Does suboxone really help with both physical & psychological withdrawals from lortab addiction?

The answer to your question is yes, Suboxone will help the physical and psychological aspects of your addiction. You're on a fairly high dose of Hydrocodone, so you may need 1 or 2 weeks before you start to feel really good on Sub. But the withdrawal symptoms (wds) will start to go away about 30 minutes after you take it. Some Doc's give you some in their office, and that's why they want you in wds when you go see them. But many Doc's give you a script, and then you have to pay for them, if you don't have insurance. If you have to pay for them, ask for the coupon the Doc's give out that gets you a discount. I think it's only $40 but every little bit helps. You will probably get the Film Strips and be told to take one 8 mg strip twice a day. That's what I recommend, starting at 16 mg a day. You can always take less if you feel too sleepy with 16 mg a day. But since you 'er on 80 or 90 mg a day, you will most likely need 16 mg of Sub.

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I think you meant 80 or 90 mg a day. Whatever you meant, it's a lot.

If for some reason you mess up and you're not in wds when you see the Doc, and he wants you to take some in his office, don't do it. Just confess to him that you didn't succeed in staying off Lortab 24 hours. I don't think you necessarily have to be 24 hours off Lortab. It varies with the person. You do need to be in strong wds. You should be very uncomfortable. You don't have to be bouncing off the walls, but you should feel like you're dying for a Lortab. Make sure of that. If you aren't in wds you can go into precipitated wds and those are 10 times worse than regular wds, and nothing can be done to stop them. So let the regular wds happen. Within 1 full hour of taking Sub they will be gone. You will feel 100% better. Sub will make you feel so good you will wonder why you didn't do this sooner. Like I said, it may take 1 or 2 weeks to feel the full great effects from Sub, but you will feel better in 1 hour. One last thing, the strips can be cut up. I know it says don't cut them, but most people do cut them at some point. For many people 8 mg all at once is too much. It is for me. If I take more than 2 or 3 mg at once I get sleepy. But some people feel perked up from Sub. Again it varies.

So just try to stay calm by assuring yourself you will 100% better on Monday. And be sure to make more posts and let us know how you are.

Hi Chillyshrimp,
I'm new around here as well. I just wanted to respond and let you know you're not alone. I completely know what you're feeling right now. I'm certainly no expert, however, there seems to be a lot of knowledgeable people on these boards that should be able to help you more.

I started Suboxone about a month ago and so far it's been a wonderful tool for getting off opiates (I was taking oxycodone, prescribed for various physical ailments). I was actually quite surprised at how well it took away the psychological symptoms. Since starting I haven't had one craving at all and feel better than I have in a very long time.

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The first few days were really rough for me. I don't want to give you some horror story, because there's plenty of them out there and they help feed the anxiety we all suffer with!
But I will say that the first few days on Suboxone were mild compared to full-blown withdrawals straight off opiates. I think the key to having the smoothest transition is being sure you use the withdrawal symptom chart {COWS chart}. Hopefully your doctor will give one with instructions on how to use it. If they don't, ask for it, or find one off the internet. You may very well not need an entire 24 hrs off the Lortabs. Everyone is different and it's not about the drug or how much you were taking, but about your score on the COWS sheet.

Hopefully someone with more experience can help calm some of your anxiety. You won't regret doing this, I can tell you that much! It also doesn't matter if you're a nurse, a teacher, whomever... opiates are very addictive and dependency can happen to anyone. I never in a million yrs thought I would have walked down this road.
Don't think of the next 20 hours as the countdown to how little time left you have for opiates, but how soon you'll be getting your life back!

Good luck to you!

Yes it will remove both cravings. However, take as little as is absolutely possible to ease w/d. But don't believe all that crap the doc tells you about how easy and painless it is to get off suboxone. I was taking 560mg oxycontin q/day for a year, 480mg q/day, prior two yrs, and 80 to 400 the 4yrs prior. Suboxone worked like a charm and I wasn't worried because of the doc's bullxxxx. Three yrs later I tried, unknowing, after 2yrs 16mg sub use, and one of 8. Then a rapid one month taper per doc's recommendations and I was in such severe w'd symptoms 21 days later that I gave up, back to 8mgs. My first opiate w/d was from 2yrs street H needle use, but it was over in 6 days, courtesy 10days solitary lockup provided our friend the sheriff. Horrible, YES but only about 20% more than suboxone. Just monitor this group for awhile, you'll learn.

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Sure, you can take it relatively safely for life, if you want to remain in a drug dependent lifestyle, otherwise take it for maybe a month or less and begin a taper or look forward to longterm w/d disease. I tapered my sub use from 8mg to 1/2mg over the course of 9mos. Still left with 15 days of torture and 10 more of milder touture. Best of luck to you, This is just FYI.

if you dont wanna be in withdrawl you can ask for subutex its suboxone without the opiate blocker.. but yea i was addicted to oxy 80s back in the day would steal n all that good stuff to get them for about a year then i went to a doc and got on suboxone i took it for 5 years along with xanax . i was taking up to 8 mg of xanax and up to12 mg of suboxon per day. quit a few times for short periods of time no longer then a few weeks but each time helped me get to the point im at now. the good things about suboxone is it doesnt get you high like oxys and other opiates which over time lessens your want to abuse drugs. also there is a sealing effect so you will only feel it so much if you do choose to abuse it. dont get me wrong when i first started taking it it would make me pretty high but after awhile doesnt matter how much you take it doesnt do nething but make you feel normal...

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the bad things pretty much everything that other opiates do including not as bad but longer withdrawls i always tapered down befor i stopped taking them but always very rapidly most the time it was because i ran out but this time i took a little more time and didnt have to do it but decided i wanted to and its been 47 days since i took eather xanax or suboxone and i have to say im doing pretty damn good. i hate suboxone but really i owe my life to it i would be in jail or dead other wise so really its up to your situation you should try to quit without it but if all else fails it is a way to help.