Detoxing from Suboxone, please help

[zeke1982]

I have used heroin for 7 years. When it finally got to a point where its quit or die I ended up on methadone for a year and then suboxone. Problem is I have been on suboxone for roughly 4 years. Last Thursday (May 19th, 2011) I took my last dose, .5 MG in the morning. Now its 4 days later and my withdrawal is only getting worst. It is especially bad at night. I came off of heroin before and it was bad, much worst than this, but got better with every day, however, with suboxone it seems to get worst every day. On 2nd night I took 5mg of xanax and still could not pass out.

Please help me, how long does suboxone withdrawal last? what can I do to make it more bearable? The body aches and inability to sleep is killing me and is severely hurting my work performance.

[HenryS354]

Hey bud,

Congrats on your accomplishments so far.  Suboxone detox is no joke, and I wish some of the docs I had been to had told me what I was in for. hind sight being 20/20, its was probablly for the best.

I detoxed off of suboxone May 18th, 2010 after three years of treatment. My final jumping dose was 3mgs. I had just had enough, and decided to make my bullheaded self just do it.

It wasnt torture by any means, but not pleasant.  As you are finding out now. By day 10, I was feeling a world better than earlier that week, but the leg cramps, RLS, and insomnia still prevailed.  These obnoxoous symptoms persisted for about another week, and started to wane after that.  The last thing to start coming back was some kind of normal sleep, which was noticeablly better at 4 weeks post my last dose of sub.

I just wanted to give you a bit of motivation, and a first testament that it certainly does get better and can be done.  I celebrated my 1 year of clean time 10 days ago, all after 12 years of use and havent looked back.  

Just remeber two things... The severity and length of withdrawals is not necessarily all from the buprenoprhine itself.  It does have its own withdrawals, but the length and intensity is directly related to your previous DOC's Intensity and frequency of use.  Most people curse the "Blasted sub" for their prolonged agony, but its actually our using "Resume" that will determine our sub withdrawals.

After this is all said and done, stick around here... offer what you have learned and experienced to the others still suffering.  I hate to be all NA Cliche, but the most important thing I learned from my recovery is "We can only keep what we have by giving it away"

Hang in there, its all downhill from here as far as physical stuff goes! :-)

Henry

[zeke1982]

WoW, I was on 4mg, went down to 2 to 1 to .5 rapidly (within a month) and my withdrawal is still hurting me 9th day in. I cant believe you were able to do 20,16,8 to 0 and survive it without relapsing.

I guess us addicts can be strong :)

[nicky34]

Hi,
I'm pretty new to this forum but not drugs. I use to take 30 vicodinES a day & I was highly functioning, wanted to get off - so I was on suboxone for 4 years, 20mg a day everytime I wanted to take it down the dr said no.  I INSISTED, spent 1 nite in a creepy rehab cked out with no suboxone.  He would not refill it, so I went from 20 to 16,8 to 0 I thought I was dying, I think I threw up things from 5th grade. I found a Dr. who detoxed me in his office/home. But the withdrawal from that drug is worse than just opiates, it has something evil in it. And it costs a fortune. It's been over a year since that horror. I'm addicted to fiorcet now, I have severe migraines. But I feel you. I think the pharmecetical companies own some of these dr, cuz they keep writing these scripts. It's not meant for long term use.(suboxone)

Take care

[BlueOpiate]

I believe it and agree.  It's pure, evil greed at it's finest.  Who's going to listen to a bunch of addicts on suboxone anyway, right?  Our word lacks credibility and they can just attribute failing or relapsing to addict behavior and not misinformation on their part.

[zeke1982]

I have gone through heroin withdrawal multiple times using a single tea spoon of an 80mg methadone dosage (roughly 1/10th) bought off the street and most likely diluted, yet methadone clinics have you taking 80-100mg daily.

Mind you after taking a tea spoon for few days I did not withdraw from methadone and was fine to go, its just my craving for IV heroin always sucked me back in.

They deliberately put you on insanely high dosages to keep you hooked forever to keep sucking money out of you.

[BlueOpiate]

Glad to hear you are doing a little better, any progress is good progress.  Today is day 14 of sub for me and I'm going to try to make it my last at .50.  Prior 2 days was 1mg.  The more I read the more I am convinced the suboxone makers are money hungry liars.  I knew going in the things you speak of but did you know them, or does everyone know there subject to severe WD?  My sub doc prescribed 1-2 8mg tabs per day, saying I would probably be 1 1/2, possibly the 2 per day.  Gave me 60 of them for a month.  I knew this was not needed so I took 6mg the first day and was fine, maybe a slight buzz even so I probably could have taken less.  It seems the majority of sub docs believe everything they are told by the sub makers.  It's not like they are going to listen to the addict patients anyway.  If I did not have insurance my script would have cost $450.  Funny how the cash price of my DOC, perks 10mg was way less, like $60-80 for over a hundred pills.  How is it, after everyone who has taken this medication, they don't know that far less is needed and for a shorter period of time?