Thursday, January 24, 2008

Need to Increase Suboxone Dose

My daughter is taking 2mg of Suboxone per day. She takes 1mg in the morning and 1mg in the afternoon. We cut those tiny little pills in half. That dose has been fine but all of a sudden it's not working. Its very apparent to me now that if she hasn't taken her dose she is very upset. She is becoming more and more irritable and very quick to snap. In reading what some of you have posted, I think she might need her dose increased. I'm going to ask her Doctor if he will up her dose to 4mg per day and see if that helps her. She was started on 8mg twice a day in the beginning and she just couldn't take it. She would just sleep all the time. She hasn't used heroin since she started in December but she did admit to taking a zanax a couple of weeks ago because she believed she needed it. She said that it didn't really help so she won't take anymore. She said she'd rather just smoke. She's started smoking cigarettes...like constantly. What is that? Does suboxone make you smoke or is that something else? I'm confused... I wish she would go online and really talk about what she's feeling...it would really help her. Of course, now I feel guilty because she doesn't know that I'm on here writing about her...I've just never mentioned it.

14 comments:

erinsav said...

I don't think that you should feel guilty about sharing online about what you are going through.

You are doing it to help yourself which is healthier than keeping everything bottled up inside.

If you don't mind me asking...is your daughter in a recovery program of any kind? I'm a firm believer that Suboxone needs to be taken in conjunction with some sort of recovery program in order for it to be successful.

SuboxoneMom said...

Definately speak with her doctor first, of course. However, it may be that she needs to take the sub's in conjuction with an anti-depressant perhaps? Some others recovering with the aid of suboxone have been put on them during the course of their program.

As you may have realized already, blogging, talking and sharing your experiences DO help. Have you talked to your daughter about going online to NAABT.ORG? There are other online sites that hold "meeting" type sessions also. Or drugs.com has a forum for questions regarding addiction and suboxone.

And for you? To hell with guilt! YOUR sanity is much more important than your guilt! *wink*

(((Hugs to you)))

SubMom

kel said...

I am the mother of an 18 year old drug addict. I have been blogging about my experiences with that and everything else in my life since I first realized the enormity of his problem a few years back. My family and friends do not know about my blog and I prefer it that way. I need an outlet where I can be open and honest about my feelings without the fear of offending or upsetting someone close to me. There are so many wonderful supportive people in the blogsphere dealing with their own sobriety or the sobriety of someone they love. It has helped me tremendously reading about other peoples experiences and knowing I am not alone.

Best of luck and hugs to you.

~kel

tui said...

Hi there,

I have a drug addiction, like your daughter.

I have been on suboxone for the last month. I was on 2mgs but it was just not enough. My doctor just raised me to 4mgs. I feel much better.

On 2mgs I was cranky and anxious and smoked ciggys constantly to try to calm myself. There's a strange feeling of need that hangs over me, and it's hard to know how to satisfy it. Cigarettes help. It was interesting for me to hear you daughter is going through a similar thing.

Good luck, to both of you. Having you beside her will make her journey so much easier.

Mum's help immensely :)

t

Unknown said...

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http://addictionrecovery.net

SmFudXM= said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

2mgs is a very low dose. Not even close to a therapeutic level. Good on you for finding an outlet. But remember this: you can't save your daughter. She has to save herself, but I'm sure your support helps her. Suboxone alone will not keep her clean. She needs a network of clean people to stay clean just like she needed a network of users/dealers/enablers to stay high. Good luck and God Bless.

My Daughter's Addiction said...

Runarmy.
Afghanistan, I never really thought about it...but it makes perfect sense why everyone's coming home addicted to heroin...and it seems as though the supply has increased too. aarrrgh...

On sub for a year...I think seboxone is a miracle drug too. My daughter had to increase her dose for a while up to 8mg per day...she's since weaned herself off of it and is doing fine. Now she smokes tons of cigarettes.

Anonymous said...

Hi i have been off subetex for thirteen days now? i have been struggling to get off methadone for seven years, i then went to subetex which changed my life. i started on 8mg then up to 16mg, 20mg. then i slowly reduced off to 2mg then came off it. i felt lousy for the first four days, then i started to feel better. i have a great life now. keep strong you can do it. kylie

Anonymous said...

Hi i have been off subetex for thirteen days now? i have been struggling to get off methadone for seven years, i then went to subetex which changed my life. i started on 8mg then up to 16mg, 20mg. then i slowly reduced off to 2mg then came off it. i felt lousy for the first four days, then i started to feel better. i have a great life now. keep strong you can do it. kylie

Star said...

I'm on 2-3 mg of Sub per day. I'm smoking a lot too, mainly because I feel like I want to die. But I did manage to quit smoking for three years while I was on Suboxone. Come to think of it though, I started smoking again soon after I decreased my dosage. I'm going to ask my doc today to increase it. Thanks for posting this.

socialist said...

marijuana. seriously have her smoke a gram right before she takes sub. this will relax her. im on sub and have 3 friends also that are on sub the weed works for us all. at first they were skeptical as they should be, but weed cancels out the effects of sub just about as much as cigs do. meaning it doesn't. it allows the body to calm down a little while the sub takes effect. she will feel great. you dont have to get stoned just the equivalent to do what a glass of red wine at night does for the mother of 3 or the 2 cigs on break for the hard working manager.

socialist said...

marijuana. seriously have her smoke a gram right before she takes sub. this will relax her. im on sub and have 3 friends also that are on sub the weed works for us all. at first they were skeptical as they should be, but weed cancels out the effects of sub just about as much as cigs do. meaning it doesn't. it allows the body to calm down a little while the sub takes effect. she will feel great. you dont have to get stoned just the equivalent to do what a glass of red wine at night does for the mother of 3 or the 2 cigs on break for the hard working manager.

Anonymous said...

I have been struggling for years with coming of hydros and morphine it is sad because I suffered from server endrometrious.so my drs just kept putting me on different pain meds instead of giving me a hystorectomy so for 9 yrs I was on pain meds.and of course I would Miss use them:-( when I told my dr that I found my self becoming addicted they just stopped with the meds and I suffered from serious withdrawal issues then some one told me about suboxone I had a very hard time finding a dr who could help me but once I did it saved my life if taking it has prescribed it is a miracle drug.