Is My Suboxone Dose Too High to Have Surgery?

Thanks, all of you who wrote comments to my last post.  I remind everyone once again to consider taking your comments here and after writing them, also taking them to SuboxForum.com.  I am going to put up a new category to discuss topics that were initiated here;  it would be Read more…

Having Surgery: When to Stop Suboxone?

A question about Suboxone and Surgery: Hi-this is in reply to your message back to me. I am the girl who is soon to have surgery. You said that 3 days would be good to be off the suboxone, but you said the worst withdrawal takes about 3 days to Read more…

Chronic, Nonmalignant Pain: Why Opiates Aren't the Answer

I answered a post today that is similar to many prior posts– a patient with significant pain is no longer getting good pain relief from the pain pills he has taken for the past three years, and he asked whether it was a good idea to change from one narcotic– Read more…

Physical Dependence versus Addiction in Chronic Pain Patients

A question from a reader about taking Suboxone for chronic pain, and about physical dependence vs. addiction: Thanks for the web page. It gave me a lot of information that I had been searching for. Most of your blog deals with addiction. Will Suboxone work for dependence? I have been Read more…

Fentany for pain on Suboxone?

Surgery Preparations for a Suboxone Patient

The questions:I am having surgery and my doc was unaware of some things and I thought that you could confirm them for him?  Could you advise him to take me off the Suboxone 10-14 days prior to surgery?  I have been researching this religously and I have come to the Read more…

Chronic Pain Treatment Approaches

I write for a couple of medical sites– not the ones I have mentioned here, but sites where they actually allow doctors to identify themselves so that the person asking the question knows the credentials of the person providing the reply.  Oh, what the heck– I think it is OK Read more…

Fentany for pain on Suboxone?

Fentanyl patch for post-op pain on Suboxone

I’m in a bad mood tonight– squabbling with my 13-y-o daughter will do that to me– so I’m going to cheat and copy an e-mail that I recently sent to a reader.  She takes Suboxone and will be having surgery;  she did everything correctly, tapering her dose and then stopping Read more…

How Low Can It Go….

An entirely logical question: Soboxdoc, I am taking 16mg of Suboxone a day – 8mg in the morning and 8mg at night. You state above that Suboxone has a ceiling effect of about 4mg. Does that mean I could take a half of an 8mg tab once a day and Read more…

Surgery on Suboxone

Pain Control After Surgery for Patients On Suboxone

The topic of post-op pain control on buprenorphine is important enough to get top billing Many thanks to Dr. J Walsh in Seattle for the following post: I am a physician in Seattle.  In two c-section cases we have found that high affinity opiates (fentanyl or hydromorphone) delivered by PCA Read more…

Suboxone and Pain

A Question: I see my urologist, the prescribing doctor on Monday, August 18th and am planning on asking him to write a prescription for Subutex for my pain. This weekend I am trying to collect some useful information to bring to him in support of my request. As I have Read more…