New New Strategy for Fixing Me

[Joanie60]

This stuff better be pretty dang strong or it will totally mess up my work.

God bless America, the world, and all its chemists! I sure hope this doesn't last (although I would be mad to want it to end). The reality check is I gotta work and pay the bills! In the meantime though I will sit here and enjoy it, after all the things I have been through over the last year this is like a party within myself.

Isn't it wonderful to have a safe place where we can be honest!!! I hope you have a great break today!!

And tomorrow you can move on to finding the right combination

[debbluebird]

EaFall wrote: Doc got back to me today. That new med, Suboxone, I take under the tongue. The doc said in note not to accidentally swallow it so I think I did exactly that. The dang thing went under my tongue alright but then it got way back there and I lost it. I spit, rinsed, everything I could do but I never saw it come out. I just gave up. Can it hurt me to swallow it?



When you don't get it under the tongue it doesn't get into your system in the same way it's supposed to. It will probably take longer to get into your system.
I hope you get your VPAP on so you can breath properly. All of these drugs suppress your respiratory system. Hope it all goes well.

[EeFall]

EaFall wrote: Doc got back to me today. That new med, Suboxone, I take under the tongue. The doc said in note not to accidentally swallow it so I think I did exactly that. The dang thing went under my tongue alright but then it got way back there and I lost it. I spit, rinsed, everything I could do but I never saw it come out. I just gave up. Can it hurt me to swallow it?

When you don't get it under the tongue it doesn't get into your system in the same way it's supposed to. It will probably take longer to get into your system.
I hope you get your VPAP on so you can breath properly. All of these drugs suppress your respiratory system. Hope it all goes well.

I am so dumb about some things and take them literally I put another one of the Suboxone under my tongue and lost it again. I called up the pharmacist to see if swallowing it would hurt me, how embarrassing, I did it right both times, I put it under my tongue and then it dissolves completely. The directions were trying to say not to put it in your mouth and just swallow the dang thing but to put it under the tongue where it goes pretty much directly into the bloodstream through the veins under the tongue. I thought it meant that a piece of plastic would be left over that I wasn't suppose to swallow

Also I noticed on another post in another thread that I wrote dyke when I meant dike The English language is not exactly easy is the only excuse I can come up with

As far as the VPAP the hospital sent me fresh supplies today for the VPAP machine including filters, a new mask, new hose, new nose pillows, the whole works, I am very glad I have insurance. Also the Suboxone would have cost me $190 USD but I pay $22 with insurance, if it wasn't a name brand it would have been $5 but I'm not complaining. I won't even mention how much Lyrica is, it is so much I doubt anyone would believe me (unless they purchase it themselves).

[EeFall]

I went to bed at 10:30 pm, my wife insisted so I could get a good nights sleep and get to work. I woke up with RLS symptoms at 2:30 am and stayed in bed until almost 3 am until I couldn't take it anymore. This is just because I took 50 mg less Lyrica (1 capsule) and 2.5 mg less methadone (1/2 cap).

I got up and made some coffee and some instant oatmeal. I'm sitting here and I have 10 minutes until I can take a shower and make it to work at 5 am (instead of 7 am). I don't know what else to do. I'm out of sick leave and vacation again. I feel groggy but don't know how much yet.

I'm thinking if I can go to work early then I can get off early too and make it through the day quickly. Then also no traffic to work or back so I won't get upset. Dang, I don't know how I will react taking on top of these other 2 drugs, Suboxone also.

And why in the H-E-L-L is my RLS coming back? Isn't the Suboxone suppose to take over for the other 2 meds? I'm thinking out loud, it must be that I am going through withdrawals from one or both of the other meds already. That is crazy! If that is the case I need to contact my sleep doctor right away and have him authorize time off until at least 2/4/14 when I am finally off both Lyrica and methadone. It would probably be better to get off until the 6th when my work week ends. Dang it! Why didn't he think of this? Am I so different that this doesn't happen to others? Or have there been no others? I don't know what the hell is going on, I'm getting upset just thinking about this - I gotta go get ready, I will think about it as I get ready.

If anyone has any ideas please share them, I don't know what to do.

[Polar Bear]

I'm just wondering if reducing your Lyrica by 50mg and your methadone by 2.5mg is too big a big step for the suboxone to cover. You are not only taking less of those drugs but your body may be showing its displeasure at the drop in dosage. There are others who know the effects and reactions of drugs better than me.

I hope you cope ok with your day at work - it is pretty disrupting in your own mind when you hardly know from one day to the next if you are going to be fit for work.

[debbluebird]

I misunderstood what you were saying when you thought the pill got lost or you thought you swallowed it. They do dissolve very quickly. I didn't think that you would think that there would be something left. Sorry. You may have already looked up suboxone, It has buprenorphine and naloxone in it. Buprenorphine is the opioid medication. Naloxone is an special narcotic drug that reverses the effects of other narcotic medicines. I got this from drugs.com
http://www.drugs.com/suboxone.html
So, as well as reducing you Lyrica and Methadone, the new med is reducing the affect too as well as adding an opioid. So, it's replacing what you were taking.
I think maybe you should try to get off work. Good luck.

