Author: hatmaker510
Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 6:21 am
Some doctors do it that way, while others don’t. It really just depends on the doctor. At least you know your doctor is trying to meet your actual needs…think of it that way.
12 mg isn’t really that high of a dose, but it surely isn’t a low dose either. 4 mg is generally accepted to be the ceiling, approximately where the opiate receptors get saturated at. Of course everyone is a bit different. Doses above 4 mg are to KEEP the opiate receptors saturated all the time (steadily) and vary from person to person based on what it takes to keep their cravings under control.
It’s also fairly common to be on a higher dose early in treatment and then a couple of months later go down to a lower dose that still keeps one out of withdrawals and comfortably addresses all the cravings. Getting down to the lowest dose possible will also keep any side effects down to a minimum.
Again, it’s common in the beginning of treatment to dose more than once daily. Eventually it’s good though to get down to once daily dosing. This is to get us out of the habit of taking something whenever we feel like we need it. Suboxone’s average half life is 37 hours, so really there’s no reason (unless taking it for pain) to dose more than once daily once the person is stabilized on a maintenance dose.
It’s kind of good that your doctor is letting you tell him what you need for the moment. It’s better than a doctor being rigid about too low a dose.
I hope this helps. You should keep feeling better every day. Take care.
