Suboxone..the ''new'' methadone (for pain) article (and note from rachael)

[Guest guest]

Ive personlly never heard of this med. i was doing some news searches,

primarily for fentanyl for pain ect and this came up. supposedly its a new

medicine theyre trying out instead of methadone (i was on methadone for

about 2yrs and while i was ill at first/nautious/ it stopped after a few wks

an the methadone seemed to help take edge off but again with anything your

tolerance goes up so thats when they started me on oxycontin)

anyways here is the article and link. i copy/pasted the info for you here

but you can refer to the link also.

i hope everyone is doing ok pain wise. I was up til about 3am , woke early,

took my meds n ate a snack quick and laid down til about noon. in an hour or

so dennis is gonna do a quick clean up of pool so i can get in there and

just float and relax. much needed mental health day in the pool and i pray

it will ease my pain a bit.

ok sorry to go on here but here is the article and link below.

take care all and know i pray/think of you all the time!!!!

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* Healthy Living

*

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 7:06 AM EDT

Suboxone: the " new " Methadone

M. Noyes-Duguay, M.D. explains how Suboxone is used to wean

individuals off highly addictive medications.

Email this

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| Print this

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by M. Noyes-Duguay, M.D.

<javascript:thumbnailWindow('/articles/2008/07/21/healthy_living/doc487230c202ce\

4131335657.img',

728, 350)>

<javascript:thumbnailWindow('/articles/2008/07/21/healthy_living/doc487230c202ce\

41313356571.png.img',

313, 238)> Suboxone helps wean individuals off highly addictive medications

and can aid in pain management.

<javascript:thumbnailWindow('/articles/2008/07/21/healthy_living/doc487230c202ce\

41313356572.img',

120, 146)> M. Noyes-Duguay, M.D.

It always surprises me when I get another office phone call from a new

patient requesting to be put on a relatively new medication known as

Suboxone, also known as Buprenorphine.

Several years ago, I received a phone call from a colleague at one of the

local rehab facilities stating that he was looking for more individuals to

be licensed to prescribe this drug, as his practice, and everybody's

initially, was only allowed to be treating up to 30 patients at a time. He

convinced me to register for the eight-hour course to get a special drug

enforcement number to prescribe it. He also told me that a large percentage

of patients he was seeing were from the Westerly area. He failed to mention

that the course would be grueling, but, in the end, it was well worth it.

Suboxone is a medication that is used to wean individuals off of highly

addictive medications such as oxycontin, oxycodone (percocet), hydrocodone

(vicodin), and codeine. It recently has been found in higher doses to help

with pain management as well. Suboxone is also covered by most insurance

plans and erases the stigma of having to report to the methadone clinic

daily for medication. Not all patients qualify for this medication; however,

the ones that do tell me that the drug has c hanged their lives forever by

giving them their lives back.

To initially be started on Suboxone, a patient must be in the detox phase of

withdrawal, anywhere from six to 12 hours after taking the last dose of the

medication they are addicted to, up to three days later, depending on how

many opiates they are taking. Most people in detox feel very nervous,

jittery, nauseas, and also develop body aches. The detox can be done either

as an in-patient or as an outpatient, again depending on the level of

addiction to the initial drug. Once past the detox phase, the patient can

then be prescribed the medication and placed into counseling for substance

abuse therapy. This continues until the patient is ready to wean off the

medication.

Suboxone is under very strict regulation by the drug enforcement agency. The

last I knew, only 20 providers in Rhode Island have license to prescribe

this medication. It does not need to be prescribed by an addiction medicine

physician. As long as your physician has taken the class to prescribe it and

has his/her special drug enforcement number, it can be prescribed, making it

easier for patients to access it. Fortunately, most Suboxone providers can

now accept up to 100 patients instead of the original 30, due to the

medication's great demand and success.

If you have any questions concerning this medication of the proper direction

to begin starting it, please call our office at during office

hours Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please

remember, this is nothing to be ashamed of. I have had patients who need to

be weaned off pain medications after having only taking the meds for a week.

Most people cannot wean off of narcotics (opiates) on their own. Call to get

the help you need today!

* M. Noyes-Duguay, M.D., practices internal medicine with an office at

Primary Care for Women and Adolescents, 85 Beach St., Building B, Westerly.

You can contact her office by calling .*

------------------------------

MAMAorg wrote on Jul 21, 2008 3:03 AM: " Methadone for many is nothing more

then a replacement drug and those on it tend to make excuses as they do not

want to give it up. Some spend their lives trying to save the damage

methadone is doing to this country by misleading the public. Amazing how an

addict on a highly addictive legal narcotic is the addiction expert here,

not mentioning any names. "

TXDOC wrote on Jul 20, 2008 9:32 PM: " I am a licensed doctor that is able

to prescribe this medication. My patients say its a god send and that w/o

this med. they would rather have died than gone through withdrawls w/o any

help. "

Mike wrote on Jul 20, 2008 5:18 PM: " I sincerely hope that suboxone will

overtake methadone in the treatment of opiate addiction. The majority of new

clients at mmt clinics today are young people who have an addiction to pain

meds, and not heroin. The belief that methadone is the gold standard of

treatment for those people is a myth. Methadone keeps those people from

making progress in their lives, and suboxone is a much better answer for

their problems, in my opinion. "

Zenith wrote on Jul 20, 2008 10:53 AM: " Suboxone is not the " new

methadone " . It is indicated for those with milder opiate addictions--usually

those with Rx opiate addictions that are fairly light and not as long term

as most methadone patients. Patients who require more than about 60mg of

methadone to control symptoms tend to not do well on Suboxone, and the

average effective dose of methadone is 80-120mg. While suboxone is a great

new tool in the toolbox of addiction treatment, it is designed for a

different patient population than methadone, with some overlap. "

MAMAorg wrote on Jul 20, 2008 12:20 AM: " Long term use of this drug has

not been established. European countries are experiencing high incidents of

diversion. There always seems to be that new wonder drug for addiction.

Thats what they thought about Methadone and now it is the #1 killer of a

prescription narcotic in this country. Maybe the so called experts only know

what they read and assume using people as lab rats for there studies. "

B wrote on Jul 12, 2008 6:56 AM: " Painkiller and Heroin Addiction. Do

you know someone who needs help?

Buprenorphine is a medication, combined with psychosocial therapy, to treat

opioid addiction in the privacy of a physician's office. Since 2002, this

treatment has improved quality of life for patients and provided dignity to

opiate addiction treatment. (Buprenorphine, brandname Suboxone®.)

According to SAMHSA, there are 44 prescribing physicians in RI who are

publicly listed.

Find a physician: A patient can either make individual phone calls to

physicians or:

The National Alliance of Advocates for Buprenorphine Treatment (naabt.org)

Patient/Physician Matching System has connected 11,490 patients with at

least one of the 2,016 participating buprenorphine-prescribing physicians

since September, 2006.

This confidential System -www.naabtList.org- helps connect people addicted

to opioids to doctors providing medical treatment with buprenorphine.

Available 24/7, the free online service allows patients to look for help

anytime with complete privacy.

Patient registration is quick. A short list of questions helps match

patients to physicians with appropriate experience. All patient information

is confidential on a secure server. After the application is submitted,

emails are sent to physicians. The System then allows the physician to

contact patients confidentially by email.

More information: naabt.org "

------------------------------

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--

~~~~~~

Suboxone..the new methadone.

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