Suboxone Questions.. Really Long, Sorry..?
Question by Love-A-Bull: Suboxone questions.. Really long, sorry..?
Okay, I want to give you some background, but I also want to try to keep this as short as I can. So here goes.. My husband and I have been/were addicted to opiates for over 5 years. We started out with the small pills we were prescribed by our doctors for pain, and worked our way all the way up to heroin over the years. A couple times we decided to try and get clean, so we went to see a doctor and were put on Suboxone. Both times though, we ended up right back on the heroin. Anyway, we decided we were done with that life, so we moved across the country to get away from everyone and everything, get into a treatment program and start fresh. On 2-18-09 we started in an out-patient treatment program where we are on Suboxone.. again.. lol! But, this time we are doing good. We went from 2 8mg pills each a day to 3/4 of an 8mg pill each a day.
Anyway, we have also been going to these meetings where we talk to other addicts and recovering addicts. It’s not AA or NA (we have been to both of those though). I honestly don’t know what they are called, but we just got in for an hour on whatever days we can make it, and we get support from people, we can help support other people, we get job advice (it’s hard to find a job when you have a record), it’s just a good thing for us right now. So, today we went to a meeting, and an opiate addict was telling us her story, so I asked her if she knew about Suboxone. She said she has been buying it off the street instead of using because she really wants to get clean, but she said she wants to start going to a doctor to get it. So, I told her about what we have been doing and how well it has worked for us, and I gave her a card from the clinic we go to. Then, another girl said that her doctor prescribed her Suboxone for depression, and she was on it for 6 months and got addicted to it. She also said that she was getting high on Suboxone.. I just thought she just didn’t know what she was talking about, but I’m not a Suboxone expert.. lol!.. So I just kept my mouth shut about that and finished talking to the lady that I was trying to help.
So the whole point in me typing this lovely novel for everyone was.. Like I said, I am no expert on Suboxone, but I have had quite a bit of experience with it. I know how Suboxone works, I know that Suboxone is a semi-synthetic opioid analgesic, I know that Suboxone will block opiates if you use while your on Suboxone, and I know that Suboxone definitely does not show up as an opiate in drug tests. I also know that at the clinic, they have to test specifically for the Suboxone to make sure we have been taking it, and if I’m not mistaken, Suboxone shows up as Buprenorphine when it’s tested for.
I didn’t say anything in the meeting because I don’t like to talk about things like I know what I’m talking about unless I really do. But, I don’t want other opiate addicts to be scared to try Suboxone now that someone has been telling them that they were addicted to it and the withdrawal from Suboxone is worse than from heroin… I know for a fact that is not true. So, here are my questions..
1 – What is Suboxone prescribed for, other than getting clean from opiates? Is it prescribed for depression? Whether it is or isn’t only prescribed for getting off of opiates, where did you get your info? Is there a website that you could post for me?
2 – If you have gone through it, or if you know from someone who has gone through it, is the detox from Suboxone worse than the detox from heroin (or other opiates)? I have experienced detox from pain pills, large and small, heroin and methadone more times than I could count in 3 lifetime, and I have experienced detox from getting off of Suboxone at least 5 times. From my personal experience, the detox from Suboxone is NOTHING compared to detoxing from heroin, methadone, or whatever. And my husband feels the same way.
3 – Can people get high on Suboxone? I have hear you can and I have also heard you can’t. Neither me or my husband have ever gotten high on Suboxone, and none of the other addicts that we know that have tried Suboxone. Basically every single person that we use to use with has tried Suboxone at one time or another, and we are friends with many people that are recovering and going to the same clinic we are, and I personally don’t know a single person that has gotten high on it. Also, the websites that I have been able to find with info on this have said that you can’t get high on it, that’s suppose to be one of the reasons it is more successful than Methadone. But, what do you think? Or do you have a website that you could post with info on that?
4 – Also, do you get addicted to Suboxone? I know this is going to sound crazy, because it even sounds crazy to me the more I think about it now, but I guess because I really just didn’t ever think about it until now, I just always thought that it wasn’t that we were addicted to Suboxone, it was that the Suboxone was kind of prolonging the opiat
opiate withdrawal. Now though, that sounds a little crazy to me, but I don’t know? But, because you taper down, by the time you get off the Suboxone it isn’t anywhere near as bad as coming off of opiates. I know that tapering off of Suboxone slowly over 12-18 months (or whatever the doctor says) allows your brain to start functioning normally again, or more normally again.
Anyway, any info you have on any of my questions would be very helpful and greatly appreciated. I’d really like some websites that can back up what people are saying, I’d just like to have some info to print out. Thanks in advance for any help! : ) And again, I’m really sorry this was so long.
Best answer:
Answer by Ellie
Have a look at the posts in this website: http://www.steadyhealth.com/what_are_the_long_term_effects_from_using_Suboxone__t102570.html
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