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How long can you take Suboxone?

T

trigeminalbooboo

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Joined
May 21, 2013
Messages
15
Location
California
I wanted to get folks opinions on how many days you can take Suboxone before it damages your receptors. I once took it for ten weeks and that was way too long.

Thanks y'all!
 
What do you mean by damaging your receptors ?

Assuming you mean the down regulation of the brains receptors that are effected by opiates are you speaking as someone who already uses opiates ?

Suboxone is primarily used as a replacement / maintenance therapy for those who have problematic opiate abuse problems.

TDS>>>> OD
 
I've not heard of it "damaging your receptors" per se. It can change them, but the change is temporariy. The idea behind Suboxone is to get yourself in a place where you are no longer in the addiction cycle. It is about changing behaviors, eliminating triggers and getting your life in order without going through the agony of withdrawal.
 
Ya, I don't think it damages receptors, maybe raise your tolerance for a little bit if you take it then go back to your drug of choice if you are not on it for maintaince...lucky people not on maintaince program getting fucked up on Subs, I remember the first time I had it before maintaince and it had me nodding like a mother fucker after literally a couple hits of some shitty weed in a blunt with about 7 people around...I couldn't keep my head up at all, really kinda embarrising cuz I didn't like for those people(my close friends) to know I was using. Now on it for maintaince and it just keeps me stable, and I take other things to try to get a buzz with it, or stop taking it for 2-3 days and get some Oxy for a couple days...trying to avoid that like the plauge though. And if it does damage receptors mine are fried cuz i've generally taken 8-12mg a day for about a year, now trying to just take 4mg.
 
I've been on it for going on 2 years:)
Ridiculously high doses can cause some changes with your opiate receptors but for the most part Suboxone doesn't do much more damage than any other opiate. The changes seen by high dose Suboxone for extended periods are usually consisting of high tolerance, and other opiate medication cannot attach to the receptors properly they just seem to ''fall off" in a way quicker than usual. I've seen this happen to patients who were on high dose Suboxone/subutex for periods of 5 years and more. One person telling me his story said he went off Suboxone after 7 years of taking 24mgs a day to go on stronger painkillers for an injury but the painkillers wouldn't hold him at all they had to be redosed every hour even then he was going into withdrawals before the next dose. Not sure exactly why patients report this but it does seem to happen I could see 24 mgs a day dping some long term damage especially taken for so long but low doses don't seem to do this or i haven't seen it happen anyways. I could be the fact that the Suboxone raised tolerance to a whole new level since 24 mgs is unnecessary for anybody but I remember the patient telling me it had been over a year since going off Suboxone and he even detoxed off the stuff before going on painkillers a few months after stopping sub's. The patient was frustrated because it had been a whole year of him being in intense pain without much relief.
But this isn't common I mean taking 24 mgs a day for that long is just plain irresponsible for the doctor to let that happen. I wouldn't be scared of Suboxone though take it as long as you need just taper to a lower dose since ehigh doses are unnecessary to stay on.
 
I think subs actually change receptors. There's no literature on it but in my experience of taking it for ten weeks it was excruciating to get off and it took a long time. And I was taking oxy to soften the blow. I think it takes around two or three weeks for the receptors to start changing. I can go 10 weeks on 120mg oxy, then stop ct and be in wd for four or five days. But then it's over, and if I've been on it for months then the PAWS kick in.
But bupe is a different story. The acute phase would be like four weeks, which is a hella long time with RLS, anxiety, jitters, sweats. I'm just wondering if people have been able to do bupe for a week, two weeks or longer and walk away unscathed, or vise versa, take it for a week and have wicked wd.

Thanks,
RR
 
Well the reason it's so hard to get off is because of the fact buprenorphine is a long acting drug the same as methadone meaning they can cause withdrawals to last way longer than usual and be quite brutal. It hasn't changed your receptors in that short time per say all you've done is jack your tolerance up then when you quit you had to deal with the lasting withdrawal symptoms. Some people say buprenorphine is the hardest opiate to quit taking for this exact reason. Me I found heroin/oxycodone harder to stop taking but that's just me, all over Bluelight there are reports of people struggling with buprenorphine withdrawal.

