Opioids Started Suboxone yesterday...WOW

[fizzymk]

So, I went to my first sub doctor appt yesterday, It was nothing like I expected, I had tried to think of and write down all my recent drug use, dates, amounts, etc. the night before, but all the doctors office asked for, was my basic info, name address, phone, emergency contact, they didnt even ask me about my insurance, in fact, they never even brought up the cost of this visit, never asked me for any type of payment..?? This was at a hospital, with a normal doctor who was in the doctors building section, so it definitely was not a 'free' type clinic or anything.

The doctor was very intense, he spoke very fast, got to the point quickly, ( I should mention, this doctor is supposed to be one of top suboxone docs in this area, he has been in numerous interviews, testified before state lawmakers, etc, so I know hes not a quack or 'legal drug dealer') I was only in there about 10 min...he basically asked me how much H I was using daily, he made sure I was in w/d too, then asked me how much dope it would take to JUST get rid of the w/d symptoms, NOT how much to get me high, I told him this would probably be about 1/4 gram, maybe less, he asked me how many oxy 30s I would use to get high, then how many to JUST be well/ normal...so, I was then walking out with a 7 day script for suboxone film, 8mg/2mg. It was less to get filled then I thought too, and never once, did anyone bring up any charges, costs of the office visit, etc..still stumped about that, in fact, I made my appt for next tues, today, and still no mention of cost.

OK, So I take a single 8mg film strip, I can feel it fully after about 30 min, it was very strong imo, kind of felt like puking, very slight headache, similar to using a large amount of dope, without that rush, but still got the euphoria kicking in fully after an hour or so, this single strip had me feeling FUCKING GREAT for like 6 hours! It feels pretty similar to methadone, I get to itching after about 2-3 hours, mainly arms and chest, when I had the dope itches, it was always feet, calves.

If this is how suboxone will make me feel daily, I can honestly say, It WILL keep me off dope or any other opiates. I almost felt like i was in a better mood than when using dope too, but I think this was mainly due to me knowing I had a 7 day supply of this drug, ( he scripted me ONE 8mg film, 3X a day, 24 mg per day)...and didnt have to worry about being sick for awhile, back when I was using dope daily, how much dope I had left, always determined what kind of mood I was in at any given time, the less I had left, the worst my mood became.

Im hoping subs keeps me feeling this way though, Ive heard it does get you feeling great at first, but eventually, it wont seem as great, but I guess thats ANY drug though...right?

It also took away my lower back pain 100%, yesterday and today, I kicked ass at work, it was great, didnt feel sore at all.

Has anyone else went thru this same thing when they first started subs? Im kinda nervous anxious, like its almost too good to be true, waiting for the 'other shoe' to drop and kick me back into reality..I hope this is just my nerves. Does my doctor visit seem like a normal sub doctor first appt or..??

I will say though, knowing how sub feels now, I wish I had taken this step YEARS ago....I just hope it stays this way.

 

[Erikmen]

That´s really great Fizz!!
Congratulations!!!
It´s going to be a bright, bright sunshine day for you someday:D

 

[madagasqar]

24 mgs per day? wow, thats a lot! when i was really, really hooked (like 5 grams and more a day), it took me 16 mgs at max to ease down the pain, and to feel good. how big is/was ur "daily income" of H? (in grams.)

 

[Zerwas]

24mg a day is indeed a very high dose. Buprenorphine is ridiculously potent. Its potency is listed as 25-50 times stronger than morphine so 24mg/day would equal 600-1200mg of Morphine...
Also with its long half-life one dose/day should be sufficient. I'd really cut the dose down or when you have to come off it the WDs will be very bad too and much longer than an acute Heroin WD.

What you describe, feeling nauseaus and strong euphoria from 8mg indicates that even that is too much for a single dose, let alone 3x8mg per day.
And your tolerance will go up much faster. The honeymoon phase won't last that long and quickly it just makes you feel normal.

Please consider talking to the doc again.

 

[fizzymk]

24 mgs per day? wow, thats a lot! when i was really, really hooked (like 5 grams and more a day), it took me 16 mgs at max to ease down the pain, and to feel good. how big is/was ur "daily income" of H? (in grams.)

About 1.5-2 grams per day, but it varied widely, depended on how much money I had that day, some days I could afford to use alot, (the most Ive ever done in a single day was probably around 3gs, but it was rare to be able to afford that every day), other days, lucky to get $20. worth, but in general, like he asked me, how much WOULD I use if had unlimited access, Im thinking maybe he started me high due to also using it for back pain control, he did tell me, I would likely be on Sub indefinitely since I was using it for opiate wd, and pain mgt, but he relied on what I told him, he never looked at my medical record, so I could have went in and told him I was using ANY amount.

Or, maybe he is testing me...giving me a large amount at first (enough to get me high), and expecting me to be honest with him and say I could benefit from a lower dose...this is something opiate users/addicts NEVER do, with ANY doctor, they always try to get/ use as much as the doctor will give them.

 

[fizzymk]

24mg a day is indeed a very high dose. Buprenorphine is ridiculously potent. Its potency is listed as 25-50 times stronger than morphine so 24mg/day would equal 600-1200mg of Morphine...
Also with its long half-life one dose/day should be sufficient. I'd really cut the dose down or when you have to come off it the WDs will be very bad too and much longer than an acute Heroin WD.

What you describe, feeling nauseaus and strong euphoria from 8mg indicates that even that is too much for a single dose, let alone 3x8mg per day.
And your tolerance will go up much faster. The honeymoon phase won't last that long and quickly it just makes you feel normal.

Please consider talking to the doc again.

