Should I Be On Suboxone?

Hi All,

New on here, but I have read several posts and have gained a lot of knowledge through here (I think). So here's a quick rundown of my situation:

I suffer from bulging discs and terrible TMJ; my jaw dislocates when it's closed. So over the past year I've been in a ton of pain. I have done everything my PCP has asked of me; mri's, x-rays, etc... After a few weeks, we found the Percocet 10mg 325 were the best fit for my pain and that's what we did. I was on this for about 1 year total. I was never "addicted" to the percocet but by about the 9th month I started having urges of that I needed it and would panic when I was close to running out. So then I knew I was on a slippery slope, so was very honest with my Dr and he knew everything. We decided that by the end of the year (this year) we would start to wean me off by the new year. Naturally, my balance was getting out of control with the practice and I only needed 1 more refill, possibly 2, to wean me off as we had discussed, however when I called to make an appointment the receptionists were incredibly rude to me and refused to schedule an appointment for me. I called my Dr over that weekend, and he couldn't do anything and was now going to refer me to a Dr he knows that specializes in Suboxone. So that Monday, I saw the new doctor and I was prescribed Suboxone 8mg/2mg strips once a day.

Now, I've tried reading as much as possible on Suboxone, and from what I gathered it's a very potent and last resort medicine for serious addicts. My question is, should I have been prescribed Suboxone? I was taking 12-14 Percocet 10s a day, only for the 2-3 months leading up to it. Before that, a 120 script would last me 3 weeks - month. I have never had a problem with pain medicine, I've never done hard drugs ever. Suddenly I find myself wrapped up in medicine and programs for serious addicts - and the withdrawal and dangers are insane that go with it. Any advice? Thank you!

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If you were taking 12 to 14 a day, yes, that is far too much. That means you jumped from 4 a day, to 12 to 14 a day. Given the new DEA directives, if a doctor would keep prescribing that much, they risk losing their license to practice medicine, as well as large fines and jail time. Even 120 only lasting for 3 weeks would be considered too much, unless someone is suffering from intractable pain due to a possibly fatal illness, such as stage 4 cancer.

And taking Percocet, which contains Acetaminophen and Oxycodone, that many in a day was putting your life at risk due to Acetaminophen overdose. At it's mildest, it created a risk of dangerous liver damage.

The FDA also warns that these medications carry the risk of being habit forming and may cause side effects, such as nausea, dizziness, headache, constipation and dry mouth.

Please don't feel that I am berating you, that is not my intent, I am just trying to explain why your doctor may have felt he could no longer safely continue to prescribe medications for you, as it may not have been in the best interest of either of you.

This is a situation that many people have found themselves in recently.

How are you doing on the Suboxone? Have you had any problems taking it?

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Re: Verwon (# 1)

I feel like im getting messed up taking suboxone now, like I substituted one for the other, but this is all day and it makes me feel weird and uneasy. I dont want to be on anything. I took it for the first 5 days, then I didnt take any over the weekend, then today I took it again. I only have enough til Thursday when I go back to the DR.

My script for percocet was 1-2 every 4 hours, so technically i was within the order that was written. i dont know, the more i read about suboxone, the more i feel i should not be taking this. i wanted to be done with percocet, and all of the sudden its like "take suboxone for at least 6 months." i feel trapped

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Re: eagles202020 (# 2)

Me too. I've been off norcos for 3 months but I fell & fractured my foot. It hurts bad. I'm taking etodolac and can only take 2 a day of tylenol for arthritis in my foot. It wakes me up throbbing. I'm afraid to take narcotics but I might have to. For 5 weeks I've been in pain with very little relief. I feel trapped too. I've got old meds I didn't take because they were too strong, but I might have to in order to get relief, so here I go again.

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Reading all the comments, I am surprised that these people had any control over how they were taking their medication as they substituted their pain perception to dosage posted for prescription—every 4 hours, maximum 3 daily is not the same as everytime you feel pain. There’s a maximum allowed per day because of the way the body metabolizes the drug. I am also surprised that the doctor kept the dosage the same for the entire period used as usually the dosage is lowered to wean patients off a potentially additive drug. To me it sounds like there was no communication between patients and doctors. Prescriptions need to be monitored all of them.

