Need some information about suboxone

[depressedwoman]

Hi guys..I am new to this forum and I have a question that I hope someone can help me with. I have been taking hydro 10/325-8 to 10 times a day for over 2 years now and I want to stop. I started out like everybody else..ya know, chronic disease [bladder], lots of pain and depression, the self medication. When I ran out it was very easy to make a phone call and have a "friend" deliver to my house. Well I soon realized that something that started out as a life saver is very quickly sucking the life out of me. I not only want to stop but I need to stop. I started out with the step down method and gradually decreased my dosage from 10mgs to 7.5mgs and now I am down to 5mgs and at this point I have 2 5mgs to take before I start taking the suboxone that my "friend" got me. I have been reading up on suboxone and the risks and benefits but I am still nervous about taking something that isn't doc prescribed. Does anyone have experience with this drug? Do I wait until I am in complete withdrawls before I take it? If someone could respond soon because from what I read I can take it 6hrs. after my last hydro. Also, I saved about 30 5mgs. of hydro for when my condition starts to act up, is this wise? Thanx guys for any info.

[Jorgito]

Hi I'm jay I recently had a liver transplant about 1and1/2 years ago all went well thank god my recovery was perfect exec tone big issue I've been an addict for over 30 years from sleeping pills pain pills antidepressants for anxiety you name it and also an alcoholic to top it off I'm 51 never married I started my recovery well to well so I started abusing pain meds sleeping restoril Xanax Percocet Vicodin you name it well to make this as short as possible it's been 1 and1/2 years haven't doldrums my dr,s at um and Jackson  but recently I blacked out and last week I am 100% sure I almost ended my life I took about 10 restoril 5 perks and Xanax all I recall is getting back from the hospital and too 3 to 4 to start then a few more and that's all I recall I woke up and saw my front door compleatly open and back door to I saw the three bottles and could not believe I was still alive some pills on the floor and when I checked I could not believe how many wear missing that was almost the end of the book I sead to myself is this what you really want or get the help I know I need that's the sad part I know exactly what I have to do I have done it stopped cold turkey but this time I know it's either I get help or close the book and join my mother may she rest in peace but that's no excuse or any other to be frank with you all but I'm sick of being sick when you know it and you have experienced it for as long as I have it's very very sad I'm only51 years old never married wonder why well I know why I just need help and get it quick I have a dr,s appointment this comming week and I got to be compleatly honest with them or close the book the end hopefully not ?

[Sleeplessinca]

Start a new question. You will get more responses.  Your best bet is to taper down to as little as possible.

[Subhate]

Can someone PLEASE,PLEASE tell me how 2 get off the suboxone It's been almost 5 yr's I have been seeing my Doctor & he hasn't lowered my dose or anything.I am sooooo sick of taking them.When I dnt tke them It Is so much worse than a hydro withdrawl Im lost here & almost out of my meds & dnt want anymore but I cnt function without them.I can't believe I have traded 1 drug for another this Is so miserable.I just want 2 be me again not some person with any addictions.Please help.Thank you.

[KTMguy]

I didn't need the zanax until the third day (I was on 8 mg the 3rd day) I took 3 the first day 2 the second and 1 one the third. Very rapid taper if you ask me. I didn't start withdrawals until the 4th and 5th days thats when I was taking 2mg totem poles to sleep 8 hrs. I don't suggest u take that much ! Also don't take for longer than a week or you may become dependent on them for sleeping and I even taperd those I took .5 last night and slept six hours not too bad. Today is day six. I picked up some st johns wort for my depression But I am feeling on a natral high today ! Hard to think one week ago I was snorting 10 80mg oxycotins a day @$40 a pop.I also got some very disturbing news last night. A kid I graduated with Overdosed on oxy and cocaine, He is dead. I think my dealer make be in some serious trouble (which is actually a good thing for me). Like I said before The hardest part in my opinion is staying clean. When I read the boards, or a book or just keeping my mind occupied I feel no symtoms whatsoever. Make sure you use the thomas recipe after day 2 it worked wonders for me ! I found more easier ways to detox on forums and message boards than from the 3 or 4 doctors I associate with. Good luck I know you can do it.

