Starting Sub Program soon, advice?

[NoddingMandy]

I have an appointment to start a subutex/suboxone program next Monday. Ive been an addict for 6years. Only in the past two years have I moved to IVing Morphine/Dilaudids. Since November I've managed to taper down for 400-600mg to about 200mg of Morph a day. It has been a bitch. I've tried going cold turkey a couple times and had some pretty scary withdrawals. I'm wondering a couple things:

Docs say to be in the w/drawl process when I go in for my first apt to get a u.a. and my first couple doses. My past experiences quitting left me pretty much debilitated for 5 days, there would be no way for me to drive my ass the two hr drive to my doc. I’m afraid I’ll be literally unable to get there if I go much longer than 12hrs. Any suggestions about when should I do my last load?

Also, is it worth it to try and obtain subutex over suboxone? I’ve heard subutex is better because it can be ived (my inner junkie therefore tends to lean towards this option). Will I catch any kind of buzz from taking either?

Lastly, does anyone know what kind of dosage I can expect them to give me?

This is my first post, so I hope I kept this w/in BL guidelines.

Just sifted thru 16pgs of the mega thread. Much better understanding of the difference between the two (or lack thereof) Any input would be much appreciated

 

[NeighborhoodThreat]

Hey NoddingMandy, welcome to Bluelight!

It sounds like you went ahead and paged through the megathread (which was the right thing to do). You can IV either Suboxone or Subutex. It doesn't matter which one (the Narcan doesn't do anything in the Suboxone). See the megathread for more information.

As far as what dosage they'll give you, they'll decide that at your intake appointment, you may notice your doctor will put you on a higher dosage than you need. Just hold onto the extras that you don't use.

Docs say to be in the w/drawl process when I go in for my first apt to get a u.a. and my first couple doses. My past experiences quitting left me pretty much debilitated for 5 days, there would be no way for me to drive my ass the two hr drive to my doc. I’m afraid I’ll be literally unable to get there if I go much longer than 12hrs. Any suggestions about when should I do my last load?

You do need to be in WDs for the intake appointment, try to get a ride there if you can't drive. 12-24 hours off morphine is all you need to be at for the intake appointment.

Hope this helps, I'm going to leave this open for a bit to see if we can get you any other specific advice but it should be in the megathread

-NT

 

[DoUbLeYoU]

Also, is it worth it to try and obtain subutex over suboxone? I’ve heard subutex is better because it can be ived (my inner junkie therefore tends to lean towards this option). Will I catch any kind of buzz from taking either?

Lastly, does anyone know what kind of dosage I can expect them to give me

IMO if your tryin to get off drugs you wouldn't want to do so in a way that reminds u of using (IVing)

You can expect to probly start off with 8 or 16mgs.

IMO you should start off at 6 or 4 mgs, and plan to start tapering after a month. Your doc won't recommend when to stop cause he wants u on it as long as possible so ull keep paying him, but if your really trying to get clean then keep in mind that subutex/suboxone can be just as addicting as whatever it is your using, and the longer you stay on subs the worse you'll withdrawals will be

Also when I went for my appt. I wasn't withdrawling, I just told him I was just starting to feel the symptoms.

 

[K'd-OUT-in-AZ]

You shouldn't expect to be started on anymore than 2-4mg because they always want to start low to see how you react. That is how they did it the first few days when I started. You will later be asked how you felt and rate how your feeling, then most likely you'll be moved up to 8mg and you'll then be asked to come back in a week later, or possibly later. If your still feeling withdrawals you may be moved to 16mg and continue to up another 4-8mg until you are where you need to be. Personally I see no reason to go any higher than 8mg, as the effects don't really continue to be any greater after that dose but you may need more, who knows.

You want to wait 24 hours after your last dose for two reasons, to see that you are in full blown withdrawals so they can decide on what dose to start you on and because you don't want to take the Suboxone to soon after your last dose so that you don't go into precipitated withdrawals.

In my opinion there is no reason to try to obtain Subutex. Suboxone is the same thing with exception of the naloxone and that makes no difference. If you want to shoot up, you perfectly can with Suboxone, it does not block the effects but you shouldn't be thinking about shooting up, that is not the objective of going onto buprenorphine maintenance/taper.