Buprenorphine for Opiate Dependence - Maintenance User Reviews

• Dani
• Taken for 10 years or more
• August 19, 2020

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "I've been on the suboxone films, 3 strips a Day for the past 13 years. I just got my first Sublocade shot this morning and feel fine. I'm a little scared that it won't match up to the 3 strips a day but I'm def going to give it my best shot! I still have some films incase I start to think I'm having symptoms but I haven't taken a single strip all day but I'm not having any symptoms. I really hope this works out because when you are taking strips or tabs, the Drs have complete control over your life! I feel like after 13 years of taking 24 mg of suboxone a day that I AM the one I'm control of my life. No more counting wrappers, no more leaving the clinic feeling like I am less than them and no more leaving feeling like I've done something wrong!!!! I'll keep you posted on how its going later, in a couple weeks"

• Cee
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 28, 2019

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "So I was addicted to opiates for 4 years taking them orally and crushing and snorting them thats when I knew I needed help. I was losing everything and spending way to much money, I was basically working to get high. So I originally started with 8mg suboxone 2 times a day, then 21mg once a day for six months then was offered the sublocade shot. Initially I was sceptical but ended up doing it and am glad I did. It did burn upon injection and I was a little nausea for a couple days but then fine. So I never went back for second dose and let me tell u why this worked for me but you have to really want to not be dependent on another medication. My theory was its slowly released into your bloodstream so it will slowly leave it as well. Yes I did go thru a little withdrawal with the hot cold and sweating for like 2 days but it definitely was nothing like withdrawal from the actual opiate itself. I am currently still clean and sober and loving my family and life itself"

• Peakc...
• June 21, 2019

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "I was an addict for about 15 years before I decided I had enough of the monkey on my back and decided to get clean. Fast forward about 10 years and I'm still on Sub Film two 8mg film a day... But I'm stuck ya know what I mean ? An endless cycle of mismanaged Sub Films taking too many in beginning of month and always being about a week short till the next cycle of hell for the next month. One day Dr. suggests I should try SUBLOCADE?? What the hell is that ? YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS?? THE BEGINNING OF A NEW BEGINNING!!!! 10 months now with the shot and I can live life FREE!!! Barely ever even think about it anymore. No more every thought consumed with Suboxone and those DAMN STRIPS!! ONCE A MONTH I GO FOR MY SUBLOCADE AND IT STINGS FOR ABOUT 45 SECONDS AND THAT'S IT!! I feel like I have my life back. Try it !! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE AND A PRETTY NORMAL LIFE TO GAIN"

• Gru
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 26, 2020

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "After 11 years of struggling with heroin addiction and intermittent failed attempts to stop with Suboxone, I successfully got clean with Sublocade. It bought me time and allowed me to change my behaviors and thinking. I had to discontinue it after 3 months of shots due to a mandated drug program. I continued to test pos for Bupe for 6 months. After 2 months of negative tests, I can tell you it was a fairly painless kick. Cravings returned about 3 or 4 months after my last shot but improved and are gone now. Bad insomnia but I didn’t feel tired during the day. I also had some mild to mod restless legs. Gabapentin helped me get through that. The shot self tapers very slowly so seems to be a great way to transition off Suboxone as well. I am now on Naltrexone and opiate free. Sublocade saved my life and I couldn’t have gotten clean without it."

• Christy
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 5, 2020

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "Getting this Sublocade shot has changed my life, I was addicted to heroin for over 15 years. I would have very limited success with Suboxone. I would take it, when I had to, but generally I would get them and sell them. I also would wake up everyday consumed with getting money/getting high. So even with good intentions of taking Suboxone, there would be days that my addict thinking would take over before I had the chance to take the Suboxone and I would be high again. Sublocade removed the guess work for me. I wake up EVERYDAY feeling great and with NO DESIRE to get high. I am waking up feeling free for the first time in over 15 years. The shot definitely burns, but for me it is definitely worth the burn. This has been a total game changer for me!"

