Wow! This explanation is 100 times better than what my Prescriber and the Pharmacist told me about the medication. So I'm not going to say I don't have a problem when I had Norco because I did. After taking it for a few months I built up a tolerance so you know how that goes. I'm taking an extra half pill today then tomorrow it's 2 extra each time and so on. I was burning through 180 pills in less than two weeks. I was able to kind a get away with not having to take a urine test because I would "all of sudden" catch Covid a day or 2 before my next refill/in person office visit. So they had no problem keeping me on it for about 14 months. The only issue the first pain management doctor had was me taking Ambien which I've been on for 10 years straight. I wasn't "supposed" to take any Norco about 4 hours before the Ambien to appease the physician. Also on a side note, the first time I meet the doctor he told me and my wife that he was addicted to Norco for a year or 2 while he was in med school. The wife and I were like, "WTF!". So the last time I saw him I took a urine test and he wrote me a 3 month scrip as usual. Well that was on the Thursday before the 4th of July. On the 5th I was sent an email telling me I tested negative for any Norco in my system (I actually didn't have anything at all) and I was being dropped as a patient and he pulled the 2 other scripts on file. So I was out any meds for 2 1/2 months till I found a new pain clinic. The visiting doc gave me a 60 pill script for 5/325 twice a day. I think it last 6 days. Now I'm not trying to minimize me abusing because I did. But I feel like since I dont "actively go out searching for more Norco/anything else" that I have my issue under control but I know that's a B.S. excuse and jackass thinking. So this next part I'm writing about is only because I understand what an addiction can do to a person/family and I've been keeping this to myself. My brother who was the success of our family was a pharmacist. He actually had a doctor of pharmacy degree from U of M. He owned 3 pharmacy within 5 years of graduation with his wife who also had a doctor of pharmacy degree which happened after 2004. I guess after he had open heart surgery for his Arrhythmia he was addicted to opiods. Of all the people who should have known better about what he was doing and the risks that came with it, he died from a cocaine/fentanyl overdose in 2019. His death fractured our whole family dynamics. We had to close down 2 of the pharmacies and one was sold. He had the foresight to make sure his son's were taken care of as well as my dad, my brother, my sister and me with his will and life insurance policy but I would have gave up all the money and his son's also who inherited a multimillion dollar estate would have also to have him back. And I only added this because it's so painful and upsetting and I know you're not supposed to blame the victim but of all the people he should have known better. And this is the elephant in the room that our family will never be able to get passed. So other than my wife no one else in family knows I'm still taking the meds. This pain clinic doctor refused to write me anymore Norco scripts but she said it was because of my Ambien usage and she wasn't going to put herself/practice at jeopardy. That's why I was asking about the Buprenorphine I was prescribed. I'm really sorry about this long ass post but it's almost 6am in Michigan and I took 2 of the sublingual Buprenorphine and it made me dizzy and lightheaded and now I can't sleep. If you stayed and read all of this I really appreciate you! I was feeling kind of down from the meds and I think this "confession" has replaced me.