Need help quitting suboxone and benzos

Hi Ive been taking two 8 mg suboxones a day now for 3 to 4 months.  I started taking clonazapam because the suboxone started making me feel on edge, real wired, anyways ever since ive started its made me feel over all like crap. Ive tappered down to 1 and half pills a day, and havent had any wds.  I use to take methadone and quit that about two years ago and was clean for about a year and half until the doctor gave me tramadol and told me it wasnt addicting well know im on the suboxone because of it.   I was wondering if the wds will be like methadone or not as bad,  And ive never been hooked before to clonazapam before I take 3 2 mg clons a day and am going to start to tapper that two.  Thanks for the feedback

[laurel453]

Hi welcome :)

just wanted to bump your thread so it doesn't get overlooked and  someone with experience can help you

[refusingbondage]

Hi there.. my experience with suboxone has been the smaller you taper to the better.. Withdrawal is a tricky thing.. what is pure he11 for some, can be not so bad for others..

The most successful stories I know of are from people who taper down down down.. 1 and a half 8mg pill is sill 12mgs of suboxone - which, in my opinion, is way too high dosage to come off of.  A little goes a long way with sub.  

Ask the doc to rx the 2mg pills instead.. this allows you better tapering options.. ideally you want to cut yourself WAY down to less than .50mgs/day.. like a quarter of 2mg pill and be comfortable on that before quitting.  You can shave the 2mg down with a razor..Your only in 3-4 months so you should be able to taper down from 12mg pretty quickly.. its not going to be a cakewalk, but it will be doable to get down to lower amounts..

As far as the clonzepan-- I cant really answer other than to say that those you definitely have to taper from -- they can be dangerous to quit cold turkey.

Dont be overhelmed. Slow and steady.  You can very much do this.  Work out a plan and stick to it. Time is on your side now and you can control the future if you stay strong and determined.  Good luck.  

[bmdad]

From what I've heard suboxone has to be tapered very slow and to a tiny amount. You don't want to rush the process. Since it can be hard to figure out how much you are taking once you get to a very low dose I've read about a liquid taper method. It has to do with dissolving say 8mg of sub in say 8 ml of water using one of those toddler medicine syringes. Doing this you can adjust the sub or the solution to get it where you need.
Have you talked to your doctor about how to taper and if he feels you are ready to come off of it and how it he recommends to taper? If tapered properly most seem to get by with little to no withdrawals. There is a member here who went cold turkey off of 3mg and said it was nowhere near as bad as withdrawals from oxy, vicodin, etc. But normally you do not want to cold turkey off of this amount. It can be done but unless you are in a big hurry to get off there is no need to.
When tapering off of meds you want to drop your dose down some but not enough to where it's too uncomfortable. Once you feel stabilized on your new dose you can then consider dropping again. Suboxone is very powerful so the smaller amount you drop per dose, the better. Some drop .25mgs or less at a time.
Since sub has such a long half life and builds up in your system I have heard of people adding a scenario like this to their taper. On day 1 and 2 you take your normal dose. On day 3 you drop a small amount. On days 4 and 5 take the amount you took on days 1 and 2. On day 6 take the dose you took on day 3. After awhile you would then take the lower dose two out of three days. After time you end up taking the lower dose everyday. Once you feel comfortable you then repeat the process with a new lower dose.
These are just some examples of how it can be tapered. We aren't allowed to over an exact taper program on the open forum. You should get in to see your sub doctor, ask him about these different techniques and see what he recommends.
When tapering also be sure to exercise. It makes a world of difference! You can also check in to the amino acid protocol in the health pages which you can find on the upper right hand side of the page. There is also some information about sub in there.
Be sure to stick around this forum for support.
Best of luck to you.

Brian

[flanman]

Thank you everyone for your advice, im new to this and didnt even know people replied.  Im going to reallly start the tappering tomm.  very slowly and the benzos.  Ive read a lot of medical stuff and saw my pysch. today.  I didnt tell him I wanted off it cause hes against it, Im a vet.  so it dont cost me a thing for the medication, but he thinks I need to be on it for ever(NO WAY) im doing that.  WOW i cant belive no how easy it is to get help, u dont have to jump in a car and go try and find a aa or na meeting.  Thank you all and stay in touch all note every 3 days how its been going I have my son all weekend and just looking into his eyes I want to be absoultly straight, the best ive ever felt was just working out going to aa and na meetings and not taking any perscrptions.  

[flanman]

And by the way on June 4 of 2009 I quit using heroin and a 120 mg of methadone a day with xanax and valium cold turkey.  I still cant believe I did that but that sure gives me the confidence to do this. Take care everyone Steve