As for taking it daily and walking away unscathed well with any opiate you take daily for weeks at a time there will be most likely be some withdrawal after cessation of use. But it is more likely for someone to become addicted to bupe quicker than short acting opiates due to the fact the bupe has such a long half life meaning constant levels of the drug stay in your plasma even after the high may be worn off which isn't the case with oxy or other opiates because those drugs simply get you high then wear off in a few hours they don't build up in your body as fast.
 
I've been on suboxone for 2 years, only taking 1/8th of an 8mg a day. 10 days ago I was diagnosed with shingles and had to take Percocet for the pain.

It helps the pain, but even after 10 days there is no high whatsoever. I experimented with taking 25mgs at once, and I could have taken Advil and gotten the same effect. So I really don't know...
 
Your tolerance is too high it would take time to get them back to normal until then percs ain't getting you high unless you want to burn yourbliver out. Its a strong medication its not destroying your receptors your jacking ypur tolerance up then expecting to get high off lower doses it doesn't work that way.
 
14 days
When I took subs for 10 weeks it was hell to get off. When I took hydros for 8 weeks it was some yawning and low energy for a few days. Sure the bupe is way stronger but the wd was crippling. Just seems like there's more to it than my tolerance going way up.

Some docs say don't take it for more than two or three weeks. Some say 28 days. "Robert's Plan" can be found on the web says 8 weeks max. I'm just wrapping up a 17 day taper to get me off morphine sulfate. I would like to have extended the taper out longer but fear of receptor damage made me jump today. From the way I'm feeling I would say 14 days maximum on subs.
 
receptors don't get damaged! they are proteins and enzymes that change depending on what your taking. if i take adrenal support vitamins then i personally can feel the oxy with in 3-5 days but i have to take at least 30-50mg oxy. everyone is different there is no one size fits all when it comes to biochemistry !
 
trigeminalbooboo said:
14 days
When I took subs for 10 weeks it was hell to get off. When I took hydros for 8 weeks it was some yawning and low energy for a few days. Sure the bupe is way stronger but the wd was crippling. Just seems like there's more to it than my tolerance going way up.

Some docs say don't take it for more than two or three weeks. Some say 28 days. "Robert's Plan" can be found on the web says 8 weeks max. I'm just wrapping up a 17 day taper to get me off morphine sulfate. I would like to have extended the taper out longer but fear of receptor damage made me jump today. From the way I'm feeling I would say 14 days maximum on subs.
Click to expand...

^Exactly everyone is different and the receptors are not getting damaged!!

Yea I've heard of Roberts plan and its very outdated and not very based on fact. You can think whatever you want but sub's won't damage your receptors taking low doses for that time you could take it for years. The reason he says to not take it for very long is because you get addicted to it which isn't the same as damaging your receptors. I have taken 2mg buprenorphine for 2 years and I have no damage at all they are the same as if I was taking oxy all this time.
Addiction isn't damaging your receptors and the reason its so brutal to come off is like I said because its such a long acting drug meaning the withdrawal will too be long and drawn out. What makes you think the fact that bupe is stronger doesn't have any relevance to the severe withdrawals? Vicodin is weak and short acting and not usually very brutal to come off of.
 