• Lauren
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 18, 2020

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "I was on suboxone for 4 or 5 years without even thinking of going back to heroin. However occasionally I would take an extra or even TWO extra! I knew that it didn’t even do anything or get me high but I did it anyway. When I heard of Sublocade I thought to myself that this was my answer to finally not be dependent on the pills! The first couple of days I went through “withdrawal” but I believe it was in my head. Then a few months in (maybe 5) my friend asked me “wouldn’t you be able to just stop getting it and it would slowly take you down” and I was like “uhhhh idk?” Lol but I couldn’t stop wondering. One month I decided to stop getting it and I could always go back if need be. That was in October or November of last year and knock on wood I’m still good...absolutely no withdrawal. I’ll update if it happens though"

• Geralt
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• January 31, 2020

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "I've been taking Suboxone for 2 years now, I'm down from 24mg to 12mg and my counselor suggested this medication. I obviously don't like the whole no eating, drinking or talking for 15min before during and after taking the sublingual but it works. I told my Dr no way on this stuff. I don't know if some of these positive comments are fake but all my friends at my clinic that have tried this stuff said it was awful. And after 2 years of keeping a needle out of my arm I'll stick with Suboxone I'm done with going through withdraw, so why risk this medicine. Look if it works for you awesome but if you're taking something else that even remotely works don't switch. We are drug addicts trying to stay clean there is no magic pill, shot or strip that suddenly changes who we are we will struggle for the rest of our lives so if your having a hard time with Suboxone or methadone but it still works and you're clean off heroin or oxy stick with it, Better the Devil you know!"

• Beccy
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 20, 2020

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "Was on suboxone films x3 each day for 5 years. It was amazing for me. I was addicted to codeine for 7+ years. I knew it was killing my organs. It was a hassle to get my films every week though at $35. With the injection it was monthly and $20!! I had 2 injections and it wasn’t that bad just a pinch. I never went back for a 3rd. Just felt I didn’t need it!! Doc said I could pop in if did need again. I have no withdrawals at all!!! I’m now clean, finally!!!"

• Doodle
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 11, 2019

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "I’m about like most of you, wanted to feel good. Pain pills, methadone ( mistake ) methadone is to good and harder to get off of. Then Suboxone which was fine but I would be feeling tired or whatever so I would take another piece. So I was pretty much controlling how much I took. Anyways Sublocade was offered to me. I was scared but I decided to do it. I took a 300mg the first two months and no withdrawals at all. Didn’t feel funny or anything. Now I’ve taken maybe 4 100mg and I’m scared to stop because of years of depending on something. But I’m pretty sure I’ve had my last shot."

• Guy
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 27, 2020

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "Horrible. My first shot and my last shot developed a necrotic wound. I did nothing to disturb the injection site, this has been happening to people all over the country. Please do not take this medicine! It’s too new and they have not worked out all the issues. I have a hole in my stomach now (and that’s AFTER surgery to remove rotting skin) only 30 days after injection and Doctors don’t know if it will ever heal. I’m trying to sue Sublocade. BE WARNED PLEASE DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE TRYING NEW MEDS!"

• Meow
• December 9, 2019

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "This medication only works well for people taking low doses. If you are taking more than 8 mg you will be in withdrawal. I was taking 16 mg a day and within 3 days of getting my first shot I knew immediately what was happening as I have been through various forms of opiate withdrawals in my life. I called my doctor and begged to be put back on the sublingual medication which he did, thank the goddess for that! Word of advice...if you are taking more than 8 mg per day you will not do very well with this. If you are taking 8 mg or less you will benefit. Please don’t get the idea that sublocade is some kind of stepping stone for stopping suboxone as I’ve unfortunately seen in so many of these comments. sublocade is suboxone. It literally releases bup into your blood stream slowly, every hour of every day. Stopping sublocade is exactly the same thing as stopping suboxone and I can tell you from my experience, it will take a solid month of agonizing withdrawals to be done"

• Mike
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 9, 2019

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "Had 2 300mg shots. The last one was March 26th. 2019. Haven’t had any withdrawals at all over 6 months later. Was on 8mg suboxone for 8 years. This seems to good to be true? Does anyone know if withdrawal will eventually show it’s face?"

