Posted by mtdewcmu on April 2, 2011, at 16:20:29
In reply to Opiates and tolerance--could suboxone be worse?, posted by psychobot5000 on April 2, 2011, at 15:30:35
> Question: is it possible buprenorphine/suboxone is MORE likely to produce tolerance and a negative rebound in mood than other opiates?
>
> The reason I ask is that it clearly does, for me, while I have never observed this effect with other opioid medications. Suboxone, which I understand has a roughly thirty hour half-life, typically improves my mood for the first part (say, six or eight hours) of the first day, before leveling off. By the second day after a single dose of .5mg (particularly the second half of the second day), when the blood levels are presumably dropping, my mood is lower than it would otherwise be. Third day can be bad, too, but by the fourth things are more or less back to normal. Moral of the story: for me, taking suboxone comes back to bite me in the face.
>
> However, I've never noticed such an opioid-induced depression when taking, say, regular pain pills. Is it possible the very high-occupancy of receptors of suboxone makes its rebound effects on mood MORE pronounced than traditional opioids? Seems counterintuitive, but I thought I'd ask. I'd like to know whether it's a safe bet that I should stay away from regular opioids--which would be too bad. Sometimes they seem helpful for mood and cognition, without any observed negative effects on mood, though I've only ever used them sparingly and in limited quantities.
>
> Thanks,
> PsychbotMost pills have a half-life of about 4 hours. The longer you're on opioids, the worse the eventual withdrawal will be. There are a number of variables in play, but the simplest explanation is that buprenorphine just lasts longer.
poster:mtdewcmu
thread:981738
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110321/msgs/981743.html