Bupe Suboxone/Buprenorphine FAQ & Megathread v2; 2010

[Subs4Opiates]

guys i feel like i'm at the end of my ropes. my family just found out that i'm taking suboxone and my mother said I will never see my daughters again. I know like before that I said I replapsed by taking that other shit last weekend, but I seriously dont know where else to turn. Can I lose custody of my kids because I'm taking Suboxone?? I'm seriously at the end of my rope here and I swear that killing myself is the only answer anymore. I'm not doing anyone any good in this world, especially being stuck in this fucking trap. to be honest, they have already been living with her since august of 09 because of my fucking horrible decisions and i've just recently started building a relationship with them. now i fucked up again. she'll find out that i relapsed with the other shit too, i'm sure. but for some reason i'm supposed to be "strong" and "stop being a pussy" and just quit instead of being the fucking bum that they say I am. Maybe they are right. maybe i dont deserve to live or have my kids,m i'm just a damn waste of space in this world. fuck!! one more thing, i would like to speak to someone who has maybe gone through this kind of shit before .....it would help me out tremendously. Im not sure if i'm allowed to say what i need to say to be honest here, but if someone would send a private message to me so I could respond I would really really appreciate it, i'm seriously not in a good way right now.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

sorry,I wasnt refering to you and I didn't mean to sound condescending when I said that. I'm just constantly around people who think they have some kind of disorder if they share one of the many symptoms listed on wikipedia...

No it's OK; I agree with you. It annoys me when people who are clearly not ADD/ADHD say things like "lol I must be ADD" or "I'm having an ADHD day" or shit like that. That's like making a joke about being depressed and then laughing about it... how do you think that would make very depressed people feel? etc.

I don't like self-diagnosis either, but it's surprisingly accurate if you compare someone with a college education (like myself) to the ignorant, mindless doctors that they often go to (like the doctors I have been to).

Anyway, yesterday I did something dumb, which I just want to post on here so hopefully other people can be warned. I was shooting my suboxone in a public bathroom, and got paranoid cause people kept knocking on my stall. Anyway, I don't have a micron filter so I was using a cotton. I usually filter my solutions with a cotton minimum ten times untill the liquid is clear. Anyway, I only filtered it once and banged it up cause I wanterd to get out of there. Instantly my chest started to hurt really bad and it was hard to breath. These symptoms went away after about 30 minutes, but it was pretty scarry. So even if you can't get a micron filter, always filter through a cotton many,many times.

For the record; corn starch will only be removed by micron filtering (if it's even completely removed instead of just partially removed with a 0.22um micron filter in the first place is unknown).

What you experienced is natural; I get the same thing you describe daily. "My chest hurt really bad - it was hard to breathe" = this is exactly what I go through, almost daily. A very small price to pay for being off of heroin in my opinion, but annoying and painful/nauseating nonetheless.

I don't know how to explain what's happening, but I think it has something to do with the fact that buprenorphine relaxes the diaphragm. This in turn, may cause it to spasm (which apparently causes the unpleasant/painful symptoms).

I know that it's due to the buprenorphine and not from failing to filter something out of the shot, because I experienced this very same thing when I was using Suboxone sublingually, and hadn't IV'd Suboxone at all.

I mentioned in an earlier post that my suboxone was giving me headaches. Saw the doctor today and he switched me to 8mg subutex...wish me luck!

Good luck! Hopefully the Subutex will eliminate your headache. If it doesn't, try taking less Subutex slowly over time, and you might find relief that way. Feel free to keep us posted up to date, I would be interested to hear if your headaches go away or not. Either way I am very interested, and if they don't go away, I am very sorry! If so I'll be happy for you.

