Author: xaosmg
Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2013 6:21 pm
Hey all! Thanks for reading my post! (I will make this short)
Ok. I have been on subs for 3 1/2 years with only the last 12 months being steady and taking my meds daily as prescribed. The first 2 1/2 years were up and down due to money issues and having no insurance. Up/down meaning some days I had to take less than prescribed and some days I would have to not take any because I couldn’t afford more. The last two months I was switched to strips(8mg 3xdaily is what I was always on) and I didn’t like them as I was used to the tablets for so long. Every time I would dose, whether it was 1/2 tablet, 1 tablet, 2 tablets or 3 – and sometimes even 4 when being an idiot – I ALWAYS FELT THE "little buzz/light high". ALWAYS! After 1-2 hrs it would slowly decrease and then I would just feel great for the rest of the day. Even days when I would dose 2 or 3 or 4 times – I would always feel the high. But, more importantly, when it subsided, I would always feel "better" Its hard to explain but I hope you all know what I mean. You feel "normal" the whole day, except maybe when you wake up and you are about to dose for the first time that day. Even then its not bad compared to real w/d. Actually, forgetting the high after a dose, what happens after is you feel like 1% better than normal – but we relate it to "normal" because its been so long since we were normal lol.
Anyways, I went to a clinic at the end because my doc stopped suboxone treatment altogether and was on subs(3x 8mg a day) there for 6 months. WAS A WASTE!!! Depending on your clinic, you might only get 10-25% of your normal dose. The reason is my clinic would give me FIVE MINUTES to dissolve 2x 8mgs at once, and then 5 mins for the third 8mg strip. THATS IT. Soon as those 10 mins were up – you have to wash it down with water or swallow it all – dissolved fully or not. I couldn’t take this after a while as I wasn’t getting close to the amount I should be and asked to switch to methadone. So many people felt great on it I wanted to try it as I never had before and it could be what I needed to feel good again and work my way down. So I switched. They built me up from 30 -75 mgs and then 75mgs to 90mgs. This was over 4 months. I stayed at 90 for about 4 more months and once I started making money again and realizing the methadone only made me feel good for the first several hours of each day – I missed suboxone making me feel normal or 101% all day and I started working my way down over the last 4 months.
Once I reached 40mg – I stayed on it a week, then switched to 30mg for one day. 24hrs later I took my first subs (left over from previous script) After 4 days of pwd hell, the aches started to go away little by little as each day passed. Around day 8-10 I felt about 75% better and could feel the meds working. Now, I am at almost 3 1/3 weeks – day 24. I do not feel the light high, which is FINE BY ME. No probs here lol. But, I don’t feel good all day as I used to. I can live w ithout the little high, but I do want my meds to work as good as they can and they aren’t working 100% – yet. Oh, and I was taking tablets for the first 1 1/2 weeks and now Im taking the strips for the last two weeks(new doc and prescription – 3x 8mg strips for a total of 24mg daily) I am hoping and praying that as each day goes by it will get better and better until its doing all it can and then I can wrk on a taper. But until then the waiting is killing me. As for absorption, if I take 1 strip I let it dissolve for at least 30mins+ and 2 at a time I let dissolve for 1hr+ – just to make sure I hold it the saliva as long as possible. I was swallowing for the last few weeks and switched to spitting it out for the last few days – thinking that could help. It didn’t make a difference, so Im back to swallowing as of today.
I thought that since its been over a year since Ive had suboxone that I should feel even better than I did when I was taking subs after 3 years straight – at the very least. But I also know that taking methadone for a year did damage to my receptors in some way(or are still clinging to something in my head) and that could be why its taking so long to get the full goodness of suboxone. Again, Im not looking for the little high(though I wont complain if I do get it, however slight) but I am waiting to feel "good" again as one feels for the majority of the day when the "high/buzz" wears off or goes away.
HAS ANYONE EVER SWITCHED FROM METHADONE TO SUBOXONE AND IT TOOK WEEKS+ BEFORE THEY FELT AS GOOD AS POSSIBLE FROM THEIR MEDS?
HAS ANYONE HAD TO WAIT WEEKS TO FEEL BETTER/GOOD FROM SUBS – AFTER SWITCHING FROM OTHER MEDS?
ANYONE KNOW WHAT I CAN DO TO HELP THINGS ALONG?
ANYTHING I CAN DO TO HELP REMOVE ANY LEFTOVER METHADONE THATS MESSING THINGS UP?(if that’s whats happening)
I would GREATLY appreciate ANY advice or comments. I have a plan with my doc to be off subs in a year or less. And , I want to taper – ONCE I can maintain for a month or so. But I cant until I get the full effect of suboxone otherwise its wasted $$$. My cravings aren’t an issue and my aches(legs/arms/back/neck) are at 75%+ gone. Its just not improving or it is, but its so slight Im not noticing it much. I know I feel a bit better than last week, but its not much and its def not the medicine doing 100% of what it did before I switched to methadone.
I don’t mind waiting a few more days/weeks. If I knew it was going to get better and I would feel good again(not the high) – then it would be easier at least knowing that the "feeling better" is coming. Don’t get me wrong – compared to pwd or full blown withdrawal I feel wayyy better – but that doensnt mean the subs are working as well as they should be – yet.
I hope to talk with some of you soon and I thank all of you for reading this. Feel free to comment below as I am loving this site and always looking for new ex-addict friends to talk with. Thanks again! S!
-Mike