Author: hatmaker510
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 11:37 am
Hi trailchick and welcome to the forum. Congrats to you on deciding to stop the crazy-ass chaos of active addiction and starting suboxone. I was in much the same position as you were. Getting scripts every month – running out early – buying off the streets, getting sick over and over again……same old shit on and on and on. Damn, I’m glad that’s over! Thank you, Suboxone! I hope very soon you’ll be feeling the same way!
You’ll only have to be in withdrawals for a short time. Check out this COWS scale (http://www.naabt.org/documents/COWS_induction_flow_sheet.pdf). COWS stands for Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale. It helps you to ascertain when you’re withdrawals are bad enough for you to start suboxone at the right time (to avoid precipitated withdrawals). Just remember, it’s not HOW LONG you’ve been withdrawing, but rather, how BAD the withdrawals are. They should be somewhere between mild-to-moderate.
During that time just try to keep yourself busy, active, and distracted. If you take something or don’t wait long enough, you could have precipitated withdrawals, and you do NOT want to have that happen. Before you know it, your appt will be here and your new life will begin!
Now, about what would happen if an emergent situation were to occur. Yes, we on suboxone would have trouble getting good pain relief. We would need to be given more pain meds than "normal" in order for them to try to "get past" the suboxone that’s in our system. And that can be very difficult, depending on the dose the person is taking. I know that can be scary. For me, I just don’t think about it. I need to be on suboxone and will be for a very long time. There’s absolutely nothing I can do if I have an accident and need acute pain relief so I just choose not to worry about it. If it happens, then I’ll deal with it when the time comes. But that’s just me.
I hope this helps. Ask away if you have more questions. Again, welcome to the forum Let us know how your appt goes!
