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Day 7 off Suboxone
Today is the 7th day since I finished my taper off Suboxone. I tapered myself down from 8mg a day to almost nothing over a 3 month period and have had an easy time of it.
I started to toss and turn the night before last for the first time since I started or finished my taper and instead of laying there got up to watch TV. After only a few minutes I started to yawn and went back to bed and right to sleep for 6 hours, which is a full nights sleep for me.
Last night I went right to sleep but woke up a couple times with cramps in my feet and legs, and while that's something I've experienced since childhood will attribute it to the Sub leaving my body.
Today I feel what I consider to be normal. I was sneezing yesterday but that hasn't started today. I don't anticipate feeling any worse than I do today and if all goes well should be feeling better with each passing day.
If you stick with a slow taper and give your body a chance to adjust to the new dose before you make the next drop, going down it pieces so tiny it looks ridiculous to even be taking something like that, there's no reason IMO that anyone couldn't taper themselves off with minor physical symptoms at worst.
I started to toss and turn the night before last for the first time since I started or finished my taper and instead of laying there got up to watch TV. After only a few minutes I started to yawn and went back to bed and right to sleep for 6 hours, which is a full nights sleep for me.
Last night I went right to sleep but woke up a couple times with cramps in my feet and legs, and while that's something I've experienced since childhood will attribute it to the Sub leaving my body.
Today I feel what I consider to be normal. I was sneezing yesterday but that hasn't started today. I don't anticipate feeling any worse than I do today and if all goes well should be feeling better with each passing day.
If you stick with a slow taper and give your body a chance to adjust to the new dose before you make the next drop, going down it pieces so tiny it looks ridiculous to even be taking something like that, there's no reason IMO that anyone couldn't taper themselves off with minor physical symptoms at worst.
"It wasn't till I got down to .05mg a day that my body got back to normal"
Should have read 0.5mg a day.
Should have read 0.5mg a day.
"Are you doing anything with aftercare?"
No, I've been in treatment multiple times and forced to go to AA/NA to the point I'm sick of it. I never felt the fellowship they talked about in AA or NA or got anything out of it. Treatment never did me any good either and it wasn't until things got so bad that stopping looked better than continuing to use that I finally quit.
My plan is to continue on like I had been, only not on Sub. I live alone and spend most of my time home alone, so that's what I'm used to. I've been married multiple times and given upon relationships, have cut ties with the people I used to consider friends, and have been out of that circle so long I wouldn't know where to get drugs now if I wanted them.
I don't mind being alone and prefer it to being around people, truth be known. I don't have to answer to anyone or be anywhere, so I do what I please as it pleases me. I know how to occupy my time and have lived this way for years, so boredom and loneliness is a thing of the past for me, and not something that's going to drive me back to using.
The struggle for me will be not to go back on Sub, and I have an incentive not to do so. Suboxone was causing me to retain fluid, edema, and is what prompted me to stop. It's a known side effect, not too common, but one I encountered while I was addicted to Methadone that landed me in the hospital on a couple different occasions.
I felt like I was a candidate for congestive heart failure if I didn't quit and dropped 7lbs water weight in 3 days with my first big drop in dosage. It wasn't till I got down to .05mg a day that my body got back to normal and I'm down about 10lbs now. I had to tighten the strap on my watch one notch my arms were so swelled.
If not for that, things were going well enough for me on Sub that I probably would have stayed on it. Now that I'm off I'm feeling good and not having any thoughts of getting high. I haven't been spending time in bed, I get up about 8am or 9am and drink a pot of coffee, watch TV, play video games, or do something on the computer, and go to bed when I'm ready.
What I've been doing the past 2 years has worked for me so I'll just deal with it and take it a day at a time, but if it comes down to it I'd rather go back to a low dose of Suboxone, 0.5mg a day or less, than go back to the life I led for over 30 years addicted to opiates.
No, I've been in treatment multiple times and forced to go to AA/NA to the point I'm sick of it. I never felt the fellowship they talked about in AA or NA or got anything out of it. Treatment never did me any good either and it wasn't until things got so bad that stopping looked better than continuing to use that I finally quit.
My plan is to continue on like I had been, only not on Sub. I live alone and spend most of my time home alone, so that's what I'm used to. I've been married multiple times and given upon relationships, have cut ties with the people I used to consider friends, and have been out of that circle so long I wouldn't know where to get drugs now if I wanted them.
I don't mind being alone and prefer it to being around people, truth be known. I don't have to answer to anyone or be anywhere, so I do what I please as it pleases me. I know how to occupy my time and have lived this way for years, so boredom and loneliness is a thing of the past for me, and not something that's going to drive me back to using.
The struggle for me will be not to go back on Sub, and I have an incentive not to do so. Suboxone was causing me to retain fluid, edema, and is what prompted me to stop. It's a known side effect, not too common, but one I encountered while I was addicted to Methadone that landed me in the hospital on a couple different occasions.
I felt like I was a candidate for congestive heart failure if I didn't quit and dropped 7lbs water weight in 3 days with my first big drop in dosage. It wasn't till I got down to .05mg a day that my body got back to normal and I'm down about 10lbs now. I had to tighten the strap on my watch one notch my arms were so swelled.
If not for that, things were going well enough for me on Sub that I probably would have stayed on it. Now that I'm off I'm feeling good and not having any thoughts of getting high. I haven't been spending time in bed, I get up about 8am or 9am and drink a pot of coffee, watch TV, play video games, or do something on the computer, and go to bed when I'm ready.
What I've been doing the past 2 years has worked for me so I'll just deal with it and take it a day at a time, but if it comes down to it I'd rather go back to a low dose of Suboxone, 0.5mg a day or less, than go back to the life I led for over 30 years addicted to opiates.
COMMUNITY LEADER
Congragulations to you! I definately admire someone that can taper. U r a very strong person. I wish u the best of luck...
congrats on day 7....no point sitting in that bed its just guna urk ya, if i got 15 min a sleep or 2 hrs the first cpl weeks i myself would just get up 2 cause lyin in bed not being able to sleep is just guna make your mind spin in circles....taking the itty little peice does seem odd when u put it your mouth but have heard plenty success storys when ppl do that there wds are almost zero....bein were addicts posses the risk of not being able to do that "lil" piece so u started b4 you were clean showing restraint, carry it over in soberiety you will do well !!! if u dont really wana quit u wont when u decide with everything in your heart u do it surely makes thing much easier...Keep up the good mindset!!!
Congrats!! I am sooooooooo proud of you!! I too tapered. I was on oxy, well over 240 mg per day, and tapered over 2 months. It was not a slow taper at all though. This June will be two years sonce the last dose of my taper. Like you the mg were so small that I was dissolving pill in water so I could get a more accurate dosage as the pills would not chop up any more it was so small.
We are not a normal breed. I have been here two years almost and rarely do I find someone like me who could taper like that and not go round and round with relapse. It's not for everybody, that is for sure.
I am so glad to hear how good you are doing. If you experience any of the residual mental stuff remember it is temporary.
hugs,
Lily
We are not a normal breed. I have been here two years almost and rarely do I find someone like me who could taper like that and not go round and round with relapse. It's not for everybody, that is for sure.
I am so glad to hear how good you are doing. If you experience any of the residual mental stuff remember it is temporary.
hugs,
Lily
COMMUNITY LEADER
Congrats on a successful taper and 7 days clean!!!! I like the positive attitude you carry. Are you doing anything with aftercare?
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