Bupe Suboxone/cimetidine money saving tip

[ArtVandalay]

I split my dose twice a day, sometimes three. My doc suggested it, she said whatever works for me.

 

[chairmanma084]

I split my dose twice a day, sometimes three. My doc suggested it, she said whatever works for me.

when I had strips, I didn't need to do this. but since I switched to the generic pills, I've found it more effective to take 1mg twice a day (just depending on how I'm feeling). Sometimes I can get by on the first dose of 1mg for the whole day, other times not. a lot of anecdotal suggestions have been thrown out in here - i think the only thing to take out of this is that, just as we all figured, the drug affects each person differently. i'd have to say genetics, habits and tolerance play a significant role but, again, that's just my experience.

Tagamet (cimetidine), White Grapefruit Juice and benadryl w/ my suboxone has gotten me to 1/4 the dose I was on not 6 months ago. So, take that for what it's worth. If we have similar body chemistry, I'm sure that you will find my ideas substantial. If not, keep on looking and just don't fux with the flora.

 

[mlindsey886]

every time i buy my prescription i buy a bottle of cimetidine if i dont take with my subutex and specially clonazepam it feels about half as strong. I dont know if placebo but the searches ive seen back it up i also like wgfj.

 

[psilocybinsane]

Holy hell this actually works! Sorry to dig up an old post but I felt that this was pertinent enough information for me to do so. I have been on suboxone maintenance at various doses for over 2 years. My current dose for the last 9 months or so has been taken via IV route, and is 1mg twice a day. Now I have known about cimetidine and its ability to potentiate opiates/benzos for some time, and was curious to see if it could potentiate clonazolam (If it works I'll be starting a thread about it).

So upon purchasing the bottle, I decided to do 2 experiments. Around 3 hours ago, I took 600mg cimetidine. A half hour later, another 400mg. Approximately 30 minutes ago (around two and a half hours from the initial dose of cimetidine) I shot my dose of sub. I will be the first to admit, suboxone is a perfect fit for me, but god damn I just CANT get off on it (which is good in a sense)...

Until now that is! 15 minutes after my 1mg IV sub dose and I feel a nice warmth building in my stomach and head. Im really not trying to exaggerate this: Right now I feel as if I had taken a hit (smoked) of decent heroin. Going from maintenance to euphoria is really quite nice. Maybe its more pronounced because I IV my bupe? I dunno but Im happy that Ive got a new little trick up my sleeve I will be experimenting with this more and will of course report my findings.

Side Note: I will be doing the clonazolam/cimetidine experiment tommorow and will let you all know if it potentiates the C-lam or not.

UPDATE: normally by 7 pm, I IV my second dose of sub. If I dont, I get slight symptoms like yawning, irritability, watery eyes, and enlarged pupils. With this cimetidine, I'm still perfectly held. No euphoria anymore, but im about to take my second dose. Hopefully I get some more effects no matter how slight.

 

[Gelflingrrrl]

This took me a bit as well; I have been on Subs for maintenance for years so I don’t feel anything. It was described to me at first that the naloxone is what did the blocking but it has since been explained to me by a doctor that it is indeed the bupe itself that has a higher affinity/ stronger bond for opioid receptors, similar though not exactly like methadone. There are important differences making Sub more healthy and safer, but the premise of how they block opiates is similar: if the receptors are full of buprenorphine then all other opiates will bounce off. I think at first patients were told a lot of different things; that the Naloxone did the blocking, that it would prevent anyone from getting high on it, when in actuality it’s the bupe. Correct me if I am wrong but the naloxone is there to make overdose impossible (?) and assist with a ceiling effect (?). And a person who does not take it regularly can get noddy and itchy etc just like they took Oxys. It is definitely true that once you’re stabilized on a dose that feeling never comes back and it happens very quickly, for me, after detox and then going on it (show up on a Friday at Detox here and you’ll be sick all weekend plus some as the doctors don’t put folks on it or use it as part of a standard detox protocol, then there’s waiting all day Monday; if they add it to a detox protocol I’ve seen people be dopesick for three days,(at which point they should just go on and wait it out if not going to maintenance), then have a bupe taper added and they literally get high again, feel well again and then go through a week long dose reduction and are let go a couple days later feeling crappy as they now need to stay another week to build back up to normal off of the bupe too. I know a lot of people who have relapsed because of this. Even I shockingly nodded out when I went back on it a couple years ago, eliciting some angry stares from other rehab patients. But on day two, I just had extra energy, craved cigarettes more, was productive. And yes they tapered up from 1mg to 4mg but on day one after years of not taking bupe and days of not taking opiates, that small amount gave me a nod.

