Old 04-25-2013, 01:49 PM
  # 6 (permalink)  
Lyoness
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Orion spur of the Milky Way galaxy
Posts: 2,050
Hi pawsgal. I know how you feel. For some folks they feel great right away or fairly soon and for others of us it can take awhile, a long while before we start to feel better.

I am in recovery for heavy opiate addiction and am on suboxone as part of my recovery. I have read over and over that suboxone prevents PAWS and cravings and really wanted both of these things. Well, for me it has not been the case. I have had intense PAWS symptoms like deep depression and anxiety as well as near constant cravings at times. (I can only imagine how much worse it would be without the suboxone!)

We are all so individual in our biology and experiences, in how long and what we used and how that affected us so I guess it just makes sense that we are going to have a wide variety of experiences in recovery, too. And it is harder for those of us who have long and slow recoveries.

So I guess I just wanted to let you know you are NOT alone in this. And that it is really important to stick with your recovery even though it is still difficult. I have read and have come to believe from my own experience that the more we resist the cravings, each time we say no to using, we are slowly, incrementally changing our minds and bodies. And we are laying the foundation of longterm recovery with each and every time we choose not to use.

For me, I am 6 months into my suboxone taper and recovery journey. It took til about month 5 for me to really start to notice a difference in how I felt. To not have constant cravings and to feel stronger when the cravings do come. So hang in there. I know it is tough and right now you just have to keep your belief growing strong that things will change--because they will.

In the meantime keep doing what you are doing and hanging out here at SR. I've found that coming here is a real lifesaver, especially when cravings hit me. Take care. And congratulations on three months!
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