NEED HELP.. Been on Sub for 3 days... Do I taper or just stop?

[lr36]

I have been on Suboxone for 3 days. 8-2mg twice a day. I don't want to be on this. I had a very bad Vic problem. Taking  15-20 a day. Do I wean my self off or just stop. Am I going to have bad withdrawals from this? I do not know what to do. I am so ready to be done with pills. I just want my life back. Any advice would help.

[worried878]

have u talke to ur dr?   3 days is not long enuf to hurt for most if u just stopped it now...ur dose is high and in reality 4 mgs a day would have probably worked as well as 16 as ur doc is hydro..which is on the weaker spectrum in the narcotic world..some coulda actually decreased wd significantly with 2 mgs per day if it is ur first go around with sub...i was a 100 mg hydro user//used sub only when out of pills..but 1-2 mgs would actually give me a nrg buzz...liked it more than the hydro actually..and is why i did not use it to quit with....later tho after using it several times//the sub..i could do 8 mgs a day if need be and did not get the jolt i used to get off 2 mgs..so tolerence can build to sub..or it did for me anyway....sub is used for many as a tool to get clean with..and most drs want u to take a higher dose than u really need if ur purpose is to avoid wd...what is ur purpose?   at 3 days u will probably still have some residual ydro wds on board...it takes a few days to get the levels up...after u have//which can be a week if at a low dose//u r at a high dose for ur doc....it will stick around for a few days as sub has a long halflife..at this point u r probably not addicted to sub and could just stop...3 days is not long enuf to get addicted to it...but it depends on ur goals...have u done the work to get/stay clean??? would u feel better on a lower dose?  things like this should be discussed with ur dr so u can work together.i dont blame u for not wanting to get addicted to that sticky stuff...but if u r gonna relapse the second u get off then it has not been worth the trouble....talk to ur dr..if it were me i would get on down to 2 mgs quick then try and get off by the 21 day mark...but if u have not done the work to get clean/stay clean/ it is not worth the trouble to do the sub...u gotta know where u r and what ur goals r...keep posting

[lr36]

So is 8-2mg a high dose twice a day. Am I taking 8mg or 2mg

[worried878]

i do not know..the pills come in 8 and 2 mg doses...is it orange?   u really need to know what the dose is....u r taking 1 pill twice a day right?  if it is a 2m pill then that is not a big dose...if it an 8 mg pill then it is a big dose for ur doc and dose..can u read the bottle and type what u c?

[lr36]

my bottle says 8-2mg sub rek

[flmagi]

The Sub you're taking is 8 mg pills, so you're taking 16 mgs daily. Yes, that is a pretty high dose. After only 3 days, you could just stop, you haven't become addicted to the Sub yet. You will not go thru withdrawals from the Sub, but you will still go thru withdrawals from the vics.
Talk to your Doctor, but it's ultimately your decision, but if you want off everything, I would recommend doing a rapid taper of the Sub for the next week, til you get down to 1 mg, then just stop. You'll still experience some discomfort, but nothing like you would with the intial withdrawing from the Vics and definitely not like withdrawing from Sub addiction. After 14-21 days on Sub, you'll develop an addiction/dependence to the Sub and have to go thru some wicked withdrawals, unless you do a really slow & low taper, which can take months & months.
Good luck to you and let us know how you're doing.

[Ernie_420]

You should wean ur self down if you don't want the withdrawals.  Try and go to an na meeting if you're ready to quit.  They help more than most people think.  If you wean down for 7 - 10 days on the suboxone you should be good to go

[LaDee47]

Hello,

First of all I would like to thank everyone here for all of your post. I have been reading and learning an trying to figure out how to quit this addiction of mine and get off my 30 a day pill habit. I will take anything I can get my hands on anything with opiates in it. I will start my Suboxone on Monday. I found a clinic that offers the Sub with counseling that I can afford. Anyways.... in my journey on the web I found this article about the pros and cons of Suboxone. It seemed to make sense and I thought I would pass it along. It starts as a question and then the answer seems to be pretty good. Good Luck To Everyone Here.


Suboxone - pros and cons????

