DOSE:	6 mg	sublingual	Pharms - Buprenorphine
	1.5 mg	sublingual	Naloxone

BODY WEIGHT:

155 lb

For a long time, I didn’t have much knowledge nor experienced the psychological feelings of Opioids until I met my boyfriend (B). He introduced me to his prescription of Suboxone (Buprenorphine-Naloxone Sublingual Films) back in August 2020. For almost a year now, B has received a 30-day supply consisting of 60 Suboxone strips (2mg Buprenorphine/0.5 Naloxone). And as B mentions in his report, his psychiatrist sends a monthly prescription order to treat and help combat his opioid and opiate cravings as well as to treat chronic pain due to rotary scoliosis and fibromyalgia. Throughout these months, my experience with Buprenorphine has been brief, vague, and a medication I’m still not accustomed to, yet I immensely enjoy.

In my case, the only monthly prescription I receive is Lo Loestrin Fe, an extended regimen pill and the lowest estrogen birth control (10mcg). Lo Loestrin Fe contains 26 tablets with a low-dose combination of Estrogen (Ethinyl estradiol) and Progestin (norethindrone acetate), as well as 2 Iron tablets; thus, a total of 28 tablets. I occasionally like taking nine 250mg capsules of Phenibut HCL totaling 2.25 grams. Other than that, there aren’t any more medications or vitamins I have to intake. And I prefer not to take anything else that could interfere with the efficacy of my birth control. After all, my birth control is the reason I try to have as little Buprenorphine as possible . My experiences have been few, but I decided to write today’s report on my third experience, yet I will still briefly mention my past two experiences.

My first experience was on August 26, 2020; I remember it was this day because B and I went on our first date, but I don’t clearly remember how many Suboxone strips I took. The memories and side effects are also quite vague; however, I remember my body felt sore, I felt dizzy, nauseous, itchy, and could not ingest my food while on that first date. Furthermore, my second experience was on December 1, 2020, the memories and side effects of this day are also vague. I also don’t remember how many Suboxone strips I took, yet B says I took three. All I remember was waking up throughout the night and how annoyingly itchy I felt. My second experience is vaguer than the first; I felt nauseous the next day, felt extremely hot, and tried to vomit, yet wasn’t able to.

Ultimately, my third and recent experience was on January 12, 2021; on this last experience, I wanted to pay more attention to my body’s response and felt intrigued to write a report about it. For days I was excited to try Buprenorphine with B again, but minutes before taking it, I was suddenly hesitant, felt exhausted, and just wanted to sleep. However, I had already been looking forward to this event; therefore, I dissolved three films under my tongue, and by 11:04 pm I was done swallowing all three. Before taking the three strips, I was already in a good mood, yet I still felt exhausted. Before eating or drinking, I had to wait fifteen minutes, so it was 11:18 pm when I was beginning to get excited to drink water again since the aftertaste of the Buprenorphine made me more thirsty than usual. At that time, B and I also got up so he could go outside and have one of his Newport 100s cigarettes, yet it was then when my body already felt loose, so I lost my balance quickly. A little after this, B and I had planned to eat some Chinese leftovers from earlier that evening; however, I had no appetite, I just wanted to lay down, which I did while B had the rest of his. During that time, I finished the rest of my 12oz Kiwi-Apple Red Bull. Nonetheless, I vomited after drinking the Kiwi-Apple Red Bull for the second time, yet I did not regret my dose.

Overall, my side effects were nausea, vomiting, dizziness, itchiness, warmth, a headache, peeing took some effort, and I also experienced slight euphoria. One of the symptoms that I couldn’t stand in my previous experiences was the itchiness; nonetheless, a few days before B mentioned he and other people liked it as one of the side effects, I couldn’t believe it and disagreed. However, as I experienced this side effect once again and as I am still experiencing it now, I enjoy it and understand why people may like it while taking Buprenorphine.

As the night went on, B fell asleep, and while I thought I would fall asleep soon enough, it didn’t happen the same for me. I tried falling asleep by 2:00 AM; however, I was intensely itchy. By 3:00 AM, I felt overly warm, and by 5:00 AM I was still awake, but I felt the side effects less. As I’ve mentioned before, I did not fall asleep that night; I laid down until 7:00 AM, which I then showered and got ready, and finally fell asleep at 9:30 AM. I don’t know why I couldn’t fall asleep that night. I felt exhausted and tried to write notes on my phone every time I could, but my eyes felt heavy, and I couldn’t keep them open for a long time, yet staring into the darkness made them feel somewhat uncomfortable and awake. After I showered, my body felt extremely hot and dizzy. I wanted to do my make-up, but I wasn’t up for it in the bathroom’s mirror, so I went outside where there was a mirror, and the weather was 35F, rather than feeling cold, I loved the weather, and it made me feel comfortable.

However, as soon as I opened the door and went inside, I felt hot and dizzy. That’s why I decided to take a nap from 9:30 AM until 11:00 AM, and around noon B, his mom and I went on a walk. By then, the only side effect I felt was itchiness. After our walk, B and I went to Starbucks; I had a Venti Vanilla Chai Iced Tea Latte and a Bacon Gouda. Eating my food once again was a challenge; it was tough to ingest it, yet I finished my sandwich and drank my drink within seven hours. A few minutes later, B and I had Mac’n’Cheese, but we were full, tired, and ready to take a nap. However, I felt a slight euphoria every time I ate. B and I took a nap, ate pizza much later, in which I felt that slight euphoria once again, and after 8:00 PM I only felt itchy, which has lasted until now while writing this report.

I don’t think I enjoyed Buprenorphine the first time I tried it, yet I was more intrigued by it and mentioned to B if I could try it a second time. My third experience was part of a Christmas present, and thus it’s an Opioid I enjoy. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t like nor take it as often since it’s B’s prescription so he can be free of pain and Opioid cravings.

In conclusion, B and I frequently jokingly rate everything out of 76 instead of the usual 10 or 100, so I decided to evaluate my third experience a little more than 76. During my third experience, I enjoyed Buprenorphine and became more aware of my body’s response and all the side effects I experienced. My final rate is 80/76; I highly enjoy Buprenorphine more, but the side effects are something I still want to feel accustomed to within time.

Exp Year: 2021	ExpID: 115143
Gender: Female
Age at time of experience: 24
Published: May 13, 2021	Views: 748
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Pharms - Buprenorphine (265) : Retrospective / Summary (11), General (1), Small Group (2-9) (17)