There are so many blogs and posts about this. Everybody is slightly different so some people have a few hours difference, but I will tell you what I know from dealing with myself and a lot of other people in this same predicament. I just actual got out of the hospital. I had 3 surgeries done on Aug. 12th, 2011. I have been clean for about 7 years now off heroin, but I started Suboxone about 1 1/2 years ago for my chronic chest pain for my very high anxiety(yes a lot of people don't know that Suboxone can also be used for high leveled anxiety patients too..who have generalized anxiety or panic attacks). They tried everything for it, and I already am on Benzo's (Clonopine), but I started getting sick a few years ago and got a lot of stress and anxiety and a doctor suggested Suboxone, which helped tremendously!To answer your question, I'll tell you about my experience quickly this last week. I tapered down to 1/2 pill(*mg Tablets) for the last week, and stopped the Suboxone 2 days before my surgeries.My doc. knew I was on it and I let everyone at the hospital know too(this will give you an advantage to them understanding that not only are you opiate tolerant but also are on Suboxone which blocks opiates. After I had my surgery on Friday the 12th, in the hospital they were giving me IV Dilaudid for the pain(which if you don't know is the strongest painkiller out there you can get..it goes up to 8mg), I have been on Dilaudid a few times and once it was for a whole year and 1/2, so I do have a pretty high tolerance for that too, but they gave me the shots, and asked it it was helping and I said not really because of my history, so they kept trying and gave me more. It slightly helped, but right when your out of surgery, it's really painful. When I got home and got a script for the Dilaudid, I was taking the 6mg every 8 hours (they said 4, but I'm not too shabby on the idea of taking opiates anymore since I got off the heroin(I usually take non-narcotic pain med.'s if the pain is not really really bad). I was using my prescription for the pain and than on Thursday the 18th, I got another script for the 2mg to come down off of.There's a lot of people in other blogs(like other surgery blogs when people are on suboxone and are going to surgery, or wanting to find out when they can take Suboxone after using)that say they didn't take their suboxone for 2,3 days and some say a week, and that they did not feel the pain med.'s at all.I have no idea why they wouldn't if they def. were not taking their Suboxone at the same time, because It worked perfectly for me(I am 29, 5'6", and 112pds)..as well as all the people i have helped and watched do the same thing...well when I mean perfectly, I mean it took some of the pain away..it's obviously not going to take all of your pain away, that's never possible unless your using heroin or too much of your med.'s. Anyways yesterday Sunday the 21st I took my last dose of Dilaudid (1mg...I was tapering down for 3 days and the last day I split the 2mg pill into half's and was taking just 1 mg for an easier detox). I took my last pill at around 5-6PM. Today I woke up at 3 am in withdrawal and took some sleeping pills and clonopin to put me back to sleep and ease the withdrawals, and than woke up at 6am again and couldn't go back to sleep. I waited till 10:00 am and took a piece of my 8mg Suboxone (because my Suboxone specialist..my Dr. obviously told me to take it as soon as I fall into a pretty good withdrawal or 12-14 hours later). I took that little piece which prob. equaled to about 3mg of Suboxone to make sure I was not going to fall into the Suboxone over-withdrawal, which is when you take it too soon and still have too much opiates in your system and you fall into a HUGE BAD withdrawal from it and you can actual die from it too(now the pharmacist I know who is my best friend says that it's not really common to die like that, so DON'T panic..but it does happen when people take it way too soon, their hearts stop)...so I waited about 30 min.'s and I didn't feel anything, which was s a good sign because I was testing to see if my withdrawals would get worse, and I'd have to wait longer(just in case, because you do NOT want to fall into a Suboxone withdrawal after taking opiates too soon, it's horrible!!!)..so since it didn't effect me, I decided to take my 2 8mg tablets about an hour after that(And this was just now about 4 1/2 hours ago). Now I feel brand new again and the withdrawals from the Dilaudid are completely GONE! Thank god. hate when I have to have surgery or something where you have to take narcotic pain med.'s because it's just too painful(I actually now HATE taking any pain med.'s, that's why I choose to take the non-narcotic(Ultrium also know as Tramadol) ones if I have something going on. So my last opiate was yesterday at about 5-6 PM and I took my Suboxone(the little test part at 10:00 AM..and than my 2 8mg at around 11:00AM..now that gives a time frame of about 15-16 hours after ingesting the pill. I have known people that I have been there and helped many friends and people get off Heroin.Oxycotin/Dilaudid/Roxi's/Percocets/and Fetanly and on to Suboxone many times and non of them ever waited the 48 hours that is "said" to do..even Suboxone clinics do not make you wait that long..It's said by many doctors I have spoken with that once you fall into a pretty good withdrawal (you don't have to wait it out and be in really bad withdrawal)..you can start your Suboxone. Usually the time periods I have seen that no one has ever gotten the Suboxone back-kick is between 12-24hours the most! Just as long as you are feeling the actual withdrawal starting, and you wait a bit till you get some leg and body