Switch Methadone to Subutex (buprenorphine)

[Blackout1513]

I am new to the bluelight community so if I post in the wrong part sorry in advance! I have been on MMT for 2 months now. I have worked my way up to 70mg now. I love methadone but I have been suffering serious side effects such as chronic constipation, absolutely no sex drive, and appetite problems. Now my counselor suggested I make the switch to subutex. I have done subutex twice in my life (snorted half an 8mg) and it blew my head off! So my question is if I switch to subutex from meth after I taper to 30mg will I still feel the "high" I got when I tried it? And is the constipation as bad as the methadone? And what should I expect when I make the switch?

 

[Phil.McKeer]

You have to wait a while to switch from methadone to buprenorphine. Your doctor probably won't do anything brash but if you're doing this yourself, wait until you are deep in the throes of withdrawal before you take the subutex, and then dose small amounts at a time. If you don't wait long enough or take too much at once (or any combination of both), you'll be in a world of hurt for a while due to precipitated withdrawal. Methadone has serious legs, so I'm talking like 2-3 days at least of no methadone before you can safely take subs, if I'm not mistaken.

And if you've been taking methadone for 2 months, and depending on whatever you were on before that lead you to be on it, buprenorphine is probably not going to get you high like it did before. The first time I took it (I was opioid-naive) I took 2mg and was high for a full 24 hours. 4mg had me panicking when I woke up the next day and was still high for a whole second day (~48 hours). That doesn't happen anymore, and most likely won't for you, either. Your receptors are stretched out by now.

Good luck dude.

 

[chelle216]

^if you opiate naive, you'd get high. BE forwarned that Sub isn't necessarily a magic bullet. I have had all of the same side effects plus some on Sub compared to when I was on methadone. The constipation is the worst part, but perhaps it will work differently for you.

 

[Blackout1513]

^if you opiate naive, you'd get high. BE forwarned that Sub isn't necessarily a magic bullet. I have had all of the same side effects plus some on Sub compared to when I was on methadone. The constipation is the worst part, but perhaps it will work differently for you.

Yea i have been wondering about this for a while. I have started the taper, I'm now down to 60mg. It's not as bad as I thought it would be, but I haven't noticed any change in the side effects even when lowering my dose. The constipation is insane Im so tired of it. My doctor told me I must get to at least 30mg and then go 3 days without anything. But I'm worried that maybe 3 days isn't long enough to get the done fully off of my receptors, ive heard horror stories of people taking bupe after methadone even after waiting 3 days! I really don't want to switch but I'm tired of driving 40 min for my dose every day. And plus you can take bupe home with you, and they tell me the side effects aren't as bad as the done but some say it's no different.