Can one be cognitively sharp if on methadone or suboxone?

[ans]

(I'm not sure I'm a good surgical candidate; w/find out later this week).

My pain's increased and I can't continue my studies if I have to take Percocet which helps lots with the pain. My mind is mush on it.

I hear that with methadone or suboxone, there's a period of adjustment where the brain's "fuzzy".

I wonder if this goes away over time whereby one's mind can be sharp again.

Thanks for your time. ~ Allan

[CindyLou]

ans, are you sure you are eating enough? I find a direct correlation to a fuzzy mind with percocet and/or oxycodone if I don't consistently have something in my stomach. Food for thought. He...he, so to speak.

[ans]

Thanks C, good idea.

I look lately like I've been over-eating for a year but I w/take your advice.

You take care and feel better. - Allan

[daveinaustin]

I've also had the mushy brain problem, while recovering from recent surgery and on Percocet 7.5/325.

Something that helped my cognition a little bit was to cut the pills in half, and to take a half pill twice as often.

I believe it's ok to do this, as long as your prescription is not for the extended release version. However, you might ask your doctor first.

[Linda]

Ans,
I believe your mind can be sharp on Suboxone but Suboxone is used to get off narcotics and it is not meant to be a long term drug. It has some pain effect but it is mainly used to help from having a severe withdrawal problem when stopping narcotic use. I used it and my mind was sharp, however, I was only on it for 10 days and by 6 days after stopping it my pain was so severe that I had to go back on the fentanyl patch. I believe you can get used to the fentanyl patch after 1-3 weeks and be pretty sharp with it and they come in several strengths from 12.5mcg/hr all the way up to 100mcg/hr. I believe much more than a 25mcg/hr patch and you would have a real problem being sharp. I am on the 25mcg/hr patch and believe that if my pain level is controlled which unfortunately it is not presently I could study with it. On the other hand, I have seen many people on metadone and not one could carry on a very coherent conversation. I think I would stay away from that one. I hope this helps and best wishes finding an answer for your pain.

[ans]

Thanks for your advice gang. I am amazed at how stupid I am when I try to articulate on Percocet.

Take care ~ Allan

[Terry]

I have been on Suboxone long-term for pain management in spite of the fact that it is being used off-label for this purpose. It has Naltrexone in it to keep an addict from shooting it which would cause the addict to go in to immediate withdrawals. It then has an opiate in it for safe medical management of opiate replacement therapy. When taken sublingually it deactivates the naltrexone and allows the opiate to bind with the receptor site preventing withdrawals. Methadone at low doses can cause mush brain syndrome. I was on 10 - 20 mg maximum for my pain and it definitely affected cognition. Many opiates have this problem so it is an unfortunate side effect of a necessary drug to treat our pain. I think Suboxone is a drug of the future and hope that clinical trials will be ongoing to utilize this medication in the treatment of pain with minimal chances of abuse.

Terry Newton

[ans]

Thanks Terry. Were you less cognitively impaired on Suboxone? I know one person who takes it and he says that he gets impaired.

This is a rather lame-looking webpage but the article supports your notion that more research here is needed:

http://opioids.com/buprenorphine/pain-manage.html

Q: What does one take for breakthrough pain if on this med?

W/Regards - Allan

[CindyLou]

I also am asking the same question as ans, what would you take for breakthru pain,and if this medication, suboxone, is indeed so therapetic, why is it not more available to the general public??

[daveinaustin]

Thanks for your advice gang. I am amazed at how stupid I am when I try to articulate on Percocet.

Tell me about it! By trade, I'm a Sr. Engineer and technical lead for a team of Engineers. However, that stuff makes me sound like a freeking idiot!

My thoughts seem to be ok, and my e-mails/posts are somewhat coherent since I review them. But, reading technical material and real-time conversation is very difficult.

Last time, it took several weeks after switching back to Vicodin to finally get over the Percocet haze.

Hang in there!

-Dave