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How to do a quick taper off suboxone

Hi I have been on Suboxone for a year now and really want off
I am at 4mg and I tried to jump off that with no luck the wd's were horrible
so I want to start a 6-8 week taper and hoping that my wd's will be milder
my plan is to go down 1/2 mg a week for 8 weeks
week 1: 3.5 mgs
week2:  3 mgs
week 3  2.5 mgs
week 4  2 mgs
week5: 1.5 mgs
week 6 1 mgs
week 7 1/2mg
week 8 .05 mgs
then Jump off
how bad will it be if I do it this way? is it possible to get off of sub without major wd's?

4mg jump was way too much I still have to work and function so I really need to do this as painlessly as possible
Please Anyone if you have any answers let me know
I had no idea that I would have any wd's coming off this and only recently I found out I will
I want to stop it as fast as possible to get on with my life
Thanks-MC
7 Responses
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Avatar universal
i have been on and off subs for about six years. there is no way i have ever weened myself off of them without a little discomfort the last few days with tiny little pieces of an 8 mg strip i cut with a razor blade.   the last few days i always withdrawl a little. but its way better than quitting opiates many times before in my life before there was any suboxone. sometimes i just take off work for a few days and drink beer  till  i can sleep all day. it ***** being hungover but it takes my mind off giving up  and either getting pills or more subs. other times i just deal with it and keep telling myself  how glad i will be to be again free of drugs. i think about all the times i get ****** around by my dealers who waste my time and it pumps me up to think i will no longer have to depend on them.  if you really want to quit you will quit. you have to pay to play you know.  the relapses for me got  further and further apart till one day i realized i was sick of it all and have no further interest in doing drugs. there will be people who come behind be and say this is bs and they can do it without withdrawing. great for them. glad they can. -i cant.   this is just my opinion. hope it helps
Helpful - 0
1151493 tn?1263336020
I did some extensive research and experimentation. I found out that each orande soubxone pill only contains 2mg of suboxone and the rest is noxalone. After reading the posts about everyone having trouble going any lower than 2mg it all made sense. What I read about suboxone was that 2mg was enough to flood the receptors in most people any more is over kill or the need for more noxalone to control cravings. And that 2mg of suboxone stays in the system for three days. I imediatly went from 3!/2 pills a day to one pill every three days and have no withwrawl. I had been on methadone for 2 years and oxicontin for 12 years. 6 to 8, 80 mg oxicontin a day at the end of those 12 years. So my case is an indication of rather severe addiction I would think. After learning about the nature of the drug It is of no surprise that there was no effect reducing to 1 pill/ 2mg of suboxone. So in my opinion no time needs to be wasted reducing to the 2mg, you can go to that right off it is going down from there that will become difficult, hence the crumbs you hear people talk about. This information is on the site of the makers suboxone and several other suboxone/ noxalone web sites.
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Avatar universal
I appreciate your post
I am so serious about wanting to stop
I think the sudden drop from 8mgs to 4mgs was fine
but then when I just had enough I went cold turkey off of 4mgs
That is where I think I failed
So this taper from 4 down to .05 mg in 7 weeks
will hopefully help- I am just worried about the part where this stuff has been building up in my system for a year now and will I still go through such h*ll when I am down to such a low dose?
I am just so frightened and I want to get off - as painlessly as possible
an so so tired of being on anything-
I want it out of my system now! and I am planning a helper at home to help me with this taper- I really don't think I will be tempted to tale more- I just want it do go as smooth as possible.
-MC
Helpful - 0
401095 tn?1351391770
a year is not terribly long//long enuf to do a slow taper off of a powerful narcotic for sure tho
Tapering is hard for an addict//sub drs do not tell u this when u come in for the first visit to "release" urself from narcs//somehow they tend to not inform u that u r about to begin another narcotic that is often much more powerful than ur drug of choice//everything in the world is hunky dory//til u try and jump off this narcotic...then things seem a bit like the old days again//stuck again...but u never were  stuck in the first place...u just needed to do the work on ursekf that needed to be done//sub can give u the time to do this work//aftercare and self reflection///if u do not use sub for these purposes and only to avoid a withdrawal that is inevitable unless u stay on narcs for life/then sub can become ur new DOC//a new burden and a longer harder wd...hopefully u have done ur homework and u r ready to be free