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OK, just started Suboxone. Listened clearly to the doctor, read the booklet and the website. I understand how it works and so far it seems to be doing the trick, however I had some thoughts and some questions that maybe a veteran use can help me answer. The first question, is how is soemthing that gets you "high" supposed to help get you off something that gets you "high". In other words, Suboxone make some feel pretty damn good and I cant wait to take a pill every morning. How is that different then Vicodin? I know that it can have dependency problems too but then whats the difference? Why do they expect I can just taper off the suboxone when I couldnt just taper off the vicodin? Could someone explain that in lamens terms for me? I have noticed that I have no withdrawal symptoms from the Vicodin and that unlike Vicodin, i dont wake up in the middle of the night withdrawing from the Subs like I used to from the Vics and I also noticed that I dont crave Vics like I used to. Just writing or talking about Vics used to make me start "twitching" and getting all worked up to the point that I would call my doctor or start calling friends. I no longer think twice about taking Vics. I could care less, but is that only cause the Subs are getting me high too so why would i neded the Vics?

Also, some weird side effects from the Vics. Bloating, increased appetite, acne. Anyone else experiencing those?

And also, what is it in some of these drugs that make you smoke more? I am not a "smoker". I have 1 or 2 while drinking a few beers, but I never finish a pack and maybe average 10 cigs a month tops. But when I used to take Vicodin, and now on the suboxone, I have the constant craving for a cigarrette to the point that I catch myself chain smoking. Is there some scientific connection between the 2?

Just some thoughts. Any info, help, advice, etc, would be helpful. Thanks
  

  


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Buprenorphene (suboxone,subutex) is a partial antagonist while vicodin (hydrocodone) is a full agonist.Here is a paragraph to help you understand a little better!!

OPIATE antagonists differ from opiates only by the replacement of the N-methyl substituent with an N-allyl, N-cylcopropylmethyl or related group. Antagonists can reverse the pharmacological effects of opiates and so are important in the treatment of opiate overdose. Drugs that combine agonist and antagonist activities have potential as relatively nonaddicting analgesics. Although their mutual pharmacological antagonism indicates that they act at the same binding site, pharmacological discrepancies have prompted speculation that agonist and antagonist binding sites are separate1,2. Biochemical study of receptor binding3−16 has shown that although opiate agonists and antagonists compete for the same receptor3,4, there are differences in the way they interact with them7,10. Physiological concentrations of sodium enhance the binding of 3H-antagonists but reduce that of 3H-agonists. Sodium diminishes the ability of pure agonists to inhibit binding of 3H-naloxone to the receptor, but has little influence on inhibitory effects of pure antagonists and intermediate effects on those of combination agonist−antagonist drugs. The molecular basis for these differences, however, is unclear. As a first step in this direction we now report that binding of opiate receptors is much more sensitive to degradation by protein reagents which are known to modify sulphydryl groups than is binding by opiate antagonists. This suggests that distinct binding sites exist for agonists and antagonists, although they may both be on the same receptor.

So this is why you don't crave the vicodin and also why you're not in the addictive mode that you were in before you started treatment.
You are probably getting some euphoric buzz from the buprenorphene because vicodin is a fairly weak opiate especially compared to buprenorphene.You will loose that euphoric feeling and you will feel "normal".

You should be able to wean down off the suboxone much easier then vicodin because like I said before "you're not in addictive abuse mode".
Also the suboxone acts differently on your brain and you think much clearer and at a normal rate rather then how you would think if you were still abusing hydrocodone.

One of the biggest differences between a agonist and a antagonist opiate is the antagonist will bring on withdrawls if you take to much were as I used to take 25 percocet at once and then 15 every half hour or so afterwards (percocets are lousy but sometimes you have to do what it takes to stave off withdrawls).Now if let's say I was taking 12mgs of suboxone a day and suddenly I took 50mgs.Instead of getting high I would fall into precipatated withdrawls and believe me you don't want to go through that.

So there is a huge didfference between the two drugs.

The reason for the smoking is that opiate drugs stimulate the brains reward centre and this makes us crave cigs,beer,pizza ect.
Now you know why we smoke so much when we drink......Have a good day and stay on course you're doing great.....Dave
  

[theeagle]

This post was already placed once......sub works because it is not a full agonist....it is also an antagonist. It basically competes in a superior manner with opiate agonists in mu and some in the other two receptors......think of the sub as being the stronger bull that kicks the other opiates out of the receptor. And fills the receptors with sub to allow no room for standard narcs to get a foothold.