Methadone Rehabilitation

Question by : Subuxone Only for Addiction Recovery or Also True Pain Management?
I am recently sober from pain meds, the last 6 months. I also have monthly migraines, and rheumatoid arthritis that especially the last month has kept me at a level 8-9 pain.

I have heard of people being on Methadone for long term pain managemenet, especially former addicts, But I also hear it is still a narcotic and can be just as bad as if i stayed on my percocets.

Subuxone – now many people swear that this is the best tool to get off opiotes with, and that it curbs thouight cravings, physical cravings and it helps with physical pain from withdrawls.

Well I am past physical withdrawls…. but I have chronic pain all the time.

My friend told me last week, she is 5 years sober, and has RA, and she is on Subuxone for pain management for her chronis pain – and for cravings….. she says it helps immensly. It doesn’t take it away, but it “curbs” all of it so much. She can function.

She has energy, she never thinks about using, she has no “high feeling” from the subuxone….

any other opionions or any other stories of success or failure with subuxone? I want the good with the bad….

Best wishes

Best answer:

Answer by mother of two
Suboxone is a great tool to getting off opiates and is also sometimes used for pain management – but it is just as addictive as heroin, percocet or any of those…. I was an opiate addict and a friend of mine started Suboxone so I went to see a doctor, and now I am STILL ON Suboxone. It’s been since June 2006 and I can’t get off because of the withdrawals.

I honestly wouldn’t recommend Suboxone for pain management, as a personal experienced. There are other NON-opiate medications available for pain management.

Not unless you want to go through the withdrawals and all that again!

EDIT:

http://suboxone.com/pdfs/SuboxonePI.pdf

Check out this- no where does it say “use for pain management” and that’s from Suboxone’s own website…

EDIT:

Under that link I posted, I just read this:

5.10 Use in Opioid Naïve Patients
There have been reported deaths of opioid naive individuals who received a 2 mg dose of
buprenorphine as a sublingual tablet for analgesia. SUBOXONE sublingual film is not
appropriate as an analgesic

(An analgesic is, of course, a “pain killer”) So I think the answer is no!

Good luck to you!

Answer by Jen
Hello – I also have RA, fibromyalgia, and I am a recovering addict (addicted to opiates and benzos). I was on suboxone for approx a year and it did control some of my pain as well as my cravings. I also took methadone for pain management but at the same time I was taking clonazepam and I became suicidal and had to be hospitalized. I don’t recommend either of them for long term. It feels like it took an incredibly long time but my pain tolerance did return back to normal, and I realized that my feelings of urgency in treating my pain were STRONGLY driven by my addictions. Today I still have pain, as I always expect I will, but I am coping with ibuprofen and gabapentin.
My body does feel so much better without any type of substance.
Hang in there and believe that the chemistry in your brain will change for the better and keep trying alternative pain management.

Pain Management
Locally, Morris, who also supervises the methadone clinic at the substance abuse treatment center Janus, says most people coming in for treatment are heroin addicts going through withdrawals, but lately an increasing number of clients are struggling …
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