Quitting Sub

I have asked this question before, but it has been a while, so sorry about the repeat. I am currently taking 12mg of Suboxone a day. That is 1 1/2 of the 8.2 mg pills. I really need to start tapering down as I have been on them for about a year now at that dose. I would love to hear some personal experiences from some of you out there that have gone down this trecherous road. Whenever I try to cut back in the slightest, my body feels the hit and I level myself back out. Anyway, I am tired of these things running/ruining my life, plus the $400 a month I am spending on medication and doctors visits is not helping either. Again, just looking for some insight. By the way, my doctor is not aware in the least, of how addicting these things are. Although he wants me to start tapering, everytime I go to see him, he ask's me what I need and at what dose. He literally lets me tell him how much I need and how much I am going to take for the next month. I love the guy to death, but he is to laid back for this addict. Where was this guy when I was taking the Norco 10/325, kidding. Thanks for the help and support.

[salsinator]

Hi Whattodo,

I took sub for nearly 4 years and I could only taper down to about 2 mg and I finally decided to do a medical detox. How are you dosing - just once per day or twice?  If you are dosing two times per day, then this could potentially be why you feel a drop.  For someone taking sub as long as you have, it should be fairly easy to drop down.  Try dropping your dose by 2mg per week until you can get down to 4mg - 1/2 of an 8mg pill.  Then it starts to get tricky.  Talk with your doctor if possible on a recommended taper plan.  Usually you an drop from 4-2 fairly easy, but then you need to start cutting the pills into slivers.  Taper down until you are at .5 mg or less before jumping off.  If you try on anything higher, it will not be easy.  I ran out one time when I was taking a 2mg dose and the withdrawal kicked in about 48 hours later - the withdrawal was pure heck!  I ended up going back on sub for nearly 3 more years and finally just got sick of it and wanted off.  The detox was an 8 day program and was pretty expensive, but I never looked back and it was worth every cent.  Feel free to ask me any questions that you like - there are others here too who have experience with sub, so keep posting.  Good Luck