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Shooting Suboxone

Y

Yevette

Guest
Hello, everyone.
Let's just get into it. I've been doing box (Suboxone) and tech (Subutex) for about a year now. I had never planned on becoming addicted. I suppose no one really does, it's not really a choice. About half a year ago, my boyfriend and I decided to go to a clinic (buying it on the streets was just becoming too pricy and exhausting for us). Since then, it's been a lot easier. Although we went to the clinic to get clean, it doesn't seem like that's going to happen anytime soon. We always talk about it, but when we get the script, we just forget it almost instantly. Our best friend also goes to the same clinic. He's the person who showed me how to shoot up, and, honestly, it was the greatest high I've ever gotten from box. Now, I feel nothing when I take it. It makes me feel better, yes, but I don't get high from it anymore. I know my tolerance has gone up, but I can only take half a pill a day to last me until my next visit. It's really a bummer paying so much for drugs that don't even get you high (although it's definitely worth it just to not get withdrawals). Anyway, I have never blamed my friend for my addiction to the needle, I probably would have tried it eventually. I started doing it about the same time we started going to the clinic. Of course, I have tried to quit many many times. However, I always end up back on the needle. When I'm going through withdrawals, it's makes me feel better shooting up plain water. Yes, yes. I know ALL about the dangers about doing this. It's part of the reason I want to stop shooting and just get back to snorting it again. I have to wear long sleeves anywhere I go, even in the summer. I don't want to die. The problem is, and the reason I'm posting on this website, is I don't know how to stop. Should I just throw all of my rigs away so there's no temptation? Should I only do it once a day and gradually come off of it? I have no idea. I hope you do, as I'm sure there must be someone who has had this same problem. Any and all advice would be extremely helpful.
Thank you.

Ps: I'm sorry this is so bloody long. I guess I got carried away.
 
It is definitely hard to peel ones self away from IV buprenorphine. I was heavily into this for at least five years, and have gone through tens of thousands of needles.

It would be best to stop taking buprenorphine and throw away all of your needles if your plan is to truly quit. Are you able to taper off it sublingually?
 
Yevette here. To answer your question, yes I would be able to do that. However, I am afraid that when I quit doing this, even though I will have the Suboxone in my system, that I will feel as if I'm withdrawing because this is the only way I have taken it in a Very long time. Is it possible that my brain will fail to realize it's in my system because I'm not banging it? I forgot my rig one day while I was away, so I had to snort it and it felt like it was in my system for a very short time, and like it wasn't as strong. But perhaps that's something I will just have to get used to?
 
Yevette here. To answer your question, yes I would be able to do that. However, I am afraid that when I quit doing this, even though I will have the Suboxone in my system, that I will feel as if I'm withdrawing because this is the only way I have taken it in a Very long time. Is it possible that my brain will fail to realize it's in my system because I'm not banging it? I forgot my rig one day while I was away, so I had to snort it and it felt like it was in my system for a very short time, and like it wasn't as strong. But perhaps that's something I will just have to get used to?

You won't feel it the same. It'll still take away withdrawal but it'll be very underwhelming.

For myself, I couldn't stop shooting it. I just stopped that way, and I didn't taper lower than 0.1mg per shot (if I remember correctly; this was well over 2 years ago). If you could just stop now, that would also be a good idea.

Is this your first addictive drug you've tried is buprenorphine?
 
It really should be fine going back to taking it properly after a while.

I ain't saying it will be easy but trust me when I say an abcses would change your mind.

Just google suboxone and abcess together. Take a look, see how it looks, imagine how it feels.

Shit can kill you too, I know plenty of people that have had infections go to their heart and yo seeing my lover and friend in a coma and then her dying was really rough. Just lost another friend recently that way but it was heroin. It doesn't matter what you inject, sooner or later, you gonna have complications, for me it took years and years but I found myself in the hospital for that shit more times than I care to say and really don't know.

I feel guilty to be alive sometimes after seeing better people than me die, I really do. I am just average at best and good at some things but not great. I haven't been the best husband (twice divorced), father, son, friend, brother, or person. I doubt anyone would go to my funeral.

So yeah suboxone is really nasty to inject, subutext not much different, it contains celluolose which causes cellulitis and that can make you limb triple in size or more and believe me it fucking hurts and that is if you are lucky enough to keep your limb.

If you willingly got on suboxone just to get high, well that kinda fucks shit up for people who could use it to make their lives managable as I no longer qualify and they used to hand it out like candy, same with methadone.

You can taper of suboxone rather painlessly. There is some suffering involved if you jump off at a high dose, I was at 24 mgs and it just wasn't agreeing with my body so I said fuckit. I got a bottle of vicodin and was still sick a month. Was it worth it, fuck yeah, would I get back on it? If the zombie apocalypse happened I would take a mg or two a day and taper down.