Hey guys i havent been on in about a week but I need a lil advice and I was hoping to get it here. I take between 4-8mgs of suboxone a day, lately the past week or so i've been taking 8 or alil more. Basically here is what happened. Last weekend I came across a 400mcg fentynal sucker and figured since I had only taken 4mgs that day that I could "break through" the suboxone with it and get a decent buzz. Let me say that I normally would only need 100mcg patch (cut open and eaten) to get a buzz. But I thought i would eat about 1/2 the sucker and see how I felt. I'm kinda scared of fentynal, I know a lot of people who have od'd on it, but I've always watched myself. well anyway, to make this a little shorter, I ended up eating the whole fukin sucker. I had a nice buzz, but I also laid there all night waiting to die...I had AWFUL nightmares that night which doesnt happen much....but anyway I know I fucked up eating it all, that part I dont need advice on, what happened by me doing that has really fucked up my head. I am craving CONSTANTLY now and I cant get pills out of my damn head. Help!!! should increase my dose again to see if that helps??? i hate myself right now

400mcg of fentanyl would be about four IV doses for someone like me. (OBVIOUSLY you CANNOT shoot a fentanyl lollipop, I know this; I am just comparing two IV routes due to exact same BA, so as to compare potency of the drugs)

If you still have a large opiate tolerance, I'm not surprised that 400mcg of fentanyl didn't exactly get you high.

I am sorry to hear about your bad nightmares, and your cravings. I would only suggest upping your Suboxone dose if it does help with cravings. If not, I would try to get something else that isn't opiates (plenty of other drugs ) and hopefully something you don't find addictive/won't crave like you do opiates.

You can also talk to your doctor about increased cravings/anxiety, they may be able to help you out with additional medication(s).

I have a question about gettin scrips filled. I just got a new script from my sub doc today but it has been less then 30 days since I got my last script filled at the pharmacy it has been 18 days to be exact. Can I go ahead and get this script filled or will my insurance freak out. does anyone have any experience with this.

You can fill Suboxone every 28 days I believe. A prescription is supposed to last you 30 days, and they let you fill it two days early.

18 days is very early, and your insurance won't cover it. You can fill part/all of the prescription without using your insurance at another pharmacy, but it won't be worth it due to the over-priced nature of Suboxone.

I have had the unpleasant experience of being prescribed a sleep medication which worked very well, in such a small quantity, that I had to go a long time without it, in order to fill the next prescription for more.

The insurance shouldn't make a stink about it, mine sure didn't when I was switched. Just be sure you realize that the pharmacy is required to fill the generic Subutex even if the generic isn't available (it isn't available in new york) so the doctor will have to check the "Dispense as Written" box on your prescription so you can get the name-brand. I had this problem, $229 copay instead of $10. I had to search for a small pharmacy that didn't even use computers so they wouldn't know that there was a generic Subutex and they would just fill it and charge the insurance.

My insurance policy lets me get brand name medication for the same price. I asked a pharmacist and they said it wouldn't be any more expensive than a generic. Then again, I was 100% satisfied with the generic I was getting, so I haven't actually done this.

I guess insurance policies vary.

 

[oliphill]

guys i feel like i'm at the end of my ropes. my family just found out that i'm taking suboxone and my mother said I will never see my daughters again. I know like before that I said I replapsed by taking that other shit last weekend, but I seriously dont know where else to turn. Can I lose custody of my kids because I'm taking Suboxone?? I'm seriously at the end of my rope here and I swear that killing myself is the only answer anymore. I'm not doing anyone any good in this world, especially being stuck in this fucking trap. to be honest, they have already been living with her since august of 09 because of my fucking horrible decisions and i've just recently started building a relationship with them. now i fucked up again. she'll find out that i relapsed with the other shit too, i'm sure. but for some reason i'm supposed to be "strong" and "stop being a pussy" and just quit instead of being the fucking bum that they say I am. Maybe they are right. maybe i dont deserve to live or have my kids,m i'm just a damn waste of space in this world. fuck!! one more thing, i would like to speak to someone who has maybe gone through this kind of shit before .....it would help me out tremendously. Im not sure if i'm allowed to say what i need to say to be honest here, but if someone would send a private message to me so I could respond I would really really appreciate it, i'm seriously not in a good way right now.

You need to explain that you are using suboxone to aid your recovery. That you don't get 'high' off it, and you explain the reasons you are using it for.