[KTMguy]

I used suboxone to get off a huge oxy habit.Be very careful, they are harder to get off of than hydro. I used a 3 day detox with suboxone then the thomas recipe. You can find it on the board somewhere. Make sure you don't take the sub until you are in full blown withdrawals. What sub does is strip all the opiates from your neuro receptors, It will force withdrawals if you have hydro in your system usually 24 hrs from you last dose. There is a conversion somewhere online as to how much hydro = sub for dosing amounts. I would say no more than 16mg daily of sub for your habit. I came off a huge oxycotin habit with suboxone, it made it so easy for me that I relapsed time and time again using the sub as a "crutch" each time. my habit ended up worse and worse. I felt slight withdrawals within 48 hrs of my last suboxone dosage they lasted a couple of days and here I am 5 Days clean today ! You can do it !

[athena-8]

First of all, i just want to state i know nothing about suboxone. but, regarding everything else, here's what i think. My suggestion, and it's just a suggestion, is to stick to your original plan. don't waste a moment by extending the agony--now is the ideal time to do this thing. you are set up, it sounds, to not have too bad of a w/d, so go for it. and the kids are gone. good. perfect. ideal. if you can do it, and god knows it's hard, flush those extra--this can be very empowering, and makes a statement about your committment. Go for it! and keep it touch about how it all goes, take care.

[htp115]

i would only take a 1/4 of the pill, seriously. you wont need anymore than that, I promise :)  i need pain pills for medical reasons and still have some left. but i have NO DESIRE to take them and once you take the 1st suboxone pill you are committed to not taking any opiates for 72 hrs or you will put yourself into w/d's. i completely understand your nerves. i had a crazy stomach the night before i started. here's what i did. i took my last hydro at 7pm. then waited untill 11 am the next day and took a subox. that way i slept thru the most of the 16hrs between. i will tell you that when i woke up i did hold a hydro in one hand and the subox in the other (still nervous about the comittment) but just stuck the subox under my tongue and DID IT!!!! after about 20-30 mins i felt a little better after 2hrs (thats when its fully in your system) i had NO DESIRE for the hydro whatsoever. thats when i knew i had made the right choice. i have pain pills here, put up. but dont have the desire to take them. i have chronic pain and last night and today its flared up, my muscle hurt, but amazingly i dont think or want a pain pill. thats the best part.

be carefull cause if you take too much the first day the next day you will feel sick, hungover like feeling. it takes about 36 hrs for your body to 100% absorb the subox, so if you take to much the 1st 36 hrs, it will hit you hard the next day. i took 4 mg my first day, 6 mg my second day, and today i've taken 3mgs since i got up at 6am. and will see how the day goes. i'm gonna try to get by today with 5mgs. by tomorrow i will be past the 72 hr mark and the hyrdo will be out of my system so i plan on taking only 1 to 2 mg tomorrow and ween down from there. remember the more you take dosage wise, the longer it will take for you to ween down
question? how many pills do you have to work with? thats important as to how you take it also, cause you want to taper down on the subox. please post me back and we can help eachother.
we are in the same boat it seems, i'm just a couple days ahead of you, so we can do this together if you want.
also dont take any Immodaim with the subox (it has a small amount of opiates in it and you will get sick) and i have been functioning at 100% everyday, shopping, cooking and cleaning. i have felt normal from the 1st day of the subox

[depressedwoman]

I want to thank you all so much for writing me back...you have no idea how much you have helped me!! I took my last 2 hydros [ that I planned on taking ] this morning and now I am starting to feel the effects of the begining stages of wd. The only thing that I have been thinking about are the 30 hydros I have saved and how easy it would be to just take a couple and feel better. My computer is in the same room as my filing cabinet [ where I keep my hydros ] and instead of opening the cabinet I thought I would check this site and there you guys are, encouraging me on. I want to see this through..I don't want to start and then stop again and again. I really, really want this addiction to end. Because of you I will NOT take the pills and hopefully by tomorrow morning I will start to feel better.

Htp115...thank you especially because you are giving me such valuable information. I didn't know that once I take suboxone I will not be able to take a hydro for 72hrs. Also, I so appreciate the offer of 'doing it together' because at this point I don't think that I could do this alone. I have always prided myself on doing the right thing but this addiction takes everything that I believe in and know what is right, and throws it out the window. I have to be strong and just do it.

