Hi, I have a moderate to severe heroin addiction...i ve been told by medical professionals that you must wait 24 hours (i understand that metabolism may effect this) before you can take suboxone. I ve also been told that you must score higher than a 26 on the COWS (clinical opiate withdrawal flow sheet) before it is safe to take suboxone without sending yourself into precipitated withdrawal (which as I know from experience is VERY uncomfortable). Is it possible that buprenorphine does not WORK on me?? Is THAT even POSSIBLE?? Because I have waited 24 hours ( much to my consternation, because a wait that long is VERY uncomfortable) and then taken a suboxone ( I usually start with 4 mgs to see how I take it, and if I don t feel any WORSE I will redose with 8mgs, because very seldom does 4mgs fix me). What is the problem? I ve heard people describe suboxone as a wonder drug for opiate withdrawal, but for me...all it has ever done for me is make me feel WORSE! No matter how long I wait! WORSE! SO FRUSTRATING and I can t seem to escape this endless cycle (which at this point has just become dependance and NOT addiction (there is a difference, as I am no longer trying to get high ). What is wrong here?? Is it even possible that buprenorphine cannot make me feel even a little bit better? I cannot continue like this, and I swear if I can just get through the withdrawal (which incapacitates me to the point I can hardly prepare my own meals or shower, and have NOBODY who can help me with these things) I would never touch an opiate AGAIN. HELP! How long do I have to wait? I ve heard I must wait at least 36 hours (I have gotten through the withdrawals cold turkey through shear willpower, and I remember it took about this long before I started to feel human again; with nobody to help me prepare meals while I m sick and can hardly walk to the car so I can go to a drive-thru for meals) but waiting the 36 hours seems absurd since 36 hours is the point I start to feel better. I relapsed after 6 years (I mentioned how I got through the withdrawals once before; this is no excuse but my relapse happened after my father passed away). Could my body have changed so much at this point that I have to wait 36 hours before I take suboxone to feel better because after 36 hours I generally feel better (at least from what I remember). What is the point of suboxone? If you have to wait the entire course of the withdrawal (and if you take suboxone before 36 hours which is generally the worst of it for me you get precipitated withdrawals, which feel much worse than regular withdrawals) what should I do? Not eat, lay there completely incapacitated, until the w/ds are over? Is it worse for me to do that and take the suboxone which strips the opiate from the receptors which makes the withdrawals shorter, or is it worse to just lay there and not eat for like a week? HELP PLEASE!!