Suboxone- what to expect?

[PlurPsyed]

About two weeks ago I went through a shit storm at home where I lost my job and my mother decided to go through my things while I was asleep and discovered a syringe in my bag. I've been fucking around with heroin on a regular basis for a few months now (about 3 bags a days mostly sniffed sometimes injected). I finished a week long detox at the hospital without much withdrawals (they gave me a small dose of methadone for the first couple of days and then nothing). I'm currently participating in an outpatient rehab program and was offered to go on their suboxone program. I debated doing it initially because I didn't get much withdrawals from the dope but since my mother insisted on taking away both my klonopin and amphetamine scrips (amps being my DOC) I've been craving dope like a mofo and simply don't trust myself not to do it so I agreed to the suboxone so that I physically won't be able to do dope anymore (due to the naloxone). Received my script Friday and just had it filled today (8 mg bupe and 2 naloxone to be taken twice a day) just took one sublingually about an hour ago. I got a couple of question

1. How long does this shit take to kick in?
2.Is 8 mg too high for someone with a relatively low opiate tolerance (half a bag IV would get me pretty high)
3.When I asked how long I'm supposed to be on it the doctor told me that there's conflicting philosophies in the medical community regarding suboxone and that while they could help me get off it in due time he believes that this should be a lifelong treatment. I'm extremely concerned by this because of how pricey the drug is (no prices) and generally I don't wanna get another habit. What do you guys recommend in terms of duration of treatment?
4. While Suboxone come up on a drug test?
5.Anything else relevant that I should know about? I've taken this stuff before but was always on something else so I don't exactly remember what it does and while I did some research Subs have only been available in the US since 2002 I believe so there's not much information out there. I appreciate any advice!

Thanks everyone

 

[TheFlashBooker]

Take as low of a dose as possible, sub is notoriously hard to kick after 3 weeks. You should have felt it kick in by now. Just use it to ease withdrawal symptoms. Sub will not show up unless they specifically test for buprenorphine. I was one of the first in the country to take sub when it first came out, and my doc thankfully didn't want me on more than 2mg. I took up to 6mg the first few days but he threatened to cut me off, and no one else in the area could prescribe it so I had to manage myself. Thank God, because stopping 2mg was a month of misery. Not nearly as bad as kicking dope, but it was more like prolonged melancholy. Good luck to you

 

[T. Calderone]

I can't go against what your doctor advised but personally I think 16 mg is a high dose considering you had gotten over the worst withdrawals already. He probably wants to keep you on such a big amount so you won't use heroin. You say you had this habit for a few months so I can't see why you would need maintenance for life. That seems extreme. Did your mom talk with him and why did she take your other meds?

We have a bunch of threads on suboxone that you will find useful, start with this:

http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/716293-Suboxone-Buprenorphine-Megathread-and-FAQ-v-18-0

 

[The Doc.]

That's way too high a dose its gonna make you feel like crap If I took that much opiates I wouldn't shit for weeks.
Its not the naloxone that blocks opiates lol it's the opiate in the sub's that over powers other opiates so they don't get you high the naloxone is inactive which is why people inject it all the time.
That's bullshit that you need to be on opiates for life because of a few month heroin habit I mean fuck suboxone is more addictive than heroin to me I have just as bad an addiction to bupe than I did with heroin. Buprenorphine gets me really high and I did a 8ball a day for years I had a decade of heroin use under my belt I sold kilos of heroin and coke and did speed balls all day everyday minimum half gram of dope in each shot to get buzzed then I went on 2mg suboxone now I'm still on sub's I take 0.3mgs every 6 hours and it has saved me and kept me outta jail as it's cheaper to use. But I'm still hooked I need that drug everyday to function to hold down my food and to be happy and pain free. I never knew how strong this drug was until I tapered down from 8mg to 0.3mg and found i was getting higher/more doped up then I did on the higher dose of 8mg. Then I found out at low doses bupe is a full agonist like morphine/heroin is so it gets you high and gives good pain relief..
This is why pain patients who get it prescribed for pain not addiction get it in doses of 0.2mg-0,4mg every 4 hours as needed this way it works like a full opiate does and feels the same as if you were on morphine. Well probably better than morphine I think.
Bupe is one of the most abused prescription meds in the whole world its just starting to make an appearence in north America the past few years.
Don't let your doctor tell you that you need to be hooked on opiates for your whole life simply because of 3 months heroin addiction that makes no sense at all its best you leave it behind and learn to cope with out drugs like suboxone and heroin its only been 3 months I was hooked to a 8ball a day of heroin for almost a decade.

