by Jack Lee
Suboxone: For those addicted to opioids this isn’t a miracle cure, but it’s a darn good start and for some it’s worked like a miracle.
Finally, those folks who are addicted to pain killers, legal or otherwise, there is hope for a full and complete recovery. Suboxone is the first narcotic drug available for prescription from a doctor’s office for use in the treatment of opioid dependence under the Drug Addition Treatment Act of 2000 or DATA 2000.
The primary active ingredient in Suboxone is Buprenorphine, which itself is a partial opioid agonist. This means the opioid effects and withdrawal symptoms from Buprenorphine are less than other full opioid agonists such as heroin, methadone, morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, dilaudid, fentanyl, codeine, hydromorphone, etc.
Thanks to pill pushing docs, we have nearly 200 million Americans addicted to prescription drugs. In most cases it started with chronic pain and the more pain meds that were prescribed the more the patient risked addiction that lead to stronger and stronger doses of various opiate based drugs. It is a trap that often ends with addiction, severe depression, loss of a job, divorce and bankruptcy.
What causes addiction? Well, for example normal exercise produces endorphins and you’ve probably heard runners say they feel a natural high after a long run. That’s because of a spike in endorphins from a really good workout or run. Endorphins make us feel good and they are a super pain fighter. Opiates create artificial endorphins. In the early stages they produce the same warm, good feeling just like our natural endorphins, however eventually the brain quits making natural endorphins and when that happens the only way you can experience positive feelings and pain relief is by using the opiate drug.
Suboxone is the best bet for allowing a patient to minimize the withdrawal process while breaking the opiate cycle of addiction. It also helps the brain receptors to reset to get
the natural flow of endorphins started once again. When this happens the addict is able to sort out the real pain and deal with it using the latest pain management techniques. As I said, it’s not a perfect solution, but it’s the best we can offer at this time.
If you or a family member are suffering from drug addiction you need to investigate this alternative treatment before it’s too late and severe damage is irreversible. In the Chico area you should contact Dr. Brandan Stark, D.O. (530) 899-2126 or Dr. Lal at the Chico Pain Clinic 530) 891-0325. There may be other doctors in the Chico area using the Suboxone Treatment, but as of this writing these were the only docs I could find.
For more information on the Suboxone Treatment click here.
A word of warning:
Suboxone is extremely expensive, and not all insurance companies cover it. My son got addicted to painkillers, and a pschiatrist put him on Suboxone. The problem was that he kept him on it too long, and he got addicted to the Suboxone. When he could no longer afford the Suboxone, he went to Heroin since it is cheaper and easier to get. On a positive note: He finally got clean after his third time in rehab. and has stayed off drugs for over a year now. Just thought you might like to know the down side of this drug.
Sue, I am very sorry to hear about your son and I wish him the best. If he’s off this junk for a year he has done incredibly well and that shows a lot of strength of character. But, heroin is a lifelong battle, once addicted always addicted, that damned craving is always present to some degree. You probably know this, but I am speaking for the benefit of our readers. If the addicted person is ever going to lead a basically normal life again then it requires a lot of family support and professional help and group meetings with others in the same situation for support.
I worked the illegal narcotic trade off and on for most of my police career and I have seen a lot of devastated families because of both legal and illegal addictions. Although my job was busting people for substance abuse you can’t help but be moved by their personal stories. I’ve found that even the nicest people you can imagine can fall into this opiate trap. This is not limited to the poor or to criminals, anyone could be vulnerable given the right circumstances. Just one time, one little experiment with the wrong drugs could get you addicted…it’s that dangerous.
In the most extreme cases I’ve seen, death would have been easier on the family. Drug addiction, and I am including alcohol abuse, just keeps on giving the family tragedy after after tragedy and it could go on for decades. This is why I hate those who make money selling illegal drugs or are doctors who over prescribe to the point they are just legalized drug pushers and I feel so sorry for the innocent families and victims of those so-called doctors.
Some day we’re going to have a cure for all addictions, but for now we have to make do with what we got. Suboxone has its downside as we’ve heard, but it’s the best treatment going right now. So, for those of you that may have a loved one that is in trouble with substance abuse, don’t wait another day…get help, because this is one problem that WON’T solve itself.
Thanks for your kind words. I wish I could get across to all of your readers how devastating drug addiction is to families. It almost ripped our family apart. We are just now beginning to heal after four nightmarish years. This is why I have no tolerance for those who want to legalize all drugs (such as hard-core Libertarians). Their argument is that if someone wants to destroy his/her life with drugs, then that is his/her choice. What they don’t understand is that drug addicts don’t live in a vacuum, and don’t just destroy their own lives, but also the lives of those who care about them. It is not a victimless crime.
While it is true that we may be losing the war on drugs, we should not give up fighting, just as we will not give up fighting the war on other serious diseases such as cancer and AIDS.
You’re right Sue, well said.
If there is ever any information you need or even advice, please don’t hesitate to ask, we might be able to help in some way. We want your son to beat this thing.
Jack … do you not see that you have not grasped the point?
Suboxone did not wean the boy off heroin. And suboxone or heroin … pain relief is the issue.
It is this culture’s approach to pain, emotional and physical, embrace and relief of, that is the issue … an issue that you steadfastly refuse to confront.