There's never any time your should be thinking of suicide. It's just in your mind. Honestly I think your family will be far more upset if you did this! I mean come on, I hope it's not to try and 'show them'. Seriously, suicide is not the answer.

If you're feeling depressed have you considered upping your dose or moving to methadone? Or maybe just getting on with it, getting off the subs, riding out the PAWS then actually feeling better naturally?

 

[Captain.Heroin]

I suck. I bought some oxy. I guess I'm not 100% ready to quit the opiates yet. I meet with my doctor in 2 weeks, I'm nervous to tell him but its important to be honest

That's OK Ashley! You don't suck, please don't get down on yourself. Realize that it's normal to want to go back to opiates, many of us have done exactly that. However, after months of relapsing (like 3 to 4 months), I finally did quit.

I wouldn't tell your doctor, just because some doctors think that's a reason to not give people more Suboxone, which is asinine.

If you have a good doctor who would still give you Suboxone, possibly more to counteract cravings, then feel free to tell him.

I'm glad you at least are being honest with yourself and are trying to realize what you're ready for, and what you want for your life. That's a step in the right direction. You've done a great job for yourself so keep up the good work. %)

Its ok, I am an insomniac + opiate addict so it could be worse =]

It's OK, I have insomnia, and ADHD. Plus I probably have PTSD as a result of being held at gunpoint. It can get a lot worse.

guys i feel like i'm at the end of my ropes. my family just found out that i'm taking suboxone and my mother said I will never see my daughters again. I know like before that I said I replapsed by taking that other shit last weekend, but I seriously dont know where else to turn. Can I lose custody of my kids because I'm taking Suboxone?? I'm seriously at the end of my rope here and I swear that killing myself is the only answer anymore. I'm not doing anyone any good in this world, especially being stuck in this fucking trap. to be honest, they have already been living with her since august of 09 because of my fucking horrible decisions and i've just recently started building a relationship with them. now i fucked up again. she'll find out that i relapsed with the other shit too, i'm sure. but for some reason i'm supposed to be "strong" and "stop being a pussy" and just quit instead of being the fucking bum that they say I am. Maybe they are right. maybe i dont deserve to live or have my kids,m i'm just a damn waste of space in this world. fuck!! one more thing, i would like to speak to someone who has maybe gone through this kind of shit before .....it would help me out tremendously. Im not sure if i'm allowed to say what i need to say to be honest here, but if someone would send a private message to me so I could respond I would really really appreciate it, i'm seriously not in a good way right now.

No, you cannot lose custody of your children because you are a recovering drug addict. Addicts who are in a recovery program cannot be discriminated against; it is the law. The same law also covers people who are seen as drug users, but who actually don't use drugs (imagine someone got fired from a job because they looked, talked like, and acted like a total stoner, but didn't smoke weed).

Your kids deserve you and they need you, don't give up hope! I'm going to send you a PM so that you receive this; there's no need to feel bad for what your mother said.

If your mother isn't trying to support your recovery, and is making this out to be a "no one who uses drugs deserves children" kind of a thing, she's not a mother worth loving, nor a mother worth having.

Shit, if my mom said that to me, I'd kick her in the cunt. I don't even have kids!

 

[Znegative]

God I feel depressed... For a couple of weeks I had tapered myself down to about 1-2 mg I.V... But the past two days I just had to see what would happen if I did more, and now my suboxone has no effect on me... I cant decide to just start tapering again, or to stop taking it all together for a few days until my tolerance decreases.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

God I feel depressed... For a couple of weeks I had tapered myself down to about 1-2 mg I.V... But the past two days I just had to see what would happen if I did more, and now my suboxone has no effect on me... I cant decide to just start tapering again, or to stop taking it all together for a few days until my tolerance decreases.

That's the same effect I get from it; that when I tapered down I got a high + a rush, and before that, really no "effect" as you say (though it was instant relief, it wasn't recreational in the slightest).

Don't feel bad about it, just taper down. It's not that hard, and you can do it pretty quickly. Tolerance with buprenorphine doesn't take as long to go away when you compare how long tolerance is increased with a full agonist dependency.