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Look I’ll be honest if you want it for withdrawal symptoms, take it, as it helps. I’d say take it as prescribed and after a couple months you’ll notice you don’t need as much. That's when you tell your dr you want to start lowering milligrams. The quicker your off the better as you can get addicted to it. If you want it for pain management find your sweet spot then remain on that. I know a guy that has it for pain and he uses half a strip that lasts him all day.

I get flu like symptoms from subs. Been like that for the last 7 months out of a year. I tapered down from 8/4. My pills were out of stock so I took the 2mg dose, but that made me worse and I had to take more to feel normal. Once the reg 8mg came back I couldn’t hold 4mg a day. I kept going up in milligrams cuz I couldn’t feel normal. I was cold, tired, erratic heartbeat, joint pain, flu like symptoms, went to allergist after multiple dr's and blood work. Now this weekend I get my new script of subutex so I hope that makes me feel normal as I was on subs cuz I got scared of relapse having been 2 years clean. I was prescribed perks for a month and I got nervous so I went on subs, but I should’ve done a vivitrol shot instead.

Now for the last 7 months I can’t workout anymore over flu symptoms and up to 16mg a day rite where I started 1 year ago. So I’m telling you in case you start feeling like crap and if I knew I could get off subs for good @ 4mg I would’ve. My 1st 6 months I felt normal, not sure what happened after that, but be safe and if you feel like crap take less. If you start going up in mg and still feel like death, you're allergic to one of the ingredients in it and it’s probably narcan as my dr says I’m having withdrawals issue even though I've been clean for 2 yrs of nothing in my body except mood stabilizers prescribed. So he was wrong. Don’t be fooled by the drs. They don’t care.

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Your first mistake was being honest. Now he has you marked as a seeker.

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They will keep you on Subs as long as possible to keep you as a paying patient! What I would do is use the sub to get off completely and in the future only take pain meds for as short a period as possible otherwise you run the risk of becoming addicted again. Believe me I know, I’ve been there. You can cut the strips in halves or quarters you do not need to take the entire thing and 8 mg is a lot which is why you’re feeling weird. Check out some site on suboxone to see the best way to do a taper. I was also prescribed sub but I never did take it because I didn’t want to exchange one for the other!

Hope this helps! Good luck to you.

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Try Cannabis for your pain. It works and there are no repurcussions such as from Pharma meds.

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Dban (# 4) --

BINGO !!! You hit that nail on the head. There WAS a time when honesty was best. Sadly those days r LONG GONE.

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Re: Verwon (# 1)

You are correct, Verwon. 12-14 Percocet a DAY is just an insanely high dosage. If anyone EVER told their Doctor that they were taking that kind of a dosage they would cut you off as a drug addict. Doctors are instructed to wean you down from any opiod based medicine. Not cut you off cold turkey. Suboxone is used to help one get off opioids but from what I have read the cure is worse than the disease. If there is any possibility that you WILL wean yourself down on Percocets then I would take that route. Suboxone is an addicting substance in itself so some I have known that take this medication have said (I have never taken it myself).

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Sir,

Don’t listen to the addicts making dumb statements that they have no earthly idea what they are talking about.

It’s important especially now with the switch to subs keep taking your Meds as described and do t stop until told by your doctor. Sir, you have been taking 10/325 percocet for a year, am I correct?

These type of drugs, when on them change your body as opioids are still a foreign substance to the body, poison actually if used for a long period. These drugs aren’t safe and because you have been taking them a few times everyday you are now “opioid dependent”. This isn't your fault, it’s the cost of taking this class of drugs. It doesn’t matter that you took them properly or not, your body needs the medicine period. Some of these Meds do produce a euphoria and therefore it goes away once you’ve built tolerance. You are there now.

You and your doc should sit down and discuss the plan to get off the stuff and the proper use of subs after you stop the percocet.

Trust me, marijuana won’t help with withdrawal. What happens to the body is the hormones in your body get changed and out of balance. This is what causes "dope sickness". The hormones have been doused with meds for a year. I wouldn’t recommend going off this class of meds without your doctor's assistance. Be careful, you can die from a rapid detox, so use everything he gave you properly. Be well, it’s almost over and you will probably feel better off the meds. This class of drugs is for broken bones, loss of a limb and for countless other reasons people experience pain.