The more I learn about Suboxone, the more I find out its exactly like methadone...Is there a benefit/ difference to Sub mmt versus methadone?

I know sub is a partial agonist and methadone is a full, but honestly, I cant tell the difference right now.

 

[0057]

I love bupe. but i reccomend trying out 1mg pieces ata time. I used to do 4mg morning, and maybe 1-2 at night. currently I take about .25-0.5 mg once or twice daily.

 

[Erikmen]

The more I learn about Suboxone, the more I find out its exactly like methadone...Is there a benefit/ difference to Sub mmt versus methadone?

I know sub is a partial agonist and methadone is a full, but honestly, I cant tell the difference right now.

Just let it be for a while. You have to give this a try now. You might be right but this is your chance now. The cravings will diminish, trust me..

 

[Pill__Head]

just give it a while. couple weeks and the honeymoon will be over.

 

[Erikmen]

I don´t think he is referring to honeymoon at all. Quite the opposite. Like "been there" did not work sorta of thing.

@Fizz, come on man, you owe you this chance! You know you do.
Can´t you move out to someplace free of H memories? It really helps and sometimes it´s the only way to get rid of this..

 

[SAMCRO]

Taking bupe 3x per day in smaller amounts is a good idea for pain because the analgesic effects don't last nearly as long as the half life. I would try 4mg dose 3x a day instead of 8mg 3x day but it's your call if you want to saturate those receptors.

 

[Screaming_Skull]

Enjoy it while it last, then you will just feel normal and start looking for ways to get a buzz if you are not serious about STAYING clean...My honeymoon phase was a couple weeks or a month, I slept so well and had no cravings at all. If you want to keep a littl glow though try dosing 4mg or less a day. I'm trying to but once I get to 4mg cravings come in pretty bad.

 

[fizzymk]

Just let it be for a while. You have to give this a try now. You might be right but this is your chance now. The cravings will diminish, trust me..

Oh yea, Im DEFINITELY staying on subs, I will never go back to the 'done'! Im going to stay clean, gave up multiple chances to get p30s today too...I just didnt want them (that is a strange phrase for me to even type out LOL).

I have appt wed with my sub doctor again, will see him once a week for awhile, Im just going to be honest with him about this, and enjoy the 'honeymoon' phase im in, and will see how I feel a month or so down the road, but can honestly say, if I still feel like I do right now (besides the sub 'high'), Sub will be a fucking miracle drug for me!!

When I felt my first one kick in, I was like..why the fuck arent city officials standing on street corners giving this shit away to addicts? LOL and I really wonder why lawmkers felt like they had to put up such barriers to even getting it, even the barriers on doctors..??WTF? If it keeps people off illegal opiates, it should be OTC or at least available to anyone that asks for it, and NOT run into problems trying to find a sub doc with an opening...that makes no sense to me, its like they dont want people to get off H. lol?

 

[dirzted]

Dude, I know it' the doc's orders but don't take 24mg a day. You said yourself 8mg got you HIGH, that is completely the wrong way of going about maintenance. He asked what it would take to keep you from being sick, not high. If 8mg got you high then it will last at least 24 hours, so adding a entire 16mg on top of that to me seems ludicrous.
I'm not saying you shouldn't be on them at all, and even if you follow his orders it's still not as bad as dope, but trust me, keep your dose as low as possible, there is absolutely no point in going anywhere above 8mg if that got you high to the point you almost vomited.

Just stay on 8mg and be stoked that you get high off that and don't need to do dope... what more could you ask for?

 

[fizzymk]

^^^ You make some great points! today is only my third day on it, and I have taken 3 of them today and yesterday, but did not need ALL of it, I was enjoying feeling GREAT, and guess I got carried away a bit, well, proves Im still 'handcuffed' to SOMETHING, its better than dope from the street, and since I already know Im going to be on it indefinitely (since hes giving it to me for back pain too), I think this is why he gave me such a high dose, and it has taken away 100% of my back pain.

Im going to think hard on what you have said...Thank you for that post...I think tomorrow morning, Im going to take 4mg and see how I feel, I have to ALWAYS remember what I went thru with methadone back this past Sept, and H a few weeks ago, that was pure hell, dont want to go thru something similar again in my lifetime.

 

[Zerwas]

I totally agree with dirzted. 24mg is just overkill and it is very likely you will regret taking that much, tolerance and taper/WD-wise. 8mg a day should be more than sufficient.
Just for example: I have a pretty small habit of lower potent opioids and I get high and WD-free for ~48 hours from only 0,4mg Buprenorphine. Opiate naive people can get wrecked of even smaller doses as 0,2mg.

Also there are many differences between Methadone and Buprenorphine. Done is much more sedating and has more side-effects as it is generally considered to be much harder to come off.
Another important difference is the low respiratory depression potential of Bupre vs Methadone. The latter is notorious for causing fatal ODs in combination with benzos, booze or both.
Of course Bupre is not harmless in that regard but compared to Methadone the dangers are considerably lower.

 

[Screaming_Skull]

Ya start taking 4-8mg you will have extras,your doing what I did(cept I had only 16mg) you will wake up one day and litteraly feel abosuluey normal, like litterally I fetlt just normal, then thats when the I would stop takin my meds for 3 days and go get high or start taking ridiciculous amounts of klons/xanax/gabapentin/weed togeter or shoot my my subs and get high at night on my drug of choice since that shortens the half life...Have been doing good lately but thinking about calling the clinic, it's just such a pain in the ass cuz its such a drive then I have to get it situated with work ect. ect... but ya start taking 8mg at most just dont tell your doctor..