DOSE:		IV	Pharms - Buprenorphine
		IV	Naloxone

BODY WEIGHT:

165 lb

I am a Suboxone addict. I inject the drug two to four times daily in doses ranging from 2-8mg depending on the status of my tolerance; however at my worst I injected a once daily 24mg dose in three 1ml injections. I have always gotten the drug from a licensed physician in both the states of Connecticut and California. Most physicians will charge exhorbitant 'intake' fees, sometimes in excess of $1000, in addition to a 'Maintenance fee' of $200-$500 simply for writing the prescription; these profiteering doctors also do not accept insurance for 'suboxone patients' which almost always violates laws and the doctors' legal contracts with insurance providers. To put it bluntly Suboxone is being mis-used across America and I am one of its victims.

Late in 2010 I chose to quit my IV heroin habit cold turkey. A few days into my withdrawals a family member took mercy on me and dragged me to see a 'suboxone provider' at a methadone clinic. I was quickly diagnosed with 'severe withdrawals' and sent to the pharmacy at the local hospital to pick up my first dose, which had to be administered by the doctor. The nasty little thing took 25 minutes to dissolve but shortly after it did my world came rushing back to me and I actually stopped and realized the extent of my addiction. I had been writing off the vomiting and withdrawal symptoms as a flu or some other ailment I had failed to notice come on during my blissful binge. Eventually I thought it was a miracle, made even more divine a few weeks later when I figured out I could easily continue using heroin! I was able to use heroin at a doubled dose just 8 hours after dosing with Suboxone, and the switch back simply meant waking up sick the morning after I ran out of dope. I thought it was great....until I found myself injecting heroin by the bundle-full and spending upwards of $400 just to get high twice. It wasn't long after I started injecting full gram doses that I came across startlingly pure heroin and overdosed. It was at this point that I made the fatal decision to attempt injecting my suboxone to increase its ability to subdue cravings.

It's two years later now and I'm quite literally trapped. Although the process is slowed down quite a bit Suboxone still creates a tolerance, which I've been able to manage with periodic heroin binges, but the cycle is wearing on me. Because I get an ample supply of Suboxone from a doctor this addiction has had little impact on my life outside of the havoc it's brought on my veins.

In all honesty my experience with Suboxone is over all a very mixed one. Because I was able to get the drug via prescription and always had a more than ample supply I was able to get my life on track and headed in the direction I wanted. In a way, Suboxone helped me save my life, but there were a lot of other contributing factors. I'm still not over heroin. I dream of it every day. I'm still opioid dependant and track marked. But I never experience the sickness, and my habit is supplied in whole by a $30/mo prescription. Taking into account the various medical supplies I utilize to reduce the harm I do to myself and I'm still spending less than $100/mo on my habit. So I'm in a much better place now than in the height of my habit, but it'd be better if I had a chance of quitting Suboxone....

Exp Year: 2011	ExpID: 96277
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 23
Published: Jan 18, 2017	Views: 2,879
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Pharms - Buprenorphine (265), Heroin (27) : Retrospective / Summary (11), Addiction & Habituation (10), Not Applicable (38)