Suboxone - how different is the pills from the strips any benefits with one or the other!?
Question posted by blossom40 on 18 Aug 2011
Last updated on 24 June 2018
3 Answers
I took the film's for four years and all of a sudden our insurance (Medicaid) won't pay for then either. I've been taking the orange generic pills with no problem at all. If you have to buy them, around here they are 5 bucks a piece at the pharmacy. I have no problem taking them, I do miss the film because the taste lasted longer and I personally liked the taste. Now, I can switch to regular insurance and pay 25 copay and get the film but I can't afford the regular insurance and we don't have enough income to switch back to regular insurance either. The orange pills are great, the white ones in the punch out packs are just plain awful. Those you can't break up without them crumbling everywhere, they dissolve way too fast and for me they wear off too quickly.
Omg the white ones are awful. I got then once at a walgreens and called my dr a few hours later in withdraw so bad she called then I took them back and she wrote me a new script and called my insurance I went to rite aid and will not go anywhere else. I am on the generic orange ones and never have an issue I prefer them over the films they seem to last way longer and don't irritate my mouth.
Ive been on the strips for almost 2 yrs now and my dr informed me that my insurance (medicaid) will no longer cover strips and i have to start taking the tablets. Ok. Fine with me! Well, lets just say, I dont like the tablets. They made me feel like i was going thru withdrawals. Im not sure if this is a mind game? I started having cravings. It also took longer to dissolve and had to hold on more saliva. I called the dr about a week later and she told me that most patients are going thru this and some are ending up in the er cause they think they're withdrawing that bad. She also said to give it about three weeks and a lightbulb will click, then you will be fine on them. Im on my 4th week and I still feel a little off. I felt so much better on the strips and felt that they were more effective. She said the only way that i can go back to the strips is if its a serious side effect. We'll see on thurs if i can do the switch.
I think everyone should be able to take whatever works best for them. Good luck to everyone out there on their sobriety! I will continue this fight and eventually i won't have to depend on anything!
Hi Blossom,
I don't take Suboxone, I take Subutex so this is based on what I've read others say. The strips are supposed to be better. These are some of the reasons.
1. Each strip is individually wrapped. So it's very well protected against the elements or an elephant sitting on it. Even the Hammer of the Mighty Thor failed to harm it. (LOL ok, just a little joke for everyone else who loved the movie)
2. The strips taste better.
3. The strips dissolve easier and more completely, leaving less Naloxone tainted saliva in your mouth. Technically you're supposed to spit the saliva out of your mouth or you can absorb the Naloxone. You don't want to do that. This is supposed to be much easier with the strips.
4. The strips can be cut very precisely with scissors if you don't want to take the full amount. Yeah OK, I know it says not to do that. They'd rather have you spit it out and then need another strip for the remainder of the dose. They sell more strips that way. The more they sell, the more cabin cruisers the co. execs get to buy. But seriously. Almost everyone needs to take less than the full amount at some time in their treatment plan. Cutting a strip with scissors is so much better than cutting a pill, even with a brand new razor. I know, because I cut the pills everyday. I almost never take the full amount.
5. The co. was putting coupons out for the strips, so the strips were cheaper.
6. I think, and someone correct me if I'm wrong on this, the expiration date of each strip is printed on the wrapper of each strip.
If I took Suboxone I'd get the strips. I want to say this. I have noticed an odd thing with this drug. Whatever form you get used to taking it in, if you change you don't feel right for quite some time. So I think when the strips first came out that people taking the pills for 6 months or more tried the strips and hated them. I have no idea why this is. I also noticed that when I first started Sub I did take Suboxone. One month my doc let me try Subutex and I hated them. I had to go back, flush them in front of him, and he then gave me Suboxone again. Six months later I needed surgery, and after it I had to go back on Sub. This time I was inducted using Subutex. And I got used to Subutex. A month later I tried Suboxone and this time I hated the Suboxone. So I stayed with Subutex. Very odd, but this was my experience with this med. So if you're going to take the strips stay with them, or if you take the pills stay with them. You can change. But your body will need time to adjust to the new form.
Related topics
Further information
- Suboxone uses and safety info
- Suboxone prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Suboxone (detailed)
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