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Upcoming Procedure


Posts: 2
Joined: June 23, 2015


Posted: June 23, 2015, 8:14 AM
Hi all, newbie here. Newbie to these boards, but definitely not to addiction, or Suboxone. To make a long story short, (I'd love to tell my story to anyone that will listen, but I imagine this isn't the correct thread?) I'm currently on 2mg, twice a day, sober since February 2012. Drug of choice: Vicodin, and about 20-24 pills a day. I'm also a bariatric patient, which causes even more road blocks in everything. So recently, on May 8th, I suffered a knee injury; a torn Meniscus.. In the ER I was very upfront with my addiction, so they injected me with Valium and it did absolutely nothing. I couldn't get into see an Orthopedic right away, so I barely managed the pain with ibuprofen. Doctor scheduled me for a knee arthroscopy for this Friday, under anesthesia. My sub Doc has now taken me off the Subs, and has me taking one Vicodin 10-325 every four hours to prepare for this procedure.one little problem: it's not doing a thing for me. I took my last Sub this past Friday afternoon, woke up Saturday and took my first Vic. Nothing. Four hours later, nothing. But the WD's kicked in, and boy did they kick in. So it's now Tuesday, and I woke up dripping with sweat, but freezing, horrible stomach cramps, and my depression has been magnified about 200%. I'm ready to throw in the towel and cancel this procedure, just so I can get back on my Subs; I can't take these WD's anymore, it's terrible! And I'm so afraid to tell my Sub Doc that the one Vic every four hours isn't doing a thing; I don't want him to think I'm trying to pull one on him, or that I've relapsed. And I certainly can't have my ten year old son seeing me like this; I've already fibbed and told him I have the flu, to cover for the WD's. I'm at a loss, I'm scared, I'm exhausted, and I'm done with the WD's. I guess I came here for some advice, maybe suggestions, support...anything. Right now I'd love to crawl out of my skin. Has anyone encountered anything similar? I'd almost rather live with a bum knee than go thru this any longer, I'm very very very close to canceling the procedure.thank you all in advance for any support or guidance, I'm so happy I've found these boards.


Posts: 57
Joined: November 26, 2014


Posted: June 23, 2015, 10:41 AM
I am on suboxone too and tapering down slowly. I would say dont cancel the procedure and dont lie to your suboxone doctor.. You might have not waited long enough to take the vicodin from when you stopped taking the suboxone, but Vicodin is such a weak narcotic, of course it isnt going to help your pain, espacially when you just stopped taking suboxone, but you are on such a low dose of suboxone I dont think the suboxone withdrawls should be that bad, Are you sure you waited long enough from the time you took suboxone until the time you took the vicodin? The half life of suboxone is crazy so they should have had you stop taking suboxone for at least a few days before switching to the vicodin... Are you sure you're not rushing your dosage dropping? You just want to make sure you do it the right way so you can stay clean when you get off. I think if you can just stick it out you will be ok, It's only temporary, remember this feeling wont last forever. You will be so mad at yourself later on if you go back on suboxone and raise your dose just because you were sweaty or clammy or take one too many vicodin then end up back in active addiction. I was on suboxone a few years ago and weaned off myself because I didnt want to be on it as long as everyone else was and I totally screwed myself over and ended up back in active addiction. Just trying to help you so you dont set yourself up for failure. I think you should talk to your suboxone doctor and tell him that you think your withdrawling... The doctor will understand they want to help you they dont want you to relapse and If you back track and get back on the suboxone or cancel your procedure you will just prolong this and have to deal with it later on and you might as well do it now when you have the suboxone to lean on as a crutch after the surgery. Keep me updated I wish you the best


Posts: 2
Joined: June 23, 2015


Posted: June 23, 2015, 1:21 PM
I thought it was too soon, myself, to start taking the Vicodin. But he's the Doc, right? I'm crawling out of my skin, and feel like I have the flu. When you weaned yourself off Subs, did you feel normal again? I feel that on them I'm a zombie, and my depression is awful. But not nearly as bad as WD's. I think I'll send my Doc a message and tell him it's not helping at all...because at this point I'm ready to just get back on the Subs before I do something so stupid, like tripling the V. Thanks for your input, I appreciate it very much. It's so nice to find others that understand what I'm going thru.


