How long will suboxone withdrawal take?

I've been weaning myself down from suboxone I got from a friend.  I was literally breaking the 2 mg tablets down to minute pieces, so I probably was down to .5 or .25 mg a day.  Anyway, I'm on day 4 and had a violent withdrawal reaction and still feel horrible.  Just wanted to get advice on how long specifically suboxone takes to get out of the system, and is there hope for me feeling better in the next few days?  Thank you.

[leeisgettingclean]

how long have you been taking? what were you takin before them and for how long //much??

[Nuts1982]

I was taking percocet - probably about 75 mg (5 5mg) a day.  If I didn't have any, I'd take the suboxone to get through the day - about 1 - 2 mgs. a day.  Once I quit the percs (about a month ago) I was taking suboxone, from maybe 3 mgs a day  and tapered down to .5 or .25 a day.  So I was probably taking the suboxone for about 3 months straight.

[122 Tactical Fighter Group]

You better just devote some time to education here very quickly.........check the Health Pages - put Salsinator in the medhelp search engine..............  and ALSO put in Suboxone Withdrawals...................Sub withdraws last as long as methadone and after the several week sickness you get hit by major depression...............  You may want to visit "The Suboxone Talk Zone" = this guy is an addictionologist and real MD that answers your questions........and he had a fentanyl prob before he changed firlds = So he understands both side of the coin - - - -  He has been where you are now and he educated himself out of it - -   Doesnt matter how you do it..........just chose death or life.........

[salsinator]

Hi Nuts1982.  Welcome to the forum.  I am kind of surprised at the withdrawal you indicated on such a low dose of sub.  Three months on sub at the dose you were taking is really not bad at all and it sounds like you went about things right tapering.  You also indicated that you were taking 1 - 2mg/day - was that just in one dose or more than one - that is very important?  Sub is really only meant for dosing every 24 hours or even less.  How long did you taper down before stopping?  It's best to taper quite slow.  You mentioned getting sub from a friend, so I would assume that you don't have a large supply?  If you stopped taking the sub at the .5 - .25mg level, even if you tapered down to that amount quickly, the withdrawal should not get any worse.  If you have more sub, try taking the lowest dose possible for a few days, then start skipping a day inbetween doses.  Once you have done this without any reaction, then try going two days - then drop off for good.  Of course, the best advice I can give you is to talk with your doctor too - there may be some things they can do for you to make you more comfortable - in a non-addictive manner.  Feel free to message me with any personal questions - best of luck to you.

Eagle - thanks for the vote of confidence.

[Nuts1982]

Thanks for the post.  I feel much better today - have a little energy and not nearly as achey (achy).  I was taking it once a day - usually.  Sometimes I tried to skip a day, and then would end up taking a small amount in the morning and then again in the evening.  I am going to watch for the depression later down the road that folks have talked about.  I'm on 100 mg of zoloft a day so I don't know if that will help (or make it worse?!).  

[Tab57]

My friend that is in recovery is using subuxone under the supervision of a treatment facility. How effective is it and how addicting is it? He is trying to get off loratab that he is been using steadily for 3 years.

[Nuts1982]

Hi Tab.  I'm probably not the best person to ask since I wasn't using it under the supervision of a doctor.  I basically thought that these were "magic pills" that when I didn't have my Percs, I'd just take those until I got them again.  I really wished I would've investigated suboxone and what it was doing to my body.  I've heard many people doing really well on it, but I have heard that they recommend being on it no longer than 21 days.  I was using it for months.  It stays in your body for a very long time, so this withdrawal is less painful that full out w/d, but seems to be lasting forever.  I should've just w/d on the percs, but again I didn't know what was what.  I hope your friend does well.

