Posted by Jim45 on February 5, 2009, at 12:13:53
In reply to Buprenophine-Suboxone-Drowsiness-Help!, posted by princenamor on September 7, 2008, at 6:43:42
Hi Princenamor.
I'm a little confused by what some have wrote you re suboxone. Some of what they've written sounds like they're talking about pure antagonists like subutex.
I have a couple of posts on the med board about Effexor and what I went through coming off of it. I ran out of suboxone 3 months after stopping the FXR, and I had hardly ANY withdrawals. I was in such TERRIBLE shape though from FXR withdrawal that it's possible I didn't notice symptoms. I only remember my legs feeling funny/crampy and some strange "thoughts". I'd been taking suboxone for about 2 or possibly 3 years. 2-8 mg daily (different amounts because I used different dose/med combos daily to avoid acclimation).
I went on the suboxone after acclimating to FXR. I couldn't stop the FXR because the withdrawals were too bad, and I thought it might still be helping a little. Before I got the suboxone from my wonderful Doc, I was ordering dihydrocodeine from an internet pharm and had began supplementing the dihydro w/low dose naloxone to prevent tolerance and dependence. THAT'S what many people aren't aware of. Research has found that supplementing opiates w/low dose antagonists like naloxone stops/reduces tolerance and dependence. I took subutex from my Doc before the suboxone, and like the dihydro and other opiates I quickly built up a tolerance to the anti-depressant effects. No such problem with the suboxone after months/years on it.
There are studies conducted by a University in Israel and duplicated by a University in New York that found massive endorphin receptor numbers in the post-mortem brains of disease and drug-free suicide victims (obviously depressed). Some of us have such deficiencies that will only respond to opiates. I theorize that FXR (after years of trying other stuff) helped me because it's structurally similar to narcotics. Of COURSE the manufacturer lists no affinity for endorphin receptors in its data on FXR. If there is such action, prescribing it would be much more complicated.
The above being said, I don't understand the drowsiness problem. One of the main things that reminded me to take my suboxone some days was my getting tired. Suboxone woke me up and stopped some digestive problems I've had my whole life. It didn't make me tired at all. It was one of the best meds I've ever used for my TRD.
I'll conclude though by mentioning that as we're all physically different, so is our neurology. There was also a wise comment/question by the last poster about why you need meds. If you're using meds to cope w/stuff, it will complicate treating actual conditions you may be suffering from - if any. Got to deal with problems/situations you might be using meds to cope with before you can get to medicating real problems. Princenamor, I've done it all and been almost everywhere. I'm not some young/inexperienced commenter.
I'll gladly provide relevant websites/data if you have any questions.
Good luck and best wishes!!
Jim
poster:Jim45
thread:850758
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/subs/20080104/msgs/878222.html