cramps, the stomach being upset, and some sweatiness, and feeling like you are withdrawing and craving and slightly want to crawl out of your skin, you can take it..I would test it like I did just in case, and you'll find out in 20-30 min.'s if it's ok to take the full amount. You DO NOT have to wait till your completely withdrawing from the opiates and ride it out for 2 days...I don't know what some people may say, but I have dealt with helping a lot of people, have educated myself with my Suboxone specialist, Suboxone clinics, and other Doctors tained to give out Suboxone, and they all usually say 12 hours after your last use, but make sure that you are feeling some of the withdrawals for a few hours first, and feeling them starting to get a little worse where it's annoying and your craving to get rid of the pain, but your not going crazy full blown out withdrawing. I hope I helped you out a little. I had to take my Suboxone test with myself the 2nd time now after surgeries and going on pain med's and I have always felt great after taking the Suboxone about 12-15 hours after my last use.(And I have a very slow metabolism too, so I'm surprised). And also I tapered down from 8mg tablets 2X a day to 4mg a day and stopped it for 2 days..on wed. and thurs. and Fri. morning went in for my surgeries, and I didn't feel any withdrawal symptoms from the Suboxone those 2 days I didn't take it or the next morning, and the painkillers worked as much as they could(on my very high tolerate body) pretty well.Always think positive too, your brain is very powerful and if you don't think about it, it's not gonna effect you that much either. Hope everything works out for everyone!!.Let me know!! ;0)
There are so many blogs and posts about this. Everybody is slightly different so some people have a few hours difference, but I will tell you what I know from dealing with myself and a lot of other people in this same predicament. I just actual got out of the hospital. I had 3 surgeries done on Aug. 12th, 2011. I have been clean for about 7b years now off heroin, but I started Suboxone about 1 1/2 years ago for my chronic chest pain for my very high anxiety(yes a lot of people don't know that Suboxone can also be used for high leveled anxiety patients too..who have generalized anxiety or panic attacks). They tried everything for it, and I already am on Benzo's (Clonopine), but I started getting sick a few years ago and got a lot of stress and anxiety and a doctor suggested Suboxone, which helped tremendously!To answer your question, I'll tell you about my experience quickly this last week. I tapered down to 1/2 pill(*mg Tablets) for the last week, and stopped the Suboxone 2 days before my surgeries.My doc. knew I was on it and I let everyone at the hospital know too(this will give you an advantage to them understanding that not only are you opiate tolerant but also are on Suboxone which blocks opiates. After I had my surgery on Friday the 12th, in the hospital they were giving me IV Dilaudid for the pain(which if you don't know is the strongest painkiller out there you can get..it goes up to 8mg), I have been on Dilaudid a few times and once it was for a whole year and 1/2, so I do have a pretty high tolerance for that too, but they gave me the shots, and asked it it was helping and I said not really because of my history, so they kept trying and gave me more. It slightly helped, but right when your out of surgery, it's really painful. When I got home and got a script for the Dilaudid, I was taking the 6mg every 8 hours (they said 4, but I'm not too shabby on the idea of taking opiates anymore since I got off the heroin(I usually take non-narcotic pain med.'s if the pain is not really really bad). I was using my prescription for the pain and than on Thursday the 18th, I got another script for the 2mg to come down off of.There's a lot of people in other blogs(like the surgery blogs when people are on suboxone and are going to surgery)that say they didn't take their suboxone for 2,3 days and some say a week, and that they did not feel the pain med.'s at all.I have no idea why they wouldn't if they def. were not taking their Suboxone at the same time, because It worked perfectly for me(I am 29, 5'6", and 112pds)..well when I mean perfectly, I mean it took some of the pain away...I was still in a tremendous amount of pain..it's surgery, so your gonna be, especially as opiate-tolerate patients...it's obviously not going to take all of your pain away, that's never possible unless your using heroin or too much of your med.'s. Anyways yesterday Sunday the 21st I took my last dose of Dilaudid (1mg...I was tapering down for 3 days and the last day I split the 2mg pill into half's and was taking just 1 mg for an easier detox). I took my last pill at around 5-6PM. Today I woke up at 3 am in withdrawal and took some sleeping pills and clonopin to put me back to sleep and ease the withdrawals, and than woke up at 6am again and couldn't go back to sleep. I waited till 10:00 am and took a piece of my 8mg Suboxone (because my Suboxone specialist..my Dr. obviously told me to take it as soon as I fall into a pretty good withdrawal or 12-14 hours later). I took that little piece which prob. equaled to about 3mg of Suboxone to make sure I was not going to fall into the Suboxone over-withdrawal, which is when you take it too soon and still have too much opiates in your system and you fall into a HUGE BAD withdrawal from it and you can actual die from it too(now the pharmacist I know who is my best friend says that it's not really common to die like that, so DON'T panic..but it does happen when people take it way too soon, their hearts stop)...so I waited about 30 min.'s and I didn't feel anything, which was s a good sign because I was testing to see if my withdrawals would get worse, and I'd have to wait longer(just in case, because you do NOT want to fall into a Suboxone withdrawal after taking opiates too soon, it's horrible!!!)