 

[Gelflingrrrl]

Makes me grateful it did for me. But of course I got to Detox on a Friday and had to wait until Mon or Tues for my first dose - I’d say to anyone hitting Detox for the first or second time, I’d put in this position, to just ride it out, be sick , and find ways to stay away from hard stuff without sub or methadone. But if, like me, this is a battle you’ve fought off an on for decades, if like me you once were on Methadone (180 mg a day; I am five feet tall and weigh 100-110 pounds; def closer to 80-100 when I was on methadone <I’ve dealt w some eating issues>: their fave cure for ANYTHING was to raise the dose. Fail a drug test for pot? Maybe you need a higher dose. There were women on up to 360 mg a day that I knew. Totally unnecessary! I didn’t know how out of it I was but the several cars do; they also prescribed Klonopin four times a day at 2mg. They wanted you to stay there. FOREVER. I kicked it locked up; worst withdrawals EEEEEVER!), if you’ve really tried everything then I think that Sub is a very safe medicine considering the alternatives. Before I could never have put together years w no opiates. I do worry about what I’d do if I needed surgery; if I needed serious pain relief after something physically traumatic, etc. Raising the dose doesn’t help and the prospect of stopping for a week ahead of time, with a painful condition prior as well, so that when you’re in the hospital the dialysis or fentanyl or whatever they have in your IV works is terrifying in its potential to trigger and because of the potential for pain.

 

[Prescottdave]

Ever since some studies came out about the link of medications like cimetidine to gastric cancer I try and avoid using this combination. I find tapering and taking a lower dose of suboxone increase the actual high I get from the drug.

 

[Prescottdave]

You dont need to dose twice a day, you can do it once and be fine. Its totally in your head.

Dosing 2x each day is commonly done with lower doses of buprenorphine to treat pain.

 

[siq]

Dosing 2x each day is commonly done with lower doses of buprenorphine to treat pain.

I dunno. Its pretty common knowledge in central cali that its better to take ur dose in the morning. Similar to methadone which people take for pain as well. Its the strangest drug man I swear. See that way u feel more of an effect... because its almost worn off by the time u take it again, if that makes sense...

 

[Steady Scootin]

I dunno. Its pretty common knowledge in central cali that its better to take ur dose in the morning. Similar to methadone which people take for pain as well. Its the strangest drug man I swear. See that way u feel more of an effect... because its almost worn off by the time u take it again, if that makes sense...

Why bump a thread from November of last year?

 

[Lorne???]

this doesn't make a whole lot of sense since the action of cimetidine is its effect on certain enzymes in your stomach. since buprenorphine is not absorbed through your stomach, i don't believe cimetidine would have any effect on it. maybe somebody could care to explain. garuda, is it possible this is just placebo or what? your experience is good news, but you have no explanation of how it could work. what is your MOA?

No, Cimetidine effects the liver- which is why really large doses can cause hepatotoxic symptoms

Remember, drugs yet first be subject to pre-hepatic exctration, and then the First Pass through the liver- multiple doses of cimetidine-especially 400-800mg, does enchance buprenorphine to some extent

Actually Cimetidine has been demonstrated to double Midazolam BA%, and IIRC, Triazolam's BA as well, and can prolong The T1/2 of other benzodiazepines, including apparently Valiumabd nordazeapan(for whatever that is worth) and Alprazolam to some extent?(or was it WGJ? Unlikely)

Cinetidine and Grapefruit juice together can royally screw methadone metabolism, and possibly triple the BA% of certain PO medications-although with buprenorphine, it depends on ROA, and amount being taken-not to mention ceiling effects