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getting suboxone/subutext in the UK? need advice please!

It's naloxone in suboxone not naltrexone but it shouldn't really make any difference as afaik naloxone has a sublingual bioavailability of nought. However I believe that it does still affect the very tiny amount of opiate receptors we have in our gastrointestinal tract so it could have something to do with that? I don't know enough about the pharmacology of naloxone to be able to give a very useful answer I'm afraid?
 
Sorry I always get those two mixed up for some reason, and I know they do totally opposite things! Yeah, I guess the best thing to do is bring it up with my doctor when I see him next.
 
Feeling more normal on the subutex. It's making me sleepy now though, especially when mixed with alcohol at work. So very strange that it's gone from making me super jittery to super sleepy. Got in trouble last night cause the house mum thought I was really drunk and was confused since she knew I had only drank two glasses of champagne... well, the subutex mixed with the two glasses had me quite fucked. :( Not so good!
 
Woops! Doesn't make any difference to me but then I've been reducing on the booze and benzos as well as being stable on subutex so alcohol is just keeping the jitters away at the moment really.

At least you've managed to get yourself sorted for meds now. Any side effects should reduce as you stabilise.
 
Hey, just caught on to this thread.

When I first read your opening paragraphs I honestly thought 'God you have no hope of getting anything in time on the NHS - go private.'

The NHS is brilliant in cases of trauma, and actually not bad at A&E. The treatment is excellent, but the waiting time can be hours on end.

I was told I'd have to wait 4 months to see someone at a pain clinic with 2x slipped discs. Ended up just going privately, thankfully insured. The NHS is a brilliant idea, just not always executed to well. Gotta love it though.

I'm glad you seem to be sorted now though. I was honestly quite worried when I read your posts, that must've been a horrible situation to be in! Doctors in the UK are MUCH stricter when it comes to substance abuse, than the US, so I hope you got the care you were after.

May I ask if you have a long-term plan to get off of it?

Take care of yourself, and welcome to London :)
 
Bupronorphine was much better. I had it in detox n got scrips in Barcelona . Plus they gave u shots. Not strong enough for me. Does the heroine maintenance pgm still exist in England? Years ago I had friends that moved to get on it. Then it got really difficult . To dream....
 
mrs_mia_wallace said:
Feeling more normal on the subutex. It's making me sleepy now though, especially when mixed with alcohol at work. So very strange that it's gone from making me super jittery to super sleepy. Got in trouble last night cause the house mum thought I was really drunk and was confused since she knew I had only drank two glasses of champagne... well, the subutex mixed with the two glasses had me quite fucked. :( Not so good!
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Yeah alcohol and suboxone never reacted well for me. I didn't drink for all but the last two weeks I was on it. Wasn't really a concern. Glad to hear your body is adjusting though.

I was told by a very good doctor that the Nalextrone (or however you spell it) should have no effect on you if you take the pill orally. Its to prevent it from being shot up basically.
 
phactor said:
Yeah alcohol and suboxone never reacted well for me. I didn't drink for all but the last two weeks I was on it. Wasn't really a concern. Glad to hear your body is adjusting though.

I was told by a very good doctor that the Nalextrone (or however you spell it) should have no effect on you if you take the pill orally. Its to prevent it from being shot up basically.
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Just to clear things up, naloxone (which is what's in suboxone) and naltrexone are two seperate things, and you take subutex/suxone sublingually not orally. Not criticising, just saying in the interest of correctness for anyone reading. The doctor was correct in that the naloxone has a bio-availability of (essentially) zero when taken in this way (although it does affect the small number of opiod receptors in the gastr-intestinal tract).
 
Rybee said:
Hey, just caught on to this thread.

When I first read your opening paragraphs I honestly thought 'God you have no hope of getting anything in time on the NHS - go private.'

The NHS is brilliant in cases of trauma, and actually not bad at A&E. The treatment is excellent, but the waiting time can be hours on end.