• Sublo...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• April 20, 2019

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "I have been on Sublocade for 10 injections now. Two of them have caused necrotic wounds where the injection is on my stomach. I have had to get wound debridement twice now. This is occuring at random on anyone. My dr office has had other patients develop this disgusting rotten necrotic hole in our stomachs. There are accounts on reddit and pictures to see how bad these reactions are. This medication does its job but what is happening is major, majorly bad. I have gad two surgical procedures due to this medication. I am done with this medication. I have developed necrotic wounds 25% of the time. That is 1 out of four injections. Please do your homework and be aware of what is going on. The scars are bad, the necrosis is revolting. Please submit complaints to the FDA if you have had this atrocity happen."

• johnny
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 31, 2020

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "Been trying to quit heroin and other opiates since I was 18 or so. Now I'm 32 and I've spent years on suboxone with some success for periods, but eventually I'd fall into selling them for pills or bags of dope or whatever else I wanted. Also, I don't want be on this drug forever. Got my first injection about a month ago, it hurt, and after the initial "high" wore off I didn't feel great for about 2 weeks. Not bad tho, don't take that as I was dying or in withdrawal, just not as good as I was on strips. After that first 2 weeks I started feeling normal, about to get my second injection soon and I'm looking forward to the future and excited about both not having the option to screw this up by selling my script and the incredibly long life that seems to allow many people to stop without serious withdrawal symptoms. Maybe its not for everyone, use your judgment but I don't want keep repeating the same cycle for me."

• Jen
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 2, 2019

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "I finally got approval from my insurance for Sublocade and I can't tell you the difference it's made. Sure it hurts a tad but only having to deal with one shot a month is totally worth it. I initially got my two 300mg doses and I think I've had four 100 mg doses. I'm going to try to make this my last one. There isn't much (if any) info on stopping Sublocade after a few months. Only what I've read on this forum, and all of those seem to be positive. Can anyone add to this? My doc is going to keep my next dose at the office and will squeeze me in if I start to have withdrawals later down the road and my regular GP prescribed some low dose Ativan in case the w/d's are mild. I'm nervous but so excited that for the first time in 10 years I won't need any of this med!"

• Kje
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 18, 2018

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "I received my injection 4 days ago and so far so good. I was on 12 mg of suboxone and the daily habit of taking the strip wasn’t allowing me to fully recover from addiction and change my habits/lifestyle. The strips were a crutch as I looked forward to taking them. Waking up and knowing I had something to take or splitting my doses into smaller increments through out the day because I thought I’d feel better are all addict behavior. With the shot I am very excited to break the hand to mouth habit and get the notion of taking something everyday multiple times to feel better. Now I can just live my life and start to change my habits. Will update towards the end of the month."

• Ang
• February 21, 2020

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "Just wanted to share some info about this due to the discomfort from the shot. After the liquid is injected it turns into a solid and that's how it is long acting and extended release, but also can be painful so don't rub it either, it will go away and is normal to have a bump. Also congrats to everyone fighting this battle "

• Horse...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 14, 2019

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "I will share my experience with Sublocade. Prior I was on Suboxone, high dose for 2 years. I've now had 4 Sublocade injections (four months). Here's my report. Sublocade works -- but not in a dramatic fashion. Maybe 'subtle' is the correct word. I can tell that something is 'in the background' in my CNS, working, but there's no "highs" as what would one would get after dissolving a strip or two. For me that was hard getting used to: those initial rewards after taking first strips of the day. It's not there anymore. I requested a blood draw, to make sure there's actually Bupenorphine in my system. There is. It seems that I felt my best right after the 3rd injection. Oh, and when I first wake up in the morning I feel perfectly fine."

• JustMe
• September 1, 2020

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "I attempted to get off Suboxone two or three times but never past 2 milligrams. I decided to try Sublocade as a way of getting off Suboxone, I would get one shot and then it would slowly leave my system. I went to the clinic for the shot of Sublocade, the injection was super painful as I have very little body fat, it hurt like anything. The injection site was sore for approximately 4 days. The first 2 days I felt “sub high” and on the 3rd I had a super headache and did not feel well. Over the next three or four days I was super tired and falling asleep in the afternoon. Approximately 7 days in I began to feel better and I seemed to normalize. I noticed that I no longer feel sick in the morning so I am no longer reminded of my problem. I began to get up normally and get rolling without issue. I am getting tired earlier in the evening which is not a bad thing because I was going to bed at approximately 12 every night, now I'm going to bed at 11 and I suspect it will be 10 soon."

