Can You Take Benzos While You're On Suboxone? (Page 11)

I've been seeing a lot of posts regarding taking benzos while on Suboxone. It is ok to take a benzo w/ suboxone - as long as you're taking the prescribed dosages you'll be fine. Now if you're taking 3 or 4 8mgs of Suboxone and say 5 or 6 Xanax that's not good, that's where the reported deaths have come from. I've been on Subs for 5 yrs. I've also been subscribed klonopin and am currently taking valium w/ it and it's fine. I'm on a low dose and only take what I am prescribed.

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I know this reply is erroneously late based upon date of question, but as a recovering opiate addict I KNOW this question will never be out dated. I became addicted innocently enough from a back injury....loved them from second dose. I say second because the first dose I took was late evening thinking Lortab would knock me out....was up until 3AM doing honey do's around house and bouncing off the walls....realized next AM they made me ten foot tall and bullet proof and was off to the races from there. Long story short lost everything within 6 years of addiction that started with very first dose. I had no knowledge or experience and DR enjoyed the regular insurance dollars and quick turnaround for refills monthly (all of them I used). When you're in it you don't see it or much else. After losing everything, I would still use multiple DRS and scripts usually running out once every 30 days and going through hellish WD lasting 100 hours on average before being able to remotely function again....then running to next appt. and off to the races again.....for several more years, month after month after month an expected and liquor softened hellish WD. Finally....my first bad day into a ty[pical WD my sister planted her ass at the foot of my bed and with help from my recovering 30 year AA sponsor cousin on the phone, refused to leave until I agreed to rehab. 36 hours later....when I was on downside of worst part of WD episode I could take no more and agreed to rehab.

I got to rehab I spent a miserable 1/2 day just getting though paperwork....then they gave me 8mg Soboxone and I went and laid down expecting squat. Less than an hour later I was walking around introducing myself and talking and completely, 100% NORMAL....not high and not sick....all symptoms of WD gone. The next day they gave me 8mg AM and 8mg PM and I was shocked.... why....where. ...how did I not know of this drug and WD symptoms? Hell...I had graduated to taking whatever I could get my hands on, thankfully never H or I would have died for sure. The third day they went back to 8mg and the forth day 4 mg, the 5th day 2mg and that was the end of the scheduled 5 day WD medication. I was dried out....and really the only craving I had was mental and it was minimal and I was even allowed 2mg more the 6th day if I wanted....but fact is Suboxone does NOT make you high like opioids....not close, at least physically....there is some minor psychological effect that because you are not sick and everything in your experience tells you that you should be fetal position in tub with shower going, shaking and cramping and wishing for death....you feel...just normal, not drugged and some part of you still longs for or misses that feeling....nothing more. As most after rehab I had a script with two refills I never spoke of and within two days of release I was back addicted and off to the races.

Several months later I had enough and searched for Soboxone TREATMENT and not just as a WD answer and found a psychiatric Dr who has treated me since. See....during all these years of dependency I used alcohol for everything from help getting through WD to upping effect of benzo's or muscle relaxants when I could get em and it finaly took it's toll on my pancreas and I had to deal with this pain somehow. My Soboxone DR was open to prescribing any dose that I SAID worked without judgement and I eventually settled on 12 mg a day....I could easily get 3X that, but fact is they DO NOT make you high, give you any rush or make you feel invincible.....they just balance the level of pain my pancreatitis offers and keeps me from ever craving opiates of any kind..... in 3 years now I have never taken or even wanted to take another opiate and it is all because of this miracle drug. I know many will say aw...yer still an addict.... hey....it is my nature bub....I will ALWAYS be an addict....but I don't have to be controlled by it.....I can and now feel confident I control it completely. Pain treatment with Soboxone is STILL not understood or practiced much beyond a few day WD drug....and yes, it is an AMAZING WD drug.....I guarantee anyone....if you want to get off the rollercoaster of opiate binging and WD....SOBOXONE people...you will NOT feel one second of nausea, cramps, sweating, insomnia, shakes, skin crawl...nothing, nada, zip.....but because it has naloxone you have to be 36 - 48 hours past last dose of opiate or it can react adversely, but any DR will know that....I was at 36 when I took mine in WD and my roommate lied and said he was 48 but was really 24 and did just fine.....so a lot has to de with individual tolerances and history and opiate drug....they say H is harder and takes more time from last dose before you can take Suboxone.....but fact is for me.....I have been through a 100 WD that lasted on average 100 hours before I was coming out of it and could face public....bottom line is you can take this daily and only once in AM and go the entire day not feeling high, drugged OR even beating your head against the wall wanting to feel high....it is amazing and should be used nation wide in every center and by every addiction DR.