[EeFall]

I never made it to work.

I realized in the shower this morning what was going on, I had started going through withdrawals already with the Lyrica, and maybe the methadone too. The same thing happened this summer when I detoxed off of those meds. I called in sick and wrote the doctor. He got back to me and I will be out of work until 2/6/14. It is going to be a long difficult road ahead I am afraid, I thought it might come to this but I was hoping it wouldn't.

The doctor got back to me and he will be writing me a letter starting with yesterday to stay home. There is no way I will be able to work and it will get much worse before it gets better. I sure hope this is going to work. I hope it is worth it. I have to stay positive but dang, going through this again and it has only been 4 or 5 months since the last time? I am glad that Suboxone may work, I didn't know there was anything else and with the other thread about going with the morphine and it not working very long either I thought my options were gone.

My work is not going to be happy and I don't think they understand very well just what I am going through. I may end up having to go back job shopping (being a contract engineer) again if things get much worse at work but at least I have that option. It is the opposite of retiring, doing what I want to do, it usually involves working hard, overtime, and living away from home. I would much rather just continue to work here until I can retire only because of my health, it is just too difficult on me.

[ViewsAskew]

Sorry it came to this - fingers crossed it works.

[EeFall]

I misunderstood what you were saying when you thought the pill got lost or you thought you swallowed it. They do dissolve very quickly. I didn't think that you would think that there would be something left.
I think maybe you should try to get off work. Good luck.

Of course you misunderstood what I was saying, what I said didn't make much sense. Turns out you right about getting off work too, it will be 24 days total - yikes

[EeFall]

I'm just wondering if reducing your Lyrica by 50mg and your methadone by 2.5mg is too big a big step for the suboxone to cover. You are not only taking less of those drugs but your body may be showing its displeasure at the drop in dosage. There are others who know the effects and reactions of drugs better than me.

I hope you cope ok with your day at work - it is pretty disrupting in your own mind when you hardly know from one day to the next if you are going to be fit for work.

You were correct on both points. I am having withdrawals. I don't know how Suboxone is suppose to work but it isn't doing anything to lessen the withdrawals of Lyrica or methadone, at least it doesn't seem that way to me. It could be, as with methadone, that the dosage for RLS is too small to help with withdrawals.

As far as working, I didn't, it would have been dangerous to drive and impossible to sit at a desk and concentrate. I have been going in and out of sleep all day. I am exhausted, I must not have gotten much restful sleep. I drift off for seconds at a time, I am very glad I did not attempt to drive to work.

[EeFall]

Sorry it came to this - fingers crossed it works.

Thank you. I could have sworn that I replied to this post already. My mind must be playing tricks.

[EeFall]

It didn't take long to fall into the abyss. It is 1 am and not only am I not going to bed I am on the verge of having to get up to pace! This is only day 2 of taking just 50mg of Lyrica less and 2.5mg of methadone less. Tomorrow it will be 2 Lyrica less.

[EeFall]

I now have my computer setup on 3 couch pillows so that I can type standing up. I doubt I will be able to sit down anymore, much less sleep. Lyrica is throwing a tantrum probably methadone is not far behind. I can now safely say that Suboxon does not help at all to relieve me of any of the withdrawals from those dang drugs! It is not like I haven't gone through this before because in the last few years I have lost count of how many times the meds were changed from stopping working or of giving me terribly symptoms. I would think I would be use to it but one doesn't get comfy with torture. I have also found the older I am the harder it gets.

I really feel for drug addicts who have to go through withdrawals like this, some are going through much worse right this minute too I'm sure. Society portrays addicts, at least in America, as evil doers but I think society should have pity on them. I think people turn to drugs for mostly two reasons, they are trying to escape a crummy life or they are trying to get more out of life. Either way they end up having a few days of euphoria and hell on Earth the rest of the time trying to feed their addiction or trying to get off their drug of choice and so have to go through these withdrawals.

I don't count myself a drug addict but the withdrawals are there all the same. When one is forced to take medications to function in life because of an aliment it is just part of the disease. This is just a part of having severe RLS/WED. Thinking back on the last 6 months and it has been something to avoid (mostly). A few surgeries, hospital stays, emergency room visits, and sleepless weeks. Good times too though of sitting in lounge chairs with my wife basking in the sun and listening to music as if we were teenagers again. Having the kids over with their kids (the grandkids), and seeing them all grow up and enjoy living. That is what it is about, to love and to be loved, and to enjoy the good times. Sorry for the walk down memory lane but I need it just about now because as I stand here and type I know the next few weeks are going to be one of those slices of my life that I will put away and forget. Months from now I will remember the good times and this will be as nothing.

[Polar Bear]

Memory Lane can be a very nice place to visit.

[EeFall]

Memory Lane can be a very nice place to visit.