Suggest treatment for fibromyalgia syndrome
Patient: I have been taking 3- 4 hydrocodone tablets per day for approx 2 years (prescribed for fibromyalgia syndrome .) To detox, I went to a pain management clinic and was prescribed 0.1 mg. clonidine HCL TID the first day and was told to start buprenorphine 8-2 mg SL BID the following morning. I had to stop the suboxone after the first day as I developed severe itching (mostly face and scalp). I had two C-sections (the last in 2000) and experienced the same side effect (severe itching) after being given morphine. My questions: How long is typical for someone to detox from the amount of hydrocodone I was taking and length of time I was on it? Is it necessary to take both clonidine and suboxone to detox from hydrocodone? Can I detox on clonidine alone? Is severe itching a side effect of either/both suboxone and/or clonidine? Many thanks. Doctor: There are several stages in detox. For the acute withdrawal symptoms 1-2 weeks. But there are several other features of addiction such as the altered mentation, cravings, triggered use that require a longer period of time. clonidine helps some people with the initial symptoms of withdrawal (such as agitation, and goose flesh). But that is all clonidine does. Suboxone blocks the effects of other narcotics taken legally or illegally along with it. As such it provides a safe haven for evaluating ones relationship to narcotics. Severe itching is not a common reaction to either clonidine nor suboxone, but it is more common with suboxone.