[depressedwoman]

Hi guys, I'm back...I am a little long winded today. Athena-8...thanx for your suggestion about flushing the pills down the toilet, however, I don't think that I am strong enough to do that just yet but I CAN see the empowerment it would bring. I am going to stay the course and follow my plan because it seems that this really is the best time to do this. Thanx for keeping me on course because it would be so easy to take a couple.

Ktmguy...I wanted to tell you that I will be thinking of you also. 5 days clean is great. Seriously, where I stand right now I cannot even imagine that happening to me. Please hang in there because you give me and I am sure others the hope that this is possible.

I do have another question..I have valiums 5mgs. and I plan on taking them tonight to help me sleep. Is this bad? From what I did read regarding benzo's and suboxone they said that there is a chance of respitory problems. Has this been your experience? I will not take them until I hear from one of you guys. I feel that I am so blessed to not only have the suboxones but to also have you guys(?) helping me along. Thank you all and the best to you regarding your journey.

[depressedwoman]

Thank you for replying so quickly as you were both very helpful. Htp115...I know it sounds crazy but to have someone in the same situation that I am in makes me feel better. I was very concerned about the fact that I got these off the street instead of a doc but to know you did also and that you feel so much better is reasurring to me. To answer your question, the suboxone that I have are 8mg. tabs. The person that gave them to me said to start out with half a tab and if I didn't feel better to take the other half. Is that right? I am also thankful that you told me when the proper time would be to take the sub.--16hrs. and not 6hrs. I am really afraid to go through full blown wd's. Done so before but I was able to cop before I went totally out of my mind.

Athena-8..you make a very valid point regarding saving some of the hydro's. I guess I AM setting myself up for relapse,  I guess the thought of not having any more freaks me out. You see I burned my bridges when it comes to copping any more...got into a fight with the person. It does make me feel better knowing that when I am done, I'm done. There will be no more phone calls. Do you suggest that I just finish them off and then start the suboxone? The time to stop is good right now, both of my kids are out of the house and they will not have to witness anything horrible. Please write me back. Thanx.

[athena-8]

hi,
my experience is that saving the pills provides you with a huge loophole to rev up your addiction again down the road. close the loophole by giving them to a trusted but firm friend/family member who understands addiction to issue them to you when you need them down the road--still a loophole i guess, but much smaller. i'm sturgglin myself right now w/ a tapering regime and wishing i had that trusted someone to give me my pills. well gosh darn perhaps i just may need to put some more effort into finding that someone...duh! that's why i love this forum. so much of the time i find answers i need in my responses to other people's post. too funny.
also, try exploring other pain control possibilities. there may be something out there that you don't know about yet that help your condition when it flares up. (we can become such good little self-medicaters that we have this false sense that we know as much as there is to know about pain mgmt., etc. when we really don't!) good luck to you, and hang in there you're doing great.

[htp115]

YES you have to be in wihtdrawals b4 starting the subox. and IT IS NOT 6 hrs but 12 hrs from the time your last dose of hydro has worn off. so add 4 hrs from the time you take your last hydro to the 12 hrs. about 16 hrs total. what Mg is the subox? i ask because if you are taking only 2.5 mgs of hydro you only need to take 2mg of subox, not the 8mg tablets.  if you do not wait untill you are in withdrawals before taking the subox, and take it anyways it will send you into FULL W/D's within 20 min. i started subox. (unprescribed to me) also 3 days ago. i went from about 100mg of hydro a day (10-10mg pills) to the subox. and i feel fine. today i think is the worst. i'm between my 48-72 hr mark of withdrawals and feel kinda tired. but i have NO CRAVINGS at all and no w/d's. i would be happy to help you if you like. please post me back and i'll answer whatever questions you have and help you make a SAFE plan to start the subox.

P.S. i was very nervous starting it also unprescribed, but it was the best thing i ever did. i have no ins. and cant possibly afford a subox doctor.

[dyblue]

there is alot of info on it in the archives you have to be in withdrawl to start 12hrs I think or you get sick you get sick if you take narcs while on it so the pill saving is a bad idea unless your not really ready why hold them.