I am not sure how "ready" u r....but an addict has issues with tapering as a rule...if sub is seeming like sumpin u gotta take to make it thru the day//u may have some issues with tapering off of it...dunno?  we r all different and onl;y u know this  Have u tried to take a certain dose of sub and then u took more?  like in the old days when u treied to stop ur original DOC?  If u have u may need top follow a taper like an oxy or hydro user...as this could have become ur DOC
I was a 100 mg a day hydro user for 4 yrs...sub I used in times of need given to me by friends as there would be no hydros available to me//my habit had outgrown my scrips//I liked sub better  than my DOC and is why i did not use it to stop..i used it off and on for a year at the end of my habit...and my tolerence grew to sub/  I loved the stuff as the power of sub by far outreached the power of hydro for me//I knew it would be a new, better , and easier to obtain DOC for me...so I tried tapering from hydro//failed//and went CT at the end and stayed the he11 away from suboxone or subutex/cos I loved the high I got from them//perhaps not exactly a high but they fed my endorphins better than hydros and I felt so good while on them...took probably 6 rounds of sub during a 1 yr period///gonna estimate 2 months on sub but not consecutively cos I knew better//at the first round 1 mg was enuf///a yr later on the 6th round I could do 8 mgs of sub without batting an eyelash!
If u feel u have no control over the sub//if u r having difficulty sticking to ur taper//hand them over to be doed out to u//or if u can ask ur dr to help u taper///pick a QUIT day that is reasonable and stick to it...sub has a very long half life so in reality after it is in ur system//taking it daily is just the pill popper habit within us..it will be 2-3 days before u physically feel sub wd//mentally due to lack of taking a pill//it could be sooner
Most taper down to crumbs/slivers of sub//it is that powerful//a sliver or shaving off a puill can make u feel ok for a day or 2..the drug is grossly overprescribed due to extreme marketing by the company who made this drug...It was originally a pain med/weak/in mexicos and prescribed at    0.2 mgs.//meaning 1/10 less than 2 mgs....the lowest dose I see it RX-ed here at is 4 mgs and that is rare//as a rule it is 12 mgs or more...mg per mg sub is 15 tiomes stronger than hydro/due to its ceiling effect it is hard to calculate against many drugs///but in essence many r taking it daily//or twice daily.//cos they feel they gotta take a pill to feel better//this is where work on our inner selves is crucial//finding another way to cope vs escaping with pill use
Writng out a taper day by day helps//handing them over to a friend to dole out also helps/informing ur dr of ur plan is a good idea//picking a quit day is also crucial///but 2 mgs is still a strong dose//this crud gets in ur bones and will not go away for weeks///so slivers will help when u get to the final days will help//shavings/cos this drug packs power and a sliver//even 1/8 of a mg can go a long way

If u have not tried any type of aftercare then now may be the time///letting go is hard//but very do-able

keep posting
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Your plan should work.  Medical Recommendations include a 1 mg drop every three days.  Good luck.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thanks- man oh man I had no idea- I tried to go 3 days and it was more than I could handle
Well I will give this a try- I really don't want to be on this any longer
I thought I would have no wd's Will get as low as possible and then go for it
I appreciate your support
-MC
Helpful - 0
990521 tn?1311906308
Hi moldog,

Welcome to the forum.  Suboxone is really tough to get off of.  I was on it for nearly 4 years and tried jumping off at 2 mg and that was pure he!!.  In the end, I ended up going through a medical detox because I could not taper down on my own.  The plan that you have outlined is excellent and should work well for you.  You want to jump off at the lowest possible dose and most people say that .5mg is low enough to avoid bad withdrawal.  I know how you feel.  I wanted off so bad myself, but had experienced withdrawals that were much worse and longer than my original DOC.  Give the taper a try, but stick too it.  If you end up taking more, it will put you right back where you started.  Keep posting too and let us know how you are doing - there are tons of people on here who will support you every step of the way.  Best of luck to you.
Helpful - 0
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