Bupe please please help me

[Ocean Lover]

so ive only been addicted to opiates for about 3 months. it has been heroin however. anywhere from .4-1.0 grams of black tar smoked a day. i have taken suboxone multiple times throughout this experience, and each time it has taken away all w/ds and anxiety. however this time, i switched to suboxone to try and quit and something is not right. the first day i took suboxone i took 8mg (and each time before that i had taken less) but i dont think i got pwds. i didnt feel worse but i didnt feel like i should on suboxone. my stomach hurt very bad and my pupils were still dilated and i was still anxious. today is my 4th day and the only thing that has gone away is the pupil dilation. i am taking 8mg of suboxone daily and my stomach pain hurts like it would on w/ds!!! i am freaking out and i sitll have anxiety. every other time i switched was smooth sailing. i am freaing out thinking bupe no longer works for me!!! help

 

[piebald]

less is more with subs i think..and sometimes you can feel icky if you take to much! bupe stays in your system for a while..did someone prescribe 8mg for you??

 

[muskolo]

Out of curiosity, how long did you wait until you took the Suboxone? As you may know, you need to be in withdrawal before you can take bupe or it will cause precipitated withdrawal. If you're planning on sticking with Suboxone and staying off heroin then there will be an 'adjustment' period that your body will undergo as bupe has a different chemical makeup. As piebald said, less is more with bupe, try cutting your dosage to 4mg and see if that takes the symptoms away; if not then up your dosage. If you're able to, go to an addiction specialist who can better give you solid medical advice. Be well.

 

[Ocean Lover]

i waited 16 hours, i will try 4mg. should i take a dose today?

 

[adder]

You should wait until your withdrawal symptoms are full-blown. I was in like 2 or 3-month binge taking 40mg of levorphanol / 160-200mg of morphine daily before I switched on buprenorphine. I waited long enough and I didn't feel bad. However, I don't think less is more. I had to start high, IIRC it was 24mg but I used self-made blotters with buprenorphine HCl only or didehydrobuprenorphine HCl only (it's twice as potent as bupe but otherwise it's the same). But I don't think it makes any difference because in both cases it's sublingual use - we might just get different bioavailability as I had no binders and used only substances to stick bupe to blotters.

If you don't feel sick, wait because actually you might be causing some weak withdrawal (and now the cause may be buprenorphine you took), although you should feel withdrawal after using inhaling heroin vapours daily quite fast after stopping (anyway, black tar doesn't contain that much heroin compared to white one with hydrochloride so 1 gram might not be a high dose, especially smoked). Buprenorphine has a long half-life and it mostly has a long action (I've been on methadone since ceasing bupe, I need split-dosing, buprenorphine held me at least 36 hrs, I never woke up feeling sick).