Comments on: Suboxone – A Miracle Drug?

By: james

james — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:58:13 +0000

i just want to say i dont have to attend weekly i never had too.my first script was 12 after those where gone i went back and he gave me a months wort.and now its every six weeks.im glad i didnt have to do that weekly shit i would be broke he charges 75 ba visit

By: james

james — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:14:10 +0000

i can help u with the constipation take 3 stool softners in the am and three at night i think it is called cllace oh yea drink alot of water i drink it all day after my coffee oh yea that helps too make some real strong coffee.but you have to stay active also

By: Ju

Ju — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 14:37:20 +0000

Suboxone is an opiate that is more powerful than morphine!!!! I was on it a year and a half!! I felt great everyday I took it. It improved my mood and gave me energy. Only thing, how long could I continue to live like that? My feet and hands would swell and I had no desire for sex…lovely. I just wanted off of it so last week instead of weaning it out for another 6 months I just made the decision to quit. I was at 3/4 of 8 mg pill. Yes, the pain was terrible, I thought I’d lose my mind with anxiety. My heart was pumping out of my chest. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t focus on anything because my eyes were so diulated. This is my 6th day off the drug and I was finally able to get out of the bed, but I still feel really bad, horrible headaches, chills, severe anxiety..I’ve read where these symptoms in some people can go on for weeks or months. But if you want off it you have to just bite the bullet (preferrably a smaller bullet than I did), I just got fed up. It controlled my life just like the opiates. I had to have my suboxone every morning just to feel “normal”. My advise to anyone who is contemplating taking suboxone to help with withdrawals is to only take it for 1 to 2 weeks weaning down the entire time!!!! That’s what they do in rehabs and that is what these suboxone docs should be doing with patients “but” let’s face it, they are getting a lot of money from the pharmacuetical company to keep their patients on long term. It is all a HUGE LIE!!!!! You just trade one for another if you stay on it long term. I think it is beneficial for the first two weeks of detoxing off of other opiates but then stop using it and go to NA meetings or counseling. Believe me, this is no miracle drug, in fact I will go so far as to it is a wolf in sheeps clothing!!! THINK BEFORE YOU TRY THIS DRUG AND IF YOU DECIDE TO TAKE IT, DON’T STAY ON IT LONGER THAN 2 WEEKS OR YOU WILL BE RIGHT BACK INTO THE CYCLE OF ABUSE. Take it from someone who knows!!! And for sure get some antideppresants in your system before you come off of it or else you will feel like hanging yourself!! TO ME, IT IS A SERIOUSLY DANGEROUS DRUG AND THE PHARMACUETICAL COMPANIES KNOW ALL ABOUT IT’S SERIOUS ADDICTIVE PROPERTIES AND THE EXTREME LONG LASTING WITHDRAWALS THAT COME AFTER QUITTING… Good luck!!!

By: james

james — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:45:13 +0000

I have been on suboxone for allmost 3 months the first visit we talked a little and then he gave a script for twelve and told me if i didnt come back he would call the police? so iwent straight to the pharmacy and called my mom to come pay for it. anyway we mad it back after a while and then he gave me a half of an 8mg tablet.then i sat around for thirty minutes or so i was suprised at how fas it made me feel better,so then he gave me the other half and after 45 min my withjdrawls where gone and im talking i used to take 20 -25lorcets a day. so after he saw i was ok he called my mother in and handed her the bottle and said give him two a day which was a smart move.anyway i stayed on 1and1/2for a month now im down to just one 8mg it is a pretty miraculous drug.now i only see him every six weeks and mom still comes by to bring my medicine but now she is letting me have 3 at a time now..well my point iss i dont have to drug seek anymore cause i dont think about it anymore ..but now i have heard withdrawl from suboxone is rough . so im gonna stay on it for awhile untill i learn a way to fight my addiction without it.so right now im working on a plan with my therapist it may take a year or two im not gonna rush it…..

By: Amanda

Amanda — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 03:09:28 +0000

Most insurances will pay for the Suboxone visit but MOST DR’S will not accept it because the insurance won’t pay as much as you would to attend. You can pay out of pocket and call the insurance program to submit your own claim for reimbursement. I am on Suboxone myself and this is how i know my information. One more thing is if you go to http://www.naabt.com you can sign up for the patient / dr matching system and have a dr who is accepting new patients email you to set up to go

By: Magda

Magda — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:54:44 +0000

I am an advocate for the improvement of Buprenorphine treatment. I have been involved with this so much, that I decided to go to college and earn my degree in Addiction Studies to help further the cause.