I take now just 8mg generic soboxone sublingual tab when I wake up and some days....almost forget I need to take it and have 3 years without another WD, saved 1000's $$ in DR visits (graduated culinary school with associate degree and bought a motorcycle). To ANYONE out there wishing truly to get out of the life of a perpetual f*** up addicted sneak.....and avoids cleaning up because of WD's....go through Suboxone detox and then go on suboxone therapy....you will get your life back. Peace.

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Go with suboxone, don't suffer the cold turkey. I was 10 yrs on 40mg. Plan on a long run with suboxone. You will feel fine from day 1.

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I second what joe kerr and michele wrote....the suboxone is as close to the miracle drug as available. While taking subs, i felt "normal"...I felt like i did before i ever discovered opiates while on sub therapy. It doesn't make you feel high, but as stated so many times, I felt normal once again.... including that long absent "sense of well being". Hey, I'm an addict, and however long i take the subs is not a problem. Diabetics use insulin for a lifetime and my dsily 8 mg dose of bupe is fine for however long I desire to be on the program. And no, it does not make me feel high, no rush, just allows me to return and maintain a productive life. Do the research and decide for yourself... You have nothing to lose really by trying suboxone. Be careful with interactions with benzos, as it may lead to respiratory failure at worst, and sometime a temporary blackout of memory at the least, so be smart about how much you combine. Best of luck to all dealing with this nightmare of addiction, and remember, you are not alone in your struggles, and you are not a bad person or a weak character because you developed an addiction. We're all hopelessly human trying to find our way. Please take care, and be good to yourself. Thanks!

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Thank you for posting an article that sounded sincere, honest, with the intent to actually help. This is What these sights need. I have a hard time believing some of the quantities that are claimed by some on these sights. The combination I found best is 10 mg suboxone ( strips) and one mg. Xanax. Also be aware doctors that treat addiction will rarely prescribe another addictive drug........although there are exceptions. Again......thanks for the sincereity.

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I'm really confused how doctors prescribe this medicine for 5,6,7 years!? Isn't the whole point to taper down slowly so eventually you won't need something to function through the day..... 5 years seems like too long, & long enough to have tapered down safely.

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Suboxone IS typically designed for pharmaceutical detox over 4-7 days and then no more....however many people still have pain levels above what OTC can dent and need something.....and Suboxone is a lifesaver for that. I did so much damage to my pancreas with alcohol use during WD's that I now need pain management above OTC offerings and the 12mg a day Suboxone helps tremendously... I still have a couple days a month where I have enough paid it is in top 3 things on my mind all day.... usually #1.....so at least once a week I only use 8mg Suboxone and over almost 3 years on treatment have managed to continuously have half a dozed 8mg pills as back up for those days I need more help. The best thing is they don't make you high and with Naloxone there are no cravings....I have not fantasized or romanticized opiates but maybe twice in almost 3 years and mostly I remember how messed up I and my life was when I was taking 30+ 7.5 Lorcets or Lortabs on a heavy day. I think over time more DR's will become educated about long term Suboxone treatment and for those with no ongoing pain issues, why not just take Naloxone by itself if you have no ongoing pain issues.....it kills cravings for me. Good luck.

