opiate dependence
"My experience taking suboxone was the complete opposite of what I thought it would be. I always viewed suboxone as the lesser of two evils between methadone because suboxone contains naloxone so you technically can't get "high". Not that I have anything against people who choose methadone as their recovery route, I have actually tried methadone In the past to actually get high and well... I succeeded lol. When I started taking suboxone I got really bad side effects after the first month of taking it. I would severely sweat to the point I wanted to bash my head thru a wall. It was so rough on my body. But my maintenance program doctor just said it was "withdrawals" because when you take the pill every day I guess you're technically withdrawling from the one you took the day before due to the long half life on suboxone. So his idea was to up my dose to 12 mg to see if the sweating would go away (I didn't see the logic in that idea too). Anyways it didn't so he tossed me some clonodine, which helped a little. But the side effects kept adding up such as headaches, severe constipation to the point I had to use daily enemas (not normal), abdominal pains came too along with nausea and vomiting (every day). It just got to the point where my mind and body couldn't be on the medication anymore. I was on it for 7 long months months even trying to ween myself down on my own. That was a struggle too seeing how the withdrawals from suboxone are supposedly worse than heroin sickness, which my doctor and counselor kindly reminded me after I was already hooked. It was a messy time in my life. Suboxone gave me severe anxiety which left me buying benzos off the street just to mellow me out. I went to a weekly suboxone maintenance program on purpose. To get piss tested weekly and to have a doctor and counselor help me move forward. But instead I felt I was moving 10 steps back. My only option to get off the suboxone (which was my choice, ^obviously); was to get the vivitrol shot and have 3 bad days of sickness but be off suboxone. Took me a week to build myself up to do it because I was terrified of how bad the sickness was gonna be. Choosing the vivitrol shot had to be the best worst idea I have ever made. I did get violently sick after it but it went away. Plus my doctor who gave me the shot helped me out with some comfort meds, so it wasn't all that bad. That was in December 2015 that I've received the shot and have been clean since. So my advice for any addict whose struggling on which route to take for recovery, just get the shot. They'll give comfort meds for the first couple days, then after that you'll be shackle free from drugs. I'm tellin ya, choose vivitrol if you need to detox. For others who take suboxone for other reasons such as pain or etc. power to you; but if ya'll are struggling out there and want to get sober quick, vivitrols the answer. Methadone and suboxone will just make you sicker down the road."