1 week check up!

[kittens5]

Hi there! Just wanted to report that I went to see the psychiatrist/addictionologist for my 1 week check up. All is well. He wants me to stay on the plan of taking 12mg of Suboxone. He gave me a Rx for a month, and sent me on my way! It's so nice not to have to go back to see him for a month! Those co-pays add up!! The last few months were so bad, just from taking so many pills....I spent over $400 last month alone, just in co-pays and medicine! I had to pay cash for the meds since I was refilling them early..and so often!! It sucked! Now it's going to take me a few months just to catch up from all that...but, it'll be okay. At least I'm getting better!! Getting off the oxycodone and on the Suboxone is the best thing that's happened to me in a long long time!!! I feel great!!! :ghug2

[emmer]

gee your doing great Kittens!!! Nice going !!

[bval]

That stuffs a miracle if you ask me. It almost makes it like the horrible addiction never happened, doesn't it? It's nice to feel and think normally again, isn't it?

I will say, though, it's not a picnic getting off of the stuff. It's not as bad as methadone, but it's still pretty rough. You'll wanna get your dose down real low before you quit, so if I were you, I might start experimenting with taking a little less. I dropped from 12 to 8mg overnight after about a month, and from 8 to 4mg overnight after about 3 months, and from 4mg to 2mg after 6 months. They were all pretty dang easy to do, esp. since I had someone hold my pills for me once I went from 8 to 4mg.

Glad you're doing so well

[kittens5]

I have 6 more days at 12 mg, then drop to 8mg, and stay on that dose until I see him on Feb 12th. He said it takes awhile to get off the stuff...and I plan on doing it as slow & confortable as possible. I know there will be withdrawals, but anything I can do or take to make it easier...I'm all for it!

I need to get my liver enzymes back in normal range, and I need to get clean and stay clean without missing any more time from work. I've already missed a fair amount of time...I took a week off back in May to detox, and failed miserably! I tried Clonadine and Valium that time. I also missed a few other days with various illness, iron infusion, ultrasounds, egd/colonoscopy, and ER visits for abdominal pain, which was severe constipation from the pills...and the other one a couple of weeks ago, I was urinating blood. They gave me meds for that, and I'm fine now! I've had numerous doctor appointments, which I'm sure shows up on their statement, since they pay my health benefits. I'm sure they aren't real thrilled with all my claims in the last couple of years! I'm not real thrilled with all the co-pays on my credit cards, along with thousands of dollars of other debt. ($30,000.) With the economy the way it is, I am holding on to my medical receptionist/scheduling job for dear life!!!

The doctors I work for don't offer FMLA, so we can't afford to get sick around there!! The law is that if you have less than 50 employees, you aren't required to offer FMLA. I've worked there a few years now, and feel pretty secure there, but I still, I don't want to push my luck! I have a LOT of credit card debt that depends on me keeping that job! Sad, but true!! ;(

Have a good weekend!!! I'll be going to meetings, doing laundry and I might even attempt a trip to the gym!! Very exciting stuff!!! :ghug2

[Stagebear]

Our stories sound similar, Kittens. I have some of the same fears and a lot of the same history. I have no idea whether I'll have a job when all of this settles.
I am on suboxone, but only for a few days while I participate in out patient detox from percocet. I'm glad because (speaking for myself only) the longer I stay on it, the more psychologically dependent I'm likely to become.
i am to leave for 12 hours of outpatient detox in about an hour and find myself already focused on getting the sub. That said. I don't feel any real withdrawal this morning at all. That's after taking 8mg. sub last night at 9PM ( I think...it may have been 4 mg.) and a trazodone for sleep.
Thanks for sharing your story!

[kittens5]

I hope all goes well with you...and your job. It's hard enough quitting pills & alcohol without the added anxiety of losing your job! I guess all we can do is get off the **** and hopefully still have our jobs!!!

I feel I will be on the Suboxone for quite awhile. I know myself, and because of my attempt at detox once last May....I know I can't rush it. I was taking Norco back then, and got off it using Clonadine & Valium, and felt great for about a week, and then I went to a new pcp and got a Rx for Norco 10's! I had been taking the 5's before! lol! Yep, I'm an addict, no question there!!

I am not ready to get off the Suboxone after only a week. I hope that after awhile of living normal, I will be able to get off the Suboxone, slowly but surely....but it will be way down the road.

If I have to be addicted to something right now...I'd prefer it be Suboxone. I'd much rather take a Suboxone a day for the rest of my life than to go back to taking 20-30 oxycodones and a bottle of wine or vodka every day!!! My body already feels so much better from not doing that!!! My liver is probably working on repairing itself as we speak!!!

Of course everyone is different, and I'd prefer to be on nothing...but for right now, that's not possible for me. Everyone has to do what is right for them. I wish I could be one of those who just gets off it CT, and never goes back! I admire those people who can do that.

Take care and keep me posted! I'm off to shower and hit a meeting before going grocery shopping!!! Fun times!!! Have a good day! :ghug2