 

[PlurPsyed]

I can't go against what your doctor advised but personally I think 16 mg is a high dose considering you had gotten over the worst withdrawals already. He probably wants to keep you on such a big amount so you won't use heroin. You say you had this habit for a few months so I can't see why you would need maintenance for life. That seems extreme. Did your mom talk with him and why did she take your other meds?

We have a bunch of threads on suboxone that you will find useful, start with this:

http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/716293-Suboxone-Buprenorphine-Megathread-and-FAQ-v-18-0

My mom hasn't talked to him. I really don't want her messing in my medical business Joe than she has. I'm 24 and just moved back in with her last year site to financial hardship which she took as a green light to start trying to dictate my life. She discovered my budding heroin habit and while I'm understanding and even somewhat appreciative of her wanting to help, I don't agree with her decision to blindly force me off all the psychiatric medication i was previously under the impression that since I abuse one drug I must abuse them all. I have no choice but to agree to her demands as she basically told me that not only could I not live with her if I'm on any sort of meds she would see to it that no other friends or family would take me in and after having her shun me from the family and family related functions throughout my late teens I don't want to risk finding out how serious she is about her threats.

On a related note, thanks everyone for the advice and please keep it coming. Just to update everyone today is day three of my suboxone treatment. I have no cravings for opiates and have been taking the medication as prescribed. I've been noticing a decrease in anxiety and a mood lift. The one problem I seem to be having is insomnia. I have received 4 hours of sleep in 2 days. Does anyone have any advice on how to combat this or how long this lasts for

 

[The Doc.]

I was on trazadone for sleep when I first started. I would ask for it the drug isn't addictive like other sleep meds are it was easy to stop one day I just realised I didn't need a pill to sleep anymore and I stopped. I think it may be due to the high dose of bupe/naloxone cause I was having trouble sleeping on a high dose but when they lowered it and spilt it into 3 doses of subocne per day I seemed to ease into it better.
Now today I sleep like a baby on sub's with no other medication at all.

 

[The Doc.]

The mood lift should go away in a couple days on a high dose like that it may still work on anxiety a bit though. after a while people don't get any feeling at all from sub's except if your using 2mg and under then you get high everyday you use it.
So its probably best to stay on the high dose so it doesn tget you high at all. This way although you will have a massive physical dependency you won't be addicted to the high it gives like if you like if you were taking low doses. It will still cause your tolerance to skyrocket as your still putting 3-4times the amount of opiates you've ever had in your body taking 16mgs of bupe for a small heroin addiction its just not letting you feel the high from it as high doses block themselves from giving any euphoria . So your actually gonna be more physically addicted to opiates then you were on heroin by taking so much suboxone so quitting the sub's will be very painful even though its not getting you high the withdrawal is worse than heroin for a lot of people.

 

[JahSEEuS]

IMHO it is unnecessary to take for life. Subs have a pretty nasty withdrawal themselves as mentioned above. My personal experience with subs is less is better. If you can take 2-4 mgs to start and then ween down from there until you are only taking the slightest bit is the best way to go. By the time I was at the lowest part I would take maybe 1/10 - 1/20th of an 8mg sub and feel good. The withdrawal still sucks even after weening down and only using for 2 weeks. I'd say the less time you spend on it the better.

Doctors seem to love keeping people on this stuff in my area. I've had 2 friends go to a Dr. (there are only like 5 in my area licensed to work with Suboxone at this time) and the Dr. said it would be a 6 month process. Both cases the Dr. has continued the treatment well into years 3-4 and it doesn't seem like he is pushing for my friends to get off of them. It just seems like a big money grab by big pharma and the doctors (but what isn't?).

Good luck with getting clean, and finding/clearing your path. Live well.

 

[JahSEEuS]

after a while people don't get any feeling at all from sub's except if your using 2mg and under then you get high everyday you use it.

That explains a lot. I found 4mg didn't really get me high, and it was almost unpleasnt for me, but .5-1mg would make me feel real good all day, roofing, floors, everything, lots of energy, no pain. Very interesting.

 

[The Doc.]

Yep you got it right what a weird drug at 12 MHS I had no pain relief/euphoria and at 0.25mgs I feel like I do after a shot if morphine or popping a couple percs. 2mg and under =best highs from suboxone/any buprenorphine