Methadone to suboxone switch

[itsok]

Has anyone done this switch?

I read a post here that said once one goes on methadone that suboxone will never work the same, is that true?

 

[T. Calderone]

Not really, in a way because they are completely different compounds. What was your typical methadone dose? Suboxone will keep you feeling just- even for lack of a better word. You won't feel groggy or nod off like with methadone. But you will not feel one bit of high with suboxone. I took it for a few months but without insurance it's super expensive. What's your situation?

 

[itsok]

been on slubs for 5 years. have private insurance but my parents are kicking me off it. plus i kept using w subs and raised my tolerance so ceiling dose doesn't affect me enough so i shoot on top. im startng methadone monday with the intention of lowering so i can switch back to subs, but read somewhere that was hard to do.

 

[SececaRD]

Lesser of 2 evils????

You need to just get off all the dope completly!

 

[T. Calderone]

been on slubs for 5 years. have private insurance but my parents are kicking me off it. plus i kept using w subs and raised my tolerance so ceiling dose doesn't affect me enough so i shoot on top. im startng methadone monday with the intention of lowering so i can switch back to subs, but read somewhere that was hard to do.

Ok, so you were using both methadone and suboxone? I was told that suboxone contained a mechanism which blocks you from getting high from other opiates. At least that's what my doctor said. If you're losing your insurance, it may be better for you just to stick with the methadone. It's way less expensive.

 

[T. Calderone]

yikes

Lesser of 2 evils????

You need to just get off all the dope completly!

That would be the eventual goal right. Rehab comes to mind, but it's something you really have to want. Otherwise it's a waste of time for everyone involved. Itsok, please be careful with the IV drug use. You don't want to wind up dying. You have your whole life in front of you.

 

[itsok]

I don't care about dying. I don't have the money for a high enough dose for that. I am only taking h now bc my tolerance is too high for subs so i quit them like couple weeks ago. on monday i'll only be doing methadone and maybe h if the methadone is too weak. so i have never done methadone and sub at the same time.

Thanks-- i know i need to just get off dope. if it were so easy, my life wouldn't be such a mess.

 

[onlywant2nod]

This is my own true experience with subs and done. Back in 2005 I had to take 8, yes 8 10/500 norco's every 3 to 4 hours to get same buzz that 2 used to give me in June of 04. I then started on 2mg suboxone 2 or 3x daily while in detox. Then I had to complete 3 weeks of that UGGHH boring aftercare all day long groups sessions which I hated.

I was shocked(keep in mind everyone has a bit difference in body chemistry)to find out that the 1st time on suboxone gave me an almost vicodin like buzz, so I loved it. THen I started getting norco 10's again and stopped the subs and relapsed, then my sub doc found out and long story short I wound up at taking 3 8mg subs daily. I started abusing them too, I would take 5 8mg subs at once and crush em up(not recommended for safety sakes)with my teeth and hold saliva for 20 mins and then I'd swallow and get a nice buzz, I really screwed my tolerance then. I found myself "beyond subs" in august of 2006, started on mmt at 30mg once daily and wow did I get a nice "honeymoon buzz" off that all the way up to 150mg.

I wound up on 240mg done within a year and everything was going great, that was until crap started happening.I was required to have an ekg done and as my luck would have it, I had developed heart dysrythmias(sp?) or arrythmias where basically my heart was "skipping a beat" sort of like an engine way off timing, my doc at the clinic I was at told me that my heart would stop beating for up to a minute at least once on the ekg printout and I was like SHIT. He said due to fear of lawsuits etc blah blah that I would have to be titrated down 10mg once a week and held at 150mg.

I knew that would be hell and hell it was. I was craving opiates like crazy, to the point that I did go crazy lol!!, I did something very dumb, long story short I met this guy at clinic and we went back to his place and I smoked crack for the 1st time and I was surprised that it too made me feel like my 1st vicodin buzz and all chatty etc. Well the guy turned "asshole" and I learned the easy way NEVER to do crack again. He became very ragefull on it and then I started to after the 4th time I smoked it so I quit for good thank God.

I got so fed up with the bullshit from the clinic I was at plus I hated this bitch that used to be my counselor there so in early Feb of this year I just CT jumped off the 150mg of done and didn't beleive the "story" the clinic gave me that the subs would never work again the same as the 1st time. I figured I could prove em wrong. Well long story short I ended up finding out that I was just fooling myself and wasted time in rehab, money, plus 4 horrid days of wd's before I could start back on subs again.

So I ended up titrating up back on 3 8mg subs daily and I was doing good for only 2 weeks. Then stuff started happening. I felt strange, was very ragefull and finally after a month and a half I realized they were right, so I went back on mmt and felt great again. I was even lucky to find a much better clinic too and I'm still doing pretty good. I still crave opiates sometimes and some days are worse than others. So I just thought I would share my experience here, not to scare anyone but just for a true story experience from one(me) who did try going back on subs after being on mmt.

 

[itsok]

thanks for sharing... been reading your posts on the stamp review site ( think its u could be a similar username). im off the methadone bc i kept nodding and couldn't work or drive. i ended up crashing my car, flipping over 4 times, landing upside down wo a scratch (amazing) so i tapered off the done. now im tapering off h and using ketamine to help. its actually working bc my parents control my dosage.

im out of options. subs dont work and methadone i cant function on.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

I read a post here that said once one goes on methadone that suboxone will never work the same, is that true?

That's not true. Suboxone may not work well for some people, but many people have switched from methadone to Suboxone with positive results.

The switch is hard at first because you have to go without methadone for a long time to ensure you won't go into precipitated withdrawal. Sometimes an intermediary opiate (like morphine or hydromorphone) would be used, so that withdrawal could come on quicker, and then you could begin Suboxone with less worries of precipitated withdrawal.