Taking Suboxone/Subutex and having Major Surgery. Please help.

[SouthernSweety5]

I am taking Subutex and I am having major surgery. I have stopped my dose of Sub that I was taking which was 2 mg a day..cold turkey. By the time I have my surgery I will have been off the Sub for atleast 3 weeks..give or take..Hopefully, unless I have it before then. I am concerned about anethesia and pain medicine afterwards..seeing as I am going to need both to be able to recover. I do not plan on going back on my Subutex after the surgery. I plan on taking my regime of pain medications and then stopping and staying in recovery..as seeing the hardships that Sub's can cause to someone and myself! I am hopeing someone has had a similar experience and will able to give me some good advice. I have heard everything possible..and all the horror stories..I have talked to every doctor possible and they all give me the run around and can't give me a straight answer. I want the cold hard truth. What should I expect? I am not looking to get "high" I am going to need serious pain relief to be able to move and recover and I need the meds to do their full job on me and help me..and Im afraid this won't be possible even though I have stopped using the Sub 3 weeks prior. Thanks and God bless.

[newyorkgal]

Unfortunately, sub works so good that it does stop the effects of other opiates. However, if you are off sub for 3 weeks, there should be no problem whatsoever. Doctors usually stay stop the sub 4-5 days before a surgery. This is exactly the situation that scared the hxll out of me which I had no idea of before starting sub. I'm almost off sub totally, down to tiny pieces equal to about 1/16 of 2 mg. I know I should just stop now but fear rules my life. Fear of needing surgery is one of the major reasons I decided to get off sub. It is a wonderful opiate blocker but when you need opiates, you're in a jam. 3 weeks is more than enough time though to be able to get pain relief. When did you stop the sub and how are you handling the w/d, if any?

[SouthernSweety5]

Unfortunately, sub works so good that it does stop the effects of other opiates. However, if you are off sub for 3 weeks, there should be no problem whatsoever. Doctors usually stay stop the sub 4-5 days before a surgery. This is exactly the situation that scared the hxll out of me which I had no idea of before starting sub. I'm almost off sub totally, down to tiny pieces equal to about 1/16 of 2 mg. I know I should just stop now but fear rules my life. Fear of needing surgery is one of the major reasons I decided to get off sub. It is a wonderful opiate blocker but when you need opiates, you're in a jam. 3 weeks is more than enough time though to be able to get pain relief. When did you stop the sub and how are you handling the w/d, if any?

I stopped the sub almost 6 days ago. I was handling it pretty well to very well. Then things got really bad lastnight and have been bad all day today..it has been like the first day of withdrawal from hard narcotics, I am scared and don't know if I can do this really. I wish there were something that I could take to ease the discomfort that wouldn't be a blocker! The biggest problem is my muscles the weakness, the flexing, I cannot sit still. I do not know what to do. My dr. told me that 2mg is detox level and you can come off that without any physical effects that any effect you feel from 2mg is strictly mental. So that might help you some. But I don't know what is going on..I don't know if its were it has takin the Sub 6 days to start to leave my system and now I'm experiencing withdrawals or what. I dont know what to do! Neeed help.

[Robert_325]

I stopped the sub almost 6 days ago. I was handling it pretty well to very well. Then things got really bad lastnight and have been bad all day today..it has been like the first day of withdrawal from hard narcotics, I am scared and don't know if I can do this really. I wish there were something that I could take to ease the discomfort that wouldn't be a blocker! The biggest problem is my muscles the weakness, the flexing, I cannot sit still. I do not know what to do. My dr. told me that 2mg is detox level and you can come off that without any physical effects that any effect you feel from 2mg is strictly mental. So that might help you some. But I don't know what is going on..I don't know if its were it has takin the Sub 6 days to start to leave my system and now I'm experiencing withdrawals or what. I dont know what to do! Neeed help.

Your dr misinformed you. 2mg will still leave you in terrible w/d. However if you are facing imperative surgery and tell the surgeon about the subs they can put you under even with the subs. They will test you to make sure you are healthy but they can over compensate for a 2mg dose of sub if surgery is imperative. That is a fact! God bless.