Be careful because you will have to pay the piper one day or another. I’d rather do it under a docs care then go at it alone. Marijuana won’t help you with pain and appetite. Going through this without subs could kill you.

Editor's note: We do not verify the credentials of our users and nothing stated in our forums is intended to be taken as medical advice.

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#eagles202020...first of all depending on how SEVERE your pain is SHOULD determine the amount of meds you're on & a good Pain Dr. would titrate you up to the correct dose. So the fact that you were taking more than originally either meant that your body had become tolerant to the lower dose OR in fact you were showing addict "tendencies" Only YOU can answer that. As for Suboxone; more & more these days, doctors are Rxing it for Chronic Pain. And I found it a tough one to figure out the correct amount to take at each dose -- but "for me" it seems like HALF a strip OR a QUARTER strip every few hours, if needed works better for my CP (I've had INTRACTABLE head pain/migraines for over 30 years)

#May was correct, you CAN cut it in HALF OR even QUARTERS. And if you're wanting to be off of everything, I would only take a small amount IF I started to feel withdrawal. Best of Luck to you!!

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Re: SheriAmore (# 12)

I stopped the Suboxone after 6 days and haven’t looked back.

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Re: RJ (# 11)

I went through withdrawals off norcos on them 7 years and i felt awful. 2 months didn't eat, depressed, moody. I prayed God to take me. Any time you stop narcotics, my advice is to get help. I couldn't find one. All the pain doctors, excuse my french, a-holes. I made it with help from God and friends. Husband was great, he got me help.

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Re: Eagles202020 (# 13)

That's great!! Is your pain controlled?? I would LOVE to not have to be on meds for CP.

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Re: Eagles202020 (# 13)

I’m so glad you didn’t stay on it for 6 months. That stuff is garbage. But what are you doing about your pain now?

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Re: SheriAmore (# 15)

Listen. I accidentally got addicted to Percocet. I’m employed with a top 10 pharmaceutical company on the planet. I have a gf and her daughter with me. I got hooked, the receptionists at my doc denied me an appt as I was on my last visit to taper off the meds bc of payments due, and it was the weekend so he (my doc) referred me to a Suboxone dr. I was starting a new job and did not want withdrawals, that’s all.

The more I read on Suboxone, the more I was against it.

I’m in terrible pain but feel like I can’t do anything since my dr was already weaning me off, pain management I’d assume can see I’ve taken Suboxone. So I’m not sure what to do.

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Eagles202020 (# 16) --

I have been on pain meds for 11+ years and I have a condition that is not correctable with surgery. I understand how you feel. I have never abused my prescriptions but I have wanted to wean off these meds for awhile. I looked into Suboxone and to me it seems as if the cure is worse than the disease. I am going to try to self wean off the Hydrocodone 7.5/325 pills. In today’s “opioid” climate if you try talk to your Doctor about wanting to get off everything they may possibly go sideways on you and stop any treatment whatsoever. If you want to take the Suboxone then try it but the people that I have talked to have said it is like trading one addiction for another. My reading on taking Suboxone is it is a questionable approach to getting clean completely. It can be done but it is difficult.

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I’ve been in medicine for 35 years. I worked mostly ER but am certified in all areas except pediatrics and on gyn since me profession blatantly descriminates against males. My spine is shot. Every disc gone from mid back down post neurosurgery. A plate c-1-c-5 and disc replacements. I was injured in the military. My knees need to be replaced after 12 surgeries and I have pins in my shoulder. My hip is torn. In short. Nobody will operate on me and my spine is collapsing crushing nerves. I’ve worked my way up to morphine exstended release 30 mgm every 12 hours. So I know pain. When a person takes any amount of pain meds narcotics, they will have a physical dependency. Addicts seek meds usually starting like us on prescription pills. The difference is the reason the person takes the meds. Addicts get a mental reward. I don’t get that. Meds make me feel horrible but I can’t walk without them. I do however have a past demon of alcohol. I get instant mental effects. I quit many many years ago. It’s just your chemical make up. Addicts seek meds and go to great extremes to get meds. In my case I wean down and go off all meds every 3 months. Pisses my doctors off but it works for me. SUBOXONE is a tool. What you attach to it is on you. Not criticizing. Just the facts. SUBOXONE. Just replaces the opiate in the receptor sites of your neurons so you don’t go into withdrawal. It can be abused but so can Tylenol. Basically it’s a way of slowly landing the plane rather than crashing and burning. Understand that addicts started like us. Many have major trauma and abuse. About 90% of women we treated in chemical dependency had sexual abuse or a rape background. Be compassionate. SUBOXONE is not just for addicts. Opiates are opiates and will cause withdrawal even after short use. In my case I don’t think I want to play the game. I want off. At least for a few months. I’m seeking a team of surgeons nationwide to try and help me. Even UCLA wanted to put me on a morphine pump. I’m telling you this because I get it. But don’t worry about taking SUBOXONE. It’s just a safe comfortable way to come off any opiates.