There is a strong need for support services that are geared towards people using Suboxone as part of their addiction recovery, and I feel at the very least an education course should be mandatory for anyone using this medication. Physicians are not always putting a patient’s best interest in the front of the line when they dole out prescriptions for Suboxone and tell the patient, “See ya next time you need a refill.” There is a matter of ethics and compassion being trampled on by cash only Suboxone clinics that these physicians set up aside of their general practices because they don’t want “dopers” around their other patients.

Sadly, I would guarantee not many people realize this even occurs. Well, it does and it occurs more than anyone realizes and it needs to stop! That is why I am fighting for better support services. Suboxone is an amazing asset to opiate addiction treatment, but it needs to have more thought involved in regards to educating and supporting patients.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:26:02 +0000

Wow…lots or replies…good post!
well, with all drugs there is a learning curve and it is up to the physcian who is prescribing it how often that person should attend rehab, even on an outpatient basis.
It is always necessary that a person go inpatient for drug addiction…just needs to have that desire. I don’t think that Suboxone being the miracle drug that it is should be blamed for people in the suburbs abusing it. It is the nature of addiction.

By: Bennett

Bennett — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:49:41 +0000

Methadone and other drug maintenance protocols have earned their place in the sun. Although the writer isn’t qualified to comment on the efficacy of these regimes, I believe they cut down on drug related crime. Chemical Dependency treatment however, used to be about helping patients to recover from Chemical Dependency. Since the advent of Suboxone, Ricette Benchkser pharmaceuticals want Chemical Dependency Recovery service providers to adopt the Orwellian position of helping chemically dependent patients to successfully remain chemically dependent longer. Ricette Benchkser then suggest that Suboxone patients can somehow conform to 12-step principals where they are advised that they are powerless over alcohol and other drugs. Step 1 makes no qualifications concerning the contrary opinions and the advice of the pharmaceutical companies and the physicians who provided the substances required to cause the problem in the first place.

Extended Suboxone ambulatory detox is really less like detox and more like “trying to cut down”. “I’ll quit tomorrow”. CD patients have already tried that one before arriving at the treatment center.

The inclusion of Suboxone maintained patients within a 12-step abstinence based treatment model will fundamentally compromise the integrity of the peer group by undercutting the common task of adjusting to becoming clean. The alcoholic, cocaine, benzodiazepine and methamphetamine peer group members are left to wonder why their Opioid dependent peers are encouraged to remain on their drug of choice, antagonist properties notwithstanding. An Opiod followed by some kind of Naltarxone chaser? “Methadone with a shoe shine”?

The Medical Model appropriately charges the technologist with providing treatment for the patient. Recovery services however, are often more spiritual and less technological in nature. 12-step Chemical dependency counseling also involves a greater emphasis on peer support, patient compliance and responsibility. A Medical Model philosophy for a cancer patient can have an enabling effect when applied to an alcoholic.

Alcoholism and chemical dependency have been described as baffling, cunning, and powerful. While undoubtedly driven by psychosocial forces, chemical dependency is essentially biogenic in nature. Being among the most complex of diseases, the debate concerning its etiology and treatment rages on. Recovery, however, carries with it a spiritual component that has proven itself to respond favorably to a “moral psychology,” as proposed in the Big Book by William D. Silkworth, M.D. Discussions about clinical theory and treatment protocol are crucial. They define what we do as professionals. They help us to describe and to improve upon our skills. Discussions of this kind however, continually remind me to recognize the limitations of technological solutions for spiritual problems.

My advise – Get clean in a hospital based detox program followed by an in or out-patient 12-step oriented program followed by NA . Opiods Vs. Suboxone? “Changing deck chairs on the Titanic”.

By: kaye

kaye — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:12:59 +0000

The problem with goin to a doctor to get suboxone is that it is so hard to get into a doctor to get it and it is so exspensive. They exspect u to have alot of money up front. Suboxone gave me a channce to work and not suffer from withdraws from percocet. It has helped me tremendously i have only taken it for 6days like a quarter at a time. I just am having alot of constipation and tiredness. i just wonder about the dosage and should i start taking less to wing me off. Yeah I know a doctor would be nice for these questions but i cant afford that. My intentions are genuine i want to finish my program and stay away from pain killers. Got any advice hit me back!!!!!

