every day. I couldn't take the cost anymore and found a doctor who was relatively cheap to write me a prescription. He switched me to Subutex (which is cheaper, and I actually like better). I started with this doctor in February. He does not offer me counseling or even discuss his plans with me. I just assumed that I would stay on the 10 mgs daily for as long as I would like. After going to him for four months, the beginning of this month, I did a urine test, and did not have any dirty except for the bupe, which was what he wanted to see. Because of this, I believe he decided to cut my dose. Out of the blue, when writing my script, he says: so, you are ready to go down to 8 mg a day. I was shocked, and he had not previously said anything about this. I said, no, I am not ready. He said, yes, you are, you will be fine, and proceeded to write me a new script. He is not easy to talk to, and he seems paranoid and suspicious of his patients sometimes. I feel like I cannot talk to him. Can my doctor do this when I did not sign anything about cutting down that soon, nor had he said anything to me about it, just sprung it on me? I even told him I was scared to do it and not mentally ready, and he said, well, it is better from what you have gone through in the past, right? And, I said yes. Then he said, well, at least that's what you tell me, like he does not even really believe what I say. I am not mentally ready, and the first couple days I tried taking the 8 mgs and got worried and started feeling weird (though that may have been in my mind) but I started taking my old dose, and now I know that I will not have enough to last me for the last week of this month. What can I do? Can I call him and talk to him, though I am really scared to and he is hard to approach? Or can I call another sub doctor and talk to him? Can a doctor just take my dose down like that? I do not know what to do, and I need to do something soon, because the last week of the month is coming soon, and then I am going to be out of luck, and I am afraid to ask him then, since he may want to do a pill count, and at that point, I will not have any left, simply because I have taken them all. Help.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

Just be honest with him. He was a dick to force it on you in the first place, but they sometimes do that, though they shouldn't if the patient is really adamant about not being ready.

Honestly though, the drop from 10mg's to 8mg's really isn't very noticeable. Most people don't start detecting a change in how they feel until they start getting under 4mg's. So you'll probably be completely fine and you're just panicking. If you really want to go back to 10mg's though.. just talk to him and tell him.

 

[scabi2323]

Thank you so much. I have been so worried. I talked to a different sub doctor today and I told him my situation. He asked me if it was the doctor who I have and who I was talking about. I was shocked and surprised that he knew who I was talking about just by telling him this short story. He says that my doctor is known for doing this and will do whatever he wants, and he will drop people for whatever he wants, so now I am more worried, though I pretty much have decided I have no other choice but to talk to him about it. I have never had a doctor before in my life whom I have been afraid to talk to. The new doc that I talked to said that he would pick me up as a transfer patient back at ten mgs a day, but he only prescribes suboxone which is muccch more expensive in my area, and I would have to pay him 300 dollars for the transfer fee, which I also don't have. So, I guess my real only course of action is to just risk being dropped by my current doctor, but I have to just talk to him. I really do not want to start going back to buying on the street and starting the bad cycle again just because I am scared and worried. I felt like I was making such progress, but feel as if I am mentally regressing once again.

 

[Mr.Scagnattie]

I went to a clinic for a year, taking 10 mg of suboxone every day. I couldn't take the cost anymore and found a doctor who was relatively cheap to write me a prescription. He switched me to Subutex (which is cheaper, and I actually like better). I started with this doctor in February. He does not offer me counseling or even discuss his plans with me. I just assumed that I would stay on the 10 mgs daily for as long as I would like. After going to him for four months, the beginning of this month, I did a urine test, and did not have any dirty except for the bupe, which was what he wanted to see. Because of this, I believe he decided to cut my dose. Out of the blue, when writing my script, he says: so, you are ready to go down to 8 mg a day. I was shocked, and he had not previously said anything about this. I said, no, I am not ready. He said, yes, you are, you will be fine, and proceeded to write me a new script. He is not easy to talk to, and he seems paranoid and suspicious of his patients sometimes. I feel like I cannot talk to him. Can my doctor do this when I did not sign anything about cutting down that soon, nor had he said anything to me about it, just sprung it on me? I even told him I was scared to do it and not mentally ready, and he said, well, it is better from what you have gone through in the past, right? And, I said yes. Then he said, well, at least that's what you tell me, like he does not even really believe what I say. I am not mentally ready, and the first couple days I tried taking the 8 mgs and got worried and started feeling weird (though that may have been in my mind) but I started taking my old dose, and now I know that I will not have enough to last me for the last week of this month. What can I do? Can I call him and talk to him, though I am really scared to and he is hard to approach? Or can I call another sub doctor and talk to him? Can a doctor just take my dose down like that? I do not know what to do, and I need to do something soon, because the last week of the month is coming soon, and then I am going to be out of luck, and I am afraid to ask him then, since he may want to do a pill count, and at that point, I will not have any left, simply because I have taken them all. Help.

