Yeah suboxone for me has been a life saver. Particularly because as I got older my back injuries from the Army got worse. Back a few years ago I had to start going to a Pain Management doctor because I couldn't get out of bed or do anything. I went through a series of steroid injections into my spinal cord, through a progression of stronger and stronger opiate painkillers. Having been a heroin addict in the past, this was getting a little too close to the danger zone for me. Not only did the opiate painkillers not do shit for my pain, they were making me high as fuck and I couldn't even function on them, either.
So, a friend of mine introduced me to suboxone and it works fuckin wonders for my back pain. It's actually a very effective analgesic. However, insurance companies will not pay for suboxone as an analgesic, they'll only pay for it if you're in a recovery clinic. So now, I go to a recovery clinic for suboxone.
I'm pretty much going to be on suboxone for life. Although I can stop taking it at any time, the withdrawals to me are very, very mild. IDK if that's because I'm so conditioned to opiates/synthetic opiates that it just doesn't effect me that way, or what.. But the most I get if I stop taking suboxone for a few days, is a runny nose and maybe slight chills, but nothing compared to full-on heroin withdrawal. . .
But I can say this, suboxone doesn't make me high, at all. I can function, think clearly, and most importantly.. It takes my back pain from a 10/10 down to a 2/10. It allows me to get out of bed and have a normal life without feeling inebriated all the time. It sucks that I have to go to a recovery clinic, but my doctor there is very understanding and calls me "one of her easiest patients" because I never fail the drug or alcohol screening, I never give them a hard time, and she also knows that I'm only there because of my back pain and the insurance issue. So it's been a win-win for me.
Also, I only take like 1 8mg strip per day. I'm prescribed 3 strips per day, which I don't need so I don't take that many. I just keep the extras so I always have a supply.