[Chloe313Infuriated]

I was addicted to vikes for the second time a year and a half ago (and I am an alcoholic).  I went to detox and the dr.'s recommended "the suboxone program".  They never mentioned that the w/d's are worse than coming off hydros could EVER be.  Who do they think they are kidding?  (I should mention that I have been sober the whole time I have been on the subs.  I also quit cigarettes.)  They sent me to a dr. who kept prescribing them and advised me to stay on them in lieu of a relapse.  He would have kept me on them forever!  First of all, I have a strong 12 step program that I am very active in.  Who is the dr. to say I am going to relapse without a supplemental drug?  He tried to tell me that if I tapered down to 2 mgs then I would have NO w/d symptoms.  He said that it was all in my head when I was down to 3 mgs!  Bullsh**!!  These doctors are peddling drugs worse than my old dealer.  They must get kick backs from selling them.  They never tell you the reality and we still don't know how bad they are for our bodies/teeth, etc...I can see maybe going on them for a cpl of weeks if necessary but a year and a half?  Then the doc tried to talk me into taking a drug that curbs drinking cravings!  I have never had cravings once I "dried out'.  So, there you go, that is their mentality.  I am now down to 1 mg. every other day and I am still in complete hell worse than ever!  Thank God I have a couple of weeks before school starts up and I am laid off.  Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to function enough to pay my bills or attend classes!  Will the w/d's even be gone by then?  This is the worst nightmare I have ever been through.  I tapered myself very slowly.  I was on 16 mgs. a day for a few months then went down to 10, to 8 to 6 to 5.5 to 5 to 4.  this was over a course of at least 11 mos. Ever since I have been at 4 mgs I have had w/d symptoms.  I have had to take Advil Cold and Sinus every single day plus reg. Advil and still felt like absolute sh**.  Nothing has been worse than now, however. It has been 6 days where I have taken 1 mg. every 2 days.  I have a fever, chills, vomiting, pain in joints and muscels.  Fatigue and all over uncomfortableness plagues me.  Anxiety and depression are paramount.  And I am hearing from you guys that I am not even in the worst of it, yet!  I have more fun to look foward to when I completely stop taking them.  No one even knows how long the w/d's last!   I can't believe what they don't tell you about this sick drug!  I thought it was a miracle and should have know it was evil in disguise and so are the docs prescribing it! I should have just waited the two sucky weeks out and withdrew from the hydrocodone.  I have done it before by myself.  NOTHING is worse, for me than withdrawing from the subs.  I swear if I could sue these dr's for malpractice, I would.  They need to start telling patients the reality of trying to get off of the drug.  We, as addicts in recovery or not need to speak up even more about what poison these doctors are selling us!  They are taking full advantage of our disease and completely justifying it.  I understand that it may be better for some addicts to take the subs instead of something illegal or more dangerous for a while but the result is all the same.  It is sooo difficult to get off!  For those who don't mind being on a drug for the rest of their life, that's fine but I do mind.  If anyone has any more info about how long it took them to shake the withdrawals, please let me know.  Thanks and I feel for all of you.  Good luck.  

[beak86]

