I've been on Suboxone approx 2 months - and recently found out i have to have some extensive oral surgery. I will need to take Norco following surgery and want to see if anyone else has had similar experience or would know if I will go through Suboxone withdrawals... while taking the Norco... not something I'm looking forward to since I'll be in pain!! Please advise...
Can you take Norco after Suboxone?
Question posted by NClady65 on 13 Nov 2011
Last updated on 19 April 2018 by Jtp84
6 Answers
Jtp84
19 April 2018
I waited about 20 hours and I was fine.
Kvaldez1958
17 Nov 2016
Can I take norco while on buprenorphen !
I had oral surgery today I take 8 mil bio a day for 2 years
WalktheWalk
17 May 2012
My addictionologist takes me off the suboxone 4 days prior to any surgery and prescribes 4 vicodin/Norco a day until the surgery and then that doctor prescribes the necessary pain meds needed. Works well and I never get any "high" from the meds.
NClady65
16 Nov 2011
Thank you for your responses. I am currently on 6mg suboxone a day. I understand the "waiting" period for the pain meds to work so wondering if I should stop my suboxone a couple days before oral surgery?? At this point, my oral surgeon is waiting for me to schedule the surgery as I have some hesitation but do need to get it scheduled and done... I can't risk infection taking over either.
Thor283
16 Nov 2011
I already told you I waited about 8 hours and I felt the Percs. In 2004 my Gall Bladder ruptured 1 morning. I had taken 18 mg of Sub the day before and was on it 6 months. I took a lot of Morphine that morning but it worked. I was then given major surgery 24 hours later and I never felt any serious pain. The hospital kept me out of pain with Morphine shots. It's also safe to assume if all you're getting is Norco you won't have pain anything at all like what I had. Don't scare yourself. There is no need to be scared. And antibiotics are not effected by Sub at all.
Thor283
16 Nov 2011
I just thought of something. I think the big issue will be how many Norco's you will need and how often. After you do this please come back here and tell us. We know that Sub causes a high resistance to form to regular opiates. What we don't know is how long Sub takes to cause that resistance to form, nor do we know how long it lasts once a person is off Sub. I think it may be permanent. We do know it forms after 6 months. But we don't know if it formed yet in 2 months. So you can tell us. Please come back here and tell us. You don't have to find this question. Just make it a new question. We really need information on this, because the doctors are not studying it.
NClady65
17 Nov 2011
Boy, Thor you've had some real medical issues - sorry to hear that. Once I go through this I will post - information is the key I say!! With that said, what do you mean by saying subs "form" after 6 months but not 2?? sorry, maybe my brain isn't understanding well right now =)
Thor283
17 Nov 2011
This is the problem on the Internet. You can't hear the inflection in the tone of voice. That tells us so much.
What I mean is when you go on Sub, after a while if you need short acting opiates for pain you will need more than usual, and more often than usual. Now one question is how long does a person have to be on Sub before that happens to them. Does it happen in 1 week? I doubt that. But just how long does it take? That's what I meant by "to form". I mean this reaction of not getting the full effect of the pain pills. You said you're on Sub 2 months. Maybe it has not happened to you yet. Maybe you will take 1 Norco and get pain relief. But not if the resistance has happened (or formed). Then you will need at least 1 of the 10 mg Norco's and instead of needing another one in 4 - 6 hours you will need it in 2 - 3 hours. So the odds are the oral surgeon isn't going to allow for that.
Depending on how much pain he thinks you will have he will probably give you the 5 mg Norco. If he does, and if you have the resistance I'm talking about, you will need at least 2 to kill the pain. Now does it make sense? But if the resistance to other opiates has not formed yet in you, then 1 Norco should be enough, and you won't need another for 4 - 6 hours. My guess is a person gets this resistance to other opiates after 4 weeks. But then how bad will it be, we have no idea?
You would think the medical community would be concerned about this and conducting studies and experiments with animals. But they aren't. None that I am aware of. If I have a chance I'll ask my doc next week, when I see him. He likes discussing medical issues with me, but we don't always have time for that. Because as you noticed, I have a great deal of my own medical problems.
You asked why I didn't try to stay off Sub. It takes a long time to get off Sub when you've been on it long, or even over 4 weeks. The wds from Sub are very long lasting. But the real reason is I don't plan to ever go off Sub because it helps my depression and several other medical problems i have. One of which is chronic pain. It does so many good things for me that the increased resistance to pain meds is almost worth it. It's not a problem if docs understand it will happen and adjust the pain meds to allow for it. That's what they did with my surgery. But I think I will soon need cardiac surgery and I am worried that the docs I have to go to may not know about this. Which is another reason I wish professional studies were being done. Doctors can't be taught about this until the profession understands it. And how will they ever understand it without studies? And why is the issue being ignored? Furthermore, why is there so much disinformation being circulated about Sub?
You can do your part to help us find answers by telling us (me) what your reactions to the pain meds are. Meanwhile schedule the surgery before you get an infection and then it's harder to kill pain in the infected gums. If you make 12 to 24 hours go by between your last Sub dose and the surgery you will be fine. Just be sure to take your full dose the night before. I don't want you to wake up feeling wds. Take the dose the night before, and take nothing once you're up. I'm sure 12 hours is plenty, because that was all I had with the Percocet a few months ago. I wasn't planning on falling and almost breaking my bones. I think I waited more than 8 hours. Maybe 12. But then the Percs worked. Stop being scared. You will be fine. And let us know what happens.