Libby, talk about a failure to grasp… Libs heroin isn’t pain medication, this is more often a recreational drug. But, lets say it is and for those other opiate based pain meds, well, they all reach a point where they are not effective. The user is now dangerously close to overdose and death trying to manage what they think is pain. After years of abuse the users is often not treating the real pain, but is simply addicted to the opiate. Their neuro receptors have stopped producing pain fighting and mood elevating endorphins and they are dependent on the drug for that now.
Only when a person is off the dope can they be truly evaluated for what is causing the pain, if it still exists. Many times there is no pain…it ceased years ago.
“Libs heroin isn’t pain medication, …” ???????
I give up.
There you go again, trying to isolate and misconstrue what I said. For the most part heroin was and is a recreational drug, it’s not been a pain medication since it was created for wounded soldiers in WWI. Some people abuse it because of real pain, but mostly its just a culture thing or a peer thing and they use and become addicted. How hard is that for you to believe?
Libs, how many years of experience do you have dealing with heroin addicts and taking classes on the subject and making arrests and sitting in on briefings and sharing stories with others like you about addicts and the heroin trade? Zero? And I have decades of experience, but somehow I’m just an idiot and you’re the expert…?????????? I give up.
I’m just learing about this pill and HEROIN…. I’m hoping this works for my daughter.
Carol, this new method will let her down for a soft landing, but she must follow up with counseling. Group sessions or whatever, counseling is a must because the problems that got her on heroin are still there lingering in the back of her mind and then there is the craving…which is now mental and not physical. It must be addressed. Up till only recently the failure rate for heroin addicts was over 98%, today that rate is much lower because of the new drug withdrawal treatment plan better counseling. Best of luck to you and your daughter…she absolutely must succeed because if she doesn’t she won’t be with us much longer.
Thank you for putting this out there for folks who may find themselves deep in an opiate addiction, and may not know how to get free. I was in this situation a very short time ago. I began having pain about 3 years ago, it just kept getting worse and worse as time passed, and I spent about two years trying to deal with extreme chronic pain. Doctors could not figure out what was wrong with me.. I had surgeries that were unnecessary, as we thought at first it must be a female problem, but the surgeries did nothing to alleviate the pain. I was diagnosed with Lyme disease, and sought treatment for that, but still found no relief for the constant pain. Throughout this entire time, I was given opiates for the pain (vicodin, then norco.) I knew that they were addictive, but did not know what else to do, and this was the only thing any doctor would give me that seemed to give some relief. I ended up, of course, needing more and more to get ANY relief.. by the end I couldn’t get through a day without exorbitant amounts of the nasty stuff. Doctors began to cut what they’d give me, and I understand their concern, but at that point I was heavily addicted and smaller amounts did NOTHING to touch the constant pain. I tried weaning myself down on my own, but failed a couple of times.. one of those times landed me in the ER..where they did NOTHING for me except chalk my frenzied state up to anxiety and give me a very strong shot of more opiate based narcotics..so I had relief for that evening, then was back to the same struggle, and now am facing the HUGE ER bill that is soon to come my way. 🙁 It seems that many medical professionals don’t even understand what the medication does.
I was absolutely desperate and was losing the will to live. Doctors were all treating me like a junkie, and that hurt.. and there seemed to be nowhere to turn. I swallowed all my pride and started asking around about where I should go for rehab. I figured it would be an extremely difficult and expensive process, but the only thing that could save my life. I am a wife and mother to school age kids too.. I could not go on this way.
I had requested a referral to the Chico Pain Clinic, (took my doctor’s office eons to get that to them, grrr) but I finally I got in for treatment and communicated to Dr. Lal how desperate I was to get off of these pills, and how bad the pain was. He was the first doctor to tell me the truth about what I’d come to suspect about norco.. that when you’re addicted to it, it makes your body feel extreme pain to get you to keep taking it. I’d asked at least 3 other doctors about that and was always told a definite “no, they don’t do that.” It is unbelievable to me — these doctors MUST know?! Every time I was told that, I second guessed myself and figured that something really extreme must be wrong with me for my pain to have escalated so high. Dr. Lal told me that these opiates most definitely create worse pain, and that with time away from them, my pain would decrease. He also found out, finally, after all this time, that I have two bulging discs in my back. He put me on Subutex (this must be very similar to the Subutone you mention?) I have not touched norco, nor have I been tempted to, since I took my first dose of Subutex. I had no idea that it could happen so quickly! I am now still struggling a bit with fatigue, but withdrawals otherwise have been almost non-existent. I have some pain from my discs, but I received an injection last week that should help more and more with that, as it takes 2-3 weeks to kick in completely.
All my pain is SO much less than it was when I was on Norco. I no longer go into the scary screaming and sobbing fits that, unfortunately, my kids had gotten somewhat used to. I realize that Subutex is addictive as well, so plan to only use it until my pain shot kicks in.. I would like to get off of it as soon as possible, but it surely has been a Godsend and an answer to many prayers for getting me out of the wicked trap of norco. There IS so much hope, and I’m so grateful to finally be on the road to recovery, and out of the dark, terrifying trap that felt so overwhelming.
Tracy thank you for sharing your story with us. You sound like someone who is determined to be the author of her own fate. I wish you all the best and hope you find a treatment that works and allows you to live a more normal life.
As a fellow pain sufferer I can relate to the stress and the sense of desperation that goes along with the constant pain. It’s easy to begin to feel that there is no hope and that nothing will help.
I’m also a mother (and grandmother). Being a mother is the most important job in the world in my book. Raising children to be happy productive people in this world is a big challenge and I wish you all the best in that important job as well.