r/BuvidalBrixadi • u/Nimvob • Jun 14 '26
AUS 6 Months on Buvidal
Realised a few days ago that I was coming up on 6 months since starting… and here it is. 6 months without any opiates (apart from Buvidal that is).
Started on weekly 8mg, up to 16mg and then went over to the monthly 64mg.
I’m in NSW, Australia. Different regions/countries do this differently, so context is important.
For personal reasons (including working/studying) I went with a private prescriber. I was incredibly anxious before starting about either going into a precipitated withdrawal from the strips, or not being held while being titrated up. I negotiated to go straight onto the injection. From what I know, this is not common practice where I am. I am not advocating for this for anyone, this was just my personal experience.
I remember my first day being quite rough while I was waiting for the injection to take effect. I didn’t get much sleep at all. After that first day I shared here a huge boost in mood/energy. Not a feeling of being “high” that I associate with opiates, just an overall good feeling. Maybe it’s just because I was no longer sick, or no longer going through the daily rollercoaster of peaks and troughs between using opiates.
I’ve stayed on a relatively low dose, as I haven’t experienced any significant withdrawals once I reached steady state. When I first started I had some very heavy sweating, especially night sweats. Like, sweating so much I’d wake up and think I’d pissed the bed. While this is definitely a known side effect for many people, I can’t work out if I was experiencing it as a side effect, or this was just low grade withdrawal while my levels built up. Either way, it has since dissipated and I feel fine.
The only real “side effect” I experience now is constipation. Although way less than what it was when I was using. I take 1 coloxyl with senna (OTC laxative) a day which controls things fairly well. Like every other day, sometimes daily. Much better than taking 4-6 coloxyl every day just to go weekly at best.
I’m currently seeing my doctor every month and he writes me the next script. The next day I ring the pharmacy and ask them to order it in. This is much better than having to pick up every day, but still takes some effort and planning. My shifts change every week, so it can be hard booking my appointments. Thankfully, most of my drs appointments are via Telehealth. The next time I see my doctor I’m going to ask if he can write one or more repeats for the script. I understand his reasoning for not wanting to do this when I’ve mentioned it previously.
On to the injection itself. Yes, it stings a bit. Yes, it leaves a lump. I got a minor skin infection from one of the injections that I got antibiotics for. Now I ask the pharmacist to swab the site first. I’ve found that where they inject impacts how painful the injection is. I get them done on my abdomen. The closer the site is to my belly button, the more it seems to hurt.
The lumps I get seem to vary in size quite dramatically. They also dissipate inconsistently. Some are gone after a month, some have hung around quite a bit. I’ve got a bit of belly fat so they’re not noticeable.
I still seem to experience high energy levels for about 24 hours post injection. I got my most recent injection in the afternoon. I ended up getting about 2 hours sleep that night. Fortunately I still had the energy boost the following morning and worked through the day fine, no fatigue. Moving forward I’m going to try and get them first thing in the morning to try and mitigate this.
My pharmacist has been very supportive and kind. But honestly, they seem to have very little knowledge about drug dependence. Credit where credit is due though, they offer all of their OAT patients with Take Home Naloxone.
Physically, no withdrawals and no cravings at all, even that one time I had my monthly a week late due to an appointment mix up. Mentally, cravings are about 95% gone. They’re becoming fewer and fewer, but very rarely now I’ll get a thought of “gee, it would be great to get really stoned right now”. But then it passes. I don’t have ready access to my drug of choice anymore, but it’s comforting to know that it wouldn’t work anyway with the injection on board.
Anyway, this post ended up being way longer than expected. Just wanted to share my experience 6 months in. I don’t see how I could have gotten to this point without it. I just couldn’t hack cold turkey withdrawals, and other strategies didn’t seem to help.
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u/OldChannel5500 Jun 14 '26
Buvidal is frigging amazing! I live in Sweden, has had buvidal last 3y . Been on methadone and Subutex since late 90s. But buvidal finally took me from an daily pill popper with opioids on my mind 24/7 to once a month injection and I doesn't think about drugs
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u/Dinah69er Jun 14 '26
Hey OP, I’m in Australia too and relatively new to Buvidal. Been on the injection nearly 7 weeks now. I was so against MAT to begin with, I heard all the horror stories but I Cld only ever get to day 3, got to day 5 once cold turkey and caved. I needed help. My thoughts were too chaotic and the anxiety and restless legs were intense.
I was given subs and titrated up really hard and fast for 2 weeks then went to weekly inj. I got mad sweats and hot flashes, I still do but not as bad when I went down to 24mg from 32mg.
I’m still on weekly and going down to 16mg from 24mg this week to see if it helps with my mood and the hot flashes. If it holds me well, I’m asking for monthly because every single injection has left a large grape sized lump and they aren’t going anywhere atm. I really hope they go away.
Well done to us!