i have found suboxone a very effective pain med for my spinal stenosis. i am having a great degree of difficulty getting a doc to subscribe it. i am not an addict ( really no denial) but prefer this to vicodin or oxycodone both of which i have been given liberally. because i want to use suboxone for pain rather than addiction none of my local doc's will subscribe. I can get a script for vicodin , oxycodone , oxycontin & duragesic easily. why is such a less abusable drug so hard to get.
Yes it is a shame that they are willing to give you these much stronger meds, when you would do well on a "weaker" one.
Ask for SUBUTEX (it is pure buprenorphine, no naloxone).
SUBUTEX was developed to be used as an addiction med, but any doctor can prescribe it "off label" for pain. They do not need the special Subutex/Suboxone license -- that is only needed if they are prescribing it for addiction. They also do not need to use the DEA buprenorphine license number (beings with "X") -- again, that is only required when prescribing it for addiction.
There is also another form of buprenorphine called Buprenex (this has been used for many years for pain). It is in liquid form, and is traditionally given by injection. It can also be used intra-nasally (inhaled), but that is considered experimental at this stage.
I know of pain patients who are prescribed Buprenex and give themselves injections (under the skin or IM-intramuscular). Understandably, many doctors AND patients are wary of the route of use.
If I can find supporting info from a .org, I will share it here. Perhaps you just want to relay this information to your doctor. Remember to ask him or her...not tell. Doctors usually respond better when they can act like it's their idea.
I am subutex myself.
I was given buprenex originally for back pain. When the subutex pills came out my doc asked if i wanted to try them.
They are dosed alot higher than the injection. I am doing great on them.
It look like I am going to be on them for the rest of my life the way it looks.
So far I have been on either buprenex or now subutex for almost 8 years now!
It really can NOT understand why DR,s wont prescribe suboxone or methadone, ive asked multilple doc,s they say NO w/o an explanation
but like the earlier post said, they happily give me any opiate ..jeesshhh
A special DEA certificate is required before docs can rx suboxone. Addictionologists have such a certificate, but there's a hassle factor involved for other docs to get it. I think methadone has a stigma attached to it for lots of folks, including docs. Too bad because they're both great meds for pain.
