Live data from Hacker News

The Anti-Addiction Pill That's Big Business For Drug Dealers

npr.org

31–40 of 47 posts

Re: The Anti-Addiction Pill That's Big Business For Drug Dealers

#31
Suboxone has helped me beat my 6 year long opiate (heroin) addiction. It has it's own issues. I'm lucky enough to live in Australia, where it was simple to get on the program, and it costs me $5 per day (less if I pay two weeks in advance).

I'm currently on 8mg, down from 28mg a year and a half ago. Ask me anything :)

Ps. I'm writing a book based on my experiences at the moment. You can find a draft chapter here: http://jgirvin.com/the-things-we-do.html

Re: The Anti-Addiction Pill That's Big Business For Drug Dealers

#32

What about ibogaine? It's a naturally occurring substance and has been used to treat addictions for all sorts of hard recreational drugs. It's also the prime drug that's always mentioned when talking about breaking addictions. Hell, it has entire religious movements dedicated to it. It's the Lisp of drugs.

It's certainly no miracle cure, nor is it even particularly effective for a lot of addicts. Two of my aquantinces attempted it. One stayed clean afterwards for about six months, the other was back on it in weeks (he passed away a year later due to an overdose).

Of course, n=2 does not a theory make, however their experiences certainly put me off it enough to not attempt it. I'm on Suboxone ORT instead.

Re: The Anti-Addiction Pill That's Big Business For Drug Dealers

#33

Only take bupenorpine if you are really addicted to heroine. Doctors who prescribe for opiate addiction are allowed only 100 patients. They(Doctors) will drag you in for needless expensive visits. I say only if you are really addicted to opiates, because I see people switching to this drug because they "think" they are addicted. The drug is not something you want to get addicted too. If you do end up on this drug, tr…

Delirium Tremens is no laughing matter. Most alcoholics won't get it when they go through withdrawal, but those that do will very likely die without medical treatment. With modern medical treatment, the death rate is 'merely' "5 to 15%".

I don't think most people treat alcoholism as seriously as it deserves; myself included.

Re: The Anti-Addiction Pill That's Big Business For Drug Dealers

#34
post #23

Only take bupenorpine if you are really addicted to heroine. Doctors who prescribe for opiate addiction are allowed only 100 patients. They(Doctors) will drag you in for needless expensive visits. I say only if you are really addicted to opiates, because I see people switching to this drug because they "think" they are addicted. The drug is not something you want to get addicted too. If you do end up on this drug, tr…

Despite its flaws, calling the 12 step program a "dance" is pretty offensive. This coming from a someone who's father died of alcohol withdraw when I was young, and 4 immediate family members in the program. *edit: Also, while your post was primarily about this pill and addiction surrounding it, I can assure you my father wasn't like "Jerry Garcia.(huge addiction, obese, and diabetic, etc)." In fact, he was in his mi…

As this is not Facebook, I have a hard time understanding why your feelings matter. To make matters worse, that "dance" comment had close to nothing to do with what he was saying, making your -and my- comment an utter waste of thread-space.

Re: The Anti-Addiction Pill That's Big Business For Drug Dealers

#35
post #33

Only take bupenorpine if you are really addicted to heroine. Doctors who prescribe for opiate addiction are allowed only 100 patients. They(Doctors) will drag you in for needless expensive visits. I say only if you are really addicted to opiates, because I see people switching to this drug because they "think" they are addicted. The drug is not something you want to get addicted too. If you do end up on this drug, tr…

Delirium Tremens is no laughing matter. Most alcoholics won't get it when they go through withdrawal, but those that do will very likely die without medical treatment. With modern medical treatment, the death rate is 'merely' "5 to 15%" . I don't think most people treat alcoholism as seriously as it deserves; myself included.

Agreed in that few people treat it with the seriousness it deserves. In fact it's almost a joke for many people - "haha, I'm such an alcoholic" etc. I'm sure if they'd ever seen the real effects of alcoholism they'd think twice about throwing terms like that around.

I drink a decent amount of beer and wine so I'm pretty far from tee-total, but misusing the term "alcoholism" bugs me a great deal.

Re: The Anti-Addiction Pill That's Big Business For Drug Dealers

#36

Only take bupenorpine if you are really addicted to heroine. Doctors who prescribe for opiate addiction are allowed only 100 patients. They(Doctors) will drag you in for needless expensive visits. I say only if you are really addicted to opiates, because I see people switching to this drug because they "think" they are addicted. The drug is not something you want to get addicted too. If you do end up on this drug, tr…

> Ten percent a day. Doctors won't tell you this because of the small chance you die--liability. Why taper that fast? What's the rush? Most people seem to assume that if a drug has a shorter half life it means you can taper off it faster, but I've never seen any evidence (albeit I'm not an expert) that the speed at which your neural chemistry can reset itself is at all correlated with the half life of the drug.

Its not fast if you consider its 10‰ of previous dose. As you approach zero dosage reductions get smaller. Rule of thumb I've seen is 30‰ every 4 days. Close enough.

Re: The Anti-Addiction Pill That's Big Business For Drug Dealers

#37
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the addiction is still present. If I stop taking suboxone I will start feeling a little bad (depression, etc) by day 2 and will start withdrawing (feels like a really bad cold) on day 3. By day 4, I would be throwing up and unable to move/function. The only downside of suboxone is that due to its long half-life, the withdrawals last a long, long time. With heroin you are out of the woods by day 4 or 5, but with…

It is immediately clear that is too addictive for all but the worse cases. What would happen if instead of taking this stuff you were supervised by a physician during withdrawal? Would you be addiction free after 2 weeks?

Addiction is not just a physical process. I chose to go on Suboxone as dealing with the mental effects, the life changes I needed to make, and my already existing depression on top of heroin withdrawal was infeasible.

So, while yes, the "physical" part may be done, the rule of thumb that my clinic gave me was "Half the time you were addicted". I was an addict for 6 years, they work on 3 years clean before I'm truly "cured".

Re: The Anti-Addiction Pill That's Big Business For Drug Dealers

#38
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So does this mean that the opiate addiction is still present, but satisfied by suboxone? In other words, if you stopped taking suboxone, would the heroin craving come back?

Heroin cravings never leave, it's the physical withdrawal you want to avoid.

Mm, that's not completely true, however it depends on how you define "cravings". In my experience, anyway.

Re: The Anti-Addiction Pill That's Big Business For Drug Dealers

#39
post #21

Ibogaine treatment is the best way to get over heroin addiction (apart from strong will power of course).

I was going to write something much stronger in response to this, but I've decided this will suffice:

You are wrong, and frankly generalisations like that will get people killed.

Re: The Anti-Addiction Pill That's Big Business For Drug Dealers

#40

Only take bupenorpine if you are really addicted to heroine. Doctors who prescribe for opiate addiction are allowed only 100 patients. They(Doctors) will drag you in for needless expensive visits. I say only if you are really addicted to opiates, because I see people switching to this drug because they "think" they are addicted. The drug is not something you want to get addicted too. If you do end up on this drug, tr…

As someone on Bupe, you're very correct with a lot of this post. ORT is not something to be taken lightly. It saved my life, career, and future, but that's because my situation was extreme.

You pop some oxy pills once a week? You're not addicted physically. You don't need bupe, you need support (professional and family, preferably) and a desire to stop.

That said, suboxone was a life saver for me -- but it's still not great to have the orange, citrus handcuffs. I'm on 8mg down from 28mg 1.5 years ago, and it's not been easy.

Well worth it, though.

Post reply on HN