Thor
Thor283
17 Nov 2011
Subutex Feels different from Suboxone. You may not like it. And the most commonly used generic doesn't work too well, and not at all on some people. Besides, it isn't the Naloxone blocking the other opiates, it's the Buprenorphine. Unless you want to pay for Name Brand Subutex, which are more expensive than Suboxone (I think) forget it. And even with the Name Brand you still may hate the feeling. In addition you have to use less Subutex than Suboxone. It will take you a week just to find the correct dose. You might be able to stay off Sub with other pain pills. But you will need enough for at least 1 month. You would have to slowly taper off them because the withdrawal from Sub will probably last 1 month. And then it also depends what you were on before Sub? How much and how long. It's very complicated to do what you're suggesting. But go ahead and try it. I tried it once. I lasted 4 days.
NClady65
17 Nov 2011
Thank you for explaining it a bit better. I see what you're saying about someone like me who's been on 2 mos compared to someone longer. And yes, I was wondering if one could be off both all together... but you said you lasted 4 days... did you have withdraws from the pain meds after taking a short amount of time?? are you telling me if I stop taking pain meds after a week I'll still have withdrawals from the suboxone/subutex I was taking beforehand? Sorry for all the questions, but as you say - there's not a lot out there... I did ask my counselor today about getting off both entirely and he said some people have but he didn't go into much detail. I appreciate anyone somewhat knowledgable that's willing to discuss. I too have chronic pain so thus my addiction to pain meds... spinal stenosis, degenerative disk disease, multiple surgeries, etc... so I wonder when this spiral will end. So, in the end, would be nice to think I'll take pain med following my oral surgery and taper off it and see what happens... YIKES!
NClady65
17 Nov 2011
Thor - just thought of something... you mentioned the suboxone/subutex withdrawals last a month... so in essence... what would those feel like?? I've never been through Suboxone withdrawals... So if I did think I could have pain medication I'd have to take it for at least a month to cover the withdrawal from the saboxone... must be painful... Am I understanding you correctly?
NClady65
17 Nov 2011
Thank you so much for your open conversation with me... this is all new to me, obviously =)
Thor283
17 Nov 2011
Hi NClady,
I made you a friend because I wanted to continue this in private. But that didn't allow me to ask you a pq it only allows you to send me a pq. So you either have to do that or make me a friend. You do all this by clicking on my name. I don't want to get everyone else upset with this conversation.
I have written you a long answer. But I'd rather send it in private. So I will wait to see if you friend me. If you don't I will assume you don't want to know what I have to say.
I'll be at my PC most of today.
NClady65
17 Nov 2011
Thank you Thor - as I am new to this I appreciate all the advice and support I can get. I accepted you as a friend.
pup6767
13 Nov 2011
Dear NClady65... it would b helpful to know how much suboxone you are on per day to be able to answer this question. If u r on a low dosage..i.e., 2mg... then if you stay of the suboxone for 4 days you should be able to take the Norcos and get relief from the pain. Also, you can take 800 mg ibuprofen for pain relief. It works great for dental pain. Hope this helps.
When is your procedure??? Good luck...
NClady65
16 Nov 2011
Thank you for your responses. I am currently on 6mg suboxone a day. I understand the "waiting" period for the pain meds to work so wondering if I should stop my suboxone a couple days before oral surgery?? At this point, my oral surgeon is waiting for me to schedule the surgery as I have some hesitation but do need to get it scheduled and done... I can't risk infection taking over either
pup6767
16 Nov 2011
Hi NClady... I would give it at least 3 days to b off. What does your sub doc say??
Good luck...
NClady65
17 Nov 2011
I met with my counselor today and he suggested I be switched to Subutex so I'm meeting with the "Dr" tomorrow... we'll see. Not sure if you saw my other post but have you heard of anyone getting off everything alltogether once they start on pain pills after a surgery?? Meaning, I take pills as prescirbed for the time needed/instructed and then see if my body responds positively... to where I don't need either suboxone or subutex??
Thor283
13 Nov 2011
I'm on Sub too. Several months ago I needed some oral surgery done. They had to cut my gums to drain puss. We had to cure an infection and I had a tooth that had broken at the gum line which was extracted. All this hurt. They gave me Percs, and I tried to take 2 which was 10 mg of Oxy altogether. I took it within 2 hours of the Sub and it didn't work at all. But it did make me get wds a few hours later. So we increased my Sub dose and that made the wds and the pain go away. The following week more cutting was done and they gave me more Percs. But I didn't take them because I did not need them. Maybe you won't need the Norco. Maybe you can increase your Sub dose to kill whatever pain there will be. Taking pain pills and Sub together is tricky business.
A few weeks later I fell and almost broke a knee and a couple of ribs. I soon realized I would need those Percs I never took. So I waited almost 12 hours from my last Sub dose to take the Percs. It worked with no wds. For 3 days I took the Percs and no Sub. I warn you, I needed a lot more Percs than normal. If you take Norco you will probably need a lot more too. After 3 days I had go to back on Sub. That was the tricky part. I don't remember exactly what I did. But I think I waited about 8 hours off the Percs and then I took 1 mg. I waited an hour to make sure I didn't get precipitated wd. When I saw that I didn't get the wds I took another 1 mg of Sub. I then did the same thing, waited 1 hour. Again everything was fine, so then I took 3 or 4 mg and that was like a usual dose for 8 - 12 hours. As I said, it's very tricky, and if you don't know what to do you can get into trouble. That's why I said maybe you can just increase your Sub for a few days. It's up to you.
NClady65
16 Nov 2011
Thank you for responding. May I ask, why did you feel you needed to go back on Suboxone?? Were you getting urges or risk of addiction OR were you getting withdrawals from suboxone? Just curious if it's possible to get off both...
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norco, suboxone, opiate dependence, pain, surgery
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