quitting suboxone with percocet

[itstime]

I was on suboxone for 4 years (about 8mg per day at first and tapered down to 1mg).  Here comes the tricky part...under the supervision of my addiction specialist, I switched to oxycodone and think it will be easier to come off that that the dredded subox.  Subox is 30 times mg per mg more powerful than oxycodone.  And with its half life, it is like taking 30 mgs of percocet but never coming off of it for 24 to 36 hrs.  That is a lot of percocet to fill those shoes.  So far so good with the percs.  On day one I took 14 5 mg oxycodone.  Today, one week later I am down to 8 5 mg pills.  Next will be dropping one per day.  By next week I should be taking one a day for the extreem withdrawals.  Has anyone attempted this before?  If I get down to one 5 mg oxycondone per day....can I avoid withdrawals?

[gnarly_1]

HI im a bit confused to are you prescribing these to yourself ?? if so be careful I see you tapering off but your going to run into withdrawals along the way down you need to prepare yourself for some discomfort wile doing this...I never herd of anybody getting off sub this way...your going to have to be careful not to get strung back out on the oxicodone  this is like lighting the fuse to the bomb you put out with the sub...good luck and God bless
....Gnarly  

[refusingbondage]

Its definitely playing with fire and you should be extremely cautious of your inner intentions.  What can start as a good intentioned theory of helping get off the sub can end up with you right back hooked on the oxy..  

I have heard lately from two friends that their sub docs are doing the same thing.  The 2 people I know that said this have to go to the sub doctor every day or every other day (cant remember) for their oxycodone dose and are also tapering every 5 days.  I guess the theory is getting through the worse of the sub w/drawal then dealing with a shorter oxycodone w/drawal.. ??

In my mind though, taking oxycodone after sub maintenance opens you up to ALL kinds of cravings and struggles.. It may make the physical more tolerable but I would think it would multiply the mental/cravings..

Just be very careful.  I wish you the best of luck and hope it works out for you.  God bless.

[itstime]

Wow.  Thank you all for your comments.  I didn't realize anyone was watching/listening.  This truely is a great site!  So to answer most of your questions, I am trying to get off of suboxone using oxy.  I am not sure as to the legality of it, but the bottom line is that the subs throw off a vicious WD which percocet or small does of oxy doesn't.  The opiate is the culpret in subs as well as oxys.  So the only way to get below that 30 mil constant dose is to move to a short acting opioid and taper qiucker.  I no longer want to be on the pills.  When I went to subs, I was lied to as many people are as to how addictive it is.  Subox is a double edged sord.  on one side of the coin, heroin addicts and high dose oxy addicts should be introduced to it.  It CAN save lives.  However, lower dose users should NOT be put on it.  At least that is my opinion.  The manufacturer (not from the USA) is not being honest about how hard it is to quit.  The wd's last over 2 weeks.  Up to 1 month.  I have bad simptoms.  As you all know we are all different in how we react to wd's.  I get horrible sweats/aches/sleepless and that is the olny reason I stayed on them.  I guess I should also mention that I was an "off lable" user of subs not for addiction but for pain management.  I am not chasing a "high", so I think that tappering can work because all I am trying to do is dull the pain as it becomes too miuch to deal with when I get to using 2 or three pills a day.  Users who are chasing a high do increase doses to "feel" the drug. I don't care about the feeling, I care about the withdrawals.  I work (as many of you do) in an intense job (finance), with a great deal of responsibility as well as public speaking and meeting with very large clients.  Not to mention regulatory issues and such.  I don't have a month to "sweat it out".  So this post was to really attemtp to find someone who has been successful, or unsuccessful, but has at least tried this.  Here is an idea.....why doesn't whoever manufactures Subs....create a taper kit...... a package like womens birth control, and have it reduce by 1/100 per pill and do it over 100 days.  It has the ceiling blocker in it already, but the amount of opiate it has is too high for extended use.  Making people crush into dust and lick is embarrasing and rediculous.  No need to answer that question, I know it is becuase of the money...lots of it.  My doc agreed.  Now...the last part of this story is that the ultimate reason I was switching to oxys and the main reason for doing it now is that I was going to go through the Weisman Method or something cheaper like hte Opiate Detox center in MI ( I know I just opened a can of worms with that one.. :)  and even they said that they can get you clean from heroin for sure....in 8 hours (give or take), but even they can't scrub your receptors clean of subs for sure.  It was ultimately that reasoning that sent me down this road.  Now that I"m on it....I realized that I am not chasing a high....so I don't increase doses....I decrease....  Again...thank you all for your support and I will keep you posted becase if it works...maybe someone else can get free of this stuff.  I want to save the 15 to 25 grand get down to 5 mg oxy and then jump.....it is less sticky and should be much shorter to manage....maybe a 4 day weekend and then done.  Thanks again!

[LeaAnn807]

Someone may have already suggested this.  I'm not sure.  But how about asking your addiction doc for something NON-narcotic to help with the WDs?  Like clonidine?  It's a BP med used my many rehab facilities to get people off of opiates.  I have taken it, and it's very effective in reducing symptoms.  There are lots of different meds available for this kind of thing if your doc will do it.  I'm not sure what to think about your doc giving you this stuff to get you off of sub????  Seems like a vicious cycle to me.  I would be scared if I were you!

Best of luck!

[itstime]

That is a good suggestion.  I have never looked into it.  The Doc did mention that he could give me a BP and taper down, but I was just tired of new drugs and wanted to switch to something that I knew.  Yesterday was day one of tapering to less than 8 5mg oxycodone per day.  I am taking one 5 mg every 3 hrs.  The suxoxone should withdrawals would still surface if I quit cold T until friday.  Today is 7, tomorrow 6, and so on.  By Friday I should only take one tab for unbareable symtoms while at work and then nothing once I go home friday night.  Hopfully a week from today I will be one of the few that was able to leave subs for oxycodone (completely avoiding suboxone withdrawal) and tapering down with oxycodone.  One thing I would like to add to anyone trying this.....we have a psycological problem....worry of the wd's....and the desire to feel euphoric.  What I have done is look at the oxy's as asprin (not expecting to feel anything at all).  That way I don't want to take more than needed.  I try to convince myself that I won't feel different if I take one or take 10.  It is like taking a vitamin.  I don't want to feel loopy or high.....so it makes it easy (don't get me wrong....I too liked the feeling...a lot).  I will start working out as much as I can this week to generate some natural endorphines and get my dopamine production going again.  Thanks again for the support and I will post in 2 days and should be at 5 5mgs every 3 hrs and nothing after 6pm (I get up at 4am for work so I start dosing at 5am).  Wish me luck.  Be back in two days.

[MissLesa]

Hi everyone...new poster here...I just wanted to say that I too used suboxone to detox from a 10-12 a day hydro/oxy addiction and I also weaned myself down to 1mg. I was so nervous about the w/ds but I honestly have to say I felt fine. I believe that our fear of w/ds makes us make choices that might be detremental to our sobriety.

I think you should have taken your doctor's advice and went with the BP med because what little w/ds you might have experienced could have been made easier with the clonodine.

Good luck to you.