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I have been on Subutex 8 mg 3x a day also on 1 mg Xanax 2x a day I was informed by my dr that she is feeling the heat not to write Xanax with Subs so instead of getting my Xanax today she wrote me klonpin which was even at the same dosage I was taking for the Xanax she wrote . 5 klonpin 2 a day I inquired that I was worried about withdrawals from the Xanax she said don't worry any problems come back in 2 weeks, one more thing to note my sister and brother in law also go there and if she is still giving it to them I am gonna be pissed, my question is what is the difference between the Xanax and the klonopin? They are both Benzo's so I guess I am not understanding her decision she has always been a lot of flaky some months she will write my Subs for 90 some month it's 60 I used to get 90 Xanax then it went to 60 and now this lorazepam which I have taken today and it is doing absolutely nothing for me. I haven't failed any urine test either. She told me I could go to a psychiatrist for the Xanax well I shouldn't have to do that since she has had no problem giving the Benzo's all along so if it's a benzo problem then why would Xanax be excluded?

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I want to make a revision to my last post she isn't giving klonpin she is giving me Ativan which is lorazepam I don't know where I got klopoin from but it is Ativan if that even makes a difference.

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There are doctors that perscribe benzos and subs together.

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If you are awake and motivated , while on sub and benzo combination or any other medications that it's possible to have the respiratory failure? I've always wondered when its said respiratory failure if it means the individual was asleep or unconscious and couldn't tell themselves to breathe ? Is it possible to be active and have respiratory failure?j

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IT'S COMPLETELY SAFE TO TAKE THE 2 DRUGS TOGETHER. 14 YEARS, 3mg's XANAX WITH 8mg's OF SUBOXINE. NO ISSUES WHAT SO EVER.
MY DR. OF 14 YEARS PASSED AWAY, NOW NO OTHER DR. WILL GIVE ME MY XANAX. (I'M ON 2mg's VALIUM/8 SUBOXINE. Also 40 mg's/day of Prozac. It WAS 80mg's/day.)
START WITH A LOW DOSE OF XANAX. 0.5mg's/day... Gradually get to where you can function again. I tell my new Dr. To LOOK @ MY PAST 14 YEARS OF MEDICAL HISTORY THAT I BROUGHT HIM.

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I was on subs for 7 years!!! I have real anxiety issues, going to er once a week rope s***. So with that said for 5 years I have been on subs and benzos and for once I am clean and haven't had any recent er visits. It is perfectly safe to take them together in low doses with high tolerances for both. It's only in the USA where fda tells docs not to prescribe the two together. I lived in EU for years and there they don't put naloxone in subs, they only prescribe subutex with no monitoring of any sort and give u benzos if u need them with out the bulls*** fda claims that it will kill you.

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Hi I was reading this and I've been in a suboxone clinic for 6 months. They give me a 8mg but the first 2 months I took one then backed off to a half and now they have a new one I had to take too but I was down to a guartery all last week, then Monday took one and took nothin yesterday and valium today, so can I quit? Is that safe? plz email {edited for privacy}

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Ty first time taking suboxone and I didn't take valium like 12 hrs ago but I need to seen off valium break it down it's easy with those cuz it's not like xanax talked to doc he said just take smaller one day smaller again then small tiny then done usually valium. Safe coming off of it's the better benzo if u no what I mean but glad to no i can take valium with suboxone Ty cuz I neex it just for few days till I get threw this detox

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Do u live in the usa. I was going to ask my daughter to put me on Klonopin and along with my suboxone. I go to a psychiatrist to get my suboxone. But I have really bad anxiety and panic attacks. I believe I can get off the suboxin If I had some kind of nerve pill to help me. I don't want to be on the box and the rest of my life. And I also believe that I can start taking lower doses of Suboxone if I had a klonopin.

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I need new doc I've been on xanax for years along with suboxone I'm on s.s.d because of this please help me I have 3 newborn grandsons please I'm begging you its in my records.

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Yes it's definitely ur tolerance now... U get scripts monthly? N u get 100. Shiit n I'm sure they were gone in like 4_5 days. I get 90 kpins a month n them jawnz be gone in 3 days ...smh. I goes hard n I'm on 12 millys is suboxone too...but back to the point yea ur tolerance has to be not like it use to be... we been doin it too long....

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Me personally I think Valium is for the birds I can't believe they even put it in the benzo family. I hate those things I'm now on 3 MG's of klonopin and it defiantly is 100 times better.

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Dr Oconnel or dr latiff out VA in nn of hampton

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Yea that sounds about right. I hope you doing alright Peace and Love

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