Look I can get off heroin and dilaudid which were my opiates of choice with less than two strips, no problem. It really isn't that hard for me and each kick gets harder but I hardly consider a maintence drug a kick off.

I really am having trouble feeling sorry for you. You need to take control of your life back.

Until you decide its fucking up your life you really are not gonna make progress but the risks vs. reward you are taking should at least make you reconsider your ROA.

I do wish you the best though and everyone's struggle is a struggle and maybe I have no right to judge but believe me I have been judged for far less.
 
I don't think guilt is a healthy way to get over this. I don't necessarily feel guilty about doing it. I'm young, I was in college when I first tried it. I would do just about anything for the experience. It was fun. I didn't even know what WD's were until one morning it hit me. If I'm going to do it, I'm doing it for myself.
 
Oh, yes! I had tried ultrams because my friend got 100 of them a week, and then I WD and didn't know what was going on until I was told later that day. So they said box would help with it and we just kept getting it because neither of us wanted to ever feel like that again. I've thought about it a lot today. I think I might just throw it away or give it to my boyfriend and tell him to keep it away from me
 
Yeah, when I first got on sub as maintenance I was shooting it too, but like dopemaster said it was really screwing up my viens, collapsing, lumps, bad bruising, etc. and the high wasn't worth it. I felt a mild euphoria the first couple times, but nothing much after that.

It was the ritual with the needle that was the hardest part for me to drop. Maybe you will come to some type of realization and drop the needle all together.
 
Read the case studys sticky in the other drugs forum. Shit can go south in a major way.
Not picking on the O P but when authority figure types read about the mis-use of maintenance meds its one more argument against their being prescribed.
 
Hello, everyone.
Let's just get into it. I've been doing box (Suboxone) and tech (Subutex) for about a year now. I had never planned on becoming addicted. I suppose no one really does, it's not really a choice. About half a year ago, my boyfriend and I decided to go to a clinic (buying it on the streets was just becoming too pricy and exhausting for us). Since then, it's been a lot easier. Although we went to the clinic to get clean, it doesn't seem like that's going to happen anytime soon. We always talk about it, but when we get the script, we just forget it almost instantly. Our best friend also goes to the same clinic. He's the person who showed me how to shoot up, and, honestly, it was the greatest high I've ever gotten from box. Now, I feel nothing when I take it. It makes me feel better, yes, but I don't get high from it anymore. I know my tolerance has gone up, but I can only take half a pill a day to last me until my next visit. It's really a bummer paying so much for drugs that don't even get you high (although it's definitely worth it just to not get withdrawals). Anyway, I have never blamed my friend for my addiction to the needle, I probably would have tried it eventually. I started doing it about the same time we started going to the clinic. Of course, I have tried to quit many many times. However, I always end up back on the needle. When I'm going through withdrawals, it's makes me feel better shooting up plain water. Yes, yes. I know ALL about the dangers about doing this. It's part of the reason I want to stop shooting and just get back to snorting it again. I have to wear long sleeves anywhere I go, even in the summer. I don't want to die. The problem is, and the reason I'm posting on this website, is I don't know how to stop. Should I just throw all of my rigs away so there's no temptation? Should I only do it once a day and gradually come off of it? I have no idea. I hope you do, as I'm sure there must be someone who has had this same problem. Any and all advice would be extremely helpful.
Thank you.

Ps: I'm sorry this is so bloody long. I guess I got carried away.

First try a few days plugging it if you're struggling to get back to your prior intranasal use. Get needle-less syringes from your local needle exchange or order them online that are designed for rectal use so as not to be triggered by seeing a point. Worst case scenario pop off the needle of the syringes you've been using to inject.

Plugging is more comparable to injection than snorting or sublingual use, but if you aren't getting high from injecting it you won't get high from plugging, sniffing or taking it under the tongue - it is paramount you resolve yourself to this fact. The only way you're going to feel it no matter how you take it is by taking a couple days off using at all (like at least 2-4; it should take about that long for you to truly go into full withdrawal anyways, and you should easily be able to maintain until then by taking stuff like clonazepam, gabapentin, and other comfort meds).

It that isn't enough for you (and I like this plan because it would better prepare you to transition to using it as prescribed), try taking it sublingual as prescribed using the following potentiation methods: take 600mg of cimetidine (brand name Tagamet, and OTC PPI/heartburn medication commonly available in the US) with your dose, then brush your teeth and vigorously rinse your mouth with an ethanol based mouthwash like Listerine to prime your mucus membrane and get a high BOA out of sublingual use.

Using Listine before sticking the strip/pill under your tongue will help it dissolve much faster and get more of the drug into your system. The cimetidine will inhibit a number of liver enzymes and essentially slow down your body's ability to metabolize the medication in a way that essentially gives it much more of an opioid agonist. Opioid agonists get you high; antagonists prevent you from getting high. Normally buprenorphine, what gets you high in these meds, acts as a mixed agonist-antagonist, but with something like cimetidine it becomes more agonistic and less antagonistic.

