Hi Peeps!
I've answered this one a bunch of times, so I copied my answer to post to you. Here it is:
I was in a very similar situation, college-educated, professional-type with a pain mgt problem, exacerbated by a using boyfriend. Expensive habit, isn't it?
I went to NA to get help. I had to end up going to an addictionologist to get off pain pills. I personally didn't have any luck with tapering schedules. I tried like, 100 of them. I didn't have any luck with cold-turkey either. My addictionologist, Dr. prescribed meds that helped enormously. It took a few months of suboxone, but I don't regret it. It helped me get my life together. It gave me a chance to ease off opiates and get my natural endorphins to gradually kick in without the major mind-numbing depression that a lot of long-term opiate addicts face.
I ended up breaking up with the b/f. I wanted to anyway, just didn't know how to do it with that monkey on my back. Suboxone gave me the freedom to do it. It isn't for everyone. It doesn't get you high, just "well." So if you aren't done getting high, don't waste your money. Also, it isn't for anyone who isn't physically addicted, or as they say physically dependant, on opiates. It isn't for casual or even frequent users. It isn't at all needed for that. In fact, if you aren't hooked on opiates, you could make your problem much worse by going on Suboxone, because it will make you dependant. It's what worked for me, and it took quite some time to get off of it. IMO, suboxone is the court of second-to-last resort. Methadone, from what I hear, is even harder to kick, and it also gets you high. So that's last-resort, for me. I would only try that if suboxone didn't work for my pain and all. But it did.
You need to go to NA and get a network of recovery friends, IMO. That's key to dealing with the feelings you've been shoving away with the drugs.
KJ