Has anyone else taken buprenorphine as a pain medication or know someone that has...and if so, did they find it effective and what was its equivalency compared to the common narcotic pain meds rxd by PM docs now. (morphine,oxycodone,hydromorphone,fentanyl ,methadone mainly)

Also, if there is anyone who knows anything about the equianalgesic and cross-tolerance properties of the buprenorphine (main component of suboxone) that would be very useful information to me as I cannot afford over $400 a month for the stuff when I was used to paying between $50 and $250/month for the pain med portion of my monthly medications since losing the insurance. Thanks anyone, please...

Just so you know I have been RX'd suboxone(buprenorphine) at 16mg/day divided in 2 doses since stopping oxycodone at 150-180mg/day in May of '08...now am back to the PM doc in a new city and switching to something different that will work more efficiently and effectively while also being less expensive. Also, while on suboxone, no other pain meds will work which can pose numerous problems in certain situations (surgery, etc.)

Only thing I have run into is that I saw only the nurse practitioner for my first appt. who told me that since I took oxy last a year ago, my tolerance should be gone and only Rxd 40mg/day of oxycodone...well, it's 4 days till my next PM appt and I know that the suboxone definitely must have caused a tolerance because that dose is not working well at all and I am likely to run short or just be in pain till Monday. But, I see my Family doc Friday and am considering asking him to RX me the Fentanyl patch so I can just avoid the whole PM clinic thing which is incredibly expensive!!!

Should I call the PM doc and if so, what would I say to them without sounding like I was just trying to get extra pills or abuse them or whatever??/

Thank you for any suggestions.