Your help is needed...Relapse Prevention question

Good afternoon,
I know this area is usually used for our Thought for Today. But I want to talk about relaspe prevention and believe this area to be appropriate.

How many of you have had cravings while taking Suboxone? And how have you handled those cravings?

I ask this question because I have a patient who needs some input. They have taking Suboxone for about 2 years now and have been doing very well in their recovery.
They do have some cravings though. So I thought it would be a good idea if I asked all of you what it is you do if or when you have cravings.

What stops your cravings? What do you do?
Self talk? Staying busy? Venting? Take a walk?
Tell yourself to remember what you have to loose?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
All the best,
Dee

Great Question...
For me,I have not had any real cravings since starting Suboxone.

When thought comes to mind,I replay that old video in my head. All that it takes to get the pills,all the lying and praying to get them and most of all to not get caught.
Caught in a lie with a Dr,perhaps one Dr. has talked to the other Dr.
The possibility that one Pharmacy has talked to another Pharmacy. Spending the day thinking of lies to tell to Dr.'s office and the Pharmacies.

The whole ordeal is exhausting. Not too mention,it no longer works,you just maintaning.
Geeez...It's exhausting just to think about it.

Also,I don't look good in orange....

I do have a question..
There is someone that came by my house that is on Suboxone. I was in treatment with her a few years back.
She told me she is taking at least 6-7 Suboxone pills a day,8mg.. I told her I think she is just wasting them and that it is addictiive behavior. I tried to scare her telling her she could OD.
She also takes xanax.

Is there anything other than what I said to her that could make her understand?

I still have things I want to share with you guys. I've just been so busy and I've had my grandson. He is going home either tonight or in the morning. When he does I'll be back to write

Your help is needed...Relapse Prevention question Dm_smb11

Thank for your input Marie,
I agree with you about your friend. For someone to take that many Suboxone is addictive behaivior. This is just my opinion and of course we all have one.
It sounds to me that your friend is trying to get high off of their Suboxone.
Suboxone has the cieling effect of 32 mg. That's only 4 - 8mg tablets. To be honest if I was to take four suboxone, I would be the most irratable person to be around.

A couple of years ago, my doctor allowed me to take 24mg per day for a period of time. I had been hit by a car and was in a lot of pain. She told me I could take the pain medication that I was given at the ER but didn't even want to get into that all over again.
So she increased my Suboxone to see if it would help with the pain and it did, tremendously. But at three a day, I was irratable.
I know I don't have to say this but I'm going to anyway because I care. Be careful around your friend. If she is abusing her Suboxone, she is not far away from a relaspe. If not already in one.
Taking that many Subxone, if she is getting them from her provider she is running out before her next script more than likely and needs to do something to suplement her until her next appointment.
Keep your meds out of reach/view.

You don't need that. You already have a full plate.
I doubt that she will over dose from the Suboxone alone. But to mix it is not safe. Not to mention the risk of another habit.
Addiction to benzos is nothing to fool around with and mixing them with other drugs can be deadly.
Most often when people die from Suboxone or Methadone it is from mixing.

How old is your grandson? I wish I was able to see my grandchildren. I have 5 and have never had the chance to meet them yet. I'm not sure if I will. My daughters and I haven't seen each other in years. We are slowly working on our relationship and a day doesn't go by that I don't think about them.
Three of them I talk to more than the others.
I hope that one day they will be able to let go of the past and open up to the future. Until then, I hope and pray.

Oh Dee,it breaks my heart when I hear ppl say they have no contact with there kids and especially with there grand kids. Daniel is 13 and the joy of my life. I thought at this age he would not still be coming over all the time. This is his second home and has his own room.

I'm sure come Sunday night or Monday he will call to come back. He loves to be with his Dad but his mother is out there. Him and my son do lots of fishing,hunting,4 wheeling so they spend good time together. My DIL doesn't want to do anything but sleep unless she has drugs.

I'm trying very hard to not have resentments hang on. I just told Beth last week about resentments and here I'm fighting it.

As for the friend that came over. It was a shock. I think she was messed up and out and came by to confess what she is doing.
I have no intentiion of having any further contact with her.

As for my meds. I have them in a small safe. I do that b/c of my DIL. I shouldn't have to do that but I've learned that I MUST.

Dee,I pray you get to have a relationship with your children again and soon.

I hope you having a good day

Marie

Your help is needed...Relapse Prevention question Th_ang10

This really IS a great topic, especially for all of us who DO take the Suboxone to help eliminate those all mind consuming cravings that hijack our minds at one point or another or constantly in some cases. Personally, I have been off of the opiate pain killers, other than Suboxone, for 3 years & one month now... so 37 months of recovery, thus far. I am not sure whether to begin with discussing my cravings NOW or if I should start when I first began my journey of recovery with the Suboxone. I guess that despite the person who is having an issue with this topic (or at least the brave person who has brought it up- thank you, by the way!) has been on Suboxone for 2 years, I believe that MANY of us still do have cravings & for me, mine were much, MUCH worse at the beginning. So I think that I will discuss my own cravings from when I began my journey to where I am today with having them. First, just to interject my own personal opinion about Suboxone though & despite many of our members probably already hearing this from me before, but I believe that Suboxone is a "miracle medication" that has saved my life, as well as the lives of the millions of others who have been fortunate enough to be able to go onto it to maintain their own personal hell of opiate addiction that we had previously been stuck in before beginning the Suboxone.
When I first began my opiate-free journey, I had tried countless times to stop on my own, only to fall right back onto my face & fail yet once again! Just a bit of my personal background to help my post make a little more sense, hopefully anyways... Suspect

