My Doctor Is Getting Rid of Maintenance Patients

I just learned that the place I go to for Suboxone maintenance will offer only detox services because of headaches caused by the state (Florida). Not sure if they're using the state as a bogeyman, but whatever. The plan is to refer maintenance patients elsewhere, and from what I understand, it will be a pain management doctor.

My question is what people's thoughts are regarding this situation, specifically getting Suboxone from a pain management doctor. I'm going to assume it's not a pill mill, but I'm still a little apprehensive.

Well, there are two things that sorta work against doctors in Florida -- 1. Having the law on the books that you can force someone to go into rehab for drug addiction treatment...without their consent. 2. Having the number of pill mills and the number of people that are addicted to painkillers in the state of Florida. There are some highly shocking numbers if you look at painkiller statistics when it comes to the state of Florida, like the number of oxycontin scripts written thoughout the US, but most of them coming from one state alone, Florida...the number of doctors that prescribe any type of opiate pills, and most of them are in Florida..the quantity of pills that are prescribed in Florida is EXTREMELY high..so this all ties in to being something that doctors are constantly dealing with, because of the necessity for people to get services. Blame it on the Data 2000 act, which limits the number of patients that a doctor can have at one time on Suboxone...they cannot see over 100 people for Suboxone treatment. So if a doctor has 100 people and wants to get someone new, he has to boot 1 of his existing patients. This creates the dilemma for them to boot people after 6 months or 1 year. Some of them even lie and say that "the law only allows you to be on Suboxone for a year" or some crap like that...which is TOTALLY false. They make that up so they don't have to explain to someone why they are taking them off of the drug that saved their lives...

If I were you, I would find another doctor before you get referred to one that you don't want. Look a bit further away if you have to, distance shouldn't be a negative factor. Just ask yourself how far you would've traveled to get your pills when you were actively seeking, or how far you would've driven to get your drug of choice. Usually addicts will drive to the end of the world if someone has a bag of pills for them...and treatment should be no different. Actually you should be willing to go even further to continue your treatment..if the need arises.

My Suboxone Dr. referred me to a Pain Specialist and right off he said he does not prescribe Suboxone. Never went back.

So do your homework and get on the phone to see who will take care of you the proper way.

Good Luck!
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Moderator status does not make me a professional when giving opinions about Suboxone treatment. My opinions are based upon experience.

So I went into the doctor's office today, and it turns out they just gave me a list of local doctors from the Suboxone website. Hey, I could have done that! Anyway, I found one that says they do maintenance about 10 minutes away and have an appointment for Thursday. Hopefully, I'll get back to my routine soon.

If this doctor doesn't work, there's a psychiatrist on the list who I previously saw for sleep problems, so maybe I can try him. I considered detoxing, but after thinking it through — imagining the actual reality of it, post withdrawal — I know that I'm not ready for that yet (especially if I'm going to end up on painkillers after my surgery). Baby steps.

Anyway, I thank everyone for the advice.

Update:
I found a new doctor who treats maintenance patients. Looks like he's a GP, which I kind of like, as I was the only Suboxone patient there at the time; the rest were various elderly couples getting their prostates checked or whatever. The doctor seemed pretty straight forward and wasn't difficult at all. It's early and I don't want to jinx anything, but for now I'm cautiously optimistic.

surgerybound - so were you able to continue your sub treatment through this GP? Did you see him for an actual appointment or did you just speak to them over the phone?

Are you going through some other medication?