Suboxone - Living on the Edge

[ViewsAskew]

Methadone doesn't cause that nasty behavior for me but other opioids do. I feel angry and clenched when I take most opioids. Thankfully, methadone doesn't do that for me. But, as Deb said, gabapentin can cause mood issues, too. If you've used gabapentin successfully before, maybe you're sure it's the methadone. If not, you may have to experiment to see which one it is.

Bob, it could be temporary. If it stays this way and you find out it's one of the other, you may have to eliminate that drug. There are several alternatives to methadone. If you've just started it for augmentation, you may need less of it in the future, too, which may help. You may be able to use one of the other drugs that are similar - tramadol, hydrocodone, oxycodone, and more.

To my knowledge, there is nothing to take to get rid of that angry feeling. It could be that an antidepressant might work, but that would be hard to figure out.

[crl363]

Thank you Deb and Ann. I appreciate your help! I feel better about this now.

Bob

[EeFall]

I am on 10mg Methadone and 600mg gabapentin. Since I have been on the Methadone I get mood swings and “mean spirited” often. I constantly have to be aware of it or it would be worse (snapping at people). My doctor thought Suboxone would help but he doesn’t have the special license you need to prescribe it (in the U.S.). Does anyone know of a way of counteracting the mood swings/meanness that the Methadone is causing? (Sleep and RLS symptoms are no longer an).

Bob

One other thing about methadone is that it can cause hyperalertness. You say that sleep is no longer an issue but that may mean that you are thinking because you are getting 6 or 8 hours of sleep at night that you are sleeping well. I have wondered before while taking methadone if one of the problems with being mean spirited is that the quality of sleep with methadone is less. In other words I think because of the hyperalertness that the type of sleep I was getting was light sleep rather than deep sleep and REM sleep. Deep sleep especially is needed, then REM sleep to feel refreshed and in a good mood. If I am getting little deep sleep and REM sleep at night but mostly light sleep I will be cranky for sure.

For awhile I had a sleep device (Zeo Sleep Manager Pro) that monitored the type of sleep I was getting, that is how I know this. It finally stopped working and when I went to purchase another I found out the firm had gone out of business. There may be other devices out there, but I think I gave up because of the high cost.

[EeFall]

I found a new sleep monitoring device. I almost purchased it tonight but then I thought I had better wait because of all the work I have missed lately. It is called Basis Chrome or Basis B2. They have an older model called a Basis B1 but this new one which came out this year for $20 more seems to have some improvements. I read some reviews on it from different places and I can't wait to try it out. It is a device you wear like a watch that tracks much more than your sleep such as exercise, walking distance, and heart rate. On the back of the device are the sensors and it is able to tell when you go to sleep, and when and how long you are in light sleep, REM sleep, and deep sleep. That is really all I care about knowing at the moment but it would be handy to get me back into shape.

I went to bed with my wife at 11:30 pm after watching a movie called the Big Fish. I laid there for an hour and a half, my wife was out within 5 minutes but then I decided I might as well get up. I did another dumb stunt, I worked Saturday and Sunday. Someone needs to support the factory and no one else was available so I volunteered. I said I would do it if no one else could, oh joy. It no doubt is the reason I am not sleeping. I can barely work 5 days in a row, I don't know what I was thinking but it is done now. I can't get my 4 hours of sleep now, it is too late. Either I will have to have my wife drive me to work (we have an agreement that I will not drive without at least 4 hours sleep), try to sleep in and go to work late, or take a day off which will look bad as I will be getting the time and half and double time overtime pay regardless if I work anymore this week.

Employees are dropping like flies at work with a nasty down deep cough. Another reason I should be taking care of myself and not working O.T. I have to be careful not to get it, I fear a common cold more than just about anything. I don't have a VPAP mask that goes over my mouth and nose so I wouldn't be able to use my nose only mask with a cold like that. It would guarantee many days without sleep. I just dozed off so that is encouraging, maybe I will be able to get some sleep soon.

[EeFall]

I fell asleep on the couch and got about 1 1/2 hours sleep, of course the sleep is terrible without my VPAP machine so it is much like having no sleep. My wife took me to work and that worked well. At least I made it through the day. Also I think I am coming down with something. Oh well.

[Polar Bear]

Sometimes it seems it never rains but it pours, and then it pours some more !!

[EeFall]

Sometimes it seems it never rains but it pours, and then it pours some more !!

I took an oxy Monday night and slept 5 hours, I was paranoid that I would not sleep again. At 11 pm tonight I took another oxy. Don't know why it is happening. I am going for a surgeon consult Thursday about having my shoulder worked on. The first cortisone shot lasted 7 months, the shot I had about a month ago is not working. Any little thing can make it feel like bone rubbing on bone. My right ear and tinnitus have been bothering me.

Tonight I put ear drops in and I could hear the drops spurting, popping, and cracking like a small volcano. That has happened before but seems worse. Curious I added drops to good right ear. Nothing at all, as it should be. I think it is pretty obvious that I have a ruptured eardrum. Is there no ending to this madness!

My left hand left 2 fingers are still numb. Thought they were coming back but just some days seem better. When I wake up they are always very numb. 58 years old and falling apart already. I would think this' 55 model would hold up better but I suspect running it into the ground didn't help

I'm whining again, I am happy mostly with my sleep and Suboxone. Any day that I sleep I should be extremely happy! You guys are a great support group by the way!

