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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Why Am I Experiencing Unbearable Pain After Discontinuing Subutex?

My dr took me from 80 mg OxyContin four times a day with 15mg of oxycodone four time a day for break thru to 8mg four times a day of subutex even though I did not want to change. A week later he switched me to 60 mg of morphine er four times a day. I m in terrible pain and don t think this can be good for my body to switch meds like this so often. Why would he put me on subutex that blocks the opiates and then put me back on an opiate? It s been two weeks now and I m sure the subutex is out of my system however my pain is unbearable! Any suggestions on what to do? I took the test that tells you how fast your metabolism is to see why I was having to take such a high dose of meds in the first place and found out that my metabolism is so extremely fast that that is why the medicine doesn t last very long in my system. I feel like something isn t right here. Isn t there a different medicine that I could take? My dr acts like these are the only pain meds out there. Oh I have also tried fentanyl patches and methadone. Both of these made me very sick. I m doing physical therapy. I ve tried cortizone shots and have had surgery that fused c6c7discs. I now have another herniated disc and a pinched nerve. I m in so much pain and at my wits end!
Thu, 6 Feb 2014
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Addiction Medicine Specialist 's  Response
Hi,

Subutex does not block opioid receptors, but is a partial agonist of opioid receptors. It has analgesic effects and therefore, when it is stopped, withdrawal symptoms include body aches. Since it is a long acting drug, the withdrawal starts after a day or so and usually is over by a week to ten days. But in your case, it seems to have lasted longer. There are analgesics other than opioids, like naproxen, ketorolac etc, but I do not think you will find them effective after having been on opioids for so long. In my opinion, you should clearly discuss with your doctor what his long term plans are for you and what his reasons were for changing your medicines so frequently.

Best wishes.
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Why Am I Experiencing Unbearable Pain After Discontinuing Subutex?

Hi, Subutex does not block opioid receptors, but is a partial agonist of opioid receptors. It has analgesic effects and therefore, when it is stopped, withdrawal symptoms include body aches. Since it is a long acting drug, the withdrawal starts after a day or so and usually is over by a week to ten days. But in your case, it seems to have lasted longer. There are analgesics other than opioids, like naproxen, ketorolac etc, but I do not think you will find them effective after having been on opioids for so long. In my opinion, you should clearly discuss with your doctor what his long term plans are for you and what his reasons were for changing your medicines so frequently. Best wishes.