Posts: 57
Joined: November 26, 2014


Posted: June 24, 2015, 10:40 AM
Hey Lindsey, I have been on Suboxone since I got clean 10 months ago and yeah I can relate about feeling depressed and low energy, not to mention my sex drive is completely gone and I am always sweating my a** off with the smallest amount of energy exertion. Like literally my face drips with sweat and my back, and my bra is usually soaked its gross, and being hot gives me a temper, and im usually always hot. Oh yeah and I have been constipated since the day I got on this stuff. Its bad. I hate it I had the same side effects last time I was on suboxone like 3 years ago, the constipation and sweating is what bothers me the most, and no desire for sex, I can tell it bothers my boyfriend, but he is sweet about it. I had a problem with my stomach since February I have ulcers from taking NSAID's so we have been waiting for them to heal til I drop my dose so it doesn't aggravate my stomach but i think next week im gonna drop my dose to 4mg daily, right now im at 8mg but sometimes i alternate and only take 4..the nurse who runs my group said she has seen people have the most success doing that before you lower your dose so its not as much as a shock to your body when you actually do drop , so say like every 3rd day ill only take 4mgs instead of 8. the half life of suboxone is so long anyways i never even notice a difference.

well since vicodin is your drug of choice and you probably have a whole bottle sitting in your purse right now your on a very slippery slope, there is a lady in my suboxone group who had surgery (hysterectomy) with no pain meds whatsoever, just ibuprofen and tylenol because she was too worried about relapsing, i mean yes you have your suboxone as a crutch but you are also tapering off of it at the same time, i had my wisdom teeth out last year a week after i got tapered off of methadone and i was still withdrawling from the methadone and i ended up relapsing and here i am now.... so you really wana "play the tape through" as they say... if i were you i would have told your surgeon or whoever prescribed you the vicodin "umm i dont think thats a good idea, im a recovering drug addict and that was my drug of choice" i know there is probably nothing else they can give you but you have to be honest or your addiction is going to eat you alive. Naproxen might help (Aleve)?

If I were you I wouldn't have even put myself in that situation, having a bottle full of pills right in front of you, youre setting yourself up for failure. I know exactly what youre going through. I had my surgery last year, I didnt tell them I had just tapered off of methadone and was withdrawling, I WANTED those percs, and I took them as prescribed for the first day or two, but having detoxed off of methadone, my nerves were completely shot, my body didn't have any of its natural pain killers at the time because i had been taking methadone for a year and I was in a lot more pain than i would have normally been in, so I was withdrawling AND having surgery pain. I went back 3 days after my surgery and told them the pain was unbearable and got another script of percs. Was out in another couple days, and I was back in active addiction not even a week after being off maintenance therapy. Its as easy as that... I don't think I was ready for recovery at that time. When I was going to the methadone clinic I didn't go to a single NA meeting. I smoked weed everyday. I didn't do anything to work on my recovery. I don't know what I was thinking, Did I think my addiction was just magically cured and that I was healed forever?? I have no idea. Looking back I see how stupid I was back then, but that is what addiction does to us. I'm doing everything so different now. I go to NA at least 2 times a week and I help chair my home group from time to time, it feels good to help out and give back when for so long all I did was take, take, take. I have a sponsor now, which I never thought in a million years I would ever have. I'm a shy person and I'm not very outgoing but somehow I got the courage to ask someone who really inspires me and she is awesome. And I even started working my steps. I feel like I'm finally doing all the right things, but somehow im still depressed. Maybe its because everyday I am somehow reminded of what a s***ty person I was when I was in active addiction. And all the things I did when I was using that really screwed me up in the head, I don't know Im rambling. Back to you.

If I were you.. Knowing what happened to me with my surgery... I would go through with your surgery (tomorrow right?) You stopped taking the suboxone so you should be ok for the anesthesia... FLUSH THE VICODIN... Stock up on ibuprofen, tylenol and aleve, as soon as you get home or if your staying in the hospital (and are not having intravenous pain killers) take your suboxone(maybe even double your normal dosage since you will be withdrawling and in pain, it will help you feel better) and stick with OTC pain relievers.. That is what I would do. (If you are having IV pain killers after the surgery then wait about 12 hours or so until taking a sub so you don't put yourself into w/d)

The Vicodin is not a good idea. Trust me relapsing is not fun, I did it TWICE, and I HATED myself for it.. but now I know that being clean is what I want more than anything in this world and now I know how to handle myself in situations if I am ever somewhere or around something that I dont want to be. This is what I would do if I were in your position, I wish someone would have helped me or told me what to do when I was in your shoes . Keep in touch. I would give you my email so we could talk more but I think the moderator would edit my post take it down. I wish you the best. -Jess


Posts: 57
Joined: November 26, 2014


Posted: August 3, 2015, 12:27 PM
Hey Lindsey, How did your procedure go? How are you doing in your recovery? Good I hope... It would be nice to hear from you if you ever get back on here and see this :)
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