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Does medical marijuana work for chronic pain?
Chronic Pain | Last Active: 5 days ago | Replies (656)Comment receiving replies
I use buprenorphine, tabs dissolved under the tongue, to treat opiate addiction. It's combined with naloxone. I don't get high from it, and it renders stronger opiates ineffective in me. It's sorta like Antabuse for alcohol abuse. The idea is to discourage abuse.
That said, if you ever want to stop taking buprenorphine, you have to taper the dose very slowly to avoid withdrawal symptoms, which can be severe.
Personally, I haven't found buprenorphine to relieve any pain. Then again I don't have chronic pain so not sure if it helps with that. As with all opiates, just be careful.
Replies to "I use buprenorphine, tabs dissolved under the tongue, to treat opiate addiction. It's combined with naloxone...."
@heyjoe415 sunlingual buprenorphine is not meant to relieve pain as the dosing for the addiction treatment is much different than for pain. I use buprenorphine patch 20mcg 24/7 pain relief and it works very well.
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Just an updated note on buprenorphine/naloxone (brand name Suboxone). I have been on it for over 10 years to discourage opiate abuse. It's inconvenient when I have surgery because opiate pain killers don't work while on bupe.
And getting off bupe is very hard. It has a long half life. Years ago, I stopped taking it for a few days. On the third day, I woke to severe withdrawal symptoms. I have since cut the dose significantly, but quitting entirely would be hard.
I've been through two knee replacements and managed fine with a 2 day nerve block, then Celebrex and Tylenol. I may need spine surgery in the future and that would likely be harder. And when I did have my TKRs, the bupe provided no pain relief.
Anyway, FWIW. It's ironic because bupe is used to ease withdrawal symptoms from extended opiate use/abuse, but bupe itself can causes withdrawal symptoms.