Author: TeeJay

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:06 pm

I wouldn’t be too concerned about interactions. I’m on a number of psych meds at the moment with Suboxone. The only real interaction I’ve confronted are certain medications speeding up or slowing down my metabolism of Suboxone. Also, Effexor reduced my absorbtion of Suboxone a bit. My doctor pointed out this interaction when I went off Suboxone, warnign that my anti-depressant levels may increase a bit so be wary.

The only real serious interaction doctors are cautious about is when you mix buprenorphine with depressants. But I believe that once we’re tolerant to Suboxone the risk if pretty small.

I too used opioids to "self-medicate" a mental health issue. Be careful with the idea that once your mental health issue is treated, your addiction won’t be an issue and won’t need its own treatment because… for most people that isn’t the case. Opioid addiction changes the brain at a fundamental level, and once we’ve been dependent or addicted to opioids, the changes need to go through their own process of recovery.

Author: TeeJay

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:06 pm

I wouldn’t be too concerned about interactions. I’m on a number of psych meds at the moment with Suboxone. The only real interaction I’ve confronted are certain medications speeding up or slowing down my metabolism of Suboxone. Also, Effexor reduced my absorbtion of Suboxone a bit. My doctor pointed out this interaction when I went off Suboxone, warnign that my anti-depressant levels may increase a bit so be wary.

The only real serious interaction doctors are cautious about is when you mix buprenorphine with depressants. But I believe that once we’re tolerant to Suboxone the risk if pretty small.

I too used opioids to "self-medicate" a mental health issue. Be careful with the idea that once your mental health issue is treated, your addiction won’t be an issue and won’t need its own treatment because… for most people that isn’t the case. Opioid addiction changes the brain at a fundamental level, and once we’ve been dependent or addicted to opioids, the changes need to go through their own process of recovery.

Author: Amy-Work In Progress

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:09 pm

Hey Jessica,

You are not alone! One of the things I think you need to do, if you haven’t already, is to get a therapist who specializes in addiction. There is no reason that your supportive family would think going to therapy is out of the norm if you’re concerned about alarming them. One thing I’ve noticed about our close family members is that they are naive about addiction. They don’t realize that relapsing is part of recovery too, and that it can teach you something when it happens. I don’t think that you realize that either. There is a reason that relapse rates are in the 90th percentile! It sounds like your loved ones could benefit by going to meetings with other family members of addicted people. They need to know that what you are going through is normal. Here you have this lovely support system, but you’re not trusting them to support you! They need to be educated so that they can be there for you. Did you learn that you can beat addiction by yourself when you were in in-patient treatment? No, I don’t think so. Perhaps you would benefit by being in an intensive out-patient therapy group. Have you looked into them?

Heaping recriminations on yourself is not going to help you in the long run. One of the things we addicts need to do is to discern when our inner voice is being destructive. You have to learn to differentiate the messages from your addiction and the messages from your critical inner voice and reject them. A therapist can help you with that.

You can have a bright future despite relapsing! Many of us on this forum have been in your shoes and we’ve had to pick ourselves up and keep going. It’s possible!

Amy

Author: Amy-Work In Progress

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:09 pm

Hey Jessica,

You are not alone! One of the things I think you need to do, if you haven’t already, is to get a therapist who specializes in addiction. There is no reason that your supportive family would think going to therapy is out of the norm if you’re concerned about alarming them. One thing I’ve noticed about our close family members is that they are naive about addiction. They don’t realize that relapsing is part of recovery too, and that it can teach you something when it happens. I don’t think that you realize that either. There is a reason that relapse rates are in the 90th percentile! It sounds like your loved ones could benefit by going to meetings with other family members of addicted people. They need to know that what you are going through is normal. Here you have this lovely support system, but you’re not trusting them to support you! They need to be educated so that they can be there for you. Did you learn that you can beat addiction by yourself when you were in in-patient treatment? No, I don’t think so. Perhaps you would benefit by being in an intensive out-patient therapy group. Have you looked into them?

