Subuxone - 1mg to 0

[needhelplease82]

Hey everyone.  Ive been on Subuxone for a little over 6 weeks.  I followed the advice of a doctor to some extent as well as the advice of a friend who came off of Subuxone successfully.  The reason I listened to my friend more than the doctor was because of everything I started reading online once I had already began the treatment.  The doctor would've had me stabilize and drop 1mg per month while my friends advice was stabilize and drop your dose every 5-7 days.  I started with 12mg and every 5-6 days I reduced my daily dose by 1mg.  The first 11 drops were surprisingly easy and I was able to drop with no w/d symptoms or cravings or anything that comes with withdrawing from opiates.  I tried last week to drop from 1 to 0 and that didnt work out too well.  I wound up getting extremely sick which I just cant have right now because of work.  Once I got sick I went back to 1mg.  After 2 days I tried going from 1 to .50mg and again I got very sick so I went back in dose to 1mg.  Today I tried dropping to .75mg and once again I wound up getting sick.  

The research I did when getting on Subuxone was detailed but also limited at the same time.  Once I began the Subuxone treatment I started reading threads on how difficult it was to get off of compared to Methadone.  I also read how even after you're finished completely with the Subuxone, you can have that sh1tty feeling/withdrawal feeling which lasts up to a month or even longer in some instances.  I've detoxed off of Methadone before and while it wasnt easy, it wasnt as hard as it appears to be with the Subuxone.  

I'm wondering if some of you who went through a complete Subuxone detox could explain how you did it.  For example, what was your starting dose and once you were stabilized how often did you drop dose?  Did you continue on the same schedule even when in the lower numbers or once you got to the lower #'s did the drops in dose take a little longer?  I'm just looking for some real life experiences on how you all made this happen because quite frankly, Im a little scared right now.  Scared that I'm going to use again.  Scared that I'm gonna be stuck on this "wonder drug" forever.  I got a lot running through my mind right now and I'm just trying to figure out how I'll make it past this next step.  

I go to meetings daily but Im also a private person and hate sharing in meetings.  I do share with my sponsor though but because of years of drug abuse its hard for me to just call someone when I'm having bad thoughts.  Just like I'm sure many of you were like, I'm used to isolating myself in my room with a bundle of dope and feeling good.  Anyway, sorry for rambling on.  I guess the main point is I'm scared I'm gonna be stuck on Subuxone forever because of my few failed attempts at lowering my dose to try and finish the detox process.  Appreciate any help or insight that you guys/gals could offer.  Thanks a million.

Struggling in NY

[sw9281]

I started at 16 mg and worked my way off the subs in 64 days. Please take the time to read over the last couple of weeks as I and others have well documented what happens once you stop tapering and go into w/d. I am not sure you will be able to go to work everyday. I am not working right now but for the 1st 2 weeks of w/d I was terrible. I am now starting week 5 and for the most part every day is good and the trend is going in the right direction.

If you explain what you mean by getting sick (share the gory details) we can probably give you better suggestions on what is happening to you. Be specific.

You may have to change your expectations becuase if you do as I recommend and read all suboxone related writings over the last 2 weeks you will see that w/d is the hardest part (not the taper). You may need to take some vacation or sick days for a couple of weeks go get you thru this tough period.

[lifespercs]

Sorry that I am not going to be of much help on this topic.  However, these posts I believe, will be helping me tremendously. I tried to go cold tukey last week, (well along with the thomas recipie) well, needless to say, I  only lasted two days before I broke down, and returned to my habits.  So the day relapsed I made the call to a Dr. who is known to prescribe suboxone.  They are supposed to call me this week with my appointment time and do an assessment.  I am really nervouse abou\, I co]t being put on this medication.  I'm worried that the monkey that's on my vback now, will just be traded for a newer bigger and nastier monkey.  But at this point, I'm willing to try just about anything... Tapering doesn't work, I'm too far gone for that, and also going cold turkey was an instant ticket for relapse for me, and made me feel even worse, b/c it just confirmed the fact of just how much a loser I am.  I'm really really scared to get start this suboxone treatment, terrified that the withdrawl will be worse than the withdrawl from my original addiction.... Good luck to you, needhelplease82, something's got to give, for you and for me, we both no life isn't easy, but you will prevail, just hang in there, I hope that one day sso, I can start seeing a little glimmer of success also... Stay strong, God has plans for us all, and it seems like you've almost got this thing beat... my thoughts are with you...

[xuxitos]

Hi everybody, I also made experience with subuxone (temgesic in switzerland) and my experience was succesfull, I started with 4 mg daily and then after a week started to go down almost every day, like 0,5 every 2 day ..  then after 20 days of treatment I was taking 0,2mg  daily and from there I started to brek the 0,2 mg pill in some little piece and I was only taking something when I started to feel bad..  And then sometime i could take one piece at night and nothing until like 36 hours later, my objective was to take less quantity possible and leave more time possible between each piece of subuxone..   And then sometimes I could take nothing for 3 or 4 days and one little part of a 0,2 pill when I felt like going out for a beer or something..  to feel a bit better, at least psychologically..   and then I when to nothing at all..  
I really think that this treatment is much better than metadone, it's much easier to stop than metadone, the only thing is that you can not take it for long or it's the same than metadone to stop..  The ideal treatment (for me) is on 3 weeks, start with 4mg and go down to 0 in 3 weeks, like this the body don't have time to get to used to this drug ..    
I had a bad beginning of year and I'm gonna start this treatment again next week, I'll comment my experience soon as I've started again...  
Hope my information and experience can be useful for someone..

Regards and good luck to all.

From Spain ..

[Trademup]

Hey buddy, I have been there and I know what you're talking about. I think that you may have just dropped too fast. 12 mg's is a lot to kick in 12 weeks. Its great that you got down to 1 mg, do you feel ok at this level? I was never taking 12 mg, but I was taking 4-6 and i weened myself off over the course of 3 months. Granted I was never perscribed so I didnt really get a doctors consultation, but I did take suboxone for a couple years so I'm sure we felt just about the same. So what I did was cut by halves, and only recut when I felt comfortable. So I went from 4 mg (2 mg twice daily) to 2 mg once daily, that was no problem and I stayed there for about a month. Then I went to 1 mg and still that wasnt a huge problem. At 1 mg it was already hard enough to break an 8mg sub into 8 parts. When I was finally ready to go below 1 mg what I did was break it into little chunks and for the last week before I planned to go to zero, I would take tiny pieces as needed. I agree that last week I did feel really poor, but the way I see it is you are preparing yourself for the worse that is to come when you go to zero. After a week taking tiny crumbs as needed when I felt real bad, I went to nothing at all and though it was bad, it wasnt much worse then the week of doing crumbs... After two weeks of doing nothing you feel much better. I reccomend working out as much as you can when you are coming off, it really helps. Let me know if you have questions, I'd be more then happy to answer anything.