Good luck!

 

[Ashley26]

That's OK Ashley! You don't suck, please don't get down on yourself. Realize that it's normal to want to go back to opiates, many of us have done exactly that. However, after months of relapsing (like 3 to 4 months), I finally did quit.

I wouldn't tell your doctor, just because some doctors think that's a reason to not give people more Suboxone, which is asinine.

If you have a good doctor who would still give you Suboxone, possibly more to counteract cravings, then feel free to tell him.

I'm glad you at least are being honest with yourself and are trying to realize what you're ready for, and what you want for your life. That's a step in the right direction. You've done a great job for yourself so keep up the good work.

well thanks a lot for the kind words CH, you're really great on here

I have to say, the Oxy doesnt feel as "fun" as it did before. Probably because part of me is feeling guilty for going back to using since I really do want to quit. I'll see what happens when I run out of this supply. I still have plenty of subs left.

 

[Suboxone]

guys i feel like i'm at the end of my ropes. my family just found out that i'm taking suboxone and my mother said I will never see my daughters again. I know like before that I said I replapsed by taking that other shit last weekend, but I seriously dont know where else to turn. Can I lose custody of my kids because I'm taking Suboxone?? I'm seriously at the end of my rope here and I swear that killing myself is the only answer anymore. I'm not doing anyone any good in this world, especially being stuck in this fucking trap. to be honest, they have already been living with her since august of 09 because of my fucking horrible decisions and i've just recently started building a relationship with them. now i fucked up again. she'll find out that i relapsed with the other shit too, i'm sure. but for some reason i'm supposed to be "strong" and "stop being a pussy" and just quit instead of being the fucking bum that they say I am. Maybe they are right. maybe i dont deserve to live or have my kids,m i'm just a damn waste of space in this world. fuck!! one more thing, i would like to speak to someone who has maybe gone through this kind of shit before .....it would help me out tremendously. Im not sure if i'm allowed to say what i need to say to be honest here, but if someone would send a private message to me so I could respond I would really really appreciate it, i'm seriously not in a good way right now.

Now's the time in your life where you have to make serious changes and form a healthy, supporting social network. If your mother doesn't fit that group then the best thing to do might be to sever ties until you're feeling mentally prepared to confront her about it. I don't know if your kids have been living with her on a court order, but if not then they can't keep your children from you because you're a recovering addict. People who aren't addicts don't know what it's like to be an addict, it's like people who think they know about California just because they heard about Disney Land (I hope that analogy makes sense).

My reaction would most likely be similar to CH's. It's terrible what she's doing to you mentally and emotionally, no decent parent could do that to their child. It's a shame this is happening, but you need to keep your head up high and keep heading in the right direction. Form that support network, attend meetings, talk about your issues. I think we all know that our mother being a total cunt to us isn't the end of the world, so don't think it is. My mother was about as supportive of my decision to get clean as she was about my using and I was forced to cut ties to her and we haven't spoken in almost a year. This was the best decision I've made since I quit the drugs. Cutting out the people that don't support you is equally as important as cutting out the dealers and people you used with.

 

[yoursecrettime]

Hey everybody.

The last 3 months I've been either smoking 1-2g of black tar or railing/chewing 120mg OC a day. My habit is getting old and I'm ready to cut off all the goddamn strings the opiates are pulling me by.

I have 10 8mg Subs and wanna know if any of y'all know the best way to rapidly detox, while lessening awful withdrawal symptoms as much as possible. Im fucking broke and cant afford to be on a longterm maintenance program.

Today I took my first sub dose, 19 hrs after I smoked some chiva. 4mg seemed to make me feel okay. How can I best taper with what I've got.

 

[Znegative]

alright, well its been 24 hours since my last shot of bupe.. I'm going attempt today to bring my overall bupe intake down to 2 mg a day, with 4 .5 mg shots throughout the day..