[ViewsAskew]

Yeesh....

[Rustsmith]

Good to hear these types of complains from you. Getting old can stink sometimes, but it is better than the alternative.

From a '52 model...

[EeFall]

Good to hear these types of complains from you. Getting old can stink sometimes, but it is better than the alternative.

From a '52 model...

lol - My wife dragged me to bed at 3:30 am and I slept until 6:45 am and went to work late. I worked which is the good part! A guy at work had the ear problem, he said it is just an ear infection, from the inner ear being full. So that is good too.

[EeFall]

Suboxone is working fine too bad my body isn't.

Tuesday night I had just taken my Suboxone and I started to get really dizzy and sick to my stomach. At first I thought it was the Suboxone but within an hour or so I was vomiting into a trashcan while sitting on the toilet going the other direction. This went on for several hours. My stomach hurt like before my hernia surgery in November. I actually had made an appointment a few weeks ago to see the surgeon about the possibility that the hernia had come back because I felt that strange stomach pain that now I know can only be something like a hernia.

I called up the hospital yesterday and the surgeon was on leave (I think she might be having a baby), the general was booked solid, and the nurse had me go see another doctor. Once I went in yesterday I remember her from seeing her before when I couldn't get in to see my regular doctor. I actually wish she was my doctor because she has been around a long time and knows her stuff. She had blood tests done and a few x rays, haven't heard anything today yet so don't know what is happening. She did think the hernia was back though.

It totally sucks because I was out of work 6 weeks the time before when they "fixed" it. There were two methods and they went with the easier one, the other one involved putting some kind of screen over the hole like speckling a hole in a wall it would have been a lot stronger - darn.

Then my right shoulder is out again. I had gotten a cortisone shot about 8 months ago for it, then another one about a month ago. The doc said it should last longer than 8 months this time and if it didn't I needed surgery. So I have gone to a surgeon and he had an MRI done that showed it is not just at the top of shoulder where they gave me the shot but also the socket of the arm. Degenerative Joint Disease is what he called it with impingement, and inflamed. So I am to go in Tuesday to have a surgery consult about that. So tomorrow I have appointment about the hernia and Tuesday about the shoulder.

With the Basis watch and Suboxone I had just jumped up to 6 hours plus of sleep the other day. Yesterday I slept 10 hours and 20 minutes, I suppose because my body is trying to fight whatever is going on. Before there was no way I could have napped during the day, Suboxone rocks! I just don't feel like going through another year healing up from 2 surgeries but I don't think I have much of a choice. The hernia, where it is, the small intestine gets stuck in it and my digestion stops that is why I probably got so sick, the food can't go anywhere when the intestinal tract is cut off. I haven't eaten anything more than soup since then. And my arm I can hardly do anything with it. It won't hurt at all and then suddenly it get caught and really hurts.

Can I blame this on RLS? Yes. Before RLS hit me I was running everyday and in perfect shape. Now I am fat and exercise makes RLS even worse, even with Suboxone. I suppose either of these things could have happened on their own but I sort of doubt it. The lack of sleep alone tears down the bodies ability to heal itself and you are at much higher odds of things like this happening. A sedentary life does not help either, not to mention most of the meds I have taken for RLS either makes me more hungry or makes it so you just gain weight period.

I'm just sort of ticked off at the moment. Before I had surgery I didn't know what it was like, now that I have had a few I don't want any part of it! Then there is 6 weeks recovery, maybe a few months of rehabilitation for my arm, and if I'm lucky after a year I will be back to normal (although I talked to a guy that took him 2 years).

[debbluebird]

My goodness. You have really been through the mill. If they put in the mesh for the hernia, it is possible that you will reject it at some point. Then some people do fine. I hope you do fine. With a bowel blockage, everything comes up.
My shoulder surgery is April 11. Total replacement. Rotator cuff intact. Five weeks in a sling, with no use. Then physical therapy. Normal use at three months. I decided to skip the injection. I just want to get it all over with.

[EeFall]

My goodness. You have really been through the mill. If they put in the mesh for the hernia, it is possible that you will reject it at some point. Then some people do fine. I hope you do fine. With a bowel blockage, everything comes up.
My shoulder surgery is April 11. Total replacement. Rotator cuff intact. Five weeks in a sling, with no use. Then physical therapy. Normal use at three months. I decided to skip the injection. I just want to get it all over with.

The injections just prolong the inevitable, I wish now I had done what you are doing first. I wish you well on your surgery.

[EeFall]

My goodness. You have really been through the mill. If they put in the mesh for the hernia, it is possible that you will reject it at some point. Then some people do fine. I hope you do fine. With a bowel blockage, everything comes up.
My shoulder surgery is April 11. Total replacement. Rotator cuff intact. Five weeks in a sling, with no use. Then physical therapy. Normal use at three months. I decided to skip the injection. I just want to get it all over with.

I am having surgery next Thursday, they are going to put in the mesh. Not much else they can do now. The whole problem started from the incision with my prostate cancer so now it will be 3 in the same place. It will be a different doctor, he seems like an excellent surgeon. My last surgeon went out and had twins the other day so I don't think she will be coming back for awhile

He was concerned that I had become violently ill he told me to go to emergency if it happens before Thursday again, my intestine is popping out of it again.

[Polar Bear]

Already surgery is planned for next Thursday ??
Oh my... things move very much quicker on your side of the Atlantic