Taking norco and suboxone - WD concerns

[2dark2see]

Long story short, I've been on suboxone since early December and have been taking 2mg a day for about 3 weeks or so. I have my monthly appt for my norco rx tomorrow and have to test positive and was wondering if taking a couple norco will affect how I feel physically, in a bad way. I'm not looking to get high and I took my regular sub dose early this morning, but I will be taking a couple norco soon and was just wondering how that works regarding WD symptoms. I plan on taking my regular sub dose tomorrow morning as well...

I went into precipitated WD when I first started taking subs bc I didn't wait long enough and now I'm paranoid about taking the two meds together....

Edit: I just wanted to add that I realize what I'm doing is not my best quality and without getting into details (if anyone has detailed questions feel free to PM me) this is something I hope to stop altogether in a few months.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Chances are you won't feel anything at all from 20mg of oral hydrocodone, particularly if you don't take it all at once, if you've been on buprenorphine for a while. Buprenorphine has pretty potent blockade properties even at lower doses when it comes to small to moderate doses of less than highly potent opioids like hydrocodone.

I don't think taking your normal dose of Suboxone the following day will present with any issues related to something like precipitated withdrawal because the hydrocodone never really got a chance to get attached to your receptors. Just make sure on the first day you take a dose of buprenorphine before PRIOR to taking the hydrocodone. Ideally wait as long as you can the day after you take the hydrocodone to take the Suboxone again, just to be safe.

 

[2dark2see]

Thanks so much. I was kind of thinking it worked that way - where it's bad to take subs too soon after being on opiates, but that it wouldn't be bad (meaning wouldn't kick you into WD) if you take sub and then later on take a small dose of norco.

I normally take my sub dose first thing in the morning, and depending on if I'm working that day or not the time ranges from 5am-8:30am. My appt is at 10:50am tomorrow so I'm going to wait as long as possible before taking my sub dose for the day.

I did take a couple norcos a little bit ago and I'm feeling fine. I took my 2mg sub dose at about 5:30am this morning.

I will say that this has been a concern of mine since starting the suboxone. I think I've mentioned before that I have chronic kidney stones and based on my last scan done in late 2016 they told me I've still got a few in each kidney. They may stay there forever, but odds are at least one of those awful things will leave my kidney, and I know from prior stones and surgeries that the only thing that works for pain when a stone is moving is IV dilaudid. I've been worried about what would happen if I have a stone pass while on suboxone and what that will mean for any WD.

I am planning on tapering down from 2mg to 1.5mg sub in the next couple days so maybe I'll start tomorrow...

 

[Jabberwocky]

You'll be fine. Hope your appointment goes well!

 

[simco]

I agree with TPD. The buprenorphine in the subs have a strong affinity to your opioid receptors than the norcos do, so the net effect should be nil, both in terms of any perceived high and any WDs. In other words, you'll be fine.

 

[2dark2see]

Thanks for your feedback! I just took/am taking my 2mg sub dose right now and so far so good.

But I've got to say that taking even just a couple norcos yesterday really messed with my head, despite being on suboxone and knowing I wouldn't feel them. I've been doing great lately and maintaining well on the 2mg dose... I even have about 30 norco in my apt that I've had this whole time but haven't been tempted at all to take them (and I will be getting rid of them very soon). But then after I took a couple yesterday the thoughts started back up in my mind - I was thinking oh what would it hurt just take a handful and see if you can feel anything... and there were a couple times I could have sworn I felt the norco I had already taken even though I knew it wasn't possible. The temptation was also there this morning to not take my sub dose and just take more norco. Before I really switched over to oxy a few months ago I was taking at least 20 norco a day so in mind I was thinking what's the harm with just 6 or 7....

Wow.... I guess in a way I'm glad this happened bc now I really know that I can't /shouldn't fool myself into thinking that I can ever "just take a couple and I won't have the urge to take more".....

 

[2dark2see]

I just wanted add that one thing that has helped me and def helped yesterday and this morning is that on my good days over the past couple months (these all being days since I became sober) I've been writing out what has been really good on those days. I've used this to look back on in moments of "weakness" so to speak, moments where I've thought that maybe just doing oxy for a day or two would be nice, or moments like yesterday where I thought that I could take a couple norco without feeling the pull to want more.

The stuff I wrote out wasn't anything really exciting, really mainly it was day to day stuff like how I enjoy feeling stable (no more lows when crashing, although no more highs either), I'm sleeping much better, I'm able to get thru a normal workday without having to plan ahead in case of WD, I'm able to go out with friends and not have to make sure I bring some oxy with me in case of WD or staying out later than planned, my mood feels very even (and I do know this is in part to being on subs, but for someone who has struggled with long term severe depression this has been very nice), I don't have to deal with the anxiety of planning ahead to make sure I've got enough oxy in case I can't meet with my dealer before running out, I'm not scrambling around for ways to pay for my 150mg day oxy habit, and there's one things that I wrote out when I was still using but wanting to go clean - I wrote out when I was actually high that I wasn't enjoying this anymore and that all I was doing was using oxy to avoid WD bc of a high tolerance, and that I felt addicted to the routine of snorting oxy but wasn't actually feeling much after I'd inhale... it would last about 10 mins and then all I felt was tired and would start watching the clock counting down until my next dose... I got very tired of watching the clock and counting down time until my next dose.... I don't know why but I kept I pretty rigid schedule of when I'd take those 5 pills each day and found that not long after I'd snort one pill I was already checking to see how long until my next - so it wasn't satisfying at all, and I'm very glad I took these notes both when I was high and when I was sober!

 

[johnnypotsmoker198]

Suboxone has naloxone in it which is narcan. Although, narcan will not pass the blood brain barrier unless injected, suboxone will bind tightly to opioid receptors preventing any other opioid from binding.

Taking norco first, then taking a suboxone will cause the subutex to bind tightly, knocking off any other opioid throwing you into withdraws. This will pass after about 15-20 minutes if your does of suboxone is large enough.

Taking norco after taking suboxone will result in no withdraw effects.

If you want to test positive for norco, take the suboxone first, then take the norco.

This does beg the question though, why are you taking norco while you have a suboxone prescription? Why not drop the norco prescription and quit opioids completely with suboxone?

I guess I have difficulty understanding on the necessity for both prescriptions as one's sole basis is for recovery.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Suboxone has naloxone in it which is narcan. Although, narcan will not pass the blood brain barrier unless injected, suboxone will bind tightly to opioid receptors preventing any other opioid from binding.

Taking norco first, then taking a suboxone will cause the subutex to bind tightly, knocking off any other opioid throwing you into withdraws. This will pass after about 15-20 minutes if your does of suboxone is large enough.

Taking norco after taking suboxone will result in no withdraw effects.

If you want to test positive for norco, take the suboxone first, then take the norco.

This does beg the question though, why are you taking norco while you have a suboxone prescription? Why not drop the norco prescription and quit opioids completely with suboxone?

I guess I have difficulty understanding on the necessity for both prescriptions as one's sole basis is for recovery.

Have you read through this thread? If you do so, all your questions will be answered.

In the future, please review the entirety of the thread you plan to respond to before posting your response. Thank you!