Like I said, the drop from 10 to 8 is really not a big deal and if you just relax, you probably wont notice it at all. You should just try taking the 8mg's for a little while and see how you feel. Honestly, the longer you are on bupe the harder it is to eventually come off so I really don't advise people to stay on it.

You should try to get on the lowest dose you can handle and then stay on it until you're ready to taper off completely. It'll make it a lot easier on you when you finally quit.

 

[Crashing]

Just drop to 8mg, there is no difference. If you run out early he might just stop giving you them altogether. There is hardly a difference between 8-10mg, if any. Your doctor is correct in having you lower your sub dosage, you're doing the wrong thing by ignoring that plan. He isn't your drug dealer he's a healthcare professional.

 

[Fire&Water]

Just drop to 8mg, there is no difference. If you run out early he might just stop giving you them altogether. There is hardly a difference between 8-10mg, if any. Your doctor is correct in having you lower your sub dosage, you're doing the wrong thing by ignoring that plan. "He isn't your drug dealer he's a healthcare professional".

You're last sentence may be debatable...

 

[joeburden]

nearly the same exact situation happened to me last year, only they dropped me from 16-8, and I did panic at first, but it was fine and seriously not even noticable. if I were you, I'd try taking 6mg for a week so you can make up for the dose you over took. seriously bupe is a strange drug and acts way different from other opiates. but if I were you, I'd take 6 mg a day just in case he wont refill your script early because trust me, 6mg a day is MUCH better than going a whole week with 0mg a day. you'll thank me later, trust me. good luck!

 

[scabi2323]

Thanks everyone for all your help.

 

[Tommyboy]

nearly the same exact situation happened to me last year, only they dropped me from 16-8, and I did panic at first, but it was fine and seriously not even noticable. if I were you, I'd try taking 6mg for a week so you can make up for the dose you over took. seriously bupe is a strange drug and acts way different from other opiates. but if I were you, I'd take 6 mg a day just in case he wont refill your script early because trust me, 6mg a day is MUCH better than going a whole week with 0mg a day. you'll thank me later, trust me. good luck!

Yea I would do that, or do a back and forth between 8mg and 4mg until the difference is made up, or alternate between the 8mg and 6mg until it's made up. Basically there are a lot of options when you are at a dose above 4mg, so there is no need to worry. I went from 16mg to nothing in 2 weeks after taking between 16-32mg for 18 months, and I was alright until I got to 2mg, and then it still took a few days after my last dose to really start kicking. Then it was the worst kick of my life, which is why I support your doctors decision to start lowering your dose.

Hell, what I would really do it get down to 4mg and start to stockpile a bunch in case he ends up lowering your dose too fast in the end, since it seems like you won't have much of a say in the matter. Lets say he lowers your dose my 2mg a month until you are off, then that's too high of a dose to jump off at comfortably, but you would have a bunch of pills so you could go down to 1.5, then 1, then 0.5, then 0.25, then start skipping days, then jump off. He doesn't seem to be the kind of doctor that would be that understanding during the end of the taper, so having a stockpile will allow you to say whatever you want to him after he gives you your final script, and then you can take matters into your own hands with the pills you have saved up.

As a side note, I just started a little suboxone taper, and I'm feeling better on this 4mg dose on day 3 then I did on the 8mg dose on the first two days. Part of that is because it's building up in my system so my body was able to adjust by now, but it just goes to show that you really don't need that much in you and since it's so potent a dose of 4mg is still a lot to have in you so you won't really withdraw much if you drop to that pretty quickly. It's like if I'm shooting a bundle a day, dropping down to 5 bags a day isn't gonna be that bad. It might be uncomfortable for a few days, but nothing too bad.