----------------------

alright, well, I just I.V'd .5 mg into the vein that goes along the bicep (great vein, wish I had tried it earlier!), and its been about 45 minutes, and I'll tell you, I'm feeling real nice! I can't tell if its just placebo because I woke up feeling shitty, but I'm fairly confident that its not. I'm wondering, I know bupes half life doesn't change depending on ROA, but does half life refer to how much of the drug is in your blood, or how many receptors are still occupied? CH said above that it doesn't take as long to bring your tolerance down on partial-agonists as compared to full agonists, and I do believe that, I just didn't think it could happen this fast.

Oh, and BTW, are there other partial agonists?

 

[Suboxone]

alright, well its been 24 hours since my last shot of bupe.. I'm going attempt today to bring my overall bupe intake down to 2 mg a day, with 4 .5 mg shots throughout the day..

----------------------

alright, well, I just I.V'd .5 mg into the vein that goes along the bicep (great vein, wish I had tried it earlier!), and its been about 45 minutes, and I'll tell you, I'm feeling real nice! I can't tell if its just placebo because I woke up feeling shitty, but I'm fairly confident that its not. I'm wondering, I know bupes half life doesn't change depending on ROA, but does half life refer to how much of the drug is in your blood, or how many receptors are still occupied? CH said above that it doesn't take as long to bring your tolerance down on partial-agonists as compared to full agonists, and I do believe that, I just didn't think it could happen this fast.

Oh, and BTW, are there other partial agonists?

Yes, Tramadol is a synthetic partial agonist. Half-life refers to how long it's in your system, as the amount of time the drug is in your receptors will change based on the ROA.

 

[Lando138]

I've been wondering, what about if you're on suboxone and there's an emergency situation where you would need IV pain meds at the hospital or whatever. Will it block it so you're just pretty much F'd? How will they know how much to give you to break through? Is it safe for them to give you enough to break through the sub?

Just something I've been thinking about. Hopefully I, or anyone for that matter, will not have to find out the hard way.

 

[HdoubleODeezy]

I've been wondering, what about if you're on suboxone and there's an emergency situation where you would need IV pain meds at the hospital or whatever. Will it block it so you're just pretty much F'd? How will they know how much to give you to break through? Is it safe for them to give you enough to break through the sub?

Just something I've been thinking about. Hopefully I, or anyone for that matter, will not have to find out the hard way.

for minor to somewhat major pain they can manage it sometimes with benzo's..
if it becomes severe, than they do have meds that can break through at high enough dosages.

 

[Cane2theLeft]

^there are lots of options out there... toradol is a very popular and VERY potent NSAID used for pain severe enough to require opiates, they can use local anesthetics topically or in nerve block form, and depending on the pain they have other options like muscle relaxers/benzos, other NSAIDs, etc.

 

[Cane2theLeft]

Yes, Tramadol is a synthetic partial agonist. Half-life refers to how long it's in your system, as the amount of time the drug is in your receptors will change based on the ROA.

tramadol is not a partial agonist, its just a weak mu agonist... IIRC 1/32nd the binding affinity for the mu receptors that morphine possesses.

 

[Znegative]

so are there other partial agonists? I looked it up on wikepida, and the other ones they listed were not opiates.

 

[poppywonderland]

I need to take suboxone for a few days untill I can get my scripts filled but I don't want to take more than I need. I take about 100 mg of oxycodone a day to stay out of withdrawal, how much suboxone do you think it would take to hold me? Think you!

 

[Znegative]

try 2 mg, see how that makes you feel. You don't want to take to much if you plan on using again in a couple days

 

[RFar98]

hey guys iknow this has been covered, but i am just curious for any opinions. i took tramadol 300mg about 24 hrs ago and i am on a very small dose of suboxone probably .5-.7 mg (not sure exactly could be a bit more) im pretty sure im starting to have minor w/d but im not sure if its safe to take my suboxone yet. i really dont want to go through precip w/d. is there anything i should know with tramadol like maybe the half life is longer and i should wait longer ? thanks

 

[emingos]

id say try 0.5-1mg till your good, i think that maybe you can get by on 1mg, and max 2mg should do it, but try it out