Suboxone: the methadone of the decade
http://www.clinicaladvisor.com/your-comments/suboxone-the-methadone-of-the-decade/article/506524/
I work with many patients in family practice and mental health, but I also have many patients, as well as family and friends, who are in recovery from addiction. Suboxone is not the answer [Advisor Forum, May 2016]. Suboxone has become a crutch for many. What was supposed to be short-term relief to help opiate addicts withdraw from opiates has become a growing epidemic in and of itself. Many tell me that they have been on this drug for 3, 4, and even 8 years. They also tell me that this medication is harder to quit than the opiates it was supposed to help them stop using in the first place. Suboxone has become the methadone of this decade. I saw a 44-year-old patient yesterday who has been on methadone for 12 years because he had back surgery. We are always looking for a quick fix, and it just does not work. Suboxone can be injected, despite what we are told by pharmaceutical companies. There is no easy answer, but this is not it. It is trading one drug for another. It seems physicians at times have become legal drug dealers (this is opinion, not fact), charging $200 each visit to these patients because insurance does not cover their visits. I do not know what the answer is, but this certainly is not it.
Filed under: General Problems
Tracy, If Bup and Suboxone are so hard to come off of, (and I’ve read similar) than how are addicts able to take themselves off of it for a couple days in order to do other drugs? What am I missing here? Thanks!
One more thing – according to the addicts on the reddit sub, buprenorphine (and meds with bup, which includes Suboxone) is worse than any other opioid (including heroin) to withdraw from. The withdrawal, even when slowly tapered, can be pure hell from what they say.
I don’t have a problem with recovering addicts taking Bup or medications with bup (though I believe those in true recovery should also have counseling or therapy to figure out why they’re self-medicating – undiagnosed mental illness, traumatic event(s), etc). My main problem is within the hypocrisy of the entire situation where it’s “acceptable” to treat recovering addicts with a prescription opioid while “unacceptable” to treat those with legitimate physical pain (acute, post-op, chronic) with the same class of medication (opioids).
I will also add that there are some Suboxone patients who will still use. They’ll take themselves off Suboxone for a day or two so that they can “score” and use. Since Suboxone contains Naloxone (which blocks or reverses the effects of opioids), they have to wait until the Naloxone is completely out of their system. They’ll use for a few days, then put themselves back on Suboxone. When it’s time for their monthly appt., their system will be “clean,” showing only Bup in their system on their drug tests.I read so many of these posts on the reddit sub. (And, yes, there is also quite a bit of Sub on the streets).
Yes I have to agree the doctor payment is ridiculous. How can a doctor be enrolled in an insurance and not take the insurance for the suboxone visit? Things that make you go hmm mm
Yes suboxone can be injected. It is a great pain reliever and can be injected for pain control. I know many people who saw this narcotic situation coming as they had before. They didn’t want to chase doctors or buy off streets so they got on the suboxone when they saw it coming and at that time so easy to get. They all did very well and only 2 of 6 remain on it after a year and a half and that’s for pain. Suboxone taken in very low doses works well for pain.
Sub2has been used for years in Europe