I have been an addict to any opiate painkiller for nearly 15 years, though throughout the last 3 years, I have been maintaining my addiction with the aide of Suboxone, counseling, occasional 12-Step Meetings & getting through "one day at a time"- yet even that gets easier as the days go by, despite the fact that there definitely are & still WILL be times that I can instantly fall right back into the mode of "one hour at a time" that I simply have to bear down, grit my teeth, tighten up my boot straps & repeat the "Serenity Prayer" over & over & yet over again until I can get myself back into the “right” frame of mind. These cravings usually occur under times of extreme stress or when I “fall” into a state of depression or when I just do NOT want to feel like I am feeling at that particular moment. These are my triggers- things such as a family get together, the depression that prevents me from wanting to even get out of bed, the tears that still fall for the consequences of what my addiction has caused to happen in my life. Why don’t I instead feel grateful for being where I am today than where I have been in my past? That is NOT me! I am one of the most upbeat & positive thinkers, optimistic & hopeful. I believe in everyone else! Why am I unable to give myself the same credit? I think it’s because I can feel the pain that I have caused everyone else in my life as there is tension on both sides of my family. Also, my oldest daughter has recently moved in with my parents because she doesn’t like the rules here & is using my past as the excuse, as well as whatever else she thinks of that day. It changes with every conversation that we do end up having together. Mind you at 15 years old, not many kids DO like the rules of having chores & curfews, nor someone standing over them making sure that it does get done. I am so pissed at my Mom for allowing this that I cannot even think straight. She is putting thoughts into my daughters’ head that she would never even know about if my Mom were not choosing to tell her these things. My Mom looks at my daughter as her own as I had her at 20 & was a single Mother, so my Mom did help me out. Yet, we did not live with my parents & my daughter has always lived with me- quite happily, I might add. Yet, since I have been in a long term relationship with my sig. other & we have had 2 children together, well obviously my daughter & my relationship changed due to circumstances, as well as her getting older & finding a social life. Yet, she has always been treated as part of this family. Yet, NOW I am hearing about how much it has hurt her. I am the oldest of 4 kids & it didn’t hurt me to have younger siblings. And no one asked my opinion of it either! Nor did I have the option of deciding to run away because I didn’t like the responsibility that I had in being the oldest of 4 or the chores that were assigned to me because I lived & ate in that house. That is what a family is, in my opinion. I feel very betrayed by her right now & very angry at the situation. Her Dad left when she was 7 months old & has been sporadically in & out of the picture, but never, EVER to be able to count on for anything pertaining to her. I have always been her rock & now that I am not able to give her my full attention, I think that she feels all alone at such an awkward age. My Mom is doing back flips to give her every ounce of attention that she contains within her wonderful intentions, but now she has completely undermined me as a parent to the point of where I barely have a relationship with my daughter these days & when we do talk, we are both so angry with the other that it never seems to turn out to be a nice conversation anyways. My Mom is even taking her to Disney World in June! They went & saw the “Pirates of the Caribbean” the other night together. I feel like I am being “cut out” of my own daughters’ life right now & it is absolutely KILLING my insides. I try very hard to not even think about it because it just starts the sobbing if I let it take up too much space in my head right now. That probably sounds selfish, but I have to guard myself somehow. Wow I got way off topic there- sorry about that. I can tell you that throughout this time period, I have had many cravings to just "get away from it all" but I already know that by choosing that option, I would only make every single one of these situations worse. Therefore, to get through my own cravings, I try very hard to stay busy & luckily have 2 young children (3 & 4) that keep me moving even if I don't feel like it at that moment. I use the "Serenity Prayer" countless times throughout the day. I try to attend a couple of 12-Step meetings per week to listen to others & sometimes even discuss my own opinion on a particular issue. Also, that is some "free-time" from my kiddos as I have them 24/7 & it's nice to get away for an hour or two to talk to other adults, especially when it is others who are also in recovery. I try to get ideas of what or what has not worked for them along their journies. That is also why I love this site so much. I could never stand up & tell a roomful of people what I just expressed to all of you regarding the situation with my daughter. Yet, I have known for a while that I needed to get this off of my soul, but it has hurt so badly that the words just weren't even there to try to start to honestly open up about it all. Again, I apologize for getting off topic there, but I also hope that I have helped at all about how I handle the cravings that I am also currently enduring.

Thanks for listening!
Yours in this Battle,
Beth I love you

Thank you Beth.
Thank you both of you for sharing your experience. I'm sure that it will be of a big help. Right now, this person is having a really great problem with cravings.
I got to thinking the other day.
Why don't we have a craving or relaspe prevention hotline for people so they can call when they get those urges or cravings to use?

We have every other kind of phone line that I can think of. Can you imagine how it would help people if they were able to call someone who has been in their shoes before.
This is something I'd like to try and put into action. Smile

The more I think about it, the more I can see a need for it.
I'll keep you posted.
Enjoy your day!
Dee

flower

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