Look guys.  Everyone of these stories on here are conflicting.  I was an opiate user for several years.  It started with vicodins and worked my way up to 40mg oxycontin and eventually was shooting heroin into my vein.  I came off the heroin for a while then I started using again with any other opiates i could get a hold of.  After about a miserable year of that, I found a doctor that could prescribe suboxone and seeing that doctor was the best decision I have ever made.  It completely changed my life around.  I was on a very high dose of suboxone too.  I was on two 8mg tablets a day, and I was at that dose for about 2 years or maybe even longer.  My doctor was very helpful and understood everything I was going through.  He told me that he has patients that are likely going to be on suboxone for the rest of their lives, an he's seen so many people get off the subs and come back so if thats how you want to live your life, he will keep you on it.  I decided on my own, it was time to slowly taper off the subs.  I went from two 8mg tabs a day to 1 and a half 2 mg subs a day.  After a month of that, I went to 1 and a quarter 8mg tabs a day.  I think I stayed there for a couple months before going down to a single 8mg tablet a day.  After a few months at that dose I went down to a half 8mg tablet a day.  I stayed at the half 8mg tablet for 2 to 3 months before going down to a quarter 8mg tablet a day.  I never experienced any withdrawl (withdrawal) symptoms durring this tapering down. I wanna say sometime shortly after going to the quarter tablet a day, I would start to feel a lack of energy til I would take my suboxone dose for the day but I never felt anything worse than that.  Once I got to that quarter 8mg tablet a day I started to get a little freaked out because I realized that I was getting close to completely coming off of the suboxone.  I knew I wanted to come off of suboxone but I was terrified about what my life would be like with out it.  My doctor never forced me to taper down once.  It was always my decision but he would try to give me some encouragement to continue tapering down if I was at a dose for a few months.  I eventually dropped down to a 2mg tablet a day and i was there for a few months before going down to a half 2 mg tablet a day and i was there for another several months and the doctor was going to have me take a half 2mg tablet every other day for 2 weeks and then just give it up for good.  I started to get really nervous when i heard this.  I have a good full time job and I am a good employee.  I knew I would barely be able to get out of bed if I skipped a day of suboxone.  I tried it then I gave up before I even started to quit.  I went back to the doctor and told him I wasnt ready.  We stayed at a half 2mg dose a day for at least a few more months before I gathered the courage and the mental strength to finally give it up.  I finally went to a quarter 2 mg tab a day and stayed there a couple weeks, and then started going to just a tiny little piece of suboxone every day and then gave it up.  I called the doctor and asked for some prescriptions to prevent withdrawl (withdrawal).  He wrote me a prescription to chlonidine which is a medication for high blood pressure.  I started taking the chlonidine and braced myself for the worse case scenerio and nothing hapened.  There was no lack of energy, no sickness.  I felt great.  What I'm gettng at is do not believe what you read on here or anywhere else.  I read a lot of these forums about comming off of suboxone before I actually quit suboxone and I started to really worry myself.  My best advice to anyone is find a doctor that prescribes suboxone and do the program.  If you go from slamming heroin in your veins to suboxone and then quit suboxone in 2 months then Yeah, you probably will get sick and be miserable.  Suboxone is an opiate addiction management drug.  It's not a cure.  You cant just jump from opiates to suboxone and expect to quit the suboxone in just a few months without experiencing withdrawl (withdrawal).  The idea is that the doctor puts you at a comfortable dose of suboxone so you dont withdrawl (withdrawal), and then you taper off of the suboxone so slowly that your body doesnt notice the difference.  I haven't felt this free in a long time.  Just remember that you do have to want to quit even with suboxone. Good luck guys and I realy hope what I said helps someone  

[otoh]

GREAT post beak ,informative, and very true.

[Pastyle123]

I've been on Suboxone for 8 years I'm on my 2nd week of being off of it and its still hard. I have insomnia since I've stopped and still have muscle aces and pain, major fatigue, restlessness, still have cold sweaty feet and hands, plus diarrhea still. Now the sad thing is I still have all of these systems even though I weened my self down to 1 mg a day for a year. So if you think you can stop on any higher dose your crazy, trust me I've tried 3 other times. I just hope I can get some real sleep one day soon or I'm going to crack and get back on Subs. Now I wish everyone good luck on stopping Suboxone but I'm not sure you will be able to without getting in house treatment at a rehab center. So you may just want to never get on this crap and just bite the bullet on what ever your trying to stop anyways because your just putting off the inevitable of detox. Plus I think the only reason I was able to last this long without is because my Dr. Gave me a ton of other meds to help with the withdrawl (withdrawal) systems of Subs. Plus I've been laid off so I'm just sitting at home trying to get better. If I still had to goto work there would have been know way.

[Pastyle123]

I agree! Totally this drug make keep you from robbing and stealing to get your fix but the withdrawals are still really bad!