Makes perfect sense actually. If I'm withdrawling from the bupe wouldn't that put me at something like a -3 though? (I'm not trying to argue, I like to debate)
It can. However, buprenorphine is a rather sticky drug in the sense that it is a very highly protein bound drug, and it has a very long half life (it lingers in your system for some time). Therefore, you won't get to the "-3" as quickly when coming down from buprenorphine as you will with heroin.
I have definitely used heroin when I was on buprenorphine (either I waited till the next day, or would wait at least 8 hours after the last buprenorphine dose) and I still got adequately high. However, the longer I was on buprenorphine, the less and less appealing heroin became. I think it had to do with the fact that levels of buprenorphine build up in your system after dosing a few times, and after it builds up in your system, it's not as easy to have heroin and use it successfully while still being able to switch back, and comfortably so.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, yeah, you can definitely do it, however I think you'd feel better about yourself (and better in the long run) if you didn't use heroin. However, I'm not going to say "don't do it" because I know how much fun can be had while on dope. If you want "one last time" with it, and can honestly keep it to that (not many people can) then have a blast. However, you don't want to decrease the efficacy of buprenorphine as a maintenance drug by planning to use heroin again (if you are truly trying to recover from heroin abuse, for example); so make sure you have no qualms about going back to buprenorphine after the fun is over.
I guess that's the best advice I can really give you, as I had a month or two (or three) where I'd switch from buprenorphine to heroin and back and forth again...until I slowly phased out the heroin part and stuck to the buprenorphine part. I guess as they say, I got really sick and tired of being...sick and tired.
Any other inquiries? I hope what I have to offer doesn't sound "critical", it's just the advice I could have used when I was chasing heroin a lot.
Hey, i recently (finally) got off of a 6 year suboxone habit. my Dr. just kept prescribing and i had good prescription coverage at the time... I couldn't taper myself off though i tried for years, even got down to 1/2mg/day, but still couldn't make it more than 2 days of nothing from that dose. basically i was on an average of 8mg/day for 6 years. It took me a good 6-10 weeks of feeling like absolute crap and having to do it in a rehab so i couldn't get more or substitute in order to get off them. it took about 6-9 months till i felt totally normal again and even now 12 mos. later i still have days when i feel shitty for no apparent reason. when i first started detoxing i read an excellent post? article? FAQ? that was long and detailed exactly what to expect from the w/d for suboxone if you are/were on it for longer than a year. now i know that my Dr. should have NEVER let me stay on it that long (less than a month is about the right time period if you don't want to just stay on it the rest of your life. anyway, a good friend of mine i just found out has been on it for about 6 mos. at 8mg/day and is thinking of getting off of it. I would like to print up this document/post i read that breaks down the symptoms and time periods for the withdrawal he's in for and what he can do to lessen the severity of it, but i can't find it now. can anyone help me find where it is or remember where it is? also, some things i found helped me out were... melatonin/benedryl/5-htp combo to sleep, loperimide and pro biotic yogurt for the digestive tract symptoms, multi-vitamin, L-tyrosine, dmae, dhea, ginseng, iron, calcium/magnesium, alpha-lipoic acid, vitamin B complex, ibuprofen, Tylenol, and ranitidine, HOT baths, as much exercise as you can tolerate (which for me was slowly walking about 1 mile a day). hope this OTC cocktail helps out anyone and thanx again for the help finding this article if anyone can.