If oxy is like bupe cuz they're all just opioids working on the same receptors then why is it that you can't just go from sub maintenance back to any full agonist? I don't think there's any amount of oxy that would prevent bupe withdrawal (I've tried). In my book the receptors have changed somehow to snuggle up to the bupe and don't hold the natural full agonists properly. It's like those chicks in the hills of Burma with all those rings around their stretched out necks. Their bodies have adapted. Take the rings away quickly and they'll be in misery.
 
trainspotter10102 said:
I've been on it for going on 2 years:)
Ridiculously high doses can cause some changes with your opiate receptors but for the most part Suboxone doesn't do much more damage than any other opiate. The changes seen by high dose Suboxone for extended periods are usually consisting of high tolerance, and other opiate medication cannot attach to the receptors properly they just seem to ''fall off" in a way quicker than usual. I've seen this happen to patients who were on high dose Suboxone/subutex for periods of 5 years and more. One person telling me his story said he went off Suboxone after 7 years of taking 24mgs a day to go on stronger painkillers for an injury but the painkillers wouldn't hold him at all they had to be redosed every hour even then he was going into withdrawals before the next dose. Not sure exactly why patients report this but it does seem to happen I could see 24 mgs a day dping some long term damage especially taken for so long but low doses don't seem to do this or i haven't seen it happen anyways. I could be the fact that the Suboxone raised tolerance to a whole new level since 24 mgs is unnecessary for anybody but I remember the patient telling me it had been over a year since going off Suboxone and he even detoxed off the stuff before going on painkillers a few months after stopping sub's. The patient was frustrated because it had been a whole year of him being in intense pain without much relief.
But this isn't common I mean taking 24 mgs a day for that long is just plain irresponsible for the doctor to let that happen. I wouldn't be scared of Suboxone though take it as long as you need just taper to a lower dose since ehigh doses are unnecessary to stay on.
Click to expand...

Perhaps this has something to do with desensitisation and internalisation of receptors? There has been research done showing that super-agonists like fentanyl cause much more internalisation than less efficacious agonists like morphine. Thus in case of fentanyl the "used-up" receptors are faster replaced with new "fresh" ones. I can imagine that tickling your opioid receptors every day for a few years with a long-lasting partial agonist like buprenorphine can effectively make them desensitised and they're not replaced with new ones. This would affect not only the binding of exogenous opioids like morphine or oxycodone, but also the binding of endogenous opioids, and could be the reason for long-lasting PAWS, something I'm afraid of having been on Suboxone for almost 2 years now. I couldn't stand the withdrawal from methadone in the first place and 2 months in I gave up and started taking Suboxone. The difference now is I've got nothing to switch to and I'm really sick and tired of buprenorphine. Right now I see no way quitting it other than switching to a short-lasting opioid and then detoxing with ibogaine. I haven't figured it all out logistically and financially yet though.:| I suspect that no further research is done because buprenorphine as a maintenance treatment certainly produces a great deal of money.
 
I take subs for no longer than 5 days, to get me thru the worst of opiate w/d. Im lucky I guess in that subutex/suboxone works well for me in low doses/short term even tho my dope habit would kill a hippopotamus. Yes, Ive relapsed many times, but as far as getting thru the worst of the physical and psychological w/d, subs are my d.o.c.
 
trigeminalbooboo said:
If oxy is like bupe cuz they're all just opioids working on the same receptors then why is it that you can't just go from sub maintenance back to any full agonist? I don't think there's any amount of oxy that would prevent bupe withdrawal (I've tried). In my book the receptors have changed somehow to snuggle up to the bupe and don't hold the natural full agonists properly. It's like those chicks in the hills of Burma with all those rings around their stretched out necks. Their bodies have adapted. Take the rings away quickly and they'll be in misery.
Click to expand...

Haha good one. But again it comes down to tolerance bupe is stronger even if you don't feel as high on it the stuff it is still stronger. You just have to take high doses of oxy or heroin whatever your doing to get a buzz. About a year ago I started skipping days where instead of taking Suboxone(I think I was on 4mg at the time) I would do heroin then when I ran out of money I would just go back to Suboxone for a while then payday comes and I repeat again. This cycle is done by a lot of people who go back and forth from Suboxone to oxy or heroin on a regular basis and at the time I did it I was on it for a year already so my receptors were saturated with bupe for a long time yet still let me get high on heroin the day after dosing.
 
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