Prescription Drug Abuse Support Group

You are addicted to opiates. Suboxone is an opiate but I never heard of getting high on it unless you are snorting it. Where you are addicted to it, I don't think you will find a dr to prescribe it, unless you don't tell him.

Usually you can't get suboxone unless you are getting some type of addiction help like drug counseling, or an iop.

There are drugs available to help with depression and anger. You don't really need the suboxone!

Good Luck!

This is an interesting article about Suboxone and how it's SUPPOSED to work. I don't think that the FDA knew when they approved it that people would get addicted to it! I take naltrexone. I have no cravings for opiates or alcohol at all when I take it. It has even made my cravings for sugar go away--so I lose weight on it. (I'm sure that's an unintentional side-effect!)

Suboxone is the first opioid medication approved for the treatment of opioid dependence in an office-based setting. Suboxone also can be dispensed for take-home use, just as any other medicine for other medical conditions.

The primary active ingredient in Suboxone is buprenorphine. Initially developed to treat pain, buprenorphine was adapted for use in treating opioid dependence in cooperation with the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) and was approved by the FDA in October 2002.

Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist, meaning its opioid effects partially mimic those produced by full opioid agonists, such as oxycodone or heroin, and partially mimic those produced by opioid antagonists, such as naltrexone. Two formulations were approved: Suboxone and Subutex.

* The first, Suboxone, contains buprenorphine and naloxone, an opioid antagonist to discourage people from dissolving the tablet and injecting it. Consequently, most practitioners only prescribe Suboxone to their narcotic addicts, as it has even less potential for diversion or misuse.
* Subutex is rarely prescribed in clinical practice, the discussion here will be limited to Suboxone.

Suboxone is used to reduce illegal opioid use and to help clients stay in treatment by blocking the effects of opioids, decreasing cravings, and suppressing any major symptoms of withdrawal. Most narcotic addicts seem to benefit from Suboxone regardless of their histories of opiate addiction.

Suboxone is very safe, effective and is a revolutionary step in the treatment of narcotic addiction. It can be easily used in both the withdrawal stabilization (detoxification) and maintenance phases of opiate addiction treatment. Also, because of its ease of use and excellent safety profile, its adoption by the growing number of primary care physicians who are screening for and recognizing narcotic addiction in their client populations should make a very positive impact in the treatment success for narcotic addicts.

Suboxone has several advantages over other opiate addictions treatments both for withdrawal stabilization (detox) and its long-term maintenance uses. A great number of advantages to this anti-addiction medication are created because of its chemical structure. (see Treatment Issues with Opiate Addiction section for more information on the different types of receptor structures).

With these receptor functions (full agonist, antagonist and partial agonist) in mind, one can understand that methadone, which is a full agonist, would bind to the opiate receptor and produce the full response that would help you reduce your cravings, but it also might give you a high. When Suboxone ( a partial agonist) binds to the receptor, it completely satisfies the receptor that there is an opiate there, but it doesn’t produce any high or euphoria. Consequently, it’s addictive potential is extremely low. Again, the receptor is activated with Suboxone, which significantly reduces the cravings for opiates, which then, in turn, significantly prevents the chances of a relapse, but it also acts as a receptor antagonist, so normal agonists are not able to elicit the normal response. So, if you are taking Suboxone and then you try to “shoot up” heroin to get a high, Suboxone blocks the heroin from causing a high because the heroin can’t get to a receptor. Consequently, you don’t get a high, which is a very disconcerting feeling for the opiate addict who has just spent a great deal of money on a addictive drug that gave him or her no effect.

Because of the chemistry involved at its brain the receptor, Suboxone has several inherent safety mechanisms:

* First, it is very safe in overdose because of the way it interacts with the receptor. If you try to take too much of Suboxone, it actually becomes a full antagonist and “punishes you” by putting you into withdrawal. This is quite the opposite of most agonists, such as heroin or Lortab, where the more you take, the more “high” you get. Yet eventually, not only do you get a high, you also shut down your breathing and you die inadvertently from not being able to breathe. So, if you do take an overdose of Suboxone, you will put yourself into withdrawal and your breathing will become extremely hyperactive rather than shut down, so you won’t die. You will be very uncomfortable, but you won’t die.
* Because of the way Suboxone interacts with the receptor—there is a very long duration of interaction— meaning you can easily take it once a day or sometimes every other day and still achieve a certain “normal” feeling, an effective dose, where you do not have cravings for the drug. Also, if you forget a dose on a particular day, you will not go into a full opiate withdrawal, so you can wait until the next day when you can get your medication.
* Because Suboxone binds so tightly to the receptor, as mentioned above, if you try to “shoot up” a narcotic or take narcotics to get a “high” during a “weak” moment, you won’t feel any of those effects and consequently, you will be less likely to have a relapse in the future when your are on Suboxone.
* Finally, not only is buprenorphine safe, inherently on its own, the medication Suboxone is actually a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone. Naloxone is an opiate antagonist like naltrexone, but it is a very short-acting one that only works if you inject it intravenously in your veins. Consequently, the naloxone, when taken by mouth with the buprenorphine in the Suboxone tablet, does not cause any withdrawal symptoms or even cause any uncomfortable feelings for the client.

So not only is this combination tablet a deterrent for the people on the anti-addiction medication, it is also a deterrent for people trying to steal the medication and use it on the street. Because the naloxone is part of the Suboxone tablet, the street value of Suboxone is very low; consequently, it is much less likely to be stolen from you. This is not the case with methadone or other standard agonist narcotics, such as Lortab or Oxycontin.

The combination of these four main attributes of Suboxone, plus many others, makes it an ideal and even a revolutionary anti-addiction medication which has come to the aid of clients with opiate addiction.

Guidelines for the use of Suboxone in Opiate Addiction

In regards to Suboxone dosing, it is very important that Suboxone is started for the first time when the opiate addict is in withdrawal or detox. If you try to start an opiate addict on Suboxone while he or she is still comfortable, because they have opiate in their system and are not in withdrawal, the Suboxone will act like an antagonist and will put them into chemical withdrawal immediately. However, if you ask the opiate addict to wait for several hours or for the appropriate time period until the withdrawal begins, once they are in mild to moderate withdrawal, when they begin Suboxone, it acts as an agonist at the receptors and they calm down and feel much more comfortable.

Usually the first 2-3 days of being on Suboxone and adjusting it to the proper dose for that particular client is the “rockiest time” for clients. Once the client is on a stable dose of Suboxone, they are very comfortable, they have no cravings, they have no desire to use, and they actually feel quire “normal”. It is a very positive feeling for the patient to feel “normal” and not feel desire for narcotics. These feelings allow the addiction patient to participate very positively in an outpatient addiction treatment program and/or 12-step program. This way they can finally learn the coping skills that they need in to maintain a sober lifestyle going forward.

Once the opiate addiction patient stabilizes on Suboxone, it is up to the client and the physician as to how long the patient needs to be on the Suboxone. It is generally accepted that most addicts will need to be on it for approximately 9 months to 1 year, as a starting point, in order to allow their system to get stabilized, and then taper off slowly. Many patients—40% to 50%--would be able to remain sober without Suboxone long-term.

Naltrexone

Once you are off Suboxone, however, being on naltrexone for at least another year to 2 years is a further deterrent to relapse. (note; Vivitrol is not FDA approved for treating opiate addiction, only alcohol addiction, however oral naltrexone is approved to treat opiate addiction by the FDA.). Consequently, once the recovering addict is off of Suboxone for approximately 2 weeks, one highly recommended option is for clients to then get on Vivitrol (time-released naltrexone). Prior to the advent of Vivitrol, oral naltrexone was frequently prescribed for clients when they stopped methadone or other narcotics, because once they are taking naltrexone, if they try to use an opiate, they won’t feel any high or euphoria. Consequently, there is a much less likely chance that they will try an opiate during a “weak” moment in their addiction recovery process, say during a time of high stress, because they know that the opiate will not help them deal with the particular stress, if it does not provide any high or euphoria.

However, in addition to Vivitrol, oral naltrexone has also been successfully used to treat narcotic addiction. Once-daily ingestion of a 50 mg tablet will almost completely block any narcotic at the receptor site that a narcotic addict will attempt to use.

Consequently, naltrexone prevents any euphoria or other benefit that an addict may hope to achieve through a relapse. Because daily administration is required, it is best to have an addict take naltrexone under direct observation to enhance their compliance. Naltrexone is not successful in all narcotic addicts, yet there is strong data that is significantly enhances a sobriety program when used with impaired professionals who are motivated to stay sober (physicians).

My husbands "legal pill pusher" give his friend vicodan and suboxone. So what is the deal with that?

This is a question for Bob to answer!

I would think that the Suboxone would cancel out the effects of the Vicodin completely and he would get thrown into immediate withdrawals. Is he feeling sick? I think it's a dangerous combo. That's why doctors wait until a person has the opiate out of their system before they prescribe Suboxone.

The suboxone and the vicodin will compete for recepters in the brain and the suboxone will render the vicodin useless. If you take more of either one, or both, then the recepters can handle then YES! You will go into immediate withdrawals!

So yes! It's never a good idea to mix the two together.

The reason that Suboxone has some street value is that if an opiate user runs out of their source, like we all have, the suboxone will prevent withdrawls until they can get more of their drug...perhaps that is why he got both. Also, I know that some people do get a buzz or slight high off of suboxone. I've been on 16mg per day for over 4 months and don't feel any kind of high. Just takes cravings away and avoid withdrawls, thank god for that!

zengal

I know how you feel because I am going to the dr on wed to be put on this drug... but the thing about it is...its no better than being put on a pain medication. its still being hooked to something that you can't get off of. Me personally... I'm scared to do with pain medication but there has to come a point in time where you have to do it.

Don't be scared.... For those who take it as prescribed and don't abuse it, it can absolutely be a miracle.