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Re: Eagles202020 (# 17)


I'm sorry that you're still having pain. It's SO tough on the CPP these days & ONLY you know what is the right thing to do. If you can't handle the pain you've got at some point you may have to seek out pain management. I've been hearing a lot about Kratom -- have you looked into that? I just hope things work out for you. Take care.

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Your answer, yes you were on narcotic pain medication. So when you stop taking the Percocets you will go through withdrawals. Suboxone will make it so that you don't have any withdrawals. Now I know online it sounds bad and who wants to be labelled as an addict when your not. I was in your exact same situation. I had multiple surgeries. I was prescribed many narcotic pain medications like Percocets and stuff for months and I had chronic pain as well so when it was time for me to stop taking the medication it was okay. Well I don't want to go through any withdrawals and I need something to cover my pain that was non-narcotic so when I found out about suboxone I got a physician and because I didn't have an opiate dependency problem and I wasn't a risk... he put me on Subutex which is pure buprenorphine verses putting me on Suboxone. Suboxone has another medication in it called naloxone and the naloxone is an opiate blocker which blocks the effect of any opiates because I didn't have a history of drug abuse or misuse so he felt comfortable giving me pure buprenorphine, also known as Subutex. It's a lot better and it's also used to treat chronic pain and Subutex doesn't have the naloxone blocker in it so if one day you were to get in a car accident you could actually take narcotic pain meds and actually get pain relief vs suboxone whereas if u got in an accident and was given narcotic pain meds the naloxone would block it so the narcotic pain medication would not work at all....actually it would put you in to instant withdrawal taking an opiate with suboxone.....

Subutex (pure buprenorphine) doesn't do that. It's safe to take with an opiate. That's how I got off my opiates that were prescribed from my doctor was using the buprenorphine Subutex.....not suboxone (there almost the same medication except suboxone has the opiate blocker the other med Subutex or pure buprenorphine does not have the blocker) and I use it today as my pain medication. I've been on it for 8 years and it really is amazing for pain. It doesn't make you feel euphoric at all and it really is just amazing medication. Now my suggestion to you would be to use the Subutex or Suboxone so that you don't have withdrawals coming off the opiates for the first week. I would say after that week is up if you can I would get completely off of the suboxone, because if you stop subs after the first week you'll be fine & you won't have any withdrawals from the pain medication and won't be dependent on the suboxone, but if you go over a week on Subutex or Suboxone then you're body will start to become dependent to the Suboxone.

Editor's note: We do not verify the credentials of our users and nothing stated in our forums is intended to be taken as medical advice.

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It sucks your doctor did that to you. My doctor recently stopped Klonopin knowing that I cannot find a psychiatrist with worthless insurance and knowing my seizure history coming off it. My anxiety is very real but it has been critical in gaining my life back slowly. Anyway, I know this is a Suboxone post. I was addicted to pills (Oxys) 10 years ago and I’m STILL on Suboxone. I should have done a 5 day wean but that’s what you get in a rehab. Not genuine advice from a doctor counting on your $100-250 cash every month. I don’t think Suboxone should ever be used long term. There you are just hooked on another drug that will cause withdrawals.

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Suboxone was meant to be a short term aid to wean off opiates. It does nothing for real pain. I'm trying to educate the dumba** Drs. in Louisiana about Embeda; Morphine with naloxone. That really helps pain. I have 2 failed back surgeries and I'm in agony. At the correct dose, it IS the solution to the opiate crisis. I sent some emails to my local government. In response, FB threatened to suspend my account for 6 months! lol.

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