By: shadow4852

shadow4852 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:08:12 +0000

Being familiar with both the methadone and suboxone programs, I would just like to vent a little and place blame where it really belongs.
Yes, we do hear more now days, about possession charges of suboxone and yes it is because the monthly prescription does allow for some to get on the streets. However, methadone is no different in the dangers and crimes it causes. I’m not downing either drug because they are both wonderful and I believe choosing one over the other is a personal choice reached after much thought on the part of the patient. Some addicts would rather drive a long distance on a daily basis to obtain methadone cheaper, whereas some prefer to spend more monthly to only have to make one visit. There is no right or wrong. As long as it works, it’s great.
The problem is, as usual, the government. They are constantly preaching about their war on drugs and how they are constantly searching for ways to help addicts to become respectable members of society. If this was true, then were would over half the money they collect for crimes and small violations come from. The government doesn’t want to cure the addict, they just want to pacify the unaddicted people in America enough to make them believe it.
For example, methadone isn’t really an expensive drug, but it becomes more expensive when an addict has to travel a ridiculous distance to obtain it in daily doses because by law, it isn’t allowed to be prescribed by a regular doctor to treat addiction. What a coincidence that there are only a limited number of methadone clinics, when even the government is constantly complaining of the large amount of addicts needing treatment. By making it only available only from a limited number of clinics, there is no way all addicts will get the treatment they need. This guarantees there will still be those who will continue to use illegal drugs or get other narcotics from doctors that will be the cause of more possession charges and criminal activities to provide all counties and large cities with income for the government. The addict’s mind has been studied by government for many years. It is no coincidence that by methadone being daily dosed and taken home for weekends, maybe weeks and occaisionally monthly take homes, and strictly governed will produce even more income. The typical addict who is to the point of needing methadone usually has no license, much less a car to travel the distance needed to obtain it. Not to mention, the funds needed. The only way to fund their methadone treatment, for many, is to sell some of their take homes. This means the dose they are given on the clinic visits is usually twice the amount they normally take. Don’t forget, the further the clinic is from the addicts home, the more take homes they usually get. Someone from Tennessee going to Gorgia will usually get monthly take homes quickly. On their clinic visit, they are given their daily dose. Because they are often selling half of their meds to fund the rest, they are in no shape to drive. This is why so many times, methadone is the cause of fatal car crashes. Anyone who has been a part of the world of addiction for any length of time knows several people who have died as the result of coming home from the clinic. If they’re lucky, they are just stopped by the law who position themselves in areas to stop them as they leave the clinics and are given tickets or arrested for being under the influence or having no license. There would be a lot fewer fatal wrecks if doctors could just prescribe patients a month’s supply of methadone. They wouldn’t have to take it until they got home. Even then, they wouldn’t be forced to take more than they normally would.
As for suboxone; it has become the backup to bring in the funds for towns and cities that methadone doesn’t. It’s supposed to be only for treating addiction. They allow any doctor who takes an eight hour class to prescribe it. They are allowed a certain number of patients on suboxone. Most of the doctors who prescribe it normally take all insurance, including Tenncare in Tennessee. However, they don’t accept these insurances when prescribing suboxone. They usually charge anywhere from 250.00 -360.00 per month. The pharmacy charges 8.00 per pill but will take insurance. Is is not odd that in the state of Tennessee a person with tenncare isn’t allowed to be seen by a doctor who doesn’t take tenncare. Only when prescribing suboxone is it allowed. I have called every single suboxone prescribing doctor in the state and none will accept my insurance for a suboxone visit. How it that helping addicts to get help. I’ll tell you, it helps just enough where most of them can get medicine but have to sell a certain amount just to come up with the money to go. If my husband didn’t work, I couldn’t do it either. I can’t use my insurance to get help for my addiction, but if I just want to continue using, I can use it at most all pain clinics and get 1,000-1,500 pills per month. It’s all a racket carefully formulated by the government to make money.
I know I’ve ranted on and on and I do apologize but I just get so angry when I think about it. Take oxycontin, for example. A pill that can cost as much as 25.00 each at the pharmacy. How is anyone, other than a celebrity supposed to be able to afford to take them. Thank God I never had to.
They have people on state insurance, who are usually unemployed, and drawing a 500.00 check for disability, it they’re lucky. They are prescribed $5,000 worth of medicine for a month and insurance doesn’t cover it. How do they think they’ll pay for it. They will have to sell part of them. This forms a circular form of income for the government. They have set up a win win situation, for themselves.
So, in closing, I have to say Fighting the war on drugs is a cover. They don’t want to fight it. How would they make all their money then? And, as addicts, even though we know what’s going on, we continue to play the game, because that’s who we are.
To Society, addicts are the most useless people in existence, being at the bottom of the totem pole. I’ll be the first to admit we do some bad things. But hold you heads up. We can only do what we can. Without all us worthless addicts, the world would all be broke and our officials wouldn’t be able to afford the nice suits they wear.