I was told I'd have to wait 4 months to see someone at a pain clinic with 2x slipped discs. Ended up just going privately, thankfully insured. The NHS is a brilliant idea, just not always executed to well. Gotta love it though.

I'm glad you seem to be sorted now though. I was honestly quite worried when I read your posts, that must've been a horrible situation to be in! Doctors in the UK are MUCH stricter when it comes to substance abuse, than the US, so I hope you got the care you were after.

May I ask if you have a long-term plan to get off of it?

Take care of yourself, and welcome to London :)
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Yeah, they're quite strict at the private clinic as well. What really annoys me is that even though they've moved me to weekly appointments (and I'll be on every other week starting next week) they won't let me just go and pick up a script for the entire week. They write out two separate prescriptions that say "fill on x date" and I usually have to go twice during the week. It ends up costing me more money than if I just filled once and it's just annoying. I don't really understand what the point of it is either.

I find the subutex to be way cheaper here as well? I had an insurance issue once in the US and had to pay out of pocket and Suboxone is about $7-9 for an 8mg strip. I'm on 12mg right now and when I filled my script for 5 days this time it was only £7.

I don't have any long-term plan at the moment. My doctor back in the US was very adamant that I not even think about coming off of it, he said he didn't see any reason why I would ever come off of it and when I told the my new doctor he and said that he was pretty horrified. I would like to come off of it though, I hate being on it.

It definitely wasn't fun, I'm just so thankful that the person who ended up helping me out in the interim did, I really would have been totally fucked otherwise.
 
omen_owen mk2 said:
Just to clear things up, naloxone (which is what's in suboxone) and naltrexone are two seperate things, and you take subutex/suxone sublingually not orally. Not criticising, just saying in the interest of correctness for anyone reading. The doctor was correct in that the naloxone has a bio-availability of (essentially) zero when taken in this way (although it does affect the small number of opiod receptors in the gastr-intestinal tract).
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Yeah that was what I was getting at. Suboxone (strips and pills) does include both though, the Naloxone is there order to prevent injection. Oral was the wrong word though. Sorry about that.

I remember thinking the Naloxone was helping me with alcohol cravings. Then I was told it had no effect sublingually. I was shocked and first but then I was all "fuck yeah!"
 
omen_owen mk2 said:
Suboxone does not contain naltrexone.
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Correct, it contains Naloxone not Naltrexone. If I somehow suggested otherwise I apologize. I took it myself and have had clients take it. I do know a little bit about this stuff (or so I tell myself) :) If I recall correctly, Naltrexone is longer lasting Naloxone. One is for emergencies/ODs (Naloxone) the other isn't. They are the same medication in different formations IIRC.

Suboxone (a controlled substance) contains buprenorphine as well as the opioid antagonist naloxone to deter the abuse of tablets by intravenous injection. Even though controlled trials in human subjects suggest that buprenorphine and naloxone at a 4:1 ratio will produce unpleasant withdrawal symptoms if taken intravenously by people who are addicted to opioids, these studies administered buprenorphine/naloxone to people already addicted to less powerful opiates such as morphine.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buprenorphine

The way I used to remember the difference was SuboxoNe vs Subtex. When I said "Suboxone (strips and pills) does include both though" I meant it contains Bupe and Naloxone. Obviously since it is to deter injection Naloxone makes more sense.
 
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Hey guys, so sorry this is a bit gross but as we're all opiate addicts I assume we've all had this problem. I am having horrible constipation from the Subutex and I've tried everything at this point, have been drinking tons of water, taking fiber pills, teas, suppositories, laxatives... nothing is working. I've been on this medication for a long time and I know at what point I have to suck it up and do an emema.

I went to Boots today to ask about getting an emema but she told me that you have to have a prescription for it? But when I go online it says I don't need one? We don't need prescriptions for that in the US but I haven't had to use one yet since I got here.
 
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