How has bupe affected your life?

[Scagermeister]

For me I'd say its been a definite positive. The relief I felt after that first dose and finally kicking oxy's and dones was priceless. I hadn't felt that good in years.

However I was on a massive dose of 16 mgs/ day. After a while I started to feel this constant, panic/anxiety/impending sense of doom. I took myself down to 4 mgs a day, now anywhere between 2 and 4 and the anxiety went away [maybe it was the naloxone too]. Anyhow, I felt a lot better at the lower doses. I even started to catch a buzz from pot again. I think at higher doses of sub block the pleasurable body buzz effects from MJ :(

Sometimes I take the bupe for granted though. I forgot to take it before work one day, and about 3 hours into my shift I started yawning, got bodyaches, runny nose, etc. Soon thereafter I was on the phone with my GF asking her to bring them to work. I don't know how some people only dose every other day on this stuff, I sure as hell couldnt. I do have fast metabolism though. Days like that really make me appreciate this stuff.

Overall, It has improved every aspect of my life. I've become more outgoing, made more friends cuz I'm not a crabby asshole all the time like I used to be, put a lot more effort into my relationship, fatherhood, my band, work,etc.

Its been about 7 or 8 years since I've been completly clean and sober, but if I'd have to guess I'd say I feel as good if not better than I did back then. On a mood scale of 1 being a miserable, depressed sonuvabitch and 10 being hyperactive, happy go lucky fool I'd say I'm consistently around a 7, give or take cuz life still has its ups and downs.

Sub will not make your life better, but it is a tool to help facilate the lifestyle changes that will.

To anyone still on the fence about getting on this stuff, seriously think about doing it.

Peace

[Poppylvr]

Scagermeister - I agree that bupe has positively affected my life. I got my long time shrink to prescribe it after telling him that my cravings had gotten outta control and I was misusing a lortab prescription. Not exactly the truth.....yes, I was not taking the pills as prescribed, but I had read lots about Sub working to relieve depression & I wanted to try it.
It is the first thing that has worked right from the start to lift my mood. I am doing stuff I put off before b/c I was depressed - like bills & housecleaning. Glamorous, I know, but shit that has to be done & I wasn't.
I know that my years of opiate use have given me way more opiate receptors than I need, and that I had created a chronic opiate deprivation since I got clean & sober 8 years ago. I was taking prozac for the last 20 years and when it quit this summer my opiate starved receptors started screaming at me, 'cause they & I know I only feel normal when those receptors are pplugged with somthing good. Side note, years ago when I was trying to stay clean, I used Trexan (ReVia) Naltrexone. I never felt good on it - I always felt slightly yucky, but it did put a space between when I stole drugs & when I could use them.
Anyway, Thank God for Sub. I was on that slippery slope towards totally fucking up my good life again, and Sub has stopped that. Doc has said he has some patients who have been on it for 2 years now, & he doesn't want to rock my boat since 2mg a day (yes, that's all!) is working. He'll keep me on it for as long as I need it. Hopefully it will be FDA released for treatment of depression while I'm on it.
Peace backatcha.

[doc_duke]

Hello everyone,

I am new here and very glad to have been accepted as a part of this wonderful community. This is my first forum because up until scag's message I didn't really have a comprehensive reply ready to type out.....that, and i am mildly lazy. ANYHOW, I was wondering about that sensation of anxiety/doom/panic feeling. I used to take a lot of LSD and mushrooms and have felt that from time to time, on or off the stuff. But NEVER from an opiate or opioid related substance, until I started bupe. After attending a methadone clinic for the better part of a year in Seattle, WA, I moved back to my home state of Michigan and have been on bupe ever since. (since last june so almost a year) Although it HAS been a complete MIRACLE drug for me and a close friend, this is my second round with bupe, now that I can afford it again. I was on it about 2 1/2 years ago for a total of 6 months, only to move out to Seattle and make the mistake of getting on liquid methadone, only then to get back on bupe. That being said, I really never felt anything CLOSE to some of the massive panic attacks I have had since getting back on it. I agree, however, that they really havent happened hardly at all since I went from the initial 12 mg's down to the current 4 mg's Im on now. I just wanted to give a little of my own personal background before asking why this occurs (if anyone out there knows) and if this is common for most people on bupe. Hope someone can dig up some info for me.....peace out!

[allover]

I've been on subs for about a month now. It's amazing how well the stuff really works. I find myself having no cravings for opiates at all, which is a really really weird feeling for me. Normally I just can't stop thinking about them. I was into some heavy stuff to, heroin and oxy. I don't feel sick at all anymore. I have so much more energy to get stuff done. I have so much more money now too since I'm not spending it all on dope. Things are starting to turn around in my life now, and I really have to give a fair amount of credit to the bupe.

[Suboxstitute]

Overall bupe (since Aug 07) has affected my life positively I'm not out chasing illicit pills, etc. I feel more clear headed and my relationship with my family is improved. And I am saving money. Not true for everyone, but for me it is since the sub is covered, the other stuff I was getting was not scripted and so it was NOT covered.

The only thing I would say is a big negative is that now I have some health problems: things as simple as a complex oral surgery are harder being on bupe - the IV sedation doesn't work right (they use fent as part of the cocktail) and post-op meds may not work right.

Something as simple as having a colonoscopy (I am of the age where I need one) is a hassle - again, the IV sedation uses narcotics that the bupe may knock right off, and I could wake up while they have a big-ass camera and some tube up my ass . . . FUN STUFF.

So the negative is planning for this stuff. Taking a week off bupe pre-op, and worrying about what I'll use in the meantime (my sub doc could taper me off bupe with clonadine. That isn't the greatest from what I hear).

Rather go back on opiates for a good week before SURGERY and then remain on opiates for a short time after (if needed) and then re-induce on the sub. I am committed to doing that, question is getting the doctors to cooperate. But once I get oxy or even hydro in my system again, I could be off to the races with my receptors lit up like a Christmas tree. Will take discipline and my husband holding my pills WHICH I HATE WITH A PASSION.

And then the stigma; yes it is there. IT MAY CHANGE IN THE FUTURE AS MORE PEOPLE ADMIT TO AND SEEK TREATMENT FOR OPIATE DEPENDENCE.

Another downside. The sub is so expensive that if you have good insurance like I do, then you want to use it. But will I ever be insurable again if my husband loses his job and I need to get my own insurance? (Yes, if a group plan - no if I remain self employed as I am now and need to apply for individual coverage - I'll be turned down, that's a fact).

That is where some form of "guaranteed issue" (no underwriting) national health care - even if not mandatory -would be a godsend to someone like me.

So those are my thoughts. They mostly have to do with my age (the north side of 40 for sure).

[Scagermeister]

[quote=doc_duke;240577]Hello everyone,

ANYHOW, I was wondering about that sensation of anxiety/doom/panic feeling. I used to take a lot of LSD and mushrooms and have felt that from time to time, on or off the stuff. But NEVER from an opiate or opioid related substance, until I started bupe. quote]

Yeah I used to do a lot of tripping as well :D I actually had some good experiences with the shroom while on bupe. They say opiates diminish the effects of LSD and Psilocibin. Apparently bupe doesn't affect it much on lower doses.

One guess about the anxiety is that it could be the naloxone. Any doctor will tell you that none of the nalox is absorbed when taken sublingually. However, lots of people swear up and down that it is. People have even switched to Subutex [Sub w/ out Naloxone] for that reason.

I never swallow any of the saliva/sub and always rinse my mouth thouroughly after the pills have dissolved to rinse out any residual naloxone.

I've also heard doses over 4 mgs tend to be counterproductive and can actually cause dysphoria and sedation.

Thanks for the replys everyone, its good to see other people have had good things
happen to them while on bupe.:D

[limitless_euphoria]

He it works great for kicking if utilized properly, IMO. I'd take it over clonidine any day of the week. If administered in a timely fashion (depending on your body's opiate metabolic activity) you should do okay. I'm glad at least about the Drug Abuse Treatment Act of 2000. It's a great alternative than going to a clinic.

Just for experimental purposes recently SWIM plugged an 8 mg subutex. Wow is that a more efficient way to absorb it considering SWIM don't feel like blowing any more pills (SWIM's nose is shot, dude) and plugging seems to allow for more bioavailability versus sublingual administration. :) Just a happy thought for today.

So boys and girls, I say, if you don't want to waste your bupe—plug it. Well, that is if you enjoy that sort of thing. Hey, I like certain chemicals; I like how they work. If going PR vs. PO is better, fuggit, I wouldn't care what people think of me. I would want the best bang for the $ ya know?

[Saint]

Maybe I'm an exception here but bupe didn't work at all for me. I switched to bupe after having been on methadone for 24 years - I know, that's a little long - and I felt horrible on the stuff for weeks on end.
I made a thread about the switch at the time (http://forum.opiophile.org/showthread.php?t=10633).
It is possible that a forged switch from subuTEX to subuXONE was to blame for my failure but I'm not sure about this...
I know of some more people who aren't pleased with bupe. But if it works for you: so much the better. I'm sure it's a good tool to get your life in control again, especially for relatively short-time users. It's just not for everyone.

[limitless_euphoria]

Maybe I'm an exception here but bupe didn't work at all for me. I switched to bupe after having been on methadone for 24 years - I know, that's a little long - and I felt horrible on the stuff for weeks on end.
I made a thread about the switch at the time (http://forum.opiophile.org/showthread.php?t=10633).
It is possible that a forged switch from subuTEX to subuXONE was to blame for my failure but I'm not sure about this...
I know of some more people who aren't pleased with bupe. But if it works for you: so much the better. I'm sure it's a good tool to get your life in control again, especially for relatively short-time users. It's just not for everyone.

Hypothetically, I'd take methadone over bupe I wouldn't even need PM. Bupe is a lot easier to get your hands on bupe though (legit and diverted). I'd just get a high enough dosage so I'd feel no pain. That's all I want out of life. My fucking knees are shot, I have DDD, I have other misc. probs too and I'm no old man or anything.

And as far as killing jones, the physical part, okay, it's nice to feel well. But a shot still sounds fucking dandy.

[Suboxstitute]

Just for experimental purposes recently SWIM plugged an 8 mg subutex.


LE- that intrigues me (not the thought of SWIM plugging something, just the idea of it for another SWIM).

This particular SWIM has no problem with putting something up there that needs (or wants) to be up there. Just curious if SWIM (or, more properly, SMIY) did the 8mg as a one-time thing, or if SMIY is on a regular dose or maintenace. Is 8mg a pretty high dose for SWIM or pretty much the norm? Just wanting to know how much better it worked vs. normal ROA.

Does your SWIM have much of a tolerance built up to bupe?

Thanks, hope you are reading, maybe I will shoot you a PM as well.

[rizzo]

if it wasent for suboxone,i would most definitly be dead,so i love the stuff.