Heaping recriminations on yourself is not going to help you in the long run. One of the things we addicts need to do is to discern when our inner voice is being destructive. You have to learn to differentiate the messages from your addiction and the messages from your critical inner voice and reject them. A therapist can help you with that.

You can have a bright future despite relapsing! Many of us on this forum have been in your shoes and we’ve had to pick ourselves up and keep going. It’s possible!

Amy

Author: Amy-Work In Progress

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:20 pm

I definitely suffered a bit with joint pain when I was on 16 mg/day. I have been tapering since then and it went away at about 6 – 8 mg/day. Now I don’t have any joint pain unless I overdo it. I used to notice the joint pain whenever I got out of bed, got out of the car, or climbed stairs. For me it was a relatively minor annoyance compared to the benefit I was getting from sub.

Amy

Author: Amy-Work In Progress

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:20 pm

I definitely suffered a bit with joint pain when I was on 16 mg/day. I have been tapering since then and it went away at about 6 – 8 mg/day. Now I don’t have any joint pain unless I overdo it. I used to notice the joint pain whenever I got out of bed, got out of the car, or climbed stairs. For me it was a relatively minor annoyance compared to the benefit I was getting from sub.

Amy

Author: Fireman

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:02 pm

Hey everyone, it has been a while since I’ve been on here and posted.

I was just prescribed Neurontin by my sub doctor today as to help with anxiety. I know it typically is prescribed for seizures or something else and is given for other symptoms as an off medicine but I was wondering if anyone else on here has been on this med and their feedback on the drug.

I’m just not sure whether or not it will be helpful and whether it is covered by my insurance or not so I don’t know if I should fill the prescriptions. Any replies are greatly appreciated.

Author: Fireman

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:02 pm

Hey everyone, it has been a while since I’ve been on here and posted.

I was just prescribed Neurontin by my sub doctor today as to help with anxiety. I know it typically is prescribed for seizures or something else and is given for other symptoms as an off medicine but I was wondering if anyone else on here has been on this med and their feedback on the drug.

I’m just not sure whether or not it will be helpful and whether it is covered by my insurance or not so I don’t know if I should fill the prescriptions. Any replies are greatly appreciated.

Author: tinydancer

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 12:26 pm

^ I understand what you’re saying about most people not realizing what kind of damage they’ve done to their teeth until they get clean. I for one knew exactly what I had done though. As soon as I got my shit together I started going to the dentist to fix the damage. I had frequent appointments so they could keep an eye on things. Mind you, I was on suboxone for 6 years straight, so that was a good amount of time to get a feel for the trending curve (if you will) in my mouth. I did not have any issues with my two bottom front teeth. About 4 years into sub treatment, my doctor asked me if I was sucking on candies. He said specifically that I had too much build up between my two, front bottom teeth. All my other teeth were fine except this one area and I had been taking good care of them for years..

My dentist didn’t know I was on sub, btw. He could tell that something was going on under my tongue there. Just sayin.. I don’t consider this hard proof, at all, but I have my strong suspicions.

Author: tinydancer

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 12:26 pm

^ I understand what you’re saying about most people not realizing what kind of damage they’ve done to their teeth until they get clean. I for one knew exactly what I had done though. As soon as I got my shit together I started going to the dentist to fix the damage. I had frequent appointments so they could keep an eye on things. Mind you, I was on suboxone for 6 years straight, so that was a good amount of time to get a feel for the trending curve (if you will) in my mouth. I did not have any issues with my two bottom front teeth. About 4 years into sub treatment, my doctor asked me if I was sucking on candies. He said specifically that I had too much build up between my two, front bottom teeth. All my other teeth were fine except this one area and I had been taking good care of them for years..

My dentist didn’t know I was on sub, btw. He could tell that something was going on under my tongue there. Just sayin.. I don’t consider this hard proof, at all, but I have my strong suspicions.