DOSE:	3 mg	sublingual	Pharms - Buprenorphine	(daily)
	750 ug	sublingual	Naloxone	(daily)

BODY WEIGHT:

165 lb

This is a follow-up to my previous report of Suboxone that can be found here: http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=63781

I have been on Suboxone for 2 years and 6 months without taking a single illicit opiate, and so far it has taken me from the gutter to nearly the pedestal. As can be read above, I started off at 16mg and experienced severe cravings, at which point my doctor moved me all the way up to 32mg. I decided to take it upon myself to ween all the way down to 2mg daily after reading the positive effects of bupe at low doses. This was the best thing I ever did for myself. I have been taking 1mg 3x daily (which is not recommended, it should be 1x daily, but I can't seem to do it) for over a year now and I live mostly happily and feel completely in control of my life.

I began at the age of 16 taking vicodin from my mom's medicine cabinet and proceeded until I was taking 100+mg of Oxycontin daily. My family had all but given up on me and I could not work or go to school. I went to a bupe doctor that was 3.5 hours away once a month. Over the course of 2.5 years, I went from jobless, to being able to make money consistently, to going to community college, to being accepted to a well respected private university on the west coast and completing my first year of their mechanical engineering program. If you had told me this is where I would be 2.5 years after going to my Suboxone doctor, I would have laughed in your face. Not only this, but I have regained the relationships with my family members that were most important to me.

If I said I didn't feel anything, it would a lie. I have worked my ass off to get my life back, and buprenorphine has given this to me. Skeptics may say that I have just changed one addiction for another, and indeed this is true. But, throw aside the stigma attached to opiate decision, and anything that has improved my life to this extent without taking a toll on my health (in face its the opposite, I am more fit than ever) is worth keeping. And one day I would love to be free of opiates, but at this point I am not willing to give up what I have earned because I still feel the pull of the pills.

I write this because I read hundreds of reports when I was either high or in withdrawal, and I rarely read anything that signaled a way out. If I can give advice to anyone that is an addict, or on buprenorphine treatment, it would be to take the small steps, work on one thing every month that would make you feel better, make one week just a little bit better than the last. We are all in this together, god bless.

Exp Year: 2007-2009	ExpID: 78840
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jul 11, 2019	Views: 4,197
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Pharms - Buprenorphine (265) : General (1), Addiction & Habituation (10), Not Applicable (38)