..so since it didn't effect me, I decided to take my 2 8mg tablets about an hour after that(And this was just now about 4 1/2 hours ago). Now I feel brand new again and the withdrawals from the Dilaudid are completely GONE! Thank god. hate when I have to have surgery or something where you have to take narcotic pain med.'s because it's just too painful(I actually now HATE taking any pain med.'s, that's why I choose to take the non-narcotic(Ultrium also know as Tramadol) ones if I have something going on. So my last opiate was yesterday at about 5-6 PM and I took my Suboxone(the little test part at 10:00 AM..and than my 2 8mg at around 11:00AM..now that gives a time frame of about 15-16 hours after ingesting the pill. I have known people that I have been there and helped many friends and people get off Heroin.Oxycotin/Dilaudid/Roxi's/Percocets/and Fetanly and on to Suboxone many times and non of them ever waited the 48 hours that is "said" to do..even Suboxone clinics do not make you wait that long..It's said by many doctors I have spoken with that once you fall into a pretty good withdrawal (you don't have to wait it out and be in really bad withdrawal)..you can start your Suboxone. Usually the time periods I have seen that no one has ever gotten the Suboxone back-kick is between 12-24hours the most! Just as long as you are feeling the actual withdrawal starting, and you wait a bit till you get some leg and body cramps, the stomach being upset, and some sweatiness, and feeling like you are withdrawing and craving and slightly want to crawl out of your skin, you can take it..I would test it like I did just in case, and you'll find out in 20-30 min.'s if it's ok to take the full amount. You DO NOT have to wait till your completely withdrawing from the opiates and ride it out for 2 days...I don't know what some people may say, but I have dealt with helping a lot of people, have educated myself with my Suboxone specialist, Suboxone clinics, and other Doctors tained to give out Suboxone, and they all usually say 12 hours after your last use, but make sure that you are feeling some of the withdrawals for a few hours first, and feeling them starting to get a little worse where it's annoying and your craving to get rid of the pain, but your not going crazy full blown out withdrawing. I hope I helped you out a little. I had to take my Suboxone test with myself the 2nd time now after surgeries and going on pain med's and I have always felt great after taking the Suboxone about 12-15 hours after my last use.(And I have a very slow metabolism too, so I'm surprised). And also I tapered down from 8mg tablets 2X a day to 4mg a day and stopped it for 2 days..on wed. and thurs. and Fri. morning went in for my surgeries, and I didn't feel any withdrawal symptoms from the Suboxone those 2 days I didn't take it or the next morning, and the painkillers worked as much as they could(on my very high tolerate body) pretty well.Always think positive too, your brain is very powerful and if you don't think about it, it's not gonna effect you that much either. Hope everything works out for everyone.Let me know!! ;0)
I too have been reading the horror stories and getting terrified. Knowledge is power. Talk to all of your doctors until you are satisfied. My Suboxone doctor gave me some written up protocol (because he doesn't have experience with his sub patients having surgery) The protocol called for going off Sub 24=36 hours before surgery.
After some research and stories, I realized this is probably not the best way to go about it! The anesthesiologist at the hospital said to have a pain specialist do a 5 day bridge with narcotics. My current Sub doctor actaully went to a seminar that week and talked to some collegues about what to do, so I didn't have to seek out a pain management specialist.
I am going off the Subs 5 days before surgery (for a huge cyst on my ovary). It is laproscopy, unless complications arise. They also recommended that I stay overnight to make sure I have adequate pain management, even tho' this should be outpatient. They have had many patients end up back in the ER and one even in ICU becuase of their reaction after surgery. My Sub doctor is putting my on Lortab 5-6 times per day, but said to take as few as possible up until surgery. I hope this works and I will let you know how it comes out. I am terrified - never had surgery before!
What has been your experience during / after surgery?
Talked to my doc that prescribes the suboxone. He suggests I transition before the surgery to something like Vicodin. So I have a call into my regular doctor to get a SMALL amount of that prior to surgery. Our goal is to get the normal opiates bound to my receptors and get the suboxone out of there. This is not easy to do. Supposedly Suboxone lasts 36 hours.
Back when I was still abusing pain killers, I would take suboxone for a few days until I scored Oxycontin. I was still able to get high from the OC if I stopped the Suboxone 18-24 hours before, but it took twice as much. So the key learning from all I've read here is that Suboxone leaves you VERY opiate tolerant.
My advice is get that info into their hands and transition back to Suboxone once you can. Suboxone has very little pain killing effect for me and it is not actually indicated for pain management. It's a medication to manage opiate withdrawal.
Hope this helps anyone going into surgery. I had pain relief. They used percaset with me and I did fine on it!!