Why does suboxone take away my nightmares?

[sonicwhite]

Take away my nightmares. Ever since I got back from TN I was stealing my second dads Norco making him suffer. It got to the point I felt so guilty that I was going to go into harder stuff and say f the workout of getting better.

So I decided to see a sub doctor. I’ve had an opiate addiction since 2008. It has been just intermittent and it got a lot worse when I came back from TN.

I notice that when I take my nighttime dose I have dreams but they do not scare me. Some times I’ll try to skip a dose because I know the ceiling effect will catch up with me. I’ll cut like 1 mg off the film and put it under my younger while I awake from a nightmare.

Then I go back to sleep with no nightmares the rest of the night.

Please don’t preach to me why I am on something like subs. I did it for me and my health. My family and friends. I just noticed that it works better than any med I’ve used but what so good about it is that it’s taken away my gabapentin addiction also.


So while ppl play with Pharma grade xtc. I will do my best to get clean and sober. Again I don’t abuse any meds anymore. I’m trying to get my life back in order. I’m going to have to go to groups and things like that also.

So does anyone here on Suboxone to help cravings and withdrawals. I also know that withdrawals can also bring in its own host of bad dreams so that mixture with someone who has ptsd is killer.

 

[sonicwhite]

Uh, like anyone? Or is it just coincidences?

 

[sonicwhite]

Can anyone chime in. Is this just another smoking gun or what? I don’t know why it works so well for my nightmares but it does. But more impressive it takes away my cravings for all drugs. Not only opiates.

 

[joeylittle]

I don’t know why it works so well for my nightmares but it does.

What it's doing is affecting your sleep, and that is creating the effect that it is working on your nightmares.

I also know that withdrawals can also bring in its own host of bad dreams

The withdrawal nightmares are a combination of severely increased physical and psychological stress, and overall diminishment of quality of sleep.

It can be hard to remember this - but mental activity (dreams or nightmares) is a normal and expected part of the sleep cycle. When we are "awakened" by a nightmare, its generally because we aren't sleeping in the way the brain is designed to sleep. What has happened is that the quality of the sleep was challenged from the outset (by physical or emotional stress, aka PTSD, withdrawal, anything) - we entered a phase of sleep when dreaming occurs - that stressed mind/body churns up narratives around those stressors - and we don't rise back through the phases of sleep properly - so, we remember what we were dreaming.

When we don't remember our dreams very well, it's because we had better sleep and better waking. The sleep cycle was forced to be too shallow or too deep. Medications do that.

When we think we didn't dream at all, we likely just had a decent sleep cycle. We aren't really meant to have precise dream recall.

I'm oversimplifying - but that's the gist of it.

You've been through a lot of heavy drug use, and really tough addictions. It's entirely possible that you won't ever be able to manage those addictions without a substitute drug. And there's no shame in that, so long as it's prescribed by a doc, taken as directed, and respected as a tool in your life as a non-addict - instead of turning into a reward for staying sober (if that makes sense).

 

[sonicwhite]

I only got on Suboxone cause I was stealing my second dads Norco and buy roxicodone off the street. I told myself I’ve already been through a psychosis due to drugs. This will be the death of me if I continue down this path.

I saw the end of my road. I don’t plan of on staying on it and it kinda only worked for a little while. Now it just keeps me from thinking aboutnopiats and living a sober life. Hopefully in the future I can get this thorn out of my side which is these nightmares but I doubt it.

Anyways thanks for the info.