[Kat1648]

Hi, I'm a newbie
I just discovered this community on Sun. night and registered
I am 61 woman, been taking Norco in increasing doses for pain for 1 year now. I need double knee replacement surgery but that just isn't an option right now.

Last week I went to my pain specialist at local hospital to say that I wanted to get off all addictive meds- I am up to 8-10 Norco 10-325 per day. He sent me to addict. specialist, last Thurs. I took my last Norco Sun. evening and went thru withdrawal until yesterday (Tues) when he started me on Suboxone 2mg. He told me to take every 4 hrs as needed, but I had to call him each time. I couldn't sleep last night at all, so from 11:30am yesterday to noon today, I have taken 5-2mg's

I have read many of your kindly posts with all the help you've been so willing to share.
Thursday-tomorrow, when I see him, he wants to start me on 8mg tablets.
Right now, the sub. has really worked and has relieved the most with. symptoms. I want your advice about starting the 8mg on Thurs. Dr. says it's to help with pain, but I don't need that- I just want to be off Norco and all addictive meds. This is ruining my life. Please let me know what I should take the rest of today- my last one was at 9:30am

I have Medicare part D Rx plan, but even with that the 2mg. sub.Rx cost me $70- I am broke and know the 8mg are SUPER expensive. Is any particular pharmacy cheaper for subs, than others?
In your experience can I just stay on the 2mg for as long as it takes to totally de-tox from the Norco? 2-3 weeks??
thanks so much to all of you- I was feeling so alone

[Robert_325]

Originally Posted by Kat1648

Hi, I'm a newbie
I just discovered this community on Sun. night and registered
I am 61 woman, been taking Norco in increasing doses for pain for 1 year now. I need double knee replacement surgery but that just isn't an option right now.

Last week I went to my pain specialist at local hospital to say that I wanted to get off all addictive meds- I am up to 8-10 Norco 10-325 per day. He sent me to addict. specialist, last Thurs. I took my last Norco Sun. evening and went thru withdrawal until yesterday (Tues) when he started me on Suboxone 2mg. He told me to take every 4 hrs as needed, but I had to call him each time. I couldn't sleep last night at all, so from 11:30am yesterday to noon today, I have taken 5-2mg's

I have read many of your kindly posts with all the help you've been so willing to share.
Thursday-tomorrow, when I see him, he wants to start me on 8mg tablets.
Right now, the sub. has really worked and has relieved the most with. symptoms. I want your advice about starting the 8mg on Thurs. Dr. says it's to help with pain, but I don't need that- I just want to be off Norco and all addictive meds. This is ruining my life. Please let me know what I should take the rest of today- my last one was at 9:30am

I have Medicare part D Rx plan, but even with that the 2mg. sub.Rx cost me $70- I am broke and know the 8mg are SUPER expensive. Is any particular pharmacy cheaper for subs, than others?
In your experience can I just stay on the 2mg for as long as it takes to totally de-tox from the Norco? 2-3 weeks??
thanks so much to all of you- I was feeling so alone

First thing is you need to be on two doses each day PERIOD. I would not take medication through the day and evening. You don't need it. Suboxone has a very long half life it doesn't work like that.

You should take 4mg tomorrow in the morning and 4mg late in the day about ten or so hours later. That's it. Don't take medication any other time.

I think the dr is right about the 8mg sub. It's also the least expensive in the long run. You can cut the 8mg pills into smaller pieces. So it ends up costing the least amount of money.

I don't recommend doing sub therapy and stopping in two weeks. You need a little time to get better following detox. That's really pushing it. I normally suggest 6-8 weeks. You won't become dependent at all if you follow what I'm saying. We have a good success ratio doing subs. God bless.

[jpl788]

Listen to Robert he knows exactly what he's talking about. I followed his plan last Janurary almost to a tee and it worked. I stayed on a week or two longer because when I tried to jump off the sub I wasn't ready and had slight w/d, now mind you this at the time was only taking approx. .5mg a day.

[Kat1648]

Originally Posted by Robert_325

First thing is you need to be on two doses each day PERIOD. I would not take medication through the day and evening. You don't need it. Suboxone has a very long half life it doesn't work like that.

You should take 4mg tomorrow in the morning and 4mg late in the day about ten or so hours later. That's it. Don't take medication any other time.

I think the dr is right about the 8mg sub. It's also the least expensive in the long run. You can cut the 8mg pills into smaller pieces. So it ends up costing the least amount of money.

I don't recommend doing sub therapy and stopping in two weeks. You need a little time to get better following detox. That's really pushing it. I normally suggest 6-8 weeks. You won't become dependent at all if you follow what I'm saying. We have a good success ratio doing subs. God bless.

Thank you both. Today-Thurs- I took 2 2mg, as recommended, and will take 2 more later this afternoon. This finishes my 3-day Induction. I printed out your directions/plan - my new bible.
Tomorrow, I'll reduce to 6mg.
I haven't been able to sleep not even a nap, and have a hard time eating. Robert, I'll spend more time later going back and reading your success threads, etc. In the meantime- can I take Ativan or Ambien to sleep?? Won't take w/o your OK.
Have a great rest of day. God Bless

[Robert_325]

That sounds good. Plan on staying at 6mg for about a week or so. Just keep us posted how you're doing.

It's okay to take ambien for sleep IF YOU HAVE TO. Don't get carried away though. Take one pill only. Mixing subs and benzos isn't a good idea. I would leave the ativan alone. God bless.

[Kat1648]

Robert & friends,

I only took subs for 2 weeks- the last week tapering to 1/4- then I felt good for 5 days until this past Sun.
I'm having awful symptoms. Did I screw this up by taking a 1mg Ativan when I couldn't sleep Fri, Sat, Sun. nites??????????????

The last 1mg Ativan I had was yesterday at 4pm. I didn't realize I was going thru sub detox.

Can I take some ativan now or is it a big no-no? How about Seroquel 25mg?
I'm having major panic attacks.

Please help me asap- and thanks so much.

Love,
Kat

[Kat1648]

I don't have anymore subs so can't go back to re-taper.

[Robert_325]

Originally Posted by Kat1648

Robert & friends,

I only took subs for 2 weeks- the last week tapering to 1/4- then I felt good for 5 days until this past Sun.
I'm having awful symptoms. Did I screw this up by taking a 1mg Ativan when I couldn't sleep Fri, Sat, Sun. nites??????????????

The last 1mg Ativan I had was yesterday at 4pm. I didn't realize I was going thru sub detox.

Can I take some ativan now or is it a big no-no? How about Seroquel 25mg?
I'm having major panic attacks.

Please help me asap- and thanks so much.

Love,
Kat

I didn't realize you were doing this so fast. You weren't on the subs long enough. If you can't get more subs you really don't have a lot of choices.

You can take the ativan. Just go slow like .5mg a couple times during the day. Then you can take an ambien if you need it for sleep. If no ambien the seroquel 25mg is just fine. You could even take 50mg if you had to. Just don't mix it with ambien and ativan.

Hang in there. You'll feel better in 2-3 days since you only used the subs for such a short time. You should have just done a cold turkey detox. I wouldn't have had you do it like we did it if I knew you only had such a few subs. God bless.

[bev49]

Man, when i was younger, i used to think doctors were like gods. It turns out they can be dangerous... What's with the every 4 hours thing. I couldn't sleep at all when i took the sub too late at night. That might be the sleep issue, not withdrawal. Too much sub. Every 4 hours then only for such a short time? Boy.... doctors who arent knowledgable are scary. I wish there was a way to send every addict to this forum. They'd be a lot better off.