Posted by shelliR on February 28, 2002, at 9:38:59
In reply to Re: Addiction » shelliR, posted by Elizabeth on February 26, 2002, at 23:45:58
May I ask what the withdrawal symptoms were for you? Buprenorphine doesn't really cause any bad w/d symptoms besides rebound depression (which seems to be a general withdrawal symptom with ADs, for me anyway).When my ass**** doctor took me off over 100mg of methodone at once and the cube of buprenorphine did not work for me at all (don't know the dose), I was literally screaming in pain on the floor. I have never screamed in pain before, and now it's hard to remember exactly what the pain felt like, just that it was horrible. I remember feeling that I couldn't breathe. And my doctor never responded at all until apparently the staff must have talked to him because he told them to let me out. Once I got through that pain, for the next few days I felt horribly nauseated, as well as depressed. The nausea finally went away, but not the depression. The second time I detoxed from methodone, it was done slowly and I was not in pain, etc. Just horribly depressed.
I have notes from early September that I asked him to try bupe because I was very worried that I had already tripled my dose of oxycontin since July. He refused, telling me I would adjust to the oxycontin and not need to go up. Then after I had doubled my dose two more times, he finally put me on methodone and I had all sorts of bad reactions to the switch. I wish I could sue the bastard, but I think it would be too complicated since I was taking vicodin before he put me on the oxycontin, and especially complicated because I had gotten it off the internet. But I had never taken more than 7.5 a day of vicodin, and here I was up to 260mg of oxycontin.
> So now you're on Vicodin again? Are you taking it regularly, or as-needed?Just as needed until the temgesic arrived. I only had a limited supply and also I wanted to give the bupe a chance before I became further habituated to hydrocodone.
> > I have ordered temgesic (sublingual bupe) from the internet and do feel a bit safer taking that because it cannot (so I read) make you high.
>
> Depends how you define high. Personally, *I've* never been high on it. But then, I've never been high on any of 'em. What I've heard from people who have more experience with opioids than I do is that buprenorphine is qualitatively different -- full agonists can make you feel euphoric, bupe just makes you feel content. I think it will still be fine for depression.Well judging from my first day and a half on the buprenorphine, it certainly can make me high. (Also I remember Zo reporting the same thing from her trial.) It actually feels like any other opiate to me which I didn't anticipate. Opiates give me a certain type of high until I adjust to the dose. Sort of make me speedy and a little floaty at the same time, yet don't impair my thinking or motor skills. Different than just content, though.
I didn't think that the bupe had much of a chance of working for me because of my history with oxycontin and probable change of brain chemistry. I started with 0.6mg twice a day--today I will cut it to 0.4mg x 2 to see what that does. (I started on a high dose just to make sure I gave it the best chance to work.)
> > Also, there is no guarantee that habituation will not occur. Maybe less likely than with full opiates, but not out of the question.
>
> I haven't had the problem, and I hope that you
>> won't, either.I thought you had upped your dose at one point?
Actually I am hoping that the lamictal will kick in for me in a couple of weeks and I might not need to take the bupe on a regular basis.
> > Also, I spoke to several of the researchers at McLean re that version of bupe, and neither thought is was less stable than the injectable bupe.
>
> Less "stable?"I thought you had used that word when referring to subligual bupe. Maybe you said less reliable; I know that you felt that the sublingual was not as effective as the injectable from earlier posts that I reviewed about bupe. But now there is so much more info available because of the detox and maintenance studies.
> > What else are you taking with the bupe?
>
> So far it's
> Effexor XR 150 mg bid
> Buprenex 0.3 mg tid
> Trileptal 600 mg bid
> Ambien 20 mg qhs
> Colace 300 mg qd
> Xanax 1-2 mg prn
> promethazine 25 mg prn
> propranolol 20 mg prn
> bethanechol 25-50 mg prn
>
> Should be enough, shouldn't it?Whatever works. Have you ever tried a higher dose of bupe to see if it could carry more of the anti-depressant load, or are you purposely staying at a low dose because of possible side effects, etc.?
>
Shellip.s. I truely have you to thank for the lift in my depression. I have been reading your posts about bupe for almost two years now. I don't know if I would have even heard of it, or thought to try it, without your reported success and information about it. So a very deep thanks.
poster:shelliR
thread:93100
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020222/msgs/95818.html