I could not find any reports on erowid about this substance so I wanted to share my experiences. English is not my first language so I'm sorry for any bad spelling in this report.
Some background info about this drug and how I got it:
Buprenorphine is a synthetic opiate, developed for pain relief.
Some info I found online suggests it's only avalable in the US as injection fluid for hospital use, but I am not sure about it. I got it in Europe (Denmark -I live there), where it's available under the name 'Temgesic' as tiny white 0,2 mg tablets for sublingual use (inactive if swallowed). It's a prescription drug against strong pain, and a family member of mine was prescribed a 50-tablet package, but he actually never used any of it, left it in a closet and forgot all about it! I decided to try it out and got the package...
It was late one night and I had sleeping troubles as usually. I decided to try the buprenorphine, it could help, perhaps even be interesting.. I read the package insert carefully, it said the effects would come on in about 15 min and that you could use 1-2 tablets up to 4 times pr day as a max. I started out with one, and put it under the tongue. It took a lot of time and quite a bit of bitter taste to dissolve it. I sat down in front of my computer and did some surfing on the net.
+1 hour: I didn't feel any effects, was disappointed and decided I could do another tab. Waited a bit more... There was perhaps a slight change now, I slight buzz in my head but nothing special and then I did something foolish: I slowly started taking some more tabs. I thought it would be ok based on the info I had read, but it turned out to be way too much for me...
+2 hours: finishing tablet nr 5, I suddenly felt that something strong was happening to me. 'Uh oh, maybe I should not have done 5' was my very first thought. There was tingling in arms and legs and I suddenly felt very dizzy and light-headed. My breathing seamed slightly depressed but my heart was pounding. It became impossible to concentrate on my internet-surfing and I turned off the pc. I tried to get up but I was too dizzy to stand up for more than a short time. Nausea was near and threatening and the situation was basically not that pleasant.
But at the same time I started to feel a rush of some sort. It seemed to come in waves in which I felt very light and tingling and intoxicated and almost a bit euphoric. I had a 'wow' feeling and almost wanted to laugh. But then the nausea and intense dizziness would hit me again full strength and I decided to lie down on the bed. The drug was quickly making me extremely tired and I felt that I was being sucked towards a big black hole of deep sleep. The very intoxicated feeling of a 'high' still hit me in frequent waves and that was the real interesting and pleasant part. I felt like I was floating. The bed seemed to disappear under me and I could hardly feel my body, there was only a strange and dizzy, but very pleasant sensation of floating. And I got some frequent sensations of happiness and feeling very good. It was strange and rather strong. Eventually I fell asleep, it was unavoidable.
+8 hours: I actually didn't sleep for that long but woke up feeling extremely ill. I stumbled to the bathroom feeling more dizzy than ever (could barely walk), and vomited over and over again. There was no doubt: my body was rebelling after those 5 tabs. I noticed in the mirror that my pupils very unusually small. I spent the whole day in great illness and thought about seeking medical attention but my condition slowly improved as the hours went by so I never did. I felt ok in the evening, but my appetite was completely gone. I was ok the next day but my appetite did not return until even one more day had passed. I was a bit shocked. I had only taken 5 of those tabs, a total of only 1 mg! Buprenorphine seems to be extremely potent, and I also suspect I have a very low tolerance for it since all this happened.
I got interested about this substance and read about it and it's said to be very safe compared to other opiates, and with a low addiction potential.
I have since taken the rest of the 50 tablets... But only one at a time! And that has been nothing but pleasant every time! I found it to be kicking in slowly but surely in about 1-2 hours time. After that I got slightly dizzy and felt light, fuzzy and relaxed. And in a better mood.
Buprenorphine mostly gives a pleasant body sensation, but there is surely a psychological effect too. After about 3-4 hours it made me very tired in a very pleasant way and I was able to sleep as soon as lied down. So I used it much as a sleeping aid and found it to be perfect for it whenever I really wanted a good long sleep (sleep was longer and deeper than usual).
There wasn't really any hangover effect next day if I allowed myself enough sleep time. And the best thing was that there seemed to be no real physical addiction developing, at least not very fast. There was surely a psychological feeling of wanting more, but I had no physical withdrawal at all even after using it more than 10 days in a row during a holiday. But the effects did seem to loose their strenght a litlle bit if I took a tablet every night for more than 3-4 days in a row.
Now I'm all out of this drug, but I often miss it! I have also used Ambien (zolpidem) as a sleep aid and like it very much as a recreational drug (gives me strong visual distortions among other things, I might write a report on that...) But actually I sleep much better on buprenorphine, and I have found Ambien to cause withdrawal symptoms when I want to take a break from it.
I suspect buprenorphine works very strong on me, stronger than it's said to on the package! Other people may need more than me to get the same effects, I have no idea. But I recommend starting very low on dose and wait it out. For me it comes on slowly but then gets surprisingly strong.
PS: Driving on a dizzy buprenorphine high is probably a bad idea, even though motor skills are not impaired the way alcohol does
Take care.
