ATTENTION NEW MEMBERS

Hello to all. My name is Monica. I am currently in Suboxone treatment and I am tapering off of the medication. I am also very active in NA in my community, which is a very small town making the anonymous part a problem, and as most of you know NA frowns on maintenance medications. A friend and I are working to develop some type of real world group that includes the spirituality and practical parts of the NA 12 steps with support and knowledge of maintenance medication. If anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate any input any of you may have.

I will post more of my personal story when I have more time, but I would like to say that Suboxone has been a very important part of my recovery. I feel that the Suboxone allowed me to be relieved of my compulsion to use drugs so that I could concentrate on working on the things that really made me an addict and that was the many issues I was either trying to avoid or numb the pain from. In my experience the most effective combination for recovery is maintenance medication and support groups. Recovery is hard work regardless of which road you take and contrary to what many abstinence based support groups believe, Suboxone is not replacing one drug for another when it is taken appropriately and combined with an effective program of recovery that helps the individual develop the coping strategies that allow people to deal with life on life's turns that so many of us didn't develop prior to becoming addicts or during our addictions. I would also like to say that I have cut my dose in half over the last year under my doctor's supervision and have experienced no withdrawal symptoms at all. Also for those of you whose abuse profile is high who have been told that Suboxone may not be an appropriate treatment for those with very high tolerances or very long standing substance abuse problems, I would like to say that I used for nearly 15 years before I ever even tried to get clean and I don't get into specifics about my drug of choice and dosages but I will say that the amounts of opiates I used should have killed me and Suboxone is working for me much better than the methadone I was originally told to try (which was very unsuccessful in my case).

Remember recovery is a journey to be taken not a destination to be reached. Enjoy the journey and celebrate the gift of recovery every day. Never forget the hell you have lived and hopefully you will never wish to live it again. Good Luck to each and every one of you in your journey. I look forward to reading your posts.

Monica,

Hello and welcome, ( I know you've been a member for a while but it's your first post I believe).

I love the idea you have for the support group. I thought about doing that where I am. A group of people could get together that are all on maintenance medication. There is nothing around like that.

I love your attitude about recovery, I feel the same way. When you said the following:

"Remember recovery is a journey to be taken not a destination to be reached. Enjoy the journey and celebrate the gift of recovery every day. Never forget the hell you have lived and hopefully you will never wish to live it again."

I do enjoy and celebrate the gift I have been given thats called RECOVERY !
I wake up every day HAPPY, happy that I wont have to feel the hell that I was in just 5 short months ago.

I cant wait to read more about your tapering since I'm new to Suboxone.

Thank you for responding.

[b]I Love This.

Remember recovery is a journey to be taken not a destination to be reached. Enjoy the journey and celebrate the gift of recovery every day. Never forget the hell you have lived and hopefully you will never wish to live it again."

Marie,

Isnt that a great line !!!

[i][b]
Blue Eyes,it will probably be my new saying.