• iFeel...
• November 15, 2018

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "I was addicted to pain pills for about six years before I had enough and decided to try and get my life together. Went to rehab and shortly after started Suboxone maintenance. Yes, like most of us, I was happy and my life changed dramatically. But part of me felt like it was just a transfer of one drug to another. After two years of suboxone treatments, my doctor brought up the topic of Sublocade. Fast forward and I get my first shot. Holy moly it hurts. I'm a pretty skinny guy, so injecting that much medicine under the skin leaves a huge lump. THAT and that alone is my only issue with the medication. I decided after two shots that I would not continue with the medication and would switch back to the Suboxone. Came time for my next appointment with my doctor, but I still felt amazing. No withdrawal, no issues. So I pushed back my appointment. Long story short, it has been almost 3 months and I have not been back to my doctor. I still feel amazing, no withdrawal, no nothing."

• Cauca...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 7, 2023

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "20+ years of running my life into the ground, I did one shot and never went back! It becomes out of sight, out of mind because you are not taking something every day! 2 weeks in and it wasn't something I thought about! Big Tip: DO NOT COUNT THE DAYS AFTER TAKING THE SHOT! Losing count is big mentally! That's 90% of it! Oh yeah! ZERO WITHDRAWALS!"

• Kevin...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• August 4, 2019

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "It’s been 6 shots now at 300mg I didn’t have to bump down to the 100mg like they suggested.....doing fantastic still..... wake up every day still living life to my fullest. I wake up every morning feeling great...no withdrawals,..... no worries about if I am going to run out of my meds early....everything’s going smooth......thank you sublocade....."

• Bradl...
• April 8, 2019

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "Been on subs for almost 8 months 16mg day. Got the shot little over 2 weeks ago. The first day was excellent. I was really excited about the month to come and finally felt as though I would be able to come off of the maintenance sooner with less withdrawal. That was the plan. Since then I have needed to take my original 16 mg daily and feel as though that is not even working. I've had severe anxiety bouts and deep depression since receiving the shot. I even went on vacation to the beach and was miserable feeling like a black scary cloud was engulfing my life sensing impending doom and fear. Out of last 6 years I've been clean for 4 and half. And only 8 months has been on subs. If it weren't for my devotion to my newborn son 6 month old, my relationship with God and my 1st hand knowledge in recovery I would have failed already. I encourage everyone to write their own truths here so that we can make better decisions based upon real life experiences. (34 year old male)"

• DDano
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 14, 2019

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "Day two of Sublocade and I feel sick to my stomach. Stomach ache, nausea, cold sweats, and just overall not feeling well. I'm not sure if my body is just trying to adjust to this or what's going on but even if tomorrow I feel better and the rest of this month I feel better it will have not been worth it after today. I was doing just fine on my Suboxone but my doctors kept pushing Sublocade and now I have to suffer through this."

• Cnic
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 7, 2019

Sublocade (buprenorphine) "This wasn’t a godsend for me. I think that there’s not enough known about it currently to suggest it to everybody. First off, bupenorphine is buenorphine. This is the same medicine as Suboxone so there’s no way someone on 8mg and someone on 24mg are going to be ok on the same dose. Doctors will tell you it’ll be fine and that they don’t know how Much it really released every month but after looking into it this thing releases 2 mg a day and that reduces to one and then half of a mg which is why most people go through withdrawals for a week or two after changing from stripe to the shot. I personally did. My doctor said almost everyone has a week of WD. This is only for people on a low dose or who want to get off of it so badly that they don’t mind feeling sick. This is great if used as stepping stone off of Suboxone. I would taper down and then use this to get off. You feel nothing and have cravings. Best for those on low dose wanting off"