Posted by Elizabeth on June 13, 2002, at 21:48:19
In reply to Re: opioid stuff and dealing with doctors » Elizabeth, posted by sally green on June 11, 2002, at 7:44:54
> Hi Liz:
Elizabeth, please. But hi there. I think you were responding to Shelli in one of those posts, not to me. The right angle bracket (>) in a post means that the text on that line is from someone else's post that the author is responding to. So when I was responding to Shelli, parts of her post appeared in mine with >'s on the left margin, followed by a new paragraph (with no >'s) which is my response.
I looked at some more of your posts, and I think that you might be mistaken about the clinic you're attending; I'm not convinced they're doing anything illegal, and at any rate, I don't think you can get a prescription for Buprenex (for addiction) from your GP. Have you tapered off the Buprenex? It shouldn't be difficult; it doesn't seem to have any withdrawal symptoms (when I miss a dose I get depressed, but not sick). After that you're left with the problem of keeping yourself off drugs; I think the best way to do that is to build a stable life and a good support system for yourself.
Buprenex sure is expensive, yeah. I think that the retail cost is about $3 per ampule. There is at least one generic, but it costs about the same. How are you administering the Buprenex, BTW? I would think that they wouldn't want to give syringes to addicts. Or is it a residential program?
Buprenorphine isn't actually approved (by the FDA) for depression, but doctors can prescribe it for off-label indications if they feel it's indicated (addiction is an exception).
You're right that OxyContin can be addictive. But the media hype about it is preventing patients who need it for pain from being able to get it. This is a disgrace. Buprenorphine is minimally addictive; like I said, you shouldn't have trouble discontinuing it if you try to taper it. I've heard it said that it takes an addictive drug plus addictive behavior to create an addiction -- it's really true, isn't it.
I haven't found that doctors are especially careless about prescribing many drugs at once; you'll find that many people on this board are taking combinations (mainly for mood disorders). I take Effexor, Wellbutrin, and Trileptal (the latter for epilepsy) as well as Buprenex, plus several others as-needed (Ambien, Xanax, propranolol, Soma), and my psychiatrist and GP and both sensitive to the possibility of interactions.
> I know people who spend the rest of their lives on Methadone! What kind of detox is that?
That's called methadone maintenance, not detox, and it's by far the most effective treatment for opioid addiction. You should consider it if your current plan doesn't work and you end up relapsing.
BTW, if you're interested in discussing psychological treatments, there's a board called psycho-social-babble. There is also a newer board, psycho-babble about faith, for discussing religion and spiritual issues.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:93100
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020609/msgs/109742.html