This is probably the only way you are going to feel your dose without taking a break from opioid use. It will also require less buprenorphine than you have needed to previously take to get a buzz. The concern I have about you using cimetidine is that you'll really like the combo and end up using the cimetidine AND injection ROA in order to maximize the buzz further. It sounds like you are more interested in getting high than downregulating your use (and there is not inherently anything wrong with this if it is your genuine wish).

If you are serious about dealing with the severity of and harm caused by your substance use, while also respecting the fact you clearly enjoy using opioids and have no real intention of stopping any time soon, is to get your ass to a methadone clinic. MMT is going to be infinitely more doable than simply attempting to throw away the needles and stop using buprenorphine or something. Methadone is a full agonist and will produce a much more recognizably reliable opioid buzz/high (though, like buprenorphine isn't is at all like taking large amounts of heroin or oxycodone) longer term than buprenorphine can or will.

You clearly also need more structure than your current clinic provides. Have you considered talking to them about your struggle to use your medication properly? Frankly, I am not sure this is a great idea if you want to keep all your options open, but it would definitely end up propelling your towards forcing yourself (or possibly being forced) to either transition to a more appropriate medication like methadone (because no matter how you put it, sublingual buprenorphine is simply not good at when it comes to recreational, long term use for most serious opioid aficionados - especially when compared to oral methadone) or find some other way of changing shit up.

I cannot emphasize how strongly I suggest looking into MMT given your situation. You are risking abcess and potentially fatal conditions, HCV and HIV along with a host of other very serious medical conditions by continuing to inject, regardless of how safe you are about it. It is obviously especially dangerous when compared to non-injection methods of administration.

Methadone gets a horrible rap in most street user and recovery/treatment circles in the US, but it is well research to be by and far the most effective way of curbing harmful opioid use and promoting a transition to the stability required by any healthy lifestyle (I say this particularly in regards to your situation - it would be wholly inappropriate for someone with less severe opioid use disorder, such as minor oral hycodone habit of course or who had recently initiated heroin use - but for you it sounds ideal).

And you almost certainly qualify for MMT considering the severity of your disorder and documented attempt(s) at treatment. I guess there are some caveats to this clinic to clinic, manager to manager, doctor to doctor, but generally speaking, someone who cannot stop injecting their buprenorphine who receives it through a clinic is at least technically elligable for being some form of MMT.

Read the case studys sticky in the other drugs forum. Shit can go south in a major way.
Not picking on the O P but when authority figure types read about the mis-use of maintenance meds its one more argument against their being prescribed.

I'm not sure I understand your concern here. Are you suggesting some "authority figure" (whom do you mean by this, a prescribing doctor, regulatory official, I am unsure) might see this thread and decide not to allow for the use of ORT? No offense, but that sounds fairly absurd to me.

The dangers and issues with ORT are, if anything, already widely overstated among American medical personnel. Threads like this are not exactly very useful evidence to support such a view anyways. Anyone who understands their use knows this kind of thing goes on, and those who believe it somehow makes ORT impractical for everyone already is going to have come to that conclusion through their own ignorance).
 
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Of all the drugs I have shot up sub was the most pointless.
 
Yeah it doesn't do much if you are tolerant to full agonists. However, without anything in your system, it can be quite habituation. Ever see Reindeerspotting? Great little film on the subject of buprenorphine use and dependency via injection.
 
Yeah it doesn't do much if you are tolerant to full agonists. However, without anything in your system, it can be quite habituation. Ever see Reindeerspotting? Great little film on the subject of buprenorphine use and dependency via injection.

No that's a hillarious name for a film though. Set in like Sweden or norway?
 
No rush from iv bupe. No rush = no reason to inject, IMO

You can get away with using less bupe if you iv, still not worth it though
 
I want ti sat Norway, but I can't remember. I saw it around when it came out so it's been a while, but that general area.

The movie really touched me, one of the first documentary style films on substance use that I personally identified heavily some of my past substance use/behaviors with. Even with the difference of geography, cultural and socio-political between the US and Europe, substance use is substance use. Human beings are human beings.

Good shit, you'll like it :) <3
 
It's a very triggering film, and it's in Finnish. The version I found had subtitles (in norwegian 8(). I translated it line by line. It was an OK film. Watched it probably about four years ago.
 
I could totally see how that film would be HIGHLY trigging for someone who struggles with injection buprenorphine use (or really injection opioid use more generally).

Now, this is merely a thought, but I wonder if it would trigger you to the same extent today it did four years ago CH? I'm not suggesting it would be a good idea to find out, just pondering.
 
It wouldn't trigger me now. Anything that triggers me is all in my head, mental states. I was never really triggered when I used either, because I was always on it, if that makes sense.

I remember the majority of the film, and don't like watching films to begin with (I'm more about reading). :)
 
I've heard that from a lot of people before. Was it the film or pills?
 
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