Suboxone Abuse

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My son has been on suboxone for over 1 year now. He was a herion addict for over 12 years. Been clean off and on during that time. I have seen a personality change in him which is almost intolerable. It is like he is fine one minute and then goes off the wall the next. Has anyone who has been on suboxon or knows someone who has been seen a personality change.

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1

These types of personality changes can occur with the use of any opiate. They are, however, not usually so severe if the medication is not being abused.

Suboxone, which contains the active ingredient Buprenoprhine is a very potent drug. Have you checked on his use of it? Is he following the doctor's instructions or is he taking more than he is supposed to?

Personality changes could also be a result of withdrawal symptoms.

So, it is hard to say, precisely what may be causing his issues.

https:/­/­www.medschat.com/­wiki/­Suboxone/­

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2

I am wondering if suboxone is allowing my son to float between heroin and suboxone use in a way that maintains or assures perpetual adduction.

When he is detoxing he is given subutex. When he is in rehab, he is on suboxone.

When he is out of the program after a month or two, he is on heroin in the morning, suboxone in the afternoon. The next few days are suboxone only then its heroin in the afternoon and suboxone in the Am, then its heroin for a couple of days and then suboxone for a few days.

Then I find he is forging checks and selling his suboxone again, kick him out and he goes back to detox.

He slips in a few suboxones, calculates the days and the 36 hour half life and appears to be fine. They let him go early, he asks for and gets the suboxone program during his 30 day rehab and the cycle starts all over again.

We have done this 4 times in 2 years (17-19 years old). His relapses occur after pivotal decision points just in advance of action points, like I am going to live on Kauai or I am going to take graphic arts at Cabrillo or Fullerton Community College.

Has anybody seen this routine as a perhaps a sham to float between the two drugs purportedly as a cure. Suboxone is supposed to give the user the physical reprieve and mental opportunity to reprogram their activities and daily priorities away from the addiction syndrome and toward the alternatives that the family, program and others provide? But does it? Or does it give the addict the soft landing he prefers between the episodes of soboxone use and heroin addiction, effectively going on for years with out real detox and real drug free living.

Finally I wonder, should/ could a heroin addict ever live a drug free life.

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3

Suboxone is an exellent med for rehab. If you read the label carefully you can take your entire day perscription all at once without overdose or getting high. Ive been on over a year and my life is back to normal. That said it is possible to stop and use other drugs then go back to Suboxone. That will usually cause temporary withdrawal. You did not really discribe your sons behavior. He may still be using other drugs or he may have other psycological problems that need to be addressed. Unless he cannot tolerate Suboxone I do not think his behavior is being caused by his medication. Good Luck.

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4

i am currently on suboxone and it is a great drug, with that being said you cannot be successful if you dont want to change whether your parents want you to or not. i am currently in my third year of college at a good university but about two years ago i was doing exactly what your son is doing. you are right on the money but dont feel bad yet, there is hope. I would take subs when i was broke and dope when i had money. my parents saw me relapse many different times and i was fooling them with great grades but one day my dad caught me and he wasnt angry he was totally disappointed and hurt. This made me question is it worth me destroying his life also for a cheap high? not to mention it was decaying any type of moral structure i had. If your son lives with you, you need to be firm but loving and tell him its the dope or the subs and he cant have both. You should take his pills from him and give it to him and make him take it in front of you. junkies can be slick so dont believe simply after he puts it in his mouth b/c he knows when he takes it the opiate high wont be good or as good as it could be. (some instances it blocks it all together). make sure it dissolves completely under his tongue. hope this helps. good luck and dont give up.

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5

I have been around junkies for over 30 years and Suboxone is ANOTHER scam, trying to get someone else rich off the expense of another human being..in the 70's and 80's there were hundreds of junkies who detoxed off heroin, they did not die from it and they did not replace it with another drug. We have fallen into corporate america's false beliefs we need these drugs. I love the excuse it has helped so many people, please tell me how many it has helped and how long have they been drug free, including suboxone? Don't mean to be rude, I am just so frustrated watching hundreds get addicted again to another drug...they will have to detox from suboxone, always trying to do things the easier, softer way.

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hey Debbie how about you don't run your uneducated mouth until you know what you're talking about. How's it any of your business if you're that jealous you should go take something.

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i have been on suboxone and it saved my life 3 yrs rehaBS AND meetings just dont do it for me give me suboxone and i am normal

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I agree. I am an single mom with a college degree, a mortgage, 2 children & constant responsibility nipping at my heels. Even with that knowledge and feeling the burden of knowing my family was counting on me every single day I could not successfully kick pain meds-dependant on those evil pills after 3 painful surgeries & subsequent recoveries over a 2 year period. I'm not a crachhead junkie shooting up on the street, I'm a Christian, I take care of my fam & pay my dues. I thank God for the FDA for giving people like me an alternative to the pure Hell of detoxing. Sure there are morons out there who will abuse and misuse, but for the rest of use it really is a great option. So please don't judge or assume. You never know til it happens to you...

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I couldn`t agree with more! I don`t know anyone who has gotten clean by using sub. What I have seen is sub. being used when oxy`s aren`t available and it seems the addicts who go back and forth become more disfunctional then the addicts that just stick to oxy`s ect. I have also found major personality changes in sub. users. I think sub. does more harm then good. Not to mention it was intended for use for no more then 30 days just to get the addict over initial w.d`s no to use forever.

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10

I am currently taking Suboxone and have been on it for the past three years. Yes, 3 years. I am given 90 pills a month by a licensed suboxone physician. I know I am addicted to it. I am posting to this topic because I want to give people an honest answer to the question, is Suboxone helpful to recovering addicts. The answer is yes and no. At first I was put on it as part of a recovery program from my addiction to OxyContin. It did what it was supposed to do, I stopped abusing Oxy's and now I am addicted to the Suboxone. Do I feel "high" from it, no, but I take it as prescribed (most of the time) and I also know I can not stop taking it, almost like I don't want to and my doctor doesn't force me. He says, "at least you are staying away from narcotics." My sister is also on Suboxone and is always taking more than she is prescribed and running out way before the end of the month, coming to me to try to get some of mine and when I don't give them to her she steals them from me if she gets the opportunity. Still in that addictive behavior mode as if she were still using opiates. We are both "pill" addicts and this is just another addiction. I wish I could say Suboxone is a wonder drug and that it doesn't have the potential for abuse but in all reality it is very addictive and abused more and more every day. I am one of those cases. I think my doctor keeps prescribing it to me because he is getting paid for my addiction. Unfortunate but true.

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Exlpn everything u said is true because that's my story

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Debbie ur so right and I'm on sub I'm just giving up one drug for the next

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Marquetta, if you don't mind me asking, what dose are you on and how many are you supposed to take a day? Does your doctor give you a months supply at a time with refills to last 3 months? Just wondering. Not sure if that is even legal. My dose is actually high. I'm on 8mg/2mg tablets, take 3 a day and he writes my script for 90 with 2 refills. I only see him every 3 months. You?

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14

I am right there with u...I am a single mother of three and got addicted to pain meds after my hysterectomy and tried stopping but with my divorce piled on many difficult emotions i numbed with medicine...i tried methadone for a few months but too many people judged me for that so its more secretly to be on suboxone and to me i feel it is not as habit forming than methadone...i might be wrong...i do want to get off suboxine soon but how do i do it without going thru those horrible withdrawal symptoms...i am scared of my body hurting but i am emotionally ready to get off...any advice??

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15

hi...my story is so like yours...sister and all but my sister is the clean one now and i am on the suboxone...she judges me for being on it and cant understand why i cant just quit everything....i want to stop taking suboxone but my fear is going thru the withdrawal systems and having to go to work and school feeling that way...when i dont take my suboxone i can start to feel sick and real emotional...is that normal to start to be depressed?? how long do the withdrawal symptoms last once u stop taking it...do u know???

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hi...i do believe they can live a clean and sober life when they ae ready...i speak from a family of addicts...i have two sisters and we all have been addicted to something in our life...but now my older sister is clean..drinks occasionally but takes meds for bipolar...my younger sister is a recovering addict and had been clean for over ten years...me on the other hand had slipped back into my addiction due to a divorce and pressures...i am on suboxone now so i dont take prescription pain meds like i did for years...it helps with my cravings and withdrawals but not with the mental part...i am seeking therapy for those issues...i do believe with suboxone and intense therapy he has a chance but he has to want to deal with the emotional part not just the physical part....my heart goes out to you cause i know what we put our mother thru...best of luck.....take care of yourself too!!!

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17

Catherine,
I do know what it is like to stop suboxone and what it is like. First, do not stop taking it cold turkey. Your physician will need to bring you down off slowly. Decreasing your dose either weekly or every two weeks depending on how well you do without feeling any withdrawal symptoms in between dose changes. This will also depend on how high of a dose you are on now. My doctor in the past dropped me down in the amount I was taking too quickly and I did feel the effects. My advice would be to ask for a slow taper. It may take some time and adjustments but if done correctly for you as an individual (everyone is different) you will fell little to no withdrawal effects. If you do feel anything it will be minor in comparison to stopping all at once. What you could possible feel is, fatigue and the need to yawn constantly, chill bumps, cold, and possibly a little depression. All very minor. If you stop on your own cold turkey the withdrawls are pretty bad. I hope this helps. I am a nurse as well as an addict but in no way am I 100% sure what you may experience. Everyone experiences the effects of coming off medications like these differently. This was just my experience. I hope you get through this with little difficulty and pray for your recovery. Let me know if you want to know anything else I may be able to answer. I have a long history with this medication for myself and if I can help another addict it is the least I can do. Best wishes.

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18

I can tell you from 3 years of experience with Suboxone that Suboxone does not cause mood swings. However suboxone has caused people going through withdrawals that have a very bad attitude to seem to lighten up due to the fact that suboxone helps reduce if not eliminate the withdrawal symptoms. If your son is having mood swings it is most likely caused by taking suboxone either the wrong way or because he is trying to take something else while taking the suboxone which will cause very bad withdrawals. Suboxone is a very strong antagonist as well as an opoid. It attaches strongly to the brains opoid receptors and has a very long half-life. It would take a deadly amount of another opoid to remove the suboxone from the brains receptors. In my opinion I would watch your son take the suboxone and monitor him with urine drug screening test to make sure he is only taking the suboxone. To give you an example on how strong suboxone is; 8mg Suboxone IV/IM (intravenous/intramuscular) equals 200mg Methadone IV/IM(intravenous/intramuscular) or 8mg Suboxone PO (by mouth) equals 400mg Methadone PO (by mouth) *This is advice and should be taken only as advice.*Please consult a licensed physician for more information.*

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Hi my name is derrick and I have been on suboxone for two years now.I can tell you one thing every body is different .For me subs work I am in consrtuction and have had several surgeries and over the matter of months I was addicted to pain meds never once in my life did I use heroin.after my wounds healed I found myself buying pain meds of the streets and then my friend told me about methadone so I tried it it got me higher then the pain meds so I stopped treatment another couple years went by of buying pain meds and then I heard about suboxone it was the best day of my life besides my kids being born.I bought 5 eight milagram suboxone and it lasted all week .fifty bucks for the week instead of fifty or more a day. To get to the point its all about choices either you want to succeed in life or you don't I realized that with the subs I could do everyday life and it was bareable I do agree it is one fix for another but at least its better for your health and not as expensive.plus I don't feel like veal all the time.I am scared the day I have to come off because I don't want to go down the pain med road again but every day that goes on I am making better choices and that's what really matters is now not a year or two from now I can worry about that when the time comes.

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20

Im trying to figure out what my mom is on. She is always acting so strange. She says shes only taking sub but im not fully convinced. Her eyes always look strange, she is always sweating, fidgeting and cant seem to pay attention. Can sub cause these symptoms?

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Re: julie (# 20) Expand Referenced Message

It sounds like she may be taking more of Suboxone than directed. Look up signs of Suboxone Abuse and it will tell you exactly what to look for

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210

Re: marina (# 9) Expand Referenced Message

I get sick of PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT RELEVANT Giving their ignorant opinion on something that is none of their business! Your statistics are 100% bull---- Also, Subs are intended as Maint. Therapy just as Methodone. ( A Real Nurse)

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Re: Debbie (# 5) Expand Referenced Message

I get sick of PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT RELEVANT Giving their ignorant opinion on something that is none of their business! Your statistics are 100% bull----

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Re: James (# 42) Expand Referenced Message

wonderful but I just can"t see Janamyself surviving anything cold turkey but very very happy for you, wish I was that strong.........

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207

Started out taking hydrocodone for back pain.as time went on I developed a strong tolerance. Soon 3 or 4 roxy 30,s a day.a friend introduced me to suboxine. It did get me off pain meds.and the mental addiction off the high. But now I'm struggling to get off suboxine.i feel it mite have saved my life.I was on the road to intravenous drug use.so I knew I had to make a change.but God please help me drop suboxine. My prayers go out to anyone struggling with opioid addiction.

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206

Well said!!!!! A little knowledge on an important subject is more dangerous than none at all...

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205

Just wondering who you're calling a dumbass Jessica???

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204

All the talk about addiction ha your referring to drug pushers.Who do you think the Doctors are?They just do what they are trained to do and that is what you are all doing.You have to take control of your life.Get away from the medical model.Learn about eating health foods clean water open your minds to the possibility of change.This is the intentional destruction of Amerika and the West.

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203

Hello James! I, too, was an opoid addict (6 fiorinal with codeine a day for 2 years). I finally went to the doctor for my 'regular' visit and told my doctor I wanted to quit. He immediately put me on 8/2 Suboxone. I, too, thought all was well but stupid me for not researching this evil substance before taking it. I was on it for 7 months and just recently weaned myself off completely. I should say that I cut my amount down to .25 and took that for 5 days then quit cold turkey. As of today it has been 4 days of not taking it and I'm pretty much ok as far as symptoms. My detox symptoms are lethargy, weak legs during the day and RLS at night. But they haven't been debilitating. I'm just sharing my experience but please know that I completely GET what you were trying to convey...the agony you experienced humbled you and 'humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less'. In a nutshell, no more King Baby :-). I'm happy for you and I'm happy for myself.

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202

I am going through this now with my fiance, I was on the internet trying to research and saw this. It has been two weeks of hell, he is a total different person, has even been talking about leaving me. Very rude and hateful, also says rude things. Totally out of character. He was on methadone before, we have been together almost 4 years.he was very loving , and nice. I have never seen anything like this in my life. Have you figured anything out?

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