DOSE:	12 mg	sublingual	Pharms - Buprenorphine	(daily)
	3 mg	sublingual	Naloxone	(daily)

BODY WEIGHT:

180 lb

For the past three years, I have been heavily into painkillers. What started out as simple recreational use quickly escalated into a serious addiction. My drug of choice was hydrocodone (Norco 10/325). I started off innocently enough taking three per day, taking some days off, - three here, three there, etc etc...Quickly though I began taking 4 per day, 5, 6, 7 and on every day. I was eventually taking 15+ 10/325 norcos every day. That's 150+ mgs of hydrocodone every day, for years. Needless to say I developed quite a serious physical and psychological addiction. I had tried to stop once, and it was hell. I had all the classic withdrawal symptoms – nausea, diarrhea, sore joints, cold sweats, and on and on. I had never been so sick in my life, so I went right back to the pills.

Here’s where suboxone comes in. I had actually found out about it from those late night commercials, the ones advertising suboxone for opiate addiction. I thought that it was worth a shot, my health was definitely not the best and my finances were even more messed up. So, I made an appointment and went into the opiate treatment center at the VA (I’m a veteran) and met for my initial consultation. The doctors asked me a myriad of questions about my drug use and ultimately decided suboxone was the best route for me.

Here’s the shitty part, before I could take suboxone I had to force myself into withdrawal. (Side note: As some of you may or may not know, if you are NOT in withdrawal and you are addicted to opiates and you take suboxone, it will throw you into precipitated withdrawal. It’s basically withdrawal times 10,000. How it was described to me is that when you take suboxone, it wipes all the opioids off you opiate receptors (I think that’s the naloxone), therefore throwing you immediately into a state of intense withdrawal.) I was scared shitless about going into withdrawal but I just kept thinking it is for the best.

I’ll skip all the withdrawal shit, but I did force myself into it and met with the doctors the next day. I was told to dissolve one 8 mg suboxone under my tongue and wait in the waiting room for 35 minutes. About 20 minutes after the suboxone dissolved I had done a 180. I actually felt GOOD, although I was still showing a few signs of withdrawal. After another evaluation by the doctor, they gave me another 4 mg and told me to dissolve it under my tongue and come back in another 35 mins. After this last pill dissolved I felt GREAT. My withdrawal was COMPLETELY gone and I had absolute NO craving for hydrocodone.

It has been almost a week since my first dose of suboxone. I am taking 12 mg every morning and I feel great! For the first time in years I am hopeful about my future. I’m no longer spending thousands of dollars per month on painkillers, I’m able to concentrate on more important things in my life, my relationships are getting better, and my overall attitude towards life is better.

Suboxone has truly saved my life and made my quality of life so much better.

Exp Year: 2013	ExpID: 102120
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 29
Published: Jul 11, 2019	Views: 1,253
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Pharms - Buprenorphine (265) : First Times (2), Addiction & Habituation (10), Glowing